Southern telegraph., 1838-02-06

:, :, a ,vor,cn and men Of Saxon de-
scent. Is, ,.h { co.
nosetl osthis entire ab all'nn st1ns
the non-slaveholding States are Tree ''o IRON,
the evils OF slavery. Itisnn grievance VIII
nc Il i not our business to inlcrHienui.
whit. Il is no part of our c''ilsiil'''on.
r;sht or duty to petition Congress OIL Tue
snl.iect. Congress have no conAfai oVe1 -.
III Is 4 subject reserved exclusively 10 we
saaiss s slS;os af w.. aa
ton. cach State Of ffs IN S ." ,s'aa-
pen,!en, sovcreignfv, with nil-the ri1hts and
powers OF Independents nations. They are
equally SO now with regard to all the rights
and powers not delegated to the Federal
| Government. N1nling but the mnnsIrons
superstition that this is consolidated, and
not n federaiive Government, could excuse
our petitions for tho abolition CT an evil
which has no existence with ns, which is re-
mote from US, which exists only in distant
sister States, whose citizens alone have any
RIGHT to touch or Interfere withit.
Slavery in this country was entirely a
domestic question. Congressl could not
te;,ch it. The States in which slavery was
still tolerated had never, even by implica-
ton, given up any portion of their eyciu-
sive power over the whole subject. They
could not, with any regard to their own
safety, permit it to be drawn into question
by their sister States, or by thesGencrai Go
vernrnent 1t was not subject open 10
d scussi n with view to Legislation any
where bat in the States recognising and
suffering the existence # slavery nor could
Congress, in his opinion, either cons'it'i-
tinnalv, or consistently with the public
faith, abolish il in the District Of Columbia,
unless the people Of the District desired If,
and peti,ianed for it. The District was ce
ded to Congress by the States of Virginia
aud Maryland, OH the condition that the
rights of private property, as before exist
ing, were TO be held sacred and the Uniiea
States received the cessinn upon that con-
di'ion. The power granted 10 Congress to
.'exercise exclusive legislation, III all cases
whatsoever, over the District" conferred no
authority to violate the public faith, or TO
take from its inhabitants their property with
out thei, consent. 1t simply and clearly
meant that Legislative powers could be exer-
cised by no other body than Congress- over
the District Ittneant no more. 1t did not
mean that Congress could pass any law die
mtcd by its arbitrary will and pleasure, in
violation Of the right of property, or of any
other right asserted in the acts of cession To
the United States. If Maryland and Virsi
MIA had imagined that this question would
have been raised, thew would never have
ceded the District. He was no friend to
slavery. He reprobated every appearance
Of it. Though born in a slave State, he
had, when at the age of nineteen, left the
roof of his father, refused The offer of slave
property made to him, and as decidedly re-
fused to receive the proceeds of the sale of
such property. lie bad, on two or three oc-
easions, subscribed money for the cmancipa-
ton Of individual slaves. He had, when a
member of the Convention hv which the
Constitution OF Michigan was formed, intro
diccd the resolution against slavery, and
reported the article which was unanimously
adopted into that Constitution, declaring that
"nelther slavery nor involuntary sefvitude
should ever be introduced into the State,
except for crimes of which the party shi II
have been daily convicted" His own skirts
were free from the imputed sin of slavery;
but he was not, because opposed TO domestic
slavery, justified in engaging in an uncon-
crusade against the Southern and
distant sister States of Michigan, for tnlcra-
ting an evil which they did not consider as
such, which was en,aicd upon them, and
which the compact Of union recognised
their right to toler,tte and to endure
Dir. N. was not justified in urging Con-
gress 10 violate that sacred compact, to put
an end to the peace and integrity Of the |
Uniou, for the suppression of an alleged |
moral sin, from which he and his fellow
citizens Of Michigan were entirely exempt, |
and for which they were i'm nowisc more re- |
sponsible than they were for the Impressions |
urIsicr which Trio suit oots of Great Britain |
in India or Ireland suffered and efoanea. |
1t was only upon the absurd assumption that
The General Government was a consolidated
National Government. possessing all power
within and over the States, that any inter-
ference on its part in this subject could be |
contemplated.
lie had no hesitation in affirming that
s,;cn an idea had never seriously entered
the minds of the trainers ofshe Constitution.
and that any interference of the kind would
extinguish all hope of the perpetuation of
the Union. And what would the abolition
ISIS gain by Il result so disastrous to their
efforts? Sir, NOT a slave would they eman-
cipate. Their fanatical exertions would
throw back for fifty years every hope of
emancipation. Dsunion, dissen,ion, and
civil war,would ensuc. And would then in
that case take up arms to wage war upon
the South? Would they enter the armies
of the North, even to defend its soil against
Southern aggression? Wonld the non-com-
blatant clergy, the feeble women aud chill