Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1848-07-07

| believe the plan devised by the found
ers OF the government, including the fathers
OF our political church, for the treatment of
this great subject, and which has hitherto
been so faithfully sustained, and which has
proven so successful in preserving the union
of these states TO be not only the wisest
which the wit of man could have devised,
but the only one consistent with the safety
and prosperity of the whole country. | dc
therefore desire 10 see ii continued so long
as slavery exists in the United States. The
extent 10 which have sustained it in the
various public stations | have occupied il
known TO the country. ! was at tie time
well aware thatl went further in this respect
than many oimy bestfrlends could approve.
But deeply penetrated with the conviction
that slavery was the only subject that could
endanger our blessed union. was determine
cd that no effort on my part. within the
pale OF the constitution, should be wanting
To sustain It's compromises as they were
then understood, and i. is now a source of
consolation to me that | pursued the course
| then adopted.
The doctrine which the late Baltimore
O'iiNNli't'tl IDS BlGSGIl Cl lOi tIC sdtCkIOH
of the nation, is, in substance, that the laws
have referred To were but so many viola.
tons of the cOnstilulipn-that this instru-
ncnt coniers no power on Congress to ex.
clude slavery from the territories, as has so
often been done with the assent Of all. This
doctrine is set forth in the publis he'd opin-
ion of the highly respectable nominee of
that Convention, who II is well known re-
ceIved that distinction because he avowed
that opinion, and who it is equally certain
would not have received it, If he had not
done so. 1t is proposed to give this doc
trIne the most solemn sanction known To-
our political system, by the election of its
declared advocate and supporter TO the Pre-
sldcncy. II it receives the proposed sane
ton of the people of the United States, the
result cannot be doubtful. The policy in
regard 10 the extension of slavery into the
territories Of the United States into which
1t has not yet been introduced, which has
existed since the commencement Of the
government, and the consequences of which
have been so salutary, must cease, and ev-
cry act of Congress designated to carry il
into effect, be defeated by the veto of The
Executive.
The territories now owned by the Unit
ed States, and every acquisition of territory
that may hereafter be made by the United
States, whether obtained by annexation, by
cesson for a valuable consideration, or by
conquest, must as long as this opinion is
held, and as far as the National Legislature
Is concerned, be subject to the inroads of
slavery. And this consequence is to be
submitted TO on the assumption that the
trainers Of the Constitution, with then at
tcnton directed 10 the subject, and with a
well understood desire to do so, have fail
ed to cIothe Congress with the necessary
powers 10 prevent it. | cannot with my
vote contribute to this sanction. | cannot
do so, because cannot concur In the opin-
ion which we are called upon to sustain.
Entertaining these views of the Constitu.
ton, could not by my vote contribute 10
the proposed sanction of this new princi-
pie IN the administration of the federal gov
ernment, without, at the same time, avow-
ing myself to be in favor of the extension
of slavery i'll the abstract, and this can ne
yer do. Those who agree with me in re-
gard to the existence of the power and the
expectancy of our exercising it, and can
still bring their minds to dissent from this
conclusion, must have more light upon the
subject, or have greater power of discrimi-
mating than | possess. do therefore un-
hestailngly approve of the course you pro-
pose to pursue, i'll Withholding your votes
from Gov. Cass, and shall do so myself-
If no other candidates than those now be.
tprp tho I Il.
vote for President. The manner in which
our political brethren in other non slave
holding states shall dispose of their suffra-
ges, is for them TO determine, and with it
we have nothing 10 do. But that they ac-
cord with us in the opinion as to the expe-
dIency Of exercising 1t whenever the occa-
sion for so doing arrives, we have the best
reason TO know.
The power, the existence Of which is. at
this late day, denied, is, in my opinion, full
ly granted TO Congress by the constitution.
Its language, the circumstances under which
1t was adopted, the recorded explanations
which accompanied its fOrmalion-the con-
structlon it has received from our highest
judicial tribunals, and the very solemn and
repeated combinations it has received from
the measures Of the gOvernment-lcave not
the shadow Of doubt in my mind in regard
to the authority of Congress 10 exercise the
power in question. This is not new
opinion on my part, nor the first occasion
upon which it has been avowed, Whilst
the candidate Of my friends for the Presi.
dency, | distinctly announced my opinion
in favor of the power of Congress to abol-
ish slavery in the district of Columbia, al
though | was, for reasons which were then
and are still satisfactory to my mind, very
decidedly opposed 10 its existence there
The question of power is certainly as clear
in respect TO territories as It is in regard to
that District; and as to the territories my
opinion was also made known in still
more solemn form, by giving the executive
approval required by the constitutions the
bill for the organization Of the territorial gov.
of Iowa, which prohibited the in
of slavery into that territory.
The opinion from which we dissent was
given in the face OF, and directly contrary
to the views expressed, in forms The most
solemn and explicit, by all or nearly all the
non slavehoding states, and we are not at
tberiy- IN SueDect fho sincartvy of ,haso ~