The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-09-26
EXTRACT FROM THE ADDRESS OF THE
HON.. THOs. ID. SUMTER,
TO HIS ONSTITUENTS.

HON.. THOs. d. SUMTER,
TO HIS CONS TlTUENTS.
Connected with all the questions that
have been discussed in Congress, at the
present session, has been the great absorb
Inv one, who shall be the ilext President
The Contest is an excited one and is no.
where more 50 than in the councils OF the
nation which ought to have nothing to DO
with it, and which cannot interfere wlthlt
without connecting it,wah their legislation.
Owing to this interference, Congress has
done but.little in the discharge of its duty
to the country and to individuals. Ilav-
ins formed decided opinion on this ques-
rion. will not hesitate now to express 1t,
justified as am in that course by the ex-
ample of older and wiser men than
myself. My honorable colleague. (Mr.
rhompson) and also the honorable Mr..
Preston, in their letters to my constituents
of Cheraw, state very confidently that
General Harrison is deeply pledged for
the South on the Abolition question:
This was news to me, and ] took especial
care to inform myself as to that matter.
Mr.. Preston says, in the letter referred to,
not less extraordinary is the advocacy of
a Missouri restrictionist against gentle
man who wore crown of ofmartyrdom on
that occasion in the maintenance OF South
ern nrights; who has suffered more than
any any man living in our cause and
who fought our battles in a remote region,
removed from the support of sympathy'
and without hope of reward" Again :
aOn the subject of Abolition, he sacrificed
his political career in maintaining the con-
stitutonal rights of the South"
wish to be cleared ofthe imputatlon
ofany ingratitude to him on the score of
his sacrifices for the South, and therefore
proceed to state what have ascertained
to- be the extent Of his claims to Southern
gratitude. o,.sl..
: In thefrst place, General Harrison was
not q memberof the 18th Congress during
which the Missouri battle was fought, and
Missouri Ultimately admitted on certain
conditions. He was a member of the
18th Congress; at the second session Of
which, the first proposition was made tor
the admission Of Missouri into the Union,
on an equal f,oting with theorignalS States.
General Harrison then voted against the
clause prohibiting the further introduction
of slavery or involuntary servitude into the
State. 8. But the bill was lost at that ses-
sion by a disagreement between the two
Houses the House of Representatives
having insisted upon the restriction.
Y It appears from this, that General Har-
r;son, when the subject was first brought
forward and before it had become con-
neeted with political and sectional excite
mentfollowed the impulses Of his feelings
&siudgnent IN voting with the South. But,
afterhe left Congress, and while the ques-
tiofi was undecided and agitating the u
MON, and serving as a rallying point for all
the enemies Of Southern institutions, he |
Welded tothe storm that was raging around
him, and, consented to the sacrifice that
was demanded by ourcnemies. He made
ample amends to his political friends for
his aberratiun in the session lSlS-l9.-
The next year, before the Missouri ques-
ton was settled, General Harrison was in
the, Senate of Ohio, and there assisted in
maturing, and voted for January 8, ls20)
the,foaowmg preamble and resolutions:
,tsWhereas, the existence Of slavery In
our country has ever been deemed a great
moral and politicat euit, and in its tenden-
cysirecfiy calculated to impair our 71-
s.ofsdl character, and materially affect our
national happiness ); and inasmuch as the
extension Of slave population in the Uni,
ted States is fraught with the most fearful
consequences to the permanency and du.
rabitty of our republican institutions; and
whereas, the subject Of the admission OF
slavery IN the new State Of Missouri is at
thistimc before tiieC Congress Of the United
States; therefore
81 Resolved, That our Senators and Re- ,
presentives be requested to use their ut
most exeltions, and take every means to
prevent the extension of slavery within
the territory Of the United States west of
the Mississippi and the new States to be
formed within that territory, which the
Constitution, and the treaties made Under
il. will follow" -. ~