The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-03

peen properly regarded by the Legislature, as one
OF the evidences Of design by Congress further TO
interfere with the institution of slavery and there
| fore dangerous To the rights Of the slayeholding
States. refer to the act aboishing the slave
trade in the District Of Coumbia-an act which
not only forbids the introduction Of slaves into
the Federal District for sale, and their being placed
in depot to be conveyed and sold in other States,
| thereby in reality preventing the transit Of this
description of property through the District as
merchandise; but, by declaring slaves free under
such circumstances, the act has established pre-
cedent for the abolition Of slavery in the District
"The limits of message do not permit to
detail other measures which have justly caused
alarm and excitement in the South; for, however,
some OF our own people may, from anxiety to al
lay excitement, seek TO excuse these measures,
there are few whose breasts are not filed with
dread OF the dangers which from these quarters
lower in the horizon of the future. In nv opinion
1t would be weak, timld, and disastrous policy to
shut our eyes TO these dangers-it is the part Of
wisdom to meet them. Let US then survey our
position and that Of our opponents.
! There is nothing to encourage the hope that
there will be any respite from aggression Never
has hostility to slavery been more distinctly
marked or more openly asserted. Shades Of diff
ference in opinion may distinguish Northern
statesmen, but all unite in stern opposition to the
extension Of slavery, and in declarations OF their
| fixed determination TO conhne 1t to Its present
limits, and forever to close the public territory
against us.
| The North has Just triumphed in every claim
she has asserted; and yet at this moment Of our
humiliation, their people, less patient than we, are
| in a blaze of excitement at every attempt to exc
cute the bill TO secure the return of fugitive slaves.
This plain compliance with one Of the clearest in
| functions Of the Constitution is not only disre
| garded, but conventions of both political parties,
formal meetings Of the people, and deliberate ad-
| dresses OF distinguished men openly take ground,
that being against the public sentiment Of the peo
| nj nj be nd
persons of all classes, with pliancy Of conscience
which characterizes abolition philosophy, adapt
their moral code and their constitutional duties, to
their prejudices and their interests.
Such, then, is the triumphant attitude Of anti
slavery. IT now controls the entire Government.
| No questions arise in which it does not intermln-
gle. And wherever it exhibits itself, it controls
all other subjects. Every great interest in this
| Government is now directed and managed by it.
1t has broken and sundered the strong ties which
bound together the religious denomination North
and South. 1t has even now severed the bonds
which for sixty years have united parties, and in
the place, it has sOwn the seeds OF hostility and
hatred. 1t now stands the stern, unyelding des-
pot, consigning to the bed Of Procrustes every OBJ
| ject whose fitness is questioned.
| What is to be the fate Of the institution of do
mestic slavery under such government? this great
interest, with which the civilization and refine
ment OF man on earth is connected-upon which
so much of the trade and commerce between Eu-
| ueDenQS-WnICn
labor of millions, and distributes the comforts OF
civilization to so many families-ths great social
interest upon which founded tine prosperity,
the happiness, and the very existence Of the peo-
pie Of fourteen States Of this Union9 What is to
be the fate Of this institution III left to the tender
mercies Of the Federal Government, its fate is
doomed. With the prejudices Of the age against
it, it requires for its kind Development foster
| ing Government over it. 1t could scarcely sub
sist without such protection. How then it
list, much less flourish and prosper under a gov
eminent hostile to it, A government organized
upon principles of hostility and opposition to the
institution Is it proper? is it philosophic Is
it not absurd, to entrust the prosperity, the pro-
lection, and even the existence OF great and del
cate interest to political power having its origin
| in and drawing its vigor from the very element OF
hostility to this interest?
To state the proposition clearly The Govern
ment Of the United States is now hostile to slave
ry Ii will hereafter be selected with reference to
its hostility this interest, and its activity In the
use Of doing injury. If this great and vital inter
est then, remains subject to the government and
control of its enemy, it must perish Sooner or la
| ter, repeat, 1t must PERISH
TO save it, to preserve it from destruction, at
least from sickly, lingering, dstempered and
precarious existence, 1t must be protected by guar
antees more available than the present Constitu
ton furnishes, or it must be wrested from the con-
troll of power which is hostile to it., and which
seeks it's destruction. 1t must, like every other
great interest, be placed in charge Of its friends
In speaking Of the destruction Of slavery irs7'~
Southern States, would not be understo'
supposing that summary abolition could
feced even by all the power of the non-sla'
ing States, unless they could succeed in e.
mating the white race in the South but |
the disastrous and fatal consequences, this
befall an institution, which, when Prope
lated and protected by fostering Cover
the most beniGcient and advantageous
labor that has existed from interferences, ag
itatons, disturbances, and injurious regulations,
carrying in their train poverty desolation and
eventual ruin to the Southern Suites.
The assumption by Congress of jurisdiction
the subject of slavery, the constant evidences
of growing hostility to it, and more than all the
declaration sent abroad, and now received mex
orable law, that the OF African slavery is new
err to be extended--that whatever may be the wants
of the country, however the slavery district may
be crowded with population, whatever vices and
evils may result from redundant population, or
labor unemployed, this doomed district is 10 be
hedged in by a wall Of fire, and the common, nat
ural and national rig ht of expansion to be denied
to it, are startling facts.
! Notwithstanding temporary countervaiing
causes, the close observer can already perceive
the injurious effects growing out Of these indirect
assaults upon the institution of domestic slavery,
in the necessity of more vgant police regulations
and in the withdrawal Of capital from the country
indicated by decaying towns, neglect ofpublic I'M
|
! estate.
How much will not these injurious effects be
FASTENED and increased when time shall have more
fully developed the fatal fact, that the Federal
Government is now, and is forever after to be or
ganized upon the principle hostility to slavery
The depression which follows sense Of political
degradation, the decay Of public spirit, the de-
teriorntion Of public morals, not little promoted
by the demoralizing effects OF the temptations to
treachery, held out by the splendid patronage of
the Federal Government all will tend to the decay
and ruin of the South.
Such then, gentlemen, am called upon, by
imperous sense Of duty to declare, is the present
condition Of Mississipplin common with the 9th
err Southern States. The prospects before us are
gloomy indeed The times demand the firm and
energetic action of every patriot. To permit our
selves to float down the stream, without a strug-
gle, would inevitably seal our doom. To resolve
again that we will not submit to further aggressions,
after our former resolutions have been so con-
tempuously disregarded, and after we have been
virtually stripped of every Of the public do
main, would but invite further aggressions, if 1t
did not justly subject US to the scorn and con-
tempt of mankind Let not the timid and the wa