The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-06-20
the nart Of the Federal Executive, with

The m out in his Omclal dCtS, tdheIi lhCou-
nection with the known condition of the
congressional represe ntation of the seve-
raj States in regard to the slave question,
would, was thought, during the continu-
ance of his constitutional term, prevent
all agitation of the ubject before Con-
gress. The consequent certainty that
nothing could for years at least be accom-
plished in that way, would, it was hoped
present sufficient inducements to all who
were governed by conscientious motives,
to desist from presenting their memorials,
and leave all others without even Plausi-
BILE pretence for continuing to agltate the
subject in that form. No one could, 1t
was supposed, believe, that our Southern
brethren could be driven into peaceable
emancipation by the mere force Of aglta-
tion-by appeals to the fears of the mas
ter and the passions OF the s.ave-these
might indeed, if persisted in, draw after
them a servile, and probably civil war
with final dissolution Of the Union. At
tempts to expose our country tc such fear
fal hazards for no other asst ignable motive
than to harrass the slaveholding States, or
to subserve political purposes, would not,
it was confidently believed, be endured,
much less countenanced, by the Ameri-
can people. Partaking largely in the
general apprehension in regard to the fatal
effects of this baleful agltation-!laVng
seen enough to satisfy me that no clIclm-
stance so directly and inevitably tended to
impair the stability and interrupt the har-
monious action of our complicated Poltl-
cal system as the existence of doubt IN
the public mind concerning the action OF
the Federal Government upon this dis
turbing sincerely anxious to pro-
mote the commendable design of Con.
gress to restore tranquility to large and
uniformly patriotic portion Of tic Union
and deeming the subject to be of suffi-
cient importance to justify departure
from the ordinary usage of the Executive, !
embraced the first public occasion to re-
ier to the opinions l had expressed before
INV election, and declare, formally, that
no bill conflicting with those views could
ever receive my constitutional sanction.
Those opinions, and that determination,
have been greatly strengthened by subse-
queat experience and reflection. |
No one can doubt that the tendency Of
this species of agitation is, as your House
Of Representatives have very Justly OBJ
served, to "distuc5 the am;cable relations
subsising between the s!avcholding and
non-slaveholding States of this Union"
and it is not the least remarkable feature
in its history, that the means employed
are precisely those best calculated to de-
feat the avowed obj of its authors. 1t
is, to my mind, a most dangerous delu-
SION to believe that the people of the slave
holding States are likely to be induced to
change condition of things, over which,
under the Constitution, they alone have
the control, which they had no agency in
producing, and for the consequences of
which, whatever they may be, they can
not be Justly held responsible-which is
interviewer with their domestic relations
and political institu,ions-by charging its
existence upon them as crime against
God and man, against humanity and reh-
eion; or that to awaken the apprehenslons
of the master by appeals to the passions
of the slave, is the way to improve the
condition of the latter. All candid and
temperate observers must, on the con-
trarv, admit that such are not the means
by which salutary ends arc produced
that furious denunciations and unmitiga-
ted reproaches as little accord with Chris
tan charity as with brotherly love, and
are much more likely to produce resis-
tance than quiet acquiescence. These
truths are demonstrated in the results of
the labors of the Abolitionists in the Uni
ted States, which have hitherto been pro-
ductiye of nothing but evil, new restraints
upon the colored race, vexation to the
owner, and distraction to the councils Of
the nation. In reference, then, to such
practices as those to which you have called
my attention, can, as public man, find
the path of duty only in one direction
that Of undisguised opposition.
am, gentlemen,
Very respectfully,
Your ob't. servant,
M. VAN BUREN.
To Levi Tyler, Jacob Geiger, D. Merl-
xrotber and Thos 7 Read FSOs Gem