The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-08-26
From tie n. T. Glcha

lOlI "ltV ~ L SdSAo
It is is certainly news to Us that 10 Prov Hc
{" only demands that newly acquired territory
be kept open to the free emigrants from the
Northern and Southern States, instead Of BE-
ing reserved to slaves." Who has ever asked
that it should be " reserved to slaves? Have
the South Has any one No! Had the
Southern people sought to impose on Congress
the passage of a Proviso that slavery should
be established in all new territory that might
be annexed we should have opposed 1T more
strenuously than we have the Wilmot Provso.
But the South have asked no such thing
they have sought to impose no new restrlc-
1ions they only asked that the compromises
OF the Constitution aud the spirit Of conces-
sion and berality which entered into the or
eauization of our national compact, may be
observed and maintained. They do not ask
that the new territory shall be reserved to
slaves"
If the South do not ask that new territory
shall be reserved to slaves, why do they op-
pose proposition to secure FREEDOM to such
territory ? Why do they claim it as a " con-
stitutional right" that they shall enjoy unmo-
Tested the privilege of extending the peculiar
ms tuition" over new territory? This claim
is set up by Mr.. Calhoun and is boldly sup
ported by all the Southern Hospurs who fol-
low in his lead. And they threaten, in case
the North do not quietly acquiesce in their
policy of aggressive slavery, not only to dis
solve all political ties existing between the
North and the south, but even to dissolve the
Union itselsf.
Can the Globe, a northern journal and sur
rounded by the nestimable blessings Of free
dom from slavery, shut its eyes to the evidence
of design on the part of the leading poll
ticians of tho South, to extend the institution
of slavery over territories now free from the
curse ? Look at the course of John G. Cal
houn. A few facts will prove the measure and
extent of his patriotism. Observing the cur
rent Of northern opinion setting on the side
of freedom, and seeing that it would not con-
sent to the surrender of our territorial ac
QUESTIONS from the Mexican war, to the pur-
poses of slavery, he avovs himself the enemy
of the war and unites with the wings in an eff
fort to defeat the necessary measures for its
prosecution. He avows the monstrous doc
trinc that the South possess the constitution
al right" to establish slavery in all new terri
tories, and that in case this right is not grant
ed them, the Union must be dissolved. And
the whole horde of mercenary slave holders
and nullifcrs take ground with Mr. Calhoun
on this question. Is there not sufficient proof
presented here that the South do ask that new
territory shall be reserved to slavery?
We cannot see that the Wilmot Proyiso
asks any thing more Or less than that newly
acquired territory be kept open to the free
emigrants from the Northern and Southern
States, instead of being reserved to slaves
1t interteres with no existing compromises or
contracts. It simply extends the Jeflersonian
ordinance of 1887 over new territories-a
principle to which the great apostle ofdemoc
racy, Thomas Jefferson, gave his assent. 1t
does not NEEDLE with slavery where it now
exists: Itslmply says that it shall not be al
lowed to monopoize the free soil. 1t permits
emigrantS of the South as well as the North
TO settle upon new territories, securing equal
and the same privileges to both. What is
there Objectionable in the principle?
The Globe knows, or ought to know, that
free labor aud slave labor cannot co-cXiSt in
the same states. Slavery degrades labor to
british standard, and freedom recols at its ap-
proach. The Wilmot Provisorecognizes and
enforccs the principle of equality of rights in
appropriating territories We may hereafter
acquire, for the benefit of the free people of
the Union, instead of surrendering them to
the unconditional control of shareholders and
slave-breedcrS. The principle is a just one
aud the North will stand by it and enforce it
too, despite the threats of John c. Calhoun or
she croakings of his subscrvicnt tools,-Troy
Budqet.