The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-06-20

CySOl atCi oStAoass ~ Ss'S ASoOfsssANn eseOH,
ted by the majority ofthe House Of Re-
presentatives Of Kentucky, and, whether
# elected President, either would 60 into
office determined to veto any bill that
might be passed by Congress for the. .abo-
lition of slavery in the District Of Colum-
bia, or in any onetor more Of the States,
On the 10th of April las, the letter adr
dressed to General Harrison by the Cen
trail Committee, was delivered INTO bus
own hands by Messrs. Chambers and Van
Buskirk; and the reply of the General
was, that "nothipg could, induce him TO
answer such interrogatories, coming from
either friends or foes"
Mr.. Van Buren Immediately on the re-
ception of the letter of Central Commit
tee, which was dated Louisville, April
2, ls4O," replied as follows:
WASHINGTON, April 2lst, 1910.
'GEsrIEMEN:-I have received your
letter of the I'd inst, and cheerfully com
DIV with your request. You have inad-
vertently fallen into an error, in supposlng
that the questions propounded to me by
the Hon. Sherrod Williams, in 1886, en-
braced the subject of Abolition. My
views and opinions in regard to it were,
however, communicated to the people of
the United States, in reply to letter re-
ceivcd in the same year, from Junius
Amis, Esq, and other citizens Of North
Carolina, and also through other channels.
Perceiving that cannot do justice to your
inquiries in the form which you have given
to them, by general reference to the
answers have heretofore given, will
repeat the substance Of them.
First: That the relation of Master and
Slave, is a matter which belongs excla-
s;vely toeach State within its own.boun-
dary,-that Congress has no authority to
interfere, in any respect whatever, with
the emancipation of the slaves, or in the
treatment of them in any of the States;
and that any attempt to do so by the 60
vernment or people Of any other State,
or by the General Government; would
not only be unauthorized, but violate the
spirit Of the compromise, which lies at the
basis of the Federal Compact; and which
is binding in honor and good faith on all
who live under the protection of the Fede-
raj Constitution, and participate in its be-
neGts. This doctrine is in strict conformi-
ty to the principle embodied in a Resolu-
ton passed by the House Of Representa-.
tives of the United States, 1890, upon
the report of a Committee, consisting al
most entirely of northern men.
Secondly: That conceding to Congress,
the abstract power of interfering with, or
aboiishing slavery in the District of Co
lumbia, under the broad grant of exclu-.
sive legislation in all cases Whatsoever ever
that District, there are, nevertheless, OBJ
iections to the exercise of this power
against the wishes Of the slave holding
States, as imperative in their nature and
obligation, in regulating the conduct of
public men, as the most palpable want of
constitutional power would be-
Thirdly: That | desired the people of
the United States then to understand,
that, if elected, would go into the Pre-
sidential chair the infexible and uncom-
primising opponent of any attempt on the
part of Congress to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia, against the wishes
of the s|avcholding States; and also with
a determination equally infexible, to re-
sist the slightest interference with the sub
iect in the. States where it exists.
The Twenty-Fourth Congress, whose
constitutional term expired at the moment
when mine, as President, commenced,
had avowcd its belief that it was "ex-
tremely important and desirable that the
agitation of the subject of slavery should
be finally arrested, for the>purpose of re-
storing tranquility to. the public mind,'
and made it the basis of exclusive and de-
bera.e action in both Houses. In the
House of Representatives, Committee
IA majority Of whom were from non-slave.
holding States) reported, pursuant to in
structions, two resolutions; the first was
-" that Congress possess no constitutional
power to interfere in any way with the
institution Of slavery in any of. the States
of the 'confedcracy;" the second, "That
Congress ought not to interfere in any way
with slavery in the District of Columbia;'
and third, which was, in substance, that
all papers and motions bearing upon the