The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1843-11-02
MR.. ADAMS ADDRESS TO HIS CONSTITU-
ENTS

ENTS.
Mr.. Adams" the old man eloquent" as his
admirers delight TO term him--is out again with
an address to his constituents, dated October
2fih, and occupying four closely printed co
lumns in small type, of the New York Express
The burden of his song is, of course, negro
slavery in the Southern States.
We do not think that any reader of this ad-
dress would pronounce the writer of it mad, un.
less for his sudden DEPRESSION, at the close Of it,
from slavery TO astronomy (sic itur dd 0stra)
and the vote of thanks which he recommends to
all royal and imperial patrons Of that science,
from the Ptolemies of Egypt and Alexander
OF Macedon, not Of Monmouth from julius
Cesar to the Arabian Calphs, Haroun AL Ras-
enid, Almamon and Almanzor, from Aphonso
OF CASTLE 10 Nicholas the presen, Emperor of
all the Russlas." There is too much method in
this, As 10 all his addresses, too clo.e an adhe-
renee TO settled design, too much deliberate
and astute Justification. He is always able to
re-word his matter, which madness would gam
Dol FROM" II he be mad, he is mailman of
the most dangerous sort-one of those untirng,
enihu .lastlc fanatics who ma0age, unless arrest
ed, TO communicate their madness and eUlhus-
asm, 10 multitude and his friends, instead of
ARE ting him, seem to glory in his displays of
eloquence and logic We every day behold
FRI sh roofs Of the progress which he is making
and Governors of States are becoming his dis
ciples and tools, and re-echOing his sentiments
at length in their messages
His present address contains an elaborate at
tack on the Constitution yet he disclaims any
tenlon 10 lncul ate The trainers of that instru-
ment, though he expressly charges them with
having "made a compact with Lucifer" He
says:
In this Constitution ordained and established to Sc
cure TO themselves and their posterty the blessings
oil Lpery, while they avoided, with iastidous scru-
pies OF purity, every expression which might to
acknowledge, even by application, the awiuness of
slavery, they made compact with Lucifer, not only
by The clanoestne submission 10 slavery but by
Eliminating the Constitution itself, with an enormous
representation Of property acquired by crime, under
the name Of persons.
Fellow -citizens-et me not be misunderstood.
Far be 1t from me to charge fraud, fasehood, or
hypocrisy either upon the people Of the United States,
or upon any member of that Convention over which
George Washington presided, and Of which Benja-
min Franklin was member The ardent aspirations
OF both those men for the abolition of slavery through
out the world, attested by multiplied evidence
under their own hands
j charge no fraud or falsehood upon them or any
Of their associates. The African slave trade was
then, though odious, every where lawful.
And although more odious IN the Union than in
any other part of the world yet by of those
promises to which l have already alluded, for the
space OF twenty years from that time that odious
traffic was authorized by that very constitution
Twenty years of time required for the slave
holder to make up his mind to practice the princ-
pies OF virtue and OF liberty. Twenty years they
were to be INDUCED IN the practice of those Crimes
upon condition that at the end Of that time they would
turn themselves 10 virtue and TO freedom.
The distinction which Mr.. Adams attempts
10 draw between assailing the trainers Of the
Con, tuition, and vilifying the work of their
hands, is somewhat too refined for common I'M
derstandiogs. Certainly those who make
compact with Luciier" must be chargeable
either with wickedness, or with gross folly
and it would be as difficult TO establish the one
charge, as the the other, against such men as
George Washington and Benjamin Franklin
The man whose conscience reproaches him for
living under a Constitution framed bv such men,
is too pure for this EARTH he should be trans
lated to The heavens at once, and placed IN the
armament 10 the middle of the milky way.
But Mr. Adams gives rather questionable
proof Of purity in the passage here extracted, by
deliberately nditing what he knows 10 be a
falsehood IL was not for the benefit of the
slave holder, but of the slave trader that the
odous traffic was authorized. Mr. Adams is
too well acquainted with the history our country
TO be able to plead ignorance of the fact--often
Southern coonsts had always been strongly
opposed 10 the introduction OF slaves, but were
compelled by the mother country TO submit TO IT,
against their urgent and continual remOn-
slrances and petitions, in order TO favor the
New England slavc-trader. This was urged
by the Southern colonsts as one of the grew
auces iuslfying the Revolution. The traffic was
carried on chiefly, if not wholly, by certain men
in New England. They amassed wealth by
it, which their defendants are now enjoying.
They clung greedry to "the odious traffic" I'M
Ill the last moment that the law alowed-and
even much later, in defiance of law. Even so
late as the year 1884, an individual formerly n
Senator IN Congress, from New England. pre-
scented claims to the Board Of Commissioners
undr the Convention Of Indemnify with
France, for cargoes of slaves captured by the
French.
We think that any man is justly liable to the
charge Of "fraud, falsehood, or hypocrisy
who, in the lace Of these undeniable facts, seek:
to iasten the odium of the slave traffic excu
svely upon the People of the South. His own
countrymen undertook all the labor, practised
all the cruelty, witnessed all the suffering incl
dent 10 the "odious traffic" and resped the
enormous profits of IT. 1t so happened that by