Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1839-03-05
ooLUMBUs, (ntI) TUEsDN, MARCH ), 1889.

~ COuSiQSfdte man Ia the CO0Htf1OicraHs Il
" to pause, and deliberately to rect, not
merely on our existing posture, ID upon
that dreadful precipice down wblT they |
would hurry US. Il is because lese I'll! |
tra-abolitionists have ceased Uemploy
the instruments Of reason and psuasishs |
have made their cause political, IA have
appealed to the ballot box, that lam ID. |
duced, upon this occasion, to addDss you!
There have been three epoch ii the
history of our country al which u spirit
Of abolition displayed ITSELF TIE first
was Immediately after the formati0 of the
present Federal Government. When
the Constitution was about going ito ope.
ration, its powers were not vel under
stood by the community at large, ind re-
NAMED to be accurately Interpret and
defined. AT that period numeros aboh.
ton societies were formed, composing not
merely the Society of Friends, BIT many
other good men. Petitions were present.
ed to Congress, praying for the abolition Of
slavery.--~They were received without
serious opposition, referred, ana reported
upon by a committee. The report stated
that the General Government had no
power to abolish slavery as it existed in
the several States, and that these states
themselves had exclusive jurisdiction over
the subject. The report was generally
acquiesced in, and satisfaction and IRAN
guilty ensued; the abolition soceties
thereafter limited their exertions, III re.
spect to:he black population, to Offices of
humanity within the scope of exbting
laws.
The next period when the subject Of
slavery, and abolition incidentally, was
brought into notice and discussion, was
that of the memorable occasion of the
admission Of the State of Missouri into
the Union. The struggle was long, strenu.
Gus and fearful. 1t is too recentto make it
necessary to do more than merely advert
to it, and to say, that it was finally CON-
posed by one of those compromises char
acteristic Of our institutions, and of
which the Constitution itself is the most
signal instance.
The third is that in which we now find
ourselves. Various causes, Mr.. Presi.
dent, have contributed TO produce the ex.
listing excitement on the subject Of aboh+
ton. The principal one, perhaps, is the
example of British emancipation of the
slaves III the islands adjacent TO our coun.
try.-Snch is the similarity in laws, In
Language, in institutions, and in common
origin, between Grea! Britain and the
United States, that no great measure OF
national policy can be adopted in the one
country without producing considerable
degree Of influence in the other. Con-
founding the totally different cases togeth-
er, Of the powers of the British PaFlia-
ment and those Of the Congress of the
United States, and the totally different
situations of the British West India Is.
lands, and the slaves in the sovereign and
independent States Of this Confedeacy,
superficial men have inferred from the un.
decided British experiment the practica.
biiity Of the abolition Of slavery of these
States. The powers of the British Par.
lament are unlimited. and are often de-
scribed to be omnipotent.-Fhep powers Of
the American Congress, on the contrary,
are few, cautiously limited, scrupulously
Excluding all that are not granted, and,
above all, carefully and absolutely exclu.
ding all power over the existence or con.
tinuance of slavery in the several States.
The slaves, too, upon which the British
legislation operated, were not in the bo.
som of the kingdom, but IN remote and
feeble colonies having no voice in Parlia.
ment. The West India STAKEHOLDER was
neither represented nor representative in
that Parliament. And whilst most fer.
ventiy wish complete success to the Brit.
ish experiment of West India emancipa.
ton, confess that have fearful forebo.
dings Of a disastrous termination Of it.
Whatever it may be, think it must be
admitted that, if the British Parliament
treated the West India slaves as freenlen
, it also treated the West India freemen as
) slaves If, instead of these slaves being
separated by wide ocean from the paren
} country, three or four millions of Afri
f can negro slaves had been dispersed. ovel
England, Scotland, Wales. and Ireland
j and their owners had been members o
j the British Parliament-a case which
would have presented some analogy K
) that of our own countfy-does any ont
believe that il would have been expedion
. or practicable to have emancipated them
| leaving them to remain, with all their EN-
. FILTERED feelings, in the United Kingdom
. boundless as the powers of the Britisl
. Parliament, aFe4 sgssAask
{ Il Other causes have conspiFed with tn
& Britishaexample to produces the existing