The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-10-30

10 their meeting the issue boldly.
A Southern friend writes us;
'The question here (Alabama) is about MI
Calhoun, most Of the Young LAWYERS and large
planters, saying he Is the man TO lead the South
In the present awful crisis. | am very conf.
dent our people would no, care n fig about
slavery, If we did not fear being overrun with
Therefore, they go for extension of territory
But am afraid of Mr.. Calhoun and his views
us don't see how, IL we give.up to Congress the
right to make,we don't at the same time &C now l.
edge II has the rightto undo, and to destroy oul
great legal deiencc--the supreme power Of thu
otate over slavery. II appears to me Southern
men cannot abandon this ground. | fear thi
issue, and wish he were safely out Of it,
know many planters who are seriously alarmed
and really do not know what TO do.'
The movements in South Carolina are going
on. The Baltimore American says, ''the Caro-.
linians at their meetings rreak themselves upon
expression, and resolve with great fervor'
Barnwel district proposes lI-to exclude the
ships and commerce of the North from the
ports Of South Carolina. If that will not do
IL demands the "final remedy I5-that il be
applied forthwith. The first is called the high.
er means''-the second is"war." Hear
Resolred, That II milder means should fai
TO repel these assaults upon us, we stand pre-.
pared TO adopt the higher, suggested in the re-
port; and IL that should fail, We stand prepared
to throw the responsibility on our assailanrs
and to take tho final remedy into our own hands
without fear that We in the end will be the great
est sufferers.
A Kentucky correspondent says:
"Yours is not political paper, but you can
do Justice TO political men. Mr.. Clay has been
much censured for his vote and action on the
Missouri Compromises Southerner, born and
brought up-I have ever defended him on the
very ground stated by you-that slavery was a
local institution-that the Congress of the
United States had no power TO create it-that
because it was local, Missouri had the right to
Mr. Clay well, and | tell you cannot conceive
of his defending slavery. or going for it's extern
sion, and only wish lie would come out boldly
with his sentiments, and tell the world what he
does think. If be would, old Hal would stand
higher than he ever stood, and do for his coun-
try what no other man could. Please publish
the following from the distinguished editor OF
the Cincinnati Atlas"
The position Of Mr.. CLAY, in lSl9-20, on the
question Of admitting Missouri into the Union
as slave State, has been greatly inexperienced
by some, and grossly misrepresented by others,
who knew, or ought TO have known, his true
relations TO that question. We have seen 1t
charged that Mr.. CLAY, by the great influence
he eNerted in procuring the adoption of the
Missouri compromise, thereby did more than
any statesman of the country, to extend slavery.
This is an assertion altogether anwarrantable;
and we therefore proceed to place his position In
It's true light before our readers.
The territory of Louisiana, Of which Mis-
souri, was part, was acquired by purchase from
France, by Treaty, April 30, 1903. This terri
tory had previously belonged TO Spain, by which
power il was ceded to France Sanctioned by
the laws of both Spain and France, slavery ex-
listed in the territory at the time and long be-
fore its cession to the United States. Vested
rights, social relations, and political interests
had grown up uncer the establishment of slave
~ therein, which could not be disturbed or abb
rogated, without producing terrific commissions
and probably civil war.
BIZ the Third article Of the Treaty of cession,
the United States came under obligations to
France and the inhabitants of the territory, as
follows:
The inhabitants Of the coded territory shall
be incorporated in tine Union Of the United
States. and admitted as soon as possible accord
ing to the principles Of the Federal constitu-
ton. TO the enjoyment Of all the rights, advan-
tares and immunities Of citizens Of the United
States"
The Constitution Of the United States, Art. 6,
says:
This constitution, and the laws Of the Uni
ted States. which shall be mad. in pursuance
thereof, and oil treaties mdde, or uAich shall be
made, under the authority of the United States,
shall b. the supreme igr Of the land"
On the effect Of a treaty by which territory
may be acquired to the United States. an au-
thoritatye exposition has teen set forth. as fol-
lows:
''In cases Of confirmation or cession by treaty,
tho acquisition becomes firm and stable; and
the ceded territory becomes part of the nation,
TO which il is annexed, either on terms stipua-
ted ia the treaty, or on such as its new master
shall impose. The reirtioas OF The inhabitants
nth each other do rot chang; but their relations
with their former sovereign are dissolved; and
new relations are created between them and
their new sovereign. The act transferring the
country, transfers the allegiance Of its inhabi-
tants. But the general laws, not strictly poiti-
cal, remain, as they were. until altered by the
new sovereign. II the heufy stipulafes, that
they shall ENJOY the privileges, rights and immu-
MITES Of the citizens of the United States, the
treaty, as a part Of the land, becomes obligatory
in these respects. 81, Story's Commentaries on
the Constitution, 1874.
The treaty BY which the United States ac-
CURED the territory Of Louisiana, having the
force Of the supreme law OF the land, and stipu-
lating for the incorporation Of its inhabitants
into the Union on the principles of the Federal
which expressly admitted other
slave States and provided for the admission Of
new States, Mr.. Clay thought the restriction at
tempted to be imposed on Missouri. an infrac-
lion Of the treaty and the constitution lie
therefore advocated her admission into the
Union. as nm independent State, not because he
desired the extension Of slavery, but because
The was entitled TO admission under the treaty
md the constitution. Nor was her admission
IN act extending slavery; for il already existed
here and could only be abolished by the inhabi-
ants On the contrary, the act Of admission
expressly provided that, in all the territory OF
Louisiana north Of 36 deg. 30 min., missouri
,xcepted) slavery or involuntary servitudc, ex-
,ept for crime, should be forever excluded. SO
ar then, from the Missouri compromise exfend-
NO slavery, Il restricted lis eiiension: for no
me can doubt, that slavery might have been le-
Ultimately extended TO all the territory Of Lou
sians, north ms well as south Of the compro-
Mise line of &c deg 30 min, but for the restric-
ion imposed and enforced under the act admit
ing Missouri
Nor il this all. Mr.. CLAY, pending the agita-
ion Of the question, advised Mr.. Scorr, the
Delegate in Congress from Missouri, TO 60 home
md get In the Convention for framing the State
aad endeavor to establish system
rrsdual emancipation, similar to that by which
pennsylvania had been relieved Of the foul blot
# slavery, and which he himself endearored to
stablish in Kentucky in 1879.
How any one can represent Mr.. CLAW to have
cen, or to be, under any circumstances favor
bile to the extension Of slavery Into territories
where It docs not exist, when his recorded opin-
ops and acts proves the reverse, passes oil COM
,rehensiou. EXCEPT in the view that some men