Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1848-01-25

bic example furnishes bright incentive 10 The
rising generation, to stand By he rights and nom
or OF the country, these citizens have glorious
ly done-They have the cordial sympathy and
good wishes OF lhe Old Dominion. We need
add No more.
"7He Election of Speake, NJ he Horse Of Repre-.
scntatircs-Mr. Winthrop -.M. John ". d.
pY-IHe Wilmot Proriso- Southern Democrats
and Southern Wigs"
The above is the title of long letter from The
"Hon." Mr.. CabelI OF Florida, published in The
National Ineigencer, and repubished in Inc
Wing and the Times here, in reply TO the attacks
Of The Democratic press Of his Slate upon him.
in consequence of his vote for Mr.. Winthrop. In
it he refers very freely TO our articles, relative 10
the course OF Southern Wings in the election OIL
Speaker OF the House of Representatives. O'her
more important and more agreeable engagements
have prevented u.s. until this moment, ION pay
ing our respects 10 the "honorable" gentleman VINO
has gone out of his way 10 assai the Enquirer,
which, on this subject, "breahed mol ms name.
The Richmond Wing, too, has honoreo US Win
several editorials in its own peculiar S'yIe' Pui
porting 10 be replies 10 those articles. We VIII
pay our respects 10 each Of these gentlemen
The first remark we have TO make, IN our com
menls upon Mr.. Cabel's letter, is maj we snal.
moi initiate him in the use of epiIhets. we Will
leave lha, 10 congressional decorum! Epthe'S
prove nothing but that The persons VINO uses 'hein
has lost bis temper, which usually proceeds from
, consciousness tha, he has the worst olihe argu-
ment.
Neither Mr.. Cabell nor The Wing have met the
issues we presented 10 the country. On The con-
trary both have attempted 10 evade Them. This
we will shew in few words. To do SO we Will
b. compelled 10 draw freely upon our former ar
tcles. In announcing The election OF Mr. Win
throp we said:
"Rv aunion of the Wings Of the South with those OF
the North WilmOt Provlso man has been eIecleu 10
the third office in the Government ana win respect 10
The Influence which exert upon the action OF Cou
rrcss relative to the subject of slavery scarcely inie
ror TO the Presidency itself And this has been effected
by The vote Of Southern Wings every one oil wn" lou
voted for Mr. Winthrop, with the exception OF Mf.
Tcmpkins nf Mississippi who, BY absrn'lng hlInseii,
contributed To the result almost as much Us II ne ha
voted with his comrades AZ devoted as Tue " niss ..
the South are party, this, we are reeto confess was
NOT 10 have been expected Of them. For some Time
mast the Whg press Of the South have expressed sneh
apprehension Of danger 10 thr secnn Of ne county, ,b
have been willing order TO avoid Il, to withdraw our
victorious army IngloriOusy from Mexico, without pro-
curing indemnity for the wrongs done our Gniens, OF
the of the war the only way In which either
can be obtained, viz: by territorial acquisition.
| .And vel Southern Whig members Of Congress vote
for gentleman as SPEAKER with all OF MS nhunnGe as
such who with much more proprety Than Dir. Hlihol
himself may he said Ia he the author oil the rfcVlso
winch improperly bears this latter gentleman,' name
With much more prcrreiy II shou oe gaeu t'ie nm
| th, rnf meal q
press long before Mir Wilmot became member oil mat
body And he did it under circumstances which dis
play very strongly his feelings upon the subject From
The formation OF The Constitution down TO le45, there
had ber no attempt the part OF Congress TO impose
anti slavery restrictions upon the territories except on
two occasions Down to that period, win ihe e1cep
lions rsferd TO- Congress content 10 allow To the
people of the territories the n sht OF segoVtfntnehi
and permit them To legsa's for themselves upon Inc
subject Of slavery, as upon every o'hei purely
ing themselves"
And, then, after referring in detail TO what the
practice OF Congress had been in organizing ter
ritorial Governments, we added
"Thus matters stood until the bill erecting Terrific
rial Government for Oregon WAS introduced IN the ees-
sion of "a and AS As The bill came from the commit
tee the Chairman Of which and majority OF whose
| members from non-slaveholdns states, there
was no stipulation the subject oil slavery Inc pre-
redeuls i'm all other cases. except Wisconsin, were i0l-
| lowed; and with this most Northern men would nave
been satisfied particularly IN the case oil oregon whose
