The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1840-04-25
From tho Saw. Telegraph

From tho Saw. Telegraph
We have been favored by Judge Berrien
with an answer regarding the letter OF
Gen. Harrison, on the subject of slavery.
We submit Judge Berrien's letter without
comment. We are anxious that every JUS
tice should be done Gen. Harrison, or any
of our political opponents, and hope to
see the following extensively copied, by
the journalists Of our party. Unavoidable
absence from our office yesterday, alone,
kept the letter from appearing in Que last
number.
SAVANNAH, sth April, 1910.
S1R,-I have delayed answering the call
made in your paper Of Saturday last, to
enable me to ascertain by an examination
of my papers, if had preserved the let.
ter to which it refers. After dlligent
search, have not been able to find 1t, and
believe, therefore, that it has been lost
Having, however, a perfect recollection
of its contents, 90 not feel disposed to
withhold the statement of them.
The letter embraced three points:
!. Gen. Harrison denied the right oi
Congress to abolish slavery in the States,
or in the District of Columbia
2. He expressed the opinion that the
Tariff compromise ought to remain undls-
tarbed.
3. He repudiated the practice of MAX
ing appointments to Office, the reward OF
partizan service.
This was the purport Of the letter. l
did not ask Gen. Ilarrison's opinion, be.
cause doubted it. Having been in inti-
mate intercourse with him for several
years, knew that his views were accor.
dant with my own. / am, respectfully,
JNo. MACPHERSON BERR1EN.
To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.
H We can assure our readers that it is
not with reluctance we publish the furego-
ing lettel. We are sincerely desil Gus
that the position in which General Harri-
son stands should be well defined and un-
derstood. We do not wish to act unj justly
towards man whom large number of
the citizens Of this country consider as
we'll qualified for the high station to which
he aspires: We must confess, however,
that we were not much disposed 10 publish
the letter Of Judge Berrien, because it dis
closes no new definition of the principles
of General, Harrison, and because the va-
riouS opinions o: the General, expressed
at variouS times, remain in the contradic.
tory condition they were before the letter
appeared. But the letter will 60 the
rounds of the whig presses, and, indef-
mite as it really is, much will be attempted
to be made of it. Let US see what ve can
make of the three points embraced in the
letter of General Harrison to Judge Ber-
rien.
Judge Berrien states that in his letter
Gen. Harrison denies the right Of Con-
gress to abolish slavery in the States, or
in the District of Columbia. We must
believe Gen. Harrison in this declaration,
indefinite as it is; bu. ne is for general
emancipation under form more obnox-
ious than tie one implied in his denial to
Judge Berrien. In his celebrated speech
delivered at Cheviot, on the 4th Of July,
1888, he says, "Should | be asked if
shere is no way by which the General
Government can aid the cause Of emanci-
patton, answer that it has long been an
object near my heart, to see the whole Of
its surplus revenue appropriated to that
object: With the sanction Of the states
holding the slaves, there appears 10 me to
be no Constitutional objection to its being
thus applied, embracing not only the CO.
lonization Of those that may be otherwise
freed, but the purchase Of the freedom Of
others. BY jealous prosecution Of
the plan formed upon that basis, we
might look forward to day, not far dis
tant, when North American Sun would
not look down on a slave" He here ad-
mits the constitutional power Of Congress
to abolish slavery by emancipation and
purchase. with the consent of the slave
holding STATES. 1t is clear to US that i'll
the General Government has the power to
emancipate the slaves by approprialing to
that effect the surplus revenue of the
country, ithas The power to abolish slave
where it exists, with or without the con.
sen: of the slave holding states. In the
lannuage of distinguished member Of
the Virginia legislature, this passage of
Gen. Harrison's peech, "discloses the
most dreadful proof Of the dispositions &
tendencies of his feelings and principles;
and presents the subject to the country in
the most e1ceptionable and alarming form.
If it be not characterized by that frenzied |