The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-02-14
Please Read and Circulate.
THE GREAT QUESTION At ISSUE.

space IN your columns 10 notice one o. two fea
lures OF the important question which now agi.
tates our country | do not wish TO present anv
political views; for such would be altogether
out, of place in your paper; bat rather to state
the elements of this issue stripped Of all political
and partisan character.
II Is a conflict for power. II is strife between
the progressive freemen of the North and the
conservative freemen OF the South for the scepter
of the nation and Slavery in the Slates-Slave-
ry in the District of Columbia aud Slavery in the
Territories are the alphabet, or signs with which
the problem is to be worked out or rather we
should say, they are the incidents, circumstances
or facts which impart form and life TO the mo-
mentous issue, and with its decision they must
rise or sink. Let US then not gaze so fxedly
upon any particular limb, or feature, that we for
get the individual nor let us be so engrossed
with the issue of Slavery in the Territories for
instance, that we lose sight of the overwhelming
stake at hazard.
OF all the truths uttered by the history Of man
kind, no one is more emphatcally stated, than
that the struggles for power have been the most
bitter and the most terrible. These have shaken
the earth 10 its center and drenched its surface
with blood. The mind, the heart, nay, the whole
soul of men seem TO have been stirred u D in these
contentious. Yet it is no less true, that they
have been followed with wonderful benefits 10
the race OF man. They have rent asunder IRON
! bound preludices broken down oppression, ty-
ranny and injustice, and so swept away delusive
1 opinions and false principles beneath which man
kind had sheltered themselves as a breastplate oil
brass, that the heart has become softened and ava
kened to the benign and gentle influences of new
truths. LetitnOt then be thought that this contest
between the free and the slave-holding States can
be brought to an end in moment; or that it will
be carried on without bitterness and wrath or
that it will not be followed by good fruits.
The institution of Slavery in the Southern
States is an interest of such preeminent impor.
lance that il subjects all others to its welfare
A more powerful bond does not exist in the nation
than that which binds these States together The
free States have nothing like it. Their bonds OF
union are no other than such as attach them
equally to the Southern States and to each ether
10 Southern States then, whose XXX, S,s,.siN
internal interest was in its existence, at deadly
hostility 10 al! the nobest principles Of human
liberty, united themselves to a confederacy which
Is based upon the broadcast principles Of freedom
Here is Scylla on the one hand, ii not Charybdis,
or disunion, on the other. No course was left TO
the slave-holding interest but to rule the conled-
eracy, or at least preserve barrier for sel-pros
lection, or abide the day of its own downfall,
But our limits will permit us to notice only the
great aud leading source from which the slave
holding States derive their power and where they
encounter assaults with the most envenomed des-
peration. Their great source of power consists
in the manner in which Congress is constituted.
In the House of Representatives the slaves are
represented as well as their masters; in the
Senate, where the States are represented, the
Southern States have preserved an equality be-
tween the representation from the free and the
! Slave States.
! In apportioning the representation in Congress,
! five slaves are counted as equal TO three white
! ireemen. But by the census OF 1910 the number
of slaves was returned at 2, 4S7, 1855 they are
therefore of equal weight in determining the
number of members of the House of Representa-
tves with l,492,4l3 free white persons. AS
! 70,680 persons are entitled to one Representatives
the addition made TO the representation from the
slaye-holding States in consequence of their
slaves, is twenty.one members This is equal 10
the entire representation of New England with
the exception OF Massachusetts. The free State
OF Chic sends only twenty-one members. Penn
sylyana sends only twenty-thrce members which
is only two more than the slaves send. The
great States of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan
together send less than twenty-one members
Let US take one or two instances in detail
which will show what prolific source of power
this regulation is 10 the slave-boding interest
South Carolina by the last census had a free
population of 267, 1863 this entitled her TO three
left an overpus of $500 persons. -Four men,
beers were awarded to her on the basis of her
white population. Her slave population was
32I02S. Three-hlths of these slaves was
1876 222 this divided by 706S0 the ratio of repre-
sentaton, would give her two members, with an
overplus of 81 8G2. She has in the House seven
members, and must therefore have been awarded
four members on the basis of her free population
and three on the basis of her slaves But the
/ IL. a., l.,
! if therefore we divide 267 800 by the number OF
members, it will be seen that in South Carolina
every 80, 1874 free persons send a representative
| to Congress while in the free States only
! 7O6S0 persons elect a member Thus the slave
holding interest has nearly double the represen-
tation in the House that the same number of ci-
zens of free State have.
Florida, by the las, census, contained 81 ATT
persons; of whom Is, III were slaves. The free
population was therefore only 2S,760, and yet il
has Representative in Congress and two Sena-
tors. In the Senate these 28,760 persons have
as much political power az all the inhabitants OF
the largest State in the Union. II the Stale of
New York sent member 10 the House of Repre-
sentaiives for every o. 100 persons OF her nhabit
ants, instead of having thirty-iour members as
at present, she would have eighty-four.
Now apply the same fact 10 the election OF
President. Each State casts as many votes as il
has Representatives and Senators in Congress
Florida with 287G0 free white persons gives
three votes, whilst New York with 2,42S,92l in
habitants at the last census gives only thihy-six
votes. The inequality in the vote Of the two
States is as one 10 twelve, whereas the inequality
ia-the free inhabitants is as one TO eighty.four=
Delaware presents another instance OF great in
equality, and Texas another
Take another view of the question of power.
In the free States 70,680 persons send one Repre-
sentative to Congress Now The number of slave
owners is estimated at nearly 100000. These
persons therefore send twenty-one Representa-
lives to Congress through their slaves. This is
in the proportion OF one member to l4,285 persons
Again, six New England States send now
thirty-one members to the House; three Middle
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