Daily Richmond times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1849-1850, 1850-03-08
MR.. CALHOUN.

which invite commentary and dissent. Two OF
these, his suggestion of an amendment OF the
Constitution, and his sweeping assertion that the
whole North is arrayed in hostility to the instltu-
ton Of slavery, as it exists in the States-haVe
been well protested against by Mr. Foote, OF MIS-
sissippi We invite our readers to peruse' WIN
particular care, the short debate OF luesoay'
between these Senators, in which Mr.. Caiflouhs
position as disunonist was more distinctly deve-
loped than in his written speech.
We said, Yesterday, that this extraordinary ei-
fort was remarkable for its broad assertions more
than for close reasoning. In proof ofthe justice OF
this remark, we wish now to point to one asser-
ton or series of assertions which lies at the 1ou
daton of his whole argument.
He afirms, in the outset, that an "afhaoS1 @'''-
uersal discomfort peruades all the States composing
the Southern section Of This Union" And, soon
after: What is the cause of this discomfort? 1t
will be found in the The people Of The South
ern States, prevalent as the discomfort useg'
that then cannot remain things noao are, consist
IN acith honour and safety, IN THE UNION" AND the
cause of this belief he finds primarily in the TACT that
the original equilibrium between the two sections
has been disturbed by the superior advance OF the
North in population, which, again, ne attrlou'es u
the action of the Federal Government.
Now, we utterly deny the truth of these, Mr..
Calhoun's premises. For Virginia. as one OF the
Southern States, we venture to say, without tear
ofcontradicton that there is no discomfort amongst
our people, with the Union as ii is, and so long as
Congress may abstain from unjust and unconstl-
tutional measures affecting their interests Ihey
entertain no belief that they cannot remain IN Inc
Union. with honour and safety. The advancing
strength of the North has not yet impressed them
with any such belief nor will they yield to that
conviction before the North shall deliberately use
its superior power in some tyrannical manner.
The position of Virginia, and of all the other
Southern States, except South Carolina, and per-
haps Mississippi, differs radically from that of Mr..
Calhoun. Virginia retains the sentiment OF 1--we
for the Union; he in effect confesses that he has
lost it. She has told the North that she will be
constrained to resist certain measures, and gives
solemn warning against their enactment II
that warning prove effectual, she will oytully re-
main in the Union But Mr.. Calhoun insists that
separation must now take place, unless some new
guaranty besides the constitution, IS procured.
Virginia desires TO preserve the present Unlon.-
Mr.. Calhoun opposes its continuance unless it
can be modified.
Towards the close of his speech, Mr.. Calhoun
advances, without sustaining by proof, another
proposition as vital and as erroneous as those we
have lust noticed. He asserts, that the Presidents
policy 'soroposes effect the same object with the
Wilmot Proviso) to exclude slavery from all Ter
ritory acquired by the Mexican treaty. and he
goes on to affirm that the opposition of the South
TO the Wimo Proviso Sis not TO the name, but to
hat which it proposes TO effect" We deny, in
the first place, that the exclusion of slavery from
the Territories, has ever been proposed as the OBJ
5ect of President Taylor's policy. Mr.. Calhoun
fails to produce and cannot produce shadow of
evidence to sustain the allegation. But we desire
specially to notice the falsty of his declaration, that
the fact of exclusion from the Territories acquired
from Mexico is what the South opposes in the
Wilmot Proviso. Not So The South opposes
the principle, involved in the Proviso, that Con-
gress may legiszate against Slavery The South
ern people, with very few exceptions, have not
expected to carry slaves into California or New
Mexico The actual danger to result from these
Territories becoming free States, was by no means
what the South apprehended. 1t was the asser-
ton of dangerous power in the Federal Govern
ment, which induced Southern declarations of re-
sisance Mr.. Calhoun, in his eagerness, to make
an attack upon the Administration, abandons the
true position of the South, which, like that of our
revolutionary ancestors, rests upon principle and
not upon petty considerations OF advantage.