Daily Richmond times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1849-1850, 1850-01-05
Saturday Morning, Jan'y6th, 1850.
Mr.. Monroe and General Taylor on The Slavery
Question.

Mr.. Monroe and General Taylor on the Slavery
Question.
The Enquirer, some days ago, in criticsing
Gen. Taylor's Message, proclaimed that he was
guilty of "Disgrdceful Dodge" in failing to
urge upon Congress some specific plan of settling
the slavery question, by which the guarantees of
the constitution should be respected. 1t considered
as nothing, of course, the Presidents recommen-
dalton that Congress should abstain from legisla-
ting about slavery in the territories and should
leave the subject with the people themselves
This, we should think, was tantamount to the
Southern doctrine of s'non-interuention." But it
was Gen. Taylor's omission to condemn, in terms
the Wilmot Proviso, which the Enquirer affirmed
to be a "Dsgraceful Dodge" The Wing answer
ed the charge, very pertnently, by recurring to the
history of the celebrated missouri restriction"
the 4" fire bell in the night" of Mr.. Jefferson,
which agtated the Union quite as much in 1919
20, as the Wmot Proviso does at the present
day. Although the most painful excitement per-
vaded the country, preparatory to the session OF
Congress, at which the great issue was to be de-
termned, although Northern and Southern papers
were filled with discussions of the constitutional
ity and justice of the measure projected by the
North, although it was well known that upon the
action of Congress would depend the harmony of
the Confederacy Mr.. Monroe's annual message
of December, 1919, made no alusion whatever to
the all-absorbing topic. The Enquirer itself, of
December 18th, summed up the heads of the mes
sage as follows:
"lst. The Sickness OF our Cities and Drought in the
and our incidental affairs Sd. The Revolution in
Spanish America 4th Violations OF neutrality.
5h Certain Commercial Diplomacy with Great Britain;
9th. Fiscal affairs. 7th Manufactures 9Th National
Defence. 9th. Destination OF Naval force. 10th.
Slave Trade"
Nor did the then editor of the Enquirer or any
of his correspondents, call into question the pro-
priety of Mr. Monroe's silence. So far from
condemning him for not declaring his own OPT
Mons on the Missouri question: the Legislature of
Virginia (whose ear that editor then had more de-
eidedly perhaps than at any other time) within two
months after the message, nominated Mr.. Monroe
for reelection.
The case is precisely in point, and is only much
stronger than that of Gen. Taylor The Enquirer
has not reverted to the subject.
Some time during the last summer we had &C.
CdSlOuto look through tle lHc vi lle IelCilloliu
Enquirer, of the period from which the Wing has
revived their pertinent "reminiscences. One thing,
we remember, particularly struck our attention
1t was the fact, that whilst the editor of the En-
qurer was busily contending against the doctrine
of the missouri restriction" he did not hesitate
in the midst of the discussion, to declare his
detestation of the institution of slavery. Even
whilst the Compromise bill was up before Con-
gress, and our Legislature was thrown into great
excitement at hearing of its probable success
(the erroneous view being adopted in Richmond,
that the bill proposed to abolish slavery not only in
the Territory north of 36 deg. 80 min. but in the
States that would be formed out of IT'D the En-
qatirer prefaced communication demonstrating
the scrpural authority for slavery, with some re-
marks, in which the editor used the broad express
sion, "We abhor Slavery" and others of similar
import, but went on to say, in substance, that the
system which he thus abhorred had been entailed
upon the Southern States by no fault of theirs, and
they were constrained, by the law of self defence,
to uphold it. If such an article were to make its
appearance in any Wing paper of this day, its
unsoundness would be the theme of never-ending
homilies from the Richmond Enquirer, and other
presses of its political family.