Southern Argus. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1834-1842, 1840-06-16

fNnohltOu on ArCns A1dfElSOH CONSISTS.
l. OF piece Of letter which they sav he
wrote IN le22 to Cincinnati paper, wherein
he alleges that he was member of an Adolf
ton society, at the age Of eighteen, IN the city
OF Richmond, Virginia. Whether Gen. Har.
rlson ever wrote such letter, and if he did,
what was the character OF the society of which
he was member, we have not the means of
knowing. One thing, However, is certain,
that old Gey. Ben. Harrison, and the Revolu-
tionary Fathers in Virginia would never have
permitted the establishment of any society at
Richmond, which was considered obectona-
bic and dangerous to the peace of the State,
much more have suffered their boys to become
members of it. The story is absurd on its
very face.
z II is alleged that m speech delivered at
Cheylot, in Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1888.
Gen. Harrison said it had long been an object
near his heart TO appropriate the surplus reve-
nue. for the emancipation and colonization Of
the slaves, prorided, the owners of the slaves
would sanction such measure. Well Gen
eral Harrison did say this, but all else that he
said on the occasion in reference to slavery and
abolition, his candid and honorable opponents
studiously conceal The fact is, the speech
was one of the strongest aiai-abolition speech
es ever delivered. Here it is, or rather, all
that portion of it relating to abolition, and we
ask the candid attention of honest men of all
parties to it:
Extract from General HarriSoa'S Speech al
CheuiOt, Ohio, july 4th 1888.
"There is, however, a subject now begin
ming to agtate them, 0he Southern States in
relation to which, if their alarm has any foun-
dation, the relative situation in which they
may stand to some of the States, viii be the
very reverse to what il now is. allude to a
supposed disposition in some individuals in the
non-slaveholding States to interfere with the
slave population of the other States, for the
purpose of forcing their emancipation. ] do
not can Your attention TO this subject, fellow
citizens, from the apprehension that there is a
man amongst you who will lend his aid to a
project so pregnant with mischief; and still
less that there is State in the Union which
could be brought to give it countenance. But
such are the feelings of our Southern brethren
upon this snbject-such their views, and their
just views of the evils which an interference
Of thus kind would bring upon them, that long
before it would reach the point of receiving the
sanction OF State, the evil of the attempt
would be consummated, as far as we are con-
cerned, by dissolution ofthe Union. If there
is any principle of the constitution of the Uni
ted States less disputable than any other It is,
that the slave populationi is under the exclusive
control of the States which possess them. If
there is any measure likely to riyet the chains,
and blast the prospects of the negroes for
emancipation, 1t is the interference of unau-
thorized persons. Can any one who is ae-
quainted with the operations of the human
mind doubt this! We have seen how FESTIVE
our Southern brethren have been from a sup
posed violation of their political rights. What
must be the consequence of an acknowledged
violation of these rights, (for every mar of
sense must admit it to be SOL conioined with
an insulting interference with their domestic
concerns!
"Shall be accused of want of feeling for
The slaves, by these remarks A further ex-
animation will elucidaie the matter. Itake it
for granted that no one win say, that either
the Government of the United States, or those
of the Notwithstanding States, can interfere
in any way with the right of property in the
slaves. Upon whom, then, are the efforts of
the misguided and pretended friends of the
slaves TO operate? 1t must be either on the
governments of the slaYe-holding States, the
individuals who hold them, or upon the slaves
themselves. And what are to be the argu-
ments, what the means by which they are to
influence the two first of these? Is there man
vain enough to go to the land of Madison, of
Macon, and of Crawford, and tell them that
they either DO not understand the principles
Of the moral and political rights of man, or that
understanding, they disregard thenla Can
they address an argument to the interest or
fears oft the enlightened population of the slave
states that has not occurred 70 themselves a
| thousand and thousand timesl To whom,
then, are they to address themselves, but TO
the slaves And what can be said to them,
that will not lead to an indiscriminate slaugh-
ter of every age and sex, and ultimately to
their own destruction Should there be an
incarnate devil, who las imagined with ap-
| probation, such a catastrophe to his fellow.
citizens as have described, .let him look tc
the result to those for whose bencfith would
produce it. Particular sections of the country
may be laid waste, all the crimes that infuria-
ted man. under the influence of all the black
passions of his natWe, can commit, may be
lperpetrated for a season; the tides Of the
ocean, however,will not more certainly change
than that the flood of horrors will be arrested
and turnedupon those who may get it in mo-
ton.
81 viii not stop to enquire into the motive.
of those who are engaged in this fatal AM
unconstitutional project. There may be som,
who have embarked in it without properl,
considering its consequences, and who ar,
actuated by benevolent and virtuous princi
pies. But, If such there are, ! am very cerfaii
that, should they continue their present course
their fellow-citizcns viii ere long, "curse tn
, virtues which have undone their country
Should be asked if there is no way b
which the General Gov eminent can aid tn
cause Of emancipation answer, that it ha
long been an object near my heart to see tn
: whole Of Its surplus revenue appropriated {
that object. With the sanction of the State
5 holding the slaves, there appears to me TO b
no constitutional objection to its being thu
applied embracing not only the colonizatio
of those that may be otherwise freed, but th
purchase of the freedom of others. By a yea
Gus prosecution of a plan formed upon that ba
sis, we might look forward to a day, not YER
4 distant, when North American sun woul
not look down upon slave To those VIII
S have rejected the plan Of colonization, woul
ask, if they have well weighed the consequer
ces OF emancipation without it How lon
would the emancipated negroes remain satisf
q ed with that Would any of the Souther
: States then (the negroes armed and organized
be able to resist their CLAIMS to participate
q in all their political rights? Would it eve
I stop there Would they not claim admittanc
5 to all the social rights and privileges of con
munity in which, in some instances, they Won
: compose the maiorityg Let those who tai
! pleasure in the contemplation Of such seen,
y as must inevitably follow, finish out the pi
q ture.
$, "If ] am correct in the principles here Al
e vanced, | support my assertion, that the di
81 lcsleslOn on fhp snhiacf Of characterization IN II