The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1844-02-05

prcpriae foundation FOR thenne slave states as large
as Kentncky'' ..t.,
1t after the PRONUNCIATION of this Constilu-
ton that the great movement made uponC ongress
obtain recognition Of Texan Independence which
finally resulted US have shown in smuggling thro'
Congress at the last horn of Gen Jackson's admins
tration appropriation for the outfit and salary OF
a minister to that country And then came the for-
NAL application through the Texan Minister, for nd
mission into Coufederacy with the presentation TO
Congress OF numerous petitions of slave holders, and
resolutions of the Legislatures of savcholdng States.
in favor Of the solicited admission. ..
From among the evidences OF the con-
nued operation ut this period of the motive FOR an
nrxation 10 which have referred, select the fol-
lowing:
The Mobile Advertiser held the following Ian
suuge,
'''Ths South wish to have Texas admitted into tho
Union E'r two reasons; First. 10 equaiizs the South
Icih the North: and, secondly, ms n convenient and
snfs place. calculated, from its peculiar good soil and
saubrious climate, for II SlnUe population. Interest
and political safety both alike prompt the action and
enforce tho argument"
The following toast was about the same time given
at public meeting Of distinguished men at CoIum-
ba, South Carolina.
"TExAs. If united to our government as a State.
il will prove invaluable acquisition the South
States and ;hcir domestic irsttiuioHs.'
From among the resolutions OF State Legisntures,at
this period, in favor OF annexation take tho follow
ing from Mississippi as a specimen:
"Rcsolred that the annexation Of Texas TO this
Republic is essential the future safety and repose
Of the Southern States Of this Confectionery"
The report Of the Committee who reported this
resolution 10 the Legislature contains the following
remarkable passage:
"The Northern States have interests of their
own which require any special safeguards for their
defence, only their domestic manufacturers; and
God knows they have already received proiec-
ton from government most liberal scale, under
which encouragement they have improved and Sour
ishcd beyond example The South has rery pecu-
iir Interests TO preserre; interests already violently
assaled, and boldly threatened. Your COMMITTEES
fully persuaded that this protection her hest in
ierests will be afforded by the annexation of Texas
An equipose Of influence in the Halls OF Congress
will be secured which will furnish US a permanent
guaranty Of protection"
Thus we see protection to sldrery claimed as
compensation for protection 10 free labor; and that
not by maintaining the right Of the States to perper
nate slavery within their limits. by according to
them the right of defending it, rs best they may,
gainst the moral power of redeemed and purified
Christianity; but by dismembering foreign country
introducing into it, slavery from our own-makng
it perpetual by the Constitution-and then adding the
whoe-terrtory, slavery Constitution and ALL to this
Repuhc!
Such was the scheme, and such the motives.-~
The project then failed of accomplishment; but az
we have seen, not Abandoned; for, to nothing
has the slave power chung with tenacity than
this The purpose of the great movement SO fully
disclosed in the Mississippi Report. has been. since,
strkingly manirested in a speech Of Mn WIsE
delivered in Congress, in January 1912, from which
I make short extract.
In considering the subject ofthe equation of power
between freedom and slavery, which, it seems, must
be maintained at all hazards, Mir WISE said:
'If Iowa he added to the side, Florida will
bs added on the other. Bot there the equation must
stop. Let one more Northern Staro be admitted. and
the equilibrium is gonc--gone forever. The balance
OF interest is gone,the safeguard of American prop
erty, Of the American Constitution Of the American
Union, vanished into thin air This must be the in
evitable result, unless by treaty with Mexico the
South add more tccigM 10 her end Of the Ierer-
Let the South stop nj the Sabine while the North may
spread, unchecked, beyond the Rocky Mountains,
and the Southern scale must kiekthe BEAM
Here stands forth the whole purpose, undisyused.
And what a purpose Texas to be united 10 this Con
federacy to reinforce slavery in IFS contest with free
dom! The Constitution gone-the Union gone, when
the "equiiibrium" between freedom and slavery 10
gone.-us though that equilibrium essential
element Of tho Consttution-the corner stone Of this
Republic. Why, the truth is, there never should
have been an ''equiibrium'' between freedom and
slavery in this ConGedaracy: and there would
have been, but for violation of the Constitution in
the addition of slave States from territory not within
original limits. That has made equilibrium
which did not exist when the Constitution form
edthe proportion OF slave to free States, being them
but as sir TO seren And who then thought that sid-
rcry would continue to exist in my of the States to-
the end of half century. half Of half century
from that time /? What Consideration would have
seized the Convention that formed the Constitution,
had it been revealed them that Slavery would sur
vive the first half century of our existence, -and
much more, that the hundred thousand slaves
should, at the termination of that period, have in
creased TO too millions and three quarersthe NUM-
Der Of slave states from SIR to thirteen, and the
Der Of Representatives upon the STARE basis none TO
twenty FIVE! And whut would have been the sensa-~
ton in Tirgnia could it have been foreseen that.at