The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1848-06-28

the practical conclusion with which he is charged rests
equally and previously at the door of Mr. jefferson;
IHE END AND AIM OF THE BALTIMORE NOMINATION
og"s me people, that the long train of equivocation and
ase reasoning by which Gen. Cass assais the Wilmoi
pfoviso concludes with apology justification the
intended extension of slavery. If extend slavery Ter
ories now free, argues Gen Cas- in Nicholson
e same numbers will be spread greater territory
ana SO lar as compression with less abundance OF
cesarie offe is evil iH thar eua be nitigated By
TRANSMITTING SLAVES TO NEW COUNTRY,
and glvtnx them a larger space TO occupy"
There be dispute about the the by
which Gen Cass assas the Proviso but there
AS TO the namy of the practical conclusion which
rives
We shall show that this idea is not to Gen. Cass,
but was put forth by Mr. Jefferson himself twenty eight
years ago. that his memory will be compelled to share
'the infamy which the barnburner press ANXIOUS to
pour upon the nominee of the Baltimore Convention
But we seize the opportunity of going further The barn
burners and the abotonsts (and the coalition rapidly
concentrating between them) plead the ordinance OF 1857
as their principal excuse for pressing the Wot Provso
They ascribe this ordinance TO Mr. Jefferson. Now we
propose to look into Mr.. Jefferson's "sober second
thoughts upon this agatng and alarming question: and
to reproduce those evidences of his opinion which we
have already published. They will enable us to appre-
cate the late conduct of Martin Van Buren,, who does
not hesitate to build sectional party upon this deli
cate and agitatng subject We shall not repeat the
coarse ephes which the Albany organ applies to Gene
raj Cas- but, with all due Difference we shall be the
better Judge OF the popriey and patriotism OF Mr. Van
Buren's extraordinary and most censurable course
When the Union shaken to its centre in 1920 BY
the anti slavery Wlmo Proviso excitement that came
upon with the demand of Missouri for admission as
member OF this family of coequal States, Mr. Jeersons
clear mind saw the political to which this slavery
question converted. He saw that it was used as
stalking horse upon which to ride into power Instead
of advocating the application of the ordinance of 17s7 to
the unsettled territory, (as it was then practically in dis
pu,e0 he denounced the motives of those who claimed
to be struggling in behalf of freedom in language too
clear and forcble to admit doubt as to his opinion of
the impulses directing them, TO the tendency and
indeed the direct aim Of their labors
On the 18th of November 1923, writing to the Marous
de la Fayette, see Thomas Jefferson Randophs Memoirs
Correspondence, &C., of Thomas Jefferson, VOL 4, D.
3S4) he says:
" On the eclipse of federalism with u.s. although not its
extinction, ITS leaders got the Missouri question under
the false front Of ssentng the of slavery but with
the real view of producing geographical division of par
ties which might insure them the President. The
people of the north bndfod into .maye followed
their leaders for while with zeal truly
until they became sensible that they injuring
of aiding the real interests of slaves that they had been
used merely as tools for electioneering purposes thai
trick of hypocrisy then fell quickly as it had been go
up"
Who can read these words of Mr. Jefferson without
being stunned it were with the force of their appca
ton to the of of the chief actors in the anti
slavery crusade of this day, under the guse of Wmot
Provisosm! And then, do not find the people
of the north-the democratic masses-refusng to be
used in this connection merey as tools for electoneer
ing purposes" letting this trck Of hypocrisy fall as
quickly as it had been got ups'
We might rest the vindication of the memory of the
apostle of American liberty from the aspersons of having
inculcated Wilmot Provisosm upon the single extract
given above but it may be better settle beyond further
dispute the fact, that lived who protested
more earnestly than Mr.. Jefferson against the assumed
right of the people of the nonslaveholdng States TO in
terfere, directly indirectly with the question of slavery
True. many of these practical disunonists while in their
speeches, writings and votes they on the institu
ton of slavery, and section of our common Union
hypocrically maintain that they aim no blow at the
rights of any portion Of the existing confederacy "a
though the world could not plainly that the desire to
trench upon reserved State rights in this connexions is
indeed at the bottom of their every effort 1t was as dis
cernibe in times past Mr.. Jefferson saw il
ina on the l4tn OF January, 1871, writing to Mr. John
Adams protested against these covert attacks and their
tendency TO and nce the negroes of the south for
nsurrection in language follows:
sour anxeties in this quarter all concentrated in the
question: what does the holy alliance in and of Con
sress do with the Missouri Question And
his, blythe by, is but the of the only the John
Doe and Richard Roe of the eectment The REAL CUES
ZION, in the States afflicted with this unortuna,e
population, is Are slave. be presented with freedom
DAGeEa For, if Congress has the power to regulate
he conditions of the inhabitants within States it will
but another exercise of that power declare that all
shall be free. Are then, again Athenan and
Lacedemonidn confederaces Ito wage another Pelopon
lesian settle the ascendency Or is this the
SIN of merely serve war; That remains be seen but
not, hope, by you Surely they will parey While
and give time get of the way"See Randolphs
Mem. aud Cor. of Thos. Je6srson, vol. 4, p $3.50
So deeply was Mr.. Jefferson impressed with the dan.
GERS involved in the of the principles and abors
Of those who desired to nhib section of the confede
racy from the unsettled territory of Missouri, as it then
xas that he considered it of vital Importance that the
youth OF the south should not go north to be educated
est they might imbbe the ant-slavery notions of that
lay like those of the present In writing to General
Breckenridge of Virginia, the 18th OF February 1921
the subject Of the University, of which he was the
founder, he says (see aDork voi, p. 3l2)
"The line of division lately marked between fer
portions of our confedeacy such will never fear
be oberated; and now trusting to those who
against posfion and principle, fashion their
orm the minds and affections of youth IT, as has