Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1850-05-07
PARIS, March 27, 1850.

which | read the accounts, DToughl ny
successive steamers, Of the fratrlcldal con-
tests now openly waged in our legislative
halls between brethren and representatives
of a common country, and the levlty with
which that word of evil omen, diSunaOn,
ia now echoed from mouth to mouth
MANY Of us, indeed, toresaw and predlc-
tod that intestine controversies OF most
angry character would grow out of the
war with Mexico, if that war should ter
inmate, as seemed most probable, In any
LARGE acquisition of territory from our Tee
ble neiohbor. Bnt | had certainly not
expected to witness SO soon the MEAN
cboly spectacle which is now presented,
Of the national Legislature, as well as the
Dnblic authorities of many of the States,
coolJv celebrating upon The dissolution
of the Union, which was sealed with the
blood of our fathers, and which was des-
tined. as they believed, and it has hitherto
proved, to be the source of unnumbered
blessings of their posterlty.
The position which the slaveholdlng
States should occupy is an impregnable
one. by its simplicity as well as self-evi.
lence iustice. .46Solute nOn-interren-
ton on the part of Congress should be
our motto-no Wilnlot pr0riSo, no Legls-
lation achateuer by Congress, either to
prohibit or to introduce slavery IN the
now Territories. Leave them TO the nat
ural and Spontaneous course of things, and
TO the people who may settle the country,
the IMPAIRED liberty, when the time arrl-
yes. to establish permanent government
for themselves, to exclude or to permit
slavery, as 10 them may seem good, and
az il will then be their unQuesuOnable
right freely to decide. If we go beyond
this demand of Congress any action what
ever in aid Of the establishment of slavery
in any portion Of the Territories in ques-
ton. we abandon the great principle OF
yon.interuention, which constitutes our
safety and the inyincible justice of our
cause.
I have seen, with infinite regret, that
measures have been proposed IN our own
commonwealth looking to an eventual dis
solution of the Union, and that some have
made the bold experiment of attempting to
Aatter her pride with the idea of being the
n;oneer and leader in this inglorious
work Surely, this is role which does
not belong to Virginia. The State, which
Of all others was most instrumental, under
Providence, in calling the Union into ex-
istence, should least of all, if we consider
historical propriety alone, be expected TO
lead the way in its destruction. But be-
yond this and supposing 1t possible, for
moment, that Virginians could never for
oct the secret allegiance which their Ia
theirs swore TO the Union as the ark of our
common safety, and which has descended
upon us with redoubted obligations since
we have lived to see the wonderful and
UNPARALLELED career of national greatness
which it has opened to the whole country,
can any one be so blind as not to see the
especial and vit0L interest which Virginia
has in the maintainance and preservation
of the Union?
She is geographically, as she long was
and may again be politically, the centre
of the federal system. The liberal and
enlightened policy Of her Legislators has, OF
late wears, been rapidly making her, what
nature designed her to be, the thorough
fare and rendezvous Of our great and uni
ted sisterhood of States. Her great lines
of railway, from North to South and from
East to West, already completed or In
progress under the noble and muniicent
nroyision recently made by the Legisla-
iure. were intended to be the avenues ola
great continental intercourse, both OF tray
el and commerce, between the remotest
extremes of an empire extending from the
Lakes to the Gulfof Mexico, and from the
Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Into what
ridiculous but costly and rnlnous abor-
lions would they dwindle, i'll Virginia, in
stead of being the thoroughfare, and, in
some sort, the entrepot of the continent,
enriched by the currents OF free and un-
shackled intercourse passing through her
bosom. is to come bo:der State, both to
the North and the West-for L hold 1t TO
be absolutely certain thatneither Maryland
nor Kentucky can ever be drawn into
any scheme of disunlon.
This mode of procedure is so much the
more called for, as the same fatal stroke
which sewers Virginia from the Union
would, | am convinced, inevitably sever
Virginia herself into two distinct and a
lien States. Let the people Of Virginia,
then, repeat, in their highest sovereign
capacity, acting by their representatives
assembled in solemn convention, decide
this question; SO vitality affecting their
own destinies, for themselves, uncommi-
tel and influenced by the action of any
OTTER body or bodies whatever, Be her
,.cision. then, what il may be, II shall
command my implicit obedience andres