The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-20
WASHINGTON, d. G.
WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 20, 1919.
From the New York Evening Post Of June Is
MIR. CALHOUN,S LAST LETTER.


vast dimensions and proportionate costliness,
which was built in the shape Of gridiron, to
commemorate the matyrdom Of Sain. Law
renee, who had the honor of being broiled
upon one Of those utensils, by the Emperor
Valerian, some centuries previous. Not
only the palace itself, but every room in it,
was patterned after the same homely model;
every ornament, whether sculptured or paint.
ed, whether wrought in gold, in silver, in
marble, or in iron, every article Of furniture,
every fixture and every movable was in
shape, gridiron., The eye Of the visiteT
could not rest upon any part of the building
within or without, or upon any Of its con-
tents, without being reminded of the matyr-
izing process which it was designed to CON-
memorate
Without any material emblems TO aid his
imagination, or to control the current Of his
thoughts, it is Mr.. Calhoun's equally newt
able necessity to behold, in every public
movement, past, current or projected, in
the political world, the martyrdom of the
South the gridiron upon which slavery has
been or is to be stretched Where, in the
fall Of sparrow, the sober-minded Chris
tian sees but the finger Of Providence, Mr..
Calhoun recognises the murderous weapon
Of an abolitionist. His horizon is bounded
on every side by visions Of the PROSTATE car
cass of slavery, spitted and broiling upon a
gridiron Of Yankee manufacture. There is
no question Of so great or Of so little impor-
lance that his unhealthy fancy will not con-
tract or expand it, like Prince Ahmet's tent,
so as to body forth the same imaginary pro-
portions.
The last gridiron which has appeared to
him-we have no intelligence yet Of the ar
rival Of Col. Benton's speech at Fort Hill
is the movement at the west for the con-
struction Of road from the States to our
possessions on the Pacific. He is not sure
but the inhabitants Of those territories are
going TO prohibit slavery there, and if they
do, he thinks it is not worth while for the
South to spend money on road which will
only make new place accessible for slaves
to run away to. Such we take to be the
meaning of the letter which our readers will
find below, addressed by Senator Calhoun
to the citizens of Memphis.
There is territory beyond the grave,
where are to be reaped the rewards of a
well spent life, in which it is supposed that
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude"
exist, and where distinctions Of color are un-
known. We presume the theologians Of
South Carolina, by this time, have so far
modified their theological system as to en-
courage hope among the shareholders that
this exclusion will not be as absolute as is
generally supposed. If not, we certainly
would not care to answer much longer for
the orthodoxy of Mr.. Calhoun or of his al
lies, for we are bound to infer from his re-
cent course, and from the letter below, that
no place seems to him worth inhabiting with
out slavery, and that no person with proper
sef-respect could occupy any place where
slaves did not attend upon him.
One would have supposed that the utility
Of a road to. the Pacific Ocean, was as indie
pendent Of the domestic institutions, as Of
the religion it might find there, that our
whole country was interested in having such
medium Of conveyance, whether it was
destined to transport the product Of free or
Of slave labor chiefly, and whether servile
code Of laws was administered at one or both
ends Of the route We have never heard it
pretended that the multiplication Of facilities
for travel was unfavorable to the prosperity
Of the slave States, or Of less decided advan-
tage to them than to the free; and though
we are aware that there is more capital in
vested in railroads in the little State Of Mas
sachusetts, and in several other of the north
ern States, than in all the southern States
together, and that the public highways at
the South for four months Of the year are
commonly impossible, we have never for
one moment dreamed Of ascribing either Of
those circumstances to any settled Southern
policy.
Absurd, however, as any such policy
would be, we do not perceive that there
would be any more absurdity in it, than there
is in opposing the construction Of road to
California because it would terminate at one
end, among people who decline to permit
the traffic in human beings to be carried on
among them.
In all human probability the people Of
SdiloTHld VIII organize PioSSiohai BY
eminent for themselves within the next six
months, and will not give any legal protec-
ton to slave property. Mr.. Calhoun insists
that this would be a step toward the "hu-
initiation and subsection Of the South" and
that the South ought not to spend any money
in increasing our facilities Of access to those
territories, until II is determined how they
are going to!stand on this question Of slavery.
Certainly, this is imposing very extraor-
binary terms, not only upon the territories
but upon the other States Of the Union. Is
it presuming in the Caliiornians to say, that
there shall be no process issuing from their
courts, to enforce the service and obedience
of one class Of men to their fellows' Is it
presumption in them to forbid the purchase
and sale Of human beings within their bor-
ders? The pattern State Of South Carroll
ma herself, goes so far as to prohibit certain
classes Of citizens from other States, from
putting their feet upon her territory, under
penalties Of fine and Imprisonment, and Mr..
Calhoun has approved Of the law. The
4 = Al H..