Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1849-03-26

| oltlOnS, ana perhaps embarrassing conditions,
first to be complied with. The northern citizen
having no slaves to dispose of, settles upon and
enjoys his share of tfle common property with
out conditions. In the one case, a separate and
pre-eXisting right, constitutionally and legally
established tor many generations, must be CIV
/ en up before a common re hit is allowed to be
used. In the other case. that common right is
laid open TO immediate use. without requiring
as preliminary thereto the surrender, or the
communications or the disposal of any other right
whatever, What sort OF equality is there here 2
and how is it possible that the very pretence of
it coeAisting with such state of facts as this,
can be otherwise than offensive, both to the feel
ines and understanding of the party aggrievedg
Upon this view OF the effect ON the relative
rights OF the different sections of the country,
which must necessarily result from the proposed
exclusion of slavery from the Territories we,
who represent the South, have abundant reasons
of right and of justice to demand of our associ-
ates here, that no such exclusion shall be sane
toned and that no territorial government shall
be forced upon us by the arbitrary use Of their
ma jority-poWer, by which the fundamental and
cherished principle OF our perfect constitutional
equality shall be so painfully and hazardolslv
set aside 10 this demand; besides the sophis1n
examined, that that exclusion works no Unequal.
ity; we are yet further answered by these asso-
ciates with but few exceptions) that they cam
or any law by which slavery may be extended
TO Territories now free that in their Judgment
slavery is false. cruel. and evil institution the
'ertens'on" (which, SO far it may depend
apon them. they are determined to resist at ali
hazards. No eltensioni is the short but com.
prehensive dogma under which the rights OF the
South, i'll this matter, are to be sacrificed, and
the stability of the Union itself knowingly out
into peril. Let us inquire into the practical pur-
pose thus declared, and see whether it is in any
respect worthy of the serious and it may be, the
fatal consequences which are so boldly and dar.
mgly risked to maintain it. This Anon-exten-
sion,i though tallacv, as think can show.
in its main and substantial idea, is nevertheless
a term; as we are given to understand here of
oversfladoWlng, and in certain REGIONS of our Re-
public, of established power. 1t is there the
Shbboleth OF pOlltlclanSEto utter which Alright
is to live-to stammer over it, is to die. It has
power to throw instantly open to its advocates
the door OF this Hall it has the power as in
stantly to shut it in the face OF its opposers and
so condemn them to penitence or obscurity In
this it is like the Sopen sesamen of the Arabian
Tales, which had only to be spoken clear and
strong, with emphasis and unction enough and
at once the rocky door to which it was addressed
| flying open, offered a cavern of gold for the
spoil of the spokesman. So here, let the words
':non-eyteneion'' be only spoken cut by some
free-soiler, with no Mussullnan faith, but with a
hearty and believing spirit, and our own barred
up and heavy door swings wide open to the
speaker and admits him to share of richer
treasures than We're ever found in the cave of
Abdallah.
But, Sir, to the words themselves: in what
sense are we to understand them? As far as I
have understood the gentlemen " no Use them.
they do not place their objections to slavery up-
the ground that it covers any particlar superb.
cies OF the country--as Alabama, OF Louisiana,
or Texas, for example-or upon the ground that
it may cover any other snperfcies; but upon
that gifts intrinsic qualities slavery as estab-
lished amongst us, being in their Judgment
prejudical and a wicked MISUNDERSTANDING in
principle. wrong in practice, wrong every way
and one, therefore, the strength and growth OF,
which, and the personal sufferers from which,
ought meyer to be increased by any act of the
Government, and never shall be by any act or
concurrence of theirs This is their Ground,
And if the gentlemen " no take it can only show.
that by extending this institution into or Mex.
lean territories its basis is made firner and deep.
er than ever-that stronger supports of law are
thereby provided to foster and sustain it-that a
new condition and habit of society more fayora,
BILE to its continuance than any preexisting one
is esablished--ihat when it is extended in that
direction it is not corespondently weakened in
any other, and that the number of slaves is &C,
tually increased by the process; if they can
show that by these means, collectively or by
other means of equivalent effect the Institution
| OF slavery, considered as a whole, is rendered
| by its admission into these territories more
powerful institution than ever-better sustained
by law by social preferences, by private inter.
est; and more incapable throughout the length
and breadth of it, of voluntary control,-then
they will make out case OF real and substantial
extension" and not of ideal only. But, Mr.
Chairman, deny that the admission of slavery
into these territories will be followed by any
such general and invigorating consequences 10
itself as these and deny, therefore, that the ''ex
tension" of it either in any substantial sense ia
an extension at all. Nay, sir, 60 further than
| this, and maintain that such admission, SO far
| from being an 'Eextension'' or inyigoratpn of
the system Of slavery, is, on the other hand, one
| of the direct means by which its ultimate ex.
tinction Should that ever be desired by the peo-
| pie who have sanctioned and who only have the
right to control it) may be rendered more acces-
sible and more easy. Every slave, be it recol-
lected, that is taken to California or to New
Mexico, makes one less in some of the States
Let hem be taken by thousands or by tens of
thousands, ii matters not, the whole process of
filling up the territories with them, whether fast
ct or slower, is process for reducing, pro tanta,
the numbers of them where they now are, and,
consequently, amounting, in national effect to
neither more nor less than transfer of these
people from one portion of the United States to
another. And not only is this true of the first
effect but also of the ultimate effect of this trans
fer For the slaveholding States, being alto
gether as fruitful in the production of everything
necessary to human subsistence as our terrific.
res are, the people that inhabit them are lust aa
remote as any equal numbers in the territories
could ever be from the period when their natural
progression would be checked by the scantiness
OF food Whatever, then, the number to which
the emigrant slaves and their posteritv might
grow up in the territories, if admitted there, il
will be- allowing for the difereneeat the outset,
substantially the same as that to which it would
have grown up in the States, had none of them
ever been removed. Now, as the original supply
of slaves for this emigration must be furnished by
the slavehodlng States, whose own numbers
of thai supply and as their reproductian in the