The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-08-03
Washington, Saturday, August 3, 1850.

\ WI. Ndlul III udu OCCdSiOu W duuiCSo tuC pSo-
pie of the Southern States shortly after
ward, and on that occasion he gave US,
under his own hand, the construction Of the
Southern Address upon thepoint we are con-
sidering, in language which ends all further
dispute Of his meaning | allude to an adj
dress ofhis, dated July 8, 1850, and refer par
ticularly to a passage Immediately preceding
a paragraph read to us upon former occa-
sion by the senator from Mississippi, though
this part seems to have escaped his notice
| will.not read the whole passage, but will
cause it to be printed with these remarks, as
a final answer to all who appeal to the au-
| thority Of Mr.. Calhoun's great name, wher
they deny the duty Of Congress to protec
slave property equally with all other descrIp-
tons of property rights:
! 1t is, indeed, a great msconception Of the char
acter and object Of the general government to sup
pose that it has the power either to establish OF
abolish slavery, any other property, where Its
authority extends beyond the limits of the States,
regarded individually. Its authority is but the
united and joint authority of the several States,
| conferred upon 1t by constitution adopted on
mutual agreement, but by the separate act of each
State, in like manner, in every respect, as each
| adopted its own separate constitution, with the
| single exception that one was adopted without,
| and the other on, mutual agreement OF all the
States. II is, then, in fact, the constitution OF
each State, as much so its own separate constr
| tuition, and is only the constitution of all the
States, because it is that of each. As the constr
| tuition made the General Government, that, too,
! is, in like manner, as much the government OF
each State as its own separate government, and
only the government of all because it is the gov
eminent Of each. So likewise are its laws, and
4 Co. tl,ao nth fU ON q
the united and common authority of the several
States, delegated by each to be exercised for the
mutual benefit of each and all, and for the greater
security OF the rights and interests of each and all
| Ii was for that purpose the States united IN a
| Federal Union, and adopted a common constltu-
ton and government. With the same view, they
conferred upon the government whatever power 1t
has of regulating and protecting what appertained
to their exterior relations among tn emselvss and
with the rest of the world. EACH in brief, agreed
with the others to unite their joint authority
and power to protect the safety and rights, and
| promote the interest of each by their united
power. .,.fr
Such is clearly the character and object of the
General Government, and of the authority and
power conferred on it. In its power and authori-
ty, having for its object the more perfect protec-
ton and promotion of the safety and rights of each
and all, it is bound to protect, by their united
power, the safety, the rights, the property, and
/
authority extends. That was the object for con-
ferring whatever power and authority it has; and
if it fails to fulfil that, it fails perform the duty
! for which it was created. 1t is enough for it to
know that It's the right, interest, or property of
citizen Of one of the States to make 1t its duty
| to protect it whenever it comes within the sphere
/ Of its authority, whether in the territories, on
| the high seas, or anywhere else. It's power and
authority were conferred on it not to establish or
to abolish property, or rights of any description,
but to protect them. To establish or abolish be-
longs to the States, in their separate sovereign
| capacity-the capacity in which they created both
! the general and their separate State governments
1t would be, then, total and gross pervsrsion OF
| its power and authority to use them to establish
| or abolish slavery, or any other property of the
citizens Of the United States, in the territories.
All the power it has, that respect, is to recognize
as property there whatever is recognized as such
by the authority Of any Of the States, its own
being but the united authority Of each and all of
the States, AND TO ADOPT SUCH LAWS
FOR ITS REGULATION AND PROTEC-
TON AS THE STATE OF THE CASE MAY
REQUIRE. a. aa -.r.
What Mr. Calhoun meant by the power
6 to establish or abolish slavery" is totally
dstnguishable from the duty of recognition
and protection of the right Of the slave own
er. The sense in which he uses the term
establish in connexon with slavery, is
clearly shown in previous paragraph Of the
same address. lnquiring if Congress can
establish slavery in the Territories" he
| asks: Can it enact law providing that
every negro or muatto found in the Terri
tories of the United States shall be slave,
and be liable to be seized and treated as
such by whoever may choose to do OFF,
This would be establishing" slavery ac-
cording to his meaning of the phrase, and &C
| cording to its natural meaning. But the
protection given by law to the right of the
STAKEHOLDER removing into a territory is not
establishing" slavery. The very preya-
lent misapplication Of the terms" extending
slavery " establishing slavery" and the
like, grows, as | humbly conceive, out of a
confusion of IDEAS Slavery is condition
attaching to the person, not the soil; it is a
personal relation. Slave property is right
in the master to the personal service of the
slave. If slave, owned in Virginia, is car
red into Territory, slavery is not " ertend-
ed I" any more than the removal Of slave
from one county to another, in the same
State, would /" extendD it. There are no
more persons subject to slavery than before.
If the existing property Of the owners in their
slaves is protected in territory. slavery IS
not thereby established" They were
slaves before being carried there, and the
condition was " established" in advance Of
migration. If slave escapes from Mary
land into Pennsylvania, the constitution pre-
serves the right Of the owner, and Congress
affords express legislative projections to that
right. Is slavery thus establisheP' by
Congress in Pennsylvania Now, if the
constitution preserves the right Of the owner
of slaves to his property in them while in the
Territories; does the legislative protection CT
that right by Congress establish" slavery
any more than in the other cases The idea,
then, OF g protection was not inconsistent
with Mr.. Calhoun's meaning, when, in the
Southern Address, he denied the power N
Congress to abolish slavery on the one hand,
or aestablishn or I" extend'' it on the ether.
W. Lovo saon IN Tho pytract last read. that