Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1825-11-08
For THE. Eve UIRER.
To the .Mes'bers Of the merit General assembly

Wheh IN me execution OF nigh trust you VIII he
called upon TO elect Senator to the Congress OF
the United States; and it in the history OF your
country there is period that calls for full delibera
ton in the exercise OF that pc Ser, the present is
the period fatal security pervades the country,
the voice o. party is husieG but The WORKINGS ol
ambition are progressing. GA the face OF things there
Is hectic glow which the unsSiiiul may mistake
Tor M indication of health, but consuming disease
Is gradually undermining the strength and preying
| upon the vitals OF the constitution. The forms
which the symptoms OF this disease assume, are
most nsidious and alluring; time they court
our admiration i'll the shape of Roads and Canals;
atiording facilities to the intercourse OF the
several members, and draw ing closer the bonds OF
their Union; again, they exhibited in a grand
national machinery spreading before our wondering
eyes cloths that vie with the vestures of Tyre and
silks that rival the brocades of India and NOW they
wear the livery OF Freedom, with the Bible in one
hand aud charter oil emancipation in the other
untying the letters OF the bohdman and eaghten-
ing The darkness OF the heather. But let me remind
you, gentlemen, that IL was to symptoms like these
that the Great Father OF country prophetically
alluded In that invaluable legacy OF super-hunisn
wisdom, which retiring nom public life he be-
queathed us his children.
Hear his words: - Towards the preservation of
your government and the pcrmamency of your pre-
sent happy state, 1t requisite that you resist with
care, the spirit OF innovation Oh its principles how
!
Mon Of the people, The distribution or modification
oil the constitutional pow be in any particular
wrong, LEI II be corrected by an amendment IN the
way winch the conStiu tlcn desigiates; but, let
there be no change b. uSdputiOI, iof though tins
IA one instances may be The Instrument OF good, it
Is the customary weapon by which Free Govern
ments are destroyed. The precedent must always
greatly oyerbalanee in permanent evil amy partial
transient benet, which the can at any time
yield. Under the specious preIeNt OF promoting
grand national objects OF mpIo ement, a power l.
/ assumed by The general government, which at one
hound overeaps the great obstacle 10 consolidation,
the separate and distinct jurisdiction of the states
Under the colour OF creating AT home manulaciur-
Ains skill and manufacturing enterprise, the rights
l0f the many, are sacrificed 10 the aggJandis ement
~ me JelC; the Agricultural Interest OF the
try, the prop and stay OF every country III the
world, and the vital strength OF ours particular
Is made -subservent the cupidity OF few favor
ed capitalists, TO the certain repleton of their col
iers, and the les certain exhaustion of ours.
This, Gentlemen, is question on which an ho-
nest difference ot opinion exist; it resolves it,
sell into plain Ineligible propositions, and if
many OF its ad COATES spoke according 10 the coz
vIcton OF their minds, they would state IL thus:
Fortune has given us the power, and with high
hand e will take from you the profits of your la
Dor TO enrich ourselves and our There is
another subject TO which attention is forcibly
drawn by the signs oil the times, subject the very
agitation OF which may lead 10 the most deploga-
! Die consequence; mean the attempts that al e
made, and the plans that formed to interrupt
the relation between master and slave. / will not
undertake 10 indicate the abstract proposition
fiat any government has the right TO legslate into
! slavery any portion OF the human race. But
lido assert that humanity is sr eci ed and de serves
,not the name, when it seeks scatter the seeds OF
enavalilnS discomfort among an unsuspectng and
Tor the most part, happy population, whom 1t pur-
ports TO relieve. We need only examine the con
ditioa OF the laboring classes Ia any country and
| compare II with that of slaves convicliot
viii Immediately aiise that they are, as class OF
labourers the happiest in the world In animal
Qualifications, which every where constitute the
chet felicity OF the IabouTers, slave population
have an acknowledged superiority and as TO the
ideal evils which haunt the iisg OF the PHI
lanthropsl, to them they wholly unknown
There Is, indeed, ideal evil to which the
condition OF the free labourer is always exposed
but it suggests itself the I,;nd of the slave
the anxious soliciiude which the poor feels Tor
the future comforts of his family, when disease or
death may deprive them of his support, the pain OF
uncertainty Inch continually comes betw cen him
and his humble pleasures, never cloud the brow or
check The elastic bound of feeling of the uego at
his reves. But the question is not what is the
FcOndilon of our slaves, by what tenure we
hold them: they are oar property, subject to the
municipal laws of tie respective states, and shall
Aany Intermeddling ahectation Of humanity presume
ito introduce foreign influence into a relation so
ldelicate?
If doubt could exist as to the views that are
entertained, and the schemes that formed by
| those who stun with ill-tmed appeals TO
our humanity, need only refer you to the able ex-
position of the objects OF the Colonization Society
! given through the medium of the Enquirer, in the
late excellent numbers OF Caius Gracious. Con-
meet the avowas oil that society, there exposed,
with the secret movements in the General Govern
ment, OF which the resolution of MIR. King Is but
faint Indication, and come to the conclusion if YOU
can, that attempts will be made 20 stretch the
4 usurpng arm of that overgrown power to the very
disse yerng of the ties which bind 10 our slaves
Gentlemen, need not call your attention TO the
other subjects of alarm which every day OBJ
ruding themselves. need not remind you of the
shameful bartering which you have witnessed of the
first honors of your country, OF the disgusting at
tempts to impose upon public credulity that ac-
companied the first official acts of these intriguing
dignitaries, of the sweeping expostons of consti-
tutonal law, that marked the first avowsls of their
political sentiments they have been too recent and
too striking to pass from your remembrance need
not exhibit to you free and independent state in
suited in the person OF her Chief Magistrate within
the very heart oil her territory; and threatened
with turning her bayonets against herself, if
! she attempted to vndicaie what she bad Just rea-
son to consider her stipulated rights, this, not only
with the consent but by the express direction of this
strangely chosen dynasty. Great and momeutous as
are these evils, they form but few items in the
long catalogue of aggravated abuses which in our
day and generation" we called upon to witness
and yet we stir not in our might Tie waves are
rolling on by little and little Entertainments are
made on this side and hat the boundaries OF State
Rights are invaded, by each successive measure the
jurisdiction and influence Of the general govern
ment are enlarged, the weight of executive patron