|
ri copromse line made highly improbable that slaves
would ever be introduced there. But this did not sa
tsfy Mr. Winthrop. On the Isl of February, lobo, when
bs bill was under c0nsideration he moved as sec
ton TO the bill the identical prociso which IL al this me
| called the Wmot Proyiso. Upon his motion II was IN
corporated in the b-and IL Is the only occasion since
the formation Of the Constitution that such measure
has been incorporated in any law of Congress ssla-
| blishinC territory. The Missouri Compromise was
adop,ed upon the admission of Missouri as State. II
was graiuitous effort, offensive To the SOUTH on inc
| Ffnffh
ry into Congress upon territorial BILL against al pre-
eedent-If, indeed, II was not worse anu Designer 10
procure from Congress the recognition OF It's rsnt 10 IT,
yisa,, for the territories, In case where was sup
posed from the character and location OF Oregon, thee
would be contest 10 be used as precedent IN oeIs
where there nigh, he. Aud this Is the man for whom
This is what we said Now how was i, mel by
the Whig2 "lf(said that paper) Mr.. Winthrop
proposed that amendment 10 the bill, more Than
twenty Southern Locoioco members OF Congress
some oil them from Virginia, rOted for il, while
about as many more were absent from their seals
most Of them, as is shrewdly suspected, having
purPosely Withdrawn ia order that it might be
passed by their passre cooperation"
In reply We showed that this was an entire mis-
representation. We showed that SO tar from its
being true, tina, on that occasion "TwENTY SOUTH
ERIN Loeoroco REPRESENTATIVES,, SOME CT THEM
PROM VIRGINIA, VOTED FOR IT." he fact is thai
NOT ONE SOLITARY DEMOCRATIC MEMEER FROM
TIE SOUTH DID SO voTE There were only four
representatives from Slaveholding States who vo-
ted for it, and they were all Wings. Those four
were Messrs. Brengle OF Md, Order, Thompson
and White Of KY.
Now how did The Wing attemptio escape from
lhis2 Precisely as We anticipated 1t attempted
10 escape from it's misaemenI by saying that it
did not allude 10 the vote upon The proviso when
it was proposed by MI Winthrop, but 10 The vote
upon The Bill after The proviso was engralted up.
on il; and by maintaining that there was no tif
ference in voting for The Proviso as an indeperd
ent proposition and in voting for bill that con.
lained il. We have nothing 10 say upon this
point, but what we said in anticipation OF IT, In
our article OF The sh OF January we held thi.
language:
"Perhaps the Wing will say, that il did not alIude 10
the vote upon the Provso when Il was proposed by Mr.
winthrop but to the vote upon the bill, after the Pro
yso was incorporated IN IT, il such was the alusinn az
the Wing, 1t ought To have said so, and, at the
lime have told readers the WHOLE truth relative
that vote which II seems apprehrnsive the pemocrl
nc pre-s will not do II the Wing should take th;s
II would be obviously escapr
from lis misrepresentation, as lis language already
quoted wouId .how. That language is very eIplici;
Il is ''rhry are PROMPT enough To proclaim that Mr.
Winthrop proposed this Provso tn the Oregon Bill but
they dare not add, that more than twenty Southern
Loco'0Co Representatives some of them from Virginia.
voted for H. Now the impression which this statement
will make upon ones mind is that those Southern
Representatives voted 10 incorporate the antis!avery
strct:on in the BILL which is the very reverse Of the
fact 1t /. very different thing, rs al persons know,
at all verse. in Parliamentary law as the Editor OF the
WING H. 10 vote for az amendment 20 bill when 1t is
proposed, and, after voting agsn: H. 10 vote for the bill
notwithsta ding the amendment has been sdoped Tho
ore vote shows tha, the person giving II considers the
amendnarI right in isef-the other, that the bill con
tain. which i. desirable In justify the vote, not
wthstandlns Objectionable provision. And, in this
case all supposilon that the Southern Representatives,
who voted for tie bill after Dir. Whit rop's amsnd
menl was adopted intended to sanction the Provlso, IL
preciuded by the fact that, distinct proposition.
They vned -ains, IT, And, we repeat II Is not accord
ing TO Pa amenrary construction, to hold member
spooslbls lor each part Of BILL consisting Of many
parts beca"se he has voted for the bill rs whole And
this is part rulay the case when, in this instance,
such menurr against the objectionable parts when