Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1849-11-23

w. L. SHARKEY.
Gentlemen of the Contention: Whilst sincerely
thank you for the honor you have conferred upon
me, regret that the important duty not assign
ed to some one more competent than myself dis
semble not in declaring that this honor was not ex
pected by me, and hence feel more embarrassed in
addressing you.
The subject of your contemplated deliberations is
important one nothing less than question in
volving in its consequences the liberty of the peo
ple-perhaps directly remotely the liberty of 9TH
nations. trust you will approach it dispassion-
ately-that you will lay aside your party predilec-
tons, and meet it, not politicians, but patriots
as statesmen. We had fattered ourselves that the
capacity of man for self government was no longer
subject of doubt. We have boosted Of ours as an ex
ample Of free government, based on an enduring
foundation. trust it may prove so, but events Of
recent occurrence seem to forbode danger The con-
vocation of this assembl intense interest mani
fest in every counenance here, proofs that there
is of alarm. For time we have been prosper
Gus and happy under free government; but that
time, in the great history of man. is but brief space
mere point. The page of history is yet fresh which
records existence nation of freemen. Scarce
has the stain of revolutionary blood shed for liberty
faded from the face of the land before it has been
found necessary for the people South prepare
to check threatened aggression. And whence this
danger! No foreign foe threatens Our country
men, our brothers, arrayed against us in civil
strife They to forget that they are allied to us
by the most sacred ties and to forget the value of
the Union. Blinded by the poison of fanatcism they
seek to abrdge constitutional gifts in the enjoy
ment of property under the mask of false humani
ty. If the right to do unquesonabe, in Chris
tan charity it should be asserted without inicting
remorseless stings to our sensibities. The entire
independence of the States achieved by the most
memorable struggle that history records. They were
separate and independent sovereignties and first uni
ted under articles of confederation. These articles
defective, mainly in not having provided proper
for raising revenue, and in not giving Con-
gress sufficient power to regulate commerce. These
defects gave rise to present constitution In the
convention which formed it, the States met equals
in political power The small States were unwilling
to relnquish their equality Of power the slaye-hold-
ing States were unwilling to confederate, unless their
slaves should be made basis of representation and
the owners secured in their right. They were excl
ting subjects After great difficulty they were COM
promised The second section of the first article pro-
vdes that representatives and direct taxes should be
appointed according to numbers to be ascertained by
adding three-ffths of the slaves to the number of
whites The second section of the fourth article
vides for re-capturing slaves, escaping into those
States where slavery did not exist In these proVs-
ions we have an acknowledgment of the existence of
slavery, and guaranty for its protection the ba-
sis of representation and property The constitu-
ton did not create property In slaves. Such right
existed anterior to and above the constitution. AS
slaves were owned In many of the States, they would
not of course have entered into the confederacy on
such terms as would weaken the right of the owner
to his slave or diminish the value One of the great
objects of the constitution was that it should in It's
consequences protect property by giving protection
and strength to the several States But as the States
sovereign, they could not surrender to Congress
the right to CONTROL by legislation, the property Of
their citizens. Such grant of power would have
been complete surrender of sovereignty. A great
consolidated government would have arisen up which
was an evil of all others, mosS dreaded, and most
rgidly guarded against by declaring that all power
not expressly granted to Congress- was reserved tC
the States OF to the people Hence no power can be
exercised unless it has been granted by the consttu
tion The safety of the States and of the people is
best preserved by holding Congress strictly within
the limits Of the delegated powers. No rule of con-
struction be safe which eneroaches upon indivd
ual rights The right to hold slaves as property be-
came a fixed principle, inseparable from the other
provisions of the constitution Indeed that descrip
ton of property to have been thought worthy
specific and special protection. The constitution
must exist and harmonic in all its parts Every
principle it contains is nseparably connected togeth
1t is entire thing being the great frame work
OF the government indssolubly united in all its parts
1t would not have been formed without the insertion
of every feature it is nfraction to violate any
them the symmetry is broken.
| Notwithstanding this unqualified recognition O.
property in slaves and the for it
enjoyment as such still it is contended that Congress
may prohibit and abolish it in the territories of the
United States The territories are common property
and cannot be appropriated by Congress to the us.
of one portion of the owners to the exclusion
of another Equality of right must then prevail
and any act which would destroy that equality can
not be valid It is principle in the law of nations
that "all the members of the community have ar
equal right to the use of their common property
Rules may be prescribed by the sovereign power re
gulating the manner of its use, provided they ar
consistent with that entire equality which ought t
be preserved. Is the sovereign authority in Stat
or nation can do nothing which shall produce inc
quality in the enjoyment of thepubc domain or pro
Perty surely such authority is not possessed by tn
i The attempt by Congress to prohibit slavery in TIL
territory Of California has caused this meeting Tha
territory is common property. There each citizen
the United States has equal rights entitled to equa
proud tos say, that IN acquiring it Missssippians dis
played as much yalor amy other portion thei