Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-06-27

wonder would be to find them after twenty
{ lseveny ears,and 50 mary changes ofclerksi
land it Is to be remembered that no one ol
EMr. Monroe's Cabinet has been Secretary
of Stats since thai time but Mr.. Calhoun.
The fact is established-established by
the rules of evidence which convince the
human mind-even the most unwilling-
that Mr.. Calhoun as Cabinet Minister
fupder Mf. Monroe, supported the seensiiiu-
fttfionality OF the missouri conpsomise ,acf.
This fact being established, let US see what
that act was; and that will be shown by the
title to the act-by the act itself-and by
the actual condition of the Territory in
which it was to operate. This is The title.
"An act to authorize the people Of Mis-
souri, Territory TO form Constitution and
State Government, and for the admission
of such state into the Union, on an equal
footing with the original States, and to pro-
hlbit Slavery in certain Territories"
A very Ineligible title this, especially
in the concluding clause; and enough to
have startled Mr.. Calhoun, if he had held
the same doctrines on the powers of Con-
gress then which he processes now. The
act itself was in these words:
s'SEc. 8. That in all the Territory
ceded by France to the United States, un-
der the name of Louisiana, which lies north
of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north
latitude, not included within the limits of
the State contemplated by this act, slavery
and involuntary servitude, otherwise than
he IF cripoos xvho r6of tho
parties shall have been duly convicted, shall
be, and hereby is, forever prohibited"
Such are the words of This act-the very
words of the Wilmot Proviso; and if any
modern copyist is to supersede Mr. feffer-
son in the paternity OF that Proviso, it sho'd
be John c. Calhoun, and not Davy Will
mot! 1t should be called the Calhoun Pro-
viso, and that for many and cogent reasons.
In the first place, he was nearly thirty
years ahead of D1vy in the support of this
Proyiso. In the second place. his position
was higher, being Cabinet Minister. and
his voice more potential, being u Southern
man. In the third place, he was purt Of
the Veto power, where three voices were
majority; Davy only member of the leg
islative power, where it requires majori-
ty of both houses to do anything: In the
fourth place, Calhoun was successful, Davy
is not. Finally, Davy's proviso IS weak
contrivunce to prevent slavery from being
where it IS not, and where 1t never will be;
Calhoun's proviso was manly blow to kill
slavery, where it then existed, by law, and
where it would now exist in point of fact,
if that blow had not been struck. The
Proviso of Mr. Calhoun actually abolished
slavery where it existed by law, in al the
upper half Of Louisiana-from SO. 80, to
40, and from the Mississippi to the Rocky
Mountains-oyer a territory nearly thou
sand miles square-nearly million square
miles enough TO make twenty States of
50, 900 square miles each-more in fact,
than all Culifoi MIA. New Mexico, and Ore
gon, put together. Over all this vast ter
ritory the Proviso, supported by Calhoun,
abolished slavery-abolished it, then exist
ing by law, and shut it up from the slave
emigration Of the South. And now. what
becomes Of the dogma, in his mouth, and
that of his followers, SO recently invented,
of no power in Congress to legis'ate up
on the subject Of slavery in terrilories7-
What becomes, in their mouths, Of the
new tangled point Of honor, just felt for the
first time in 30 years, Of insult to slave
states, in their exclusion from settlement in
the Territories bought by the blood and
treasure of the whole Union! Louisiana
was Territory, and Congress legislated
upon slavery in it. and legislated slavery
out Of million Of square miles Of it. and
Mr.. Calhoun supported that legislation.-
Louisiana was a territory acquired by the
treasure, if not by the blood. Of the whole
Union; and the Proviso of 1920, support
ed by Mr.. Calhoun, shut up one half Of it
from slave emigration. IF that is insult,
he and his sfolloWers have stood being insul-
ted most remarkably we'll for about thirty
years; and perhaps, would consult their
own self-respect, and lose nothing in pub
lie opinion, if they should continue stand
ing it with like fortitude, for the remain
der OF their lives.
do not quote this conduc: of Mr.. Cal
houn in giving the answer which he did
10 Mr.. Monroe's interrogatories, for the
purpose Of vindicating the right Of Con-
gress to prohibit, or abolish slavery m
territories. When | feel it necessary to
vlndicate that right, shall have recourse
to very different authority from that which
can be quoted on every side Of every 9ues'
ton it ever touched. quote It FOR very
different purpose, for the purpose OF shut
ting I'D the mouths Of his followers as COM
pletely as IT shut up his own from the day
he was confronted with ii. From that day
to- the present he has never mentioned
his resolutions; never called for that vote
upon them which he declared himself de-
termined to have when he introduced them.
In giving his cabinet support. where his
voice was so potential TO the abolition OF
slavery over million of square miles in
| Louisiana, Mr.. Calhoun did more than
any one man has ever done towards abol-
isfiug slavery in the world. Holding, as
he then did, the one-fifth part of the veto
DO xer, and commanding as his position
was, as a southern man and cabinet MIN
ister-a leading cabinet minister-the lar
gest question ever started OF free or slave
soil, was then in his hands; and he decided
it in favor of free.
! It was an immense boon to the anti-slave
ry party, then so numerous and ardent; bu
it was not the only service he then render
ed them. Texas was then ours-a par
of, Louisiana-to the lower Rio Grande