Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1838-06-12


State Rights party Of the South, IN oppo.
sing Mr.. Van Buren,, were OBLIGED to
make allusion to his sentiments, publicly
avOwed, ia relation e the right Of Con-
gress to abolish slavery in he District Of
Columbia and to legislate on the subject
The State Rights Party would not con-
cede that point, and strenuously denied
the right Of Congress to NEEDLE in the
least with the matter, and, in addition, urg-
ed that it would be palpable violation Of
goodfaith towards the States Of Maryland
and Virginia, ever to abolish slavery in
it, ITO Iegislate on the subject. They
also warned the public against the senti.
ments of Mr.. Van Buren,, and asserted
that if he should concede the right Of
Congress to legislate on the subject Of sla-
very inthe District of Columbia, the whole
subject would be laid open to discussion,
to the great injury Of the slave holding
States; that It would give an impetus to the
friends Of abolition--increase their num-
bers and load the tables of Congress with
thousands Of their incendiary petitions.
The people now see the correctness OF
the prophecy. To convince the reader
that we are stating facts, in relation to Mr..
Van Buren, and his friends, we quote from
an article in the Columbus Democrat of
April, 1886:
We believe that Congress has the
same right to legislate on the subject Of
slavery in the District of Columbia, that
the States have within their respective ter.
ritories. This opinion is founded upon
the following clause of the Constitution
Congress shall have power-.To exercise
eTelESiUe Legislation In all cases lOhatSoeu.
er, over such district (not exceeding ten
miles square) as may by session Of par
ticular States, and the acceptance of Con
gress become the seat of Government O
the United States. -
1t is true they objected to the exercise Of
The right By Congress, but the mischiei
was done,-they CONCEDED THE
POINT for which we were contending
and we are now reaping the disastrous re.
suits, which were long ago foretold by US.
Let US now enquire what those results are.
They are simply these :-Anti-slavery So
cieties are springing up in the North by
hundreds-newspapers have been estab-
lished to advocate the cause, and the Van
Buren, newspapers, who believe with Their
leader in the right of Congress to legislate
on the subject of slavery, but, who go 3
little farther and demand the right, are ii
full cry in favor of the incendiaries, no
ping to secure their votes in favor of thc
administration and, connecting the sub
ect of abolition with the political discus
sions of the slave States, the Van Blu
rem press are favoring its agitation amongs
US, thus encouraging the Abolitionists il
their mad and unholy career. We ex
tract from the abolition paper, the New
York Emancipator, the following, in rela
ton to the late election in this State:
MIss1ssIpPI.-At the late election 70
members of Congress in Mississippi, the
whole state seems to have been profound
ly agitated with the subject of abolition
The papers were full of it. The demo
cratic papers charged Mr.. Prentiss, tn
opposition candidate, who is a New Eng
land man, with being an abolitionist, AM
adduced as evidence the courteous treat
ment that has been extended to abolition
lists by the Wing legislatures of the North
The Wing editors denied this, denounce,
abolition and all its kindred, and insiste,
that the other party were doing all III
mischief, by fundamentally agitating tn
subject. So, between them both, we hav
no doubt an impression has begun to b,
made, that may hereafter lead to impOr
tant events.