Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1850-12-27
of their duty as confederate By an appeal to their

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reason and their moral sense.
We would promise . few suggestions to the oppo-
nents of slavery which lime does not permit us TO
elaborate Slavery Agss intrntlneed 4; - tb;s e,,.
by the enterprise of Old Ebglaad and New ENGLAND
1t was maintained in the latter during the DAYS Of
her greatest purity. when the spirit of an austere
and Incorporating religious faith not only regula-
ted social intercourse but controlled the onerafions
of government 1t was discontinued onIy when ex-
perience had proven its want of adaptation to the
soil and climate It has been retained at the South
by reason of the fitness of soil and climate to its
employment Under its auspices the negro has been
secured. beyond contingency, in the enjoyment of
physical comforts unknown to his trans Atlantic
ancestors and elevated in the scale of being Let
any man who questions the truth of this assertion
go to Liberia and compare the negro trained under
the influences of slavery with the negro of the same
generation reared in his native barbarsm. The
Southern slave, unnfuenced by the promptings of
mischievous Intermediates is sincerely attached to
his owner and happy in the condition assigned him
by an all-wise Providence. Familiarity with the
practical operations of the institution would satisfy
any ingenious mind that these things are so.
But apart from this abstract view, the South is
entitled to absolute security and quiet on this
The Constitution of the United States is, in its
terms. bond of political union between separate
sovereignties, and involves high moral obligation.
The latter is indeed the seal and sanction of the for
MGR The Southern States. upon entering into this
compact brought with them part of their social
system as the substratum of their industrial pur-
SUITS the institution of slavery, and the Northern
States by the compact recognized its existence, and
guaranteed its secure enjoyment. Beyond the obi
CATION thus created, the people of those States have
no more concern with it than have the subjects of
the British crown The trainers of the Constitution
declared in lmine, the purposes to be accomplished
by it, in the following terms We, the people OF
the United States. in order to form perfect
union. establish justice domestic tranquility,
provide for the defence, promote the general
welfare and the blessings of liberty to our
selves and posterty do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America. The
people of each State becoming party to that instru
ment are entitled to all the benefits therein distinct
lY enumerated, and under the most solemn obi
CATION to abstain from all practices Inconsistent with
their enjoyment by the other parties. It is nomi-
mated in the bond" that the people of no one State
shall disturb the 'dOmestC tranquility" of any 9TH
err Georgia lays open the volume of her history and
proudly challenges her confederates TO the abduction
of single incident vioative of this obligation She
does more In all kindness compatible with the as
serton of right she charges upon the slavehod-
ing States infdelity to this stipulation in the
pact She instances the existence within their bor-
ders of organized societies. avowedy devoted to the
humiliation of an Institution inwrought with the
framework of her social system. and in way modi
flying or efectng their own; societies employing
missionaries and subsidizng the press to propagate
their destructive doctrines and even to excite within
her limits spirit of dsafection among her citi
zens, and of INSTRUMENTATION among her slaves-so-
cietes which have boldly entered the political
seized upon the balance of power and obtruded their
fanaticsm into the halls of Federal Legislature
These measures of hostility necessarily proposed
and discussed to the interruption of the legitimate
business of legislation denuncatons day by day ut
tered against slavery and slaveholders-ag
federates and their institutions. in this state O. things
the remedy to be applied by those States is apparent
1t foreshadowed in the able and patriotic mes
sage proceeding from the Executive to the Leglsla-
tive Department of the State of New York, in the
year 1886 1t is by the active interposition of
sentative public opinion, and if that be insufficient
then by legislative enactment. If the onward move
ment of this insane crusade is ever to be stayed, 1T
is time that of resistance be put progress
there
Desiring to be distinctly understood in order that
incalculahle evils may be arrested by timely return
to the early policy of the country rest not this
remonstrance upon generafties. The pract1cal re-
rults aimed at by these agitators First abolition
of slavery in the District of Columbia Maryland
never would have coded part OF her territory, nor
transferred the jurisdiction portion of her cti
zens had she supposed their social system would be
revolutionsed against their will and State policy
established in the heart of her territory materially
f variant FROM and hostile to her own. Such act
therefore cannot be contaminated, without bad faith
to her. and to Virginia, whose territory is cotermi-
nous in the determined resistance ofwhich they are
entitled to the cooperation of their Southern confed
! crates.
secondlu that kindred measure, sometimes threat
ened, of aholishing slavery in the military posts,
dock yards and other free holds of the General Gov
eminent, lying within the boundaries of the slave
holding states heSe possessions were ceueu 10 the
United States, for purposes of utility and convenience
in the generous confidence, that they would not be
used to the detriment of the ceding States thirdly
amendment of the acts organizing territorial gov
ernments for New Mexico and Utah. whereby, slave
nv shall be prohibited in those territories Fourhty
the passage of act for the suppression of the slave
trade between the people of the slave holding States
} which we regard of6cous and unconstitutional
interference with the State policy. The rejection OF
some of those at the recent session of Con-
gress comes within the scheme of adjustment, and
v materially influences the decision of Georgia
One other subject challenges our especial notice
1t is the threatened repeal of the recent acts for the
reclamation of fugitive slaves That statute was de-
manded, as an unquestonable constitutional right
and as remedy for grievous and growing evil and
t therefore cannot be surrendered
History bears testimony to the Importance of this
subject 1t mingled in the earliest discussions upon
the formation of the American Union 1t command
ed the profound deliberaton of the trainers of the
Constitution, who assigned it prominent place in
G that instrument They ordained, that ''no person
held to service labor in State under the laws
thereof and escaping into another SHALL in any
sequence of any law regulation, therein, be dis
charged from such service or labor but shall be de
livered up on lain of the party to whom such ser
: vice or labor may be due"
J., 1t is universally conceded that this provision was
inserted to meet the of the fugitive slaves
that without it, the slave holding States would no
have entered into the Union. No candid reasonel
will controvert the proposition, that it is binding
alike, upon the States sovereigns upon their OH
GERS, executive, judicial and ministerial upon volun
tary associations of persons and upon each indvidu
al citizen of the United States. Hence, any obstruc
= ton the recovery of fugitive slaves emanatins
from any of those sources, involves its nfracou