The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-10

uon in good faith in the territories. and viii
"Icar recognition Of the boundary line Of re,
IN It's integrity, and entirely running the I
'e''s'h on 'he MO Grande, would far prefer d
proposition TO the Administration plan, which
fun OF enormities from end to end, without a ii
S'G feaeemlng quality. But this compromise,
called, suppose, in derision Of all which Ina
neen heretofore adopted, begins with the unqua
ned admission of California with her presel
boundaries. My opposition TO this measure is
deeply rooted, as well nigh to eonstrain me I
Frlecl all schemes whatever of which ii compose
part. The pill is too naaseating to be taken j
rohheXlon with our ingredients, however palalu
bic. If such an outrage is 10 be effected, AN
such precedent established, SO improper in il
self, and leading 10 such dangerous consequences
never wish the future politician who may refe
10 my course, to say for me, II did il :" ~ s,a
One leading objection TO the whole scheme is
thotit gives fnality TO nothing, and therefore, Wi
quiet neither the North nor the South. Tn
"lmot ProVlso Is not enacted over the territori,,
"Yowedly on the ground that il is unnecessary
ana or course with the understanding, that If III,
future tide of emigration shall render Il ~,
II will be insisted upon. 81 =
II wiil be the starting point of new agitations
"eW combinations 1t will open nearly one-third
81 ieNas as a new field for contention tn.
>outh WIZ insist that slavery has been recoppzed
up 10 JOY 5V. The North will contend that the
S"ulhern claim has been bought out and surren.
Ino'a anu tne South being the weaker party, ]
N'o" now, as certainly as | know any fnfure
event. the North viii have it all their own wav.
having voted for the annexation of Texas. j
know II was well understood that she had n dis
Pn'ed boundary, and that she claimed the Rio
"rande from It's mouth to its source, as her wes
'erh boundary. Texas was invited to trust the
settlement of this dispute TO the limited S,ata.l
Our Government did undertake the adiusino ~,
ana the result was, we obtained eye,, ;a't'
claimed. Can there be doubt then of onr d.,
and her title? - >S'' VI our auty
C,. eAas mas the right Of making four more new
S.a.esi inc country expected they would be slave
,; me proposed adjustment will r,ecessari.
x '."ne TWO slave States, and two free States.
40 call upon me to sell out the country. and 70
pay myself the consideration money. which wa =
once solemnly settled and dedicated for the pur-
pose OF extending still further, and swelling iarger
tAe aiaproportion Of territory nom which an
south Is excluded, is too extravagant, and il can
never be yielded ''NN'
But need not multiply objections; as that bill|
o m"w ;sanas' should feel myself untrue to my|
constituents, untrue to myself untrue 20 the
country at large, to give it my support Z.
Inc iugilve slave sections are of bat littleZ
consequence. Like the laws against duellng in ali
The states, they are apparently strong enough nal
prevent The practice, but practically they are al
ueaa letter upon the statute book. Public opn-
ION does not demand their enforcement. Even sol
vii! II be with the mos, stringent fugitive s.So
pu.. II WI prove mere mockery. The present
Ia" OF 1893 Is full and strong enough. if tb.
States of the North would comply, or were dis
posed to comply with their constitutional obliga.
lions. wing"
ne anxiety to suppress the slave trade in this
m ict-a measure of no great magnitude in H.
self--ls only desired in order TO stiematize this
"'"u OF trafhc, which is known to exist in theL
'outhefh States, and to make one step forward
II the process of abolition of slavery in this Dis
f''' The motives which impel the movement,
more than the movement itself, are obnoxious
q me. oN'o"S
eore now to the consideration of tina oues.
ION, what shall we do to uuiet agitation and re:
store peace and confidence and good feeling be.
"een the different sections of this Union'
despair of reconciling the abstract conf.
news or the North and the South. So
ort Is vain and futile. But it is certs --lctins
he same conflict has existed to- .ch an ef
'Ntent from the foundation Of .nly true tina
'lon by which we ceat' me Government.
,l, set us bv our r. TO. devise some new
,roleht hack Ia = improve upon the exam
Ian is the b. .oretathers and | am finally
dnDted The firm conviction that the old
VI st and wisest plan, and should be
-.S7, before the adoption Of our present Con
luton, when the celebrated ordinance institut
ing slavery northwest of the river Ohio was pass
eel, it well settled policy that all the oil,
States would ccde their back lands and the Ohi
was adopted as the compromise line. AM
while the first Congress under our Constitution re
,ocnzed the introduction Of slavery northwest o
the Ohio, they established territory south OF tn
ohio in which il was sanctioned. Thus they re
.nnciled their difference by line ofpartition, ant
went on tremendously. But the history of thi
compromise convinccs me of another fact, that i
the importation of slaves from abroad had the
haa inh iho n,l, had hoo
as their locality, whether the slaves then in til
country should be allowed to spread, rs the in
terest or inclination Of the owners might dictate
that that ordinance had never found its plac
among our statutes. As an evidence of this fact
shall refer to authority as conclusive thi.
point. Mr.. Madison, in his letter to Mr. Monroe
in 1920, says:
:. have observed as yet in none Of the view;
taken Of the ordinance of 1857 nterdictng slave
~ northwest of the river Ohio allusion 10 tn
circumstance that when it passed Congress ha,
no authority to prohibit the importation Of slaves
FROM abroad that all the States had, and som
were in the full exercise Of, the right to impor
them and consequently that there was mod
IVA which Congress could check the evil but the in
direct one of narrowing the space open for the re
"eptlon of slaves.
clad the federal authority then existed to pro.
hbt directly and totally, the importation from,
abroad, can it be doubted that it would have been
eNcrted, and that regulation having merely the
effect Of preventing the interior disposition of
slaves actually in the United States, and creating
Il distinction among the States in the degrees Of
heir sovereignty, would not have been adopted,
or perhaps thought Of.
This the spirit and the cause of that ordi-
nance. If in that day, it had been question: not
of increase Of the number Of slaves, but simply
as TO their locality in the United States have not
a doubt the ordinance of 1887 had never existed.
The reason Of the measure having failed, to insist
ON the measure itself is most unreasonable. The
South, fond of the Union, yielded to this discrim-
nation, making the Ohio river the dividing line
hciw cen slave and free States.
Next in order Of time was the purchase Of Lou
isiana, which had area Of 1,075,000 square
miles; but if we include Oregon, (and our ablest
statesmen have claimed that our best title to the
county west of the Rocky Mountains is derived
from that purchase,) its area would be l,416;4 ASA
square miles. On the bill granting permission
the people Of Missouri Territory to form
State constitution, the North resisted her appli
cation, Till they, at last, forced compromise upor
the South which divided the territory acquired b,
that treaty by the line 36o 30', still bringing tn
line of division further south, which sec red 4
the North l,306, 1863 square miles, and retaine
10000 square miles for the South, when 1t wa
admitted on all sides that the whole territory wa