The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-06-25

e protected wherever it exists Could It have
e been the design Of the statesmen who franco
the plan Of government, that legislatior
: might be used as an instrument to blot Out
4 anything The Constitution expressly recog-
, nizcs and agrees 10 protect, and IN which the
t investment Of capital was invited Z
care nothing for an equilibrium between
the slaveholding States Such a condition
was not fixed by the Constitution, and is not
OF IFS essence. 1t is, moreover, impossible,
and If good faith prevails, unnecessary.
Power exerted By the free States TO compel
the slaveholding States to feel inlcriority,
and to deprive them of any just right--used
TO mark with the stain Of national reproba-
ton class Of property held by the minority,
! by virtue ola right over which Congress has
no control, and which the owner holds, in
the opinion of fifteen States, without any
violation Of etiquette to man or sin against
God--l protest against most solcmnly.--
The cxertion Of any such power, without the
consent Of the minority, will justly ALLEVIATE
the affections Of the people from Govern
ment, whose conduct is in open hostility to
their interests.
When we regard tn, practical blessings
Of the Union, the rapid growth OF our coun-
try, the unparalleled increase OF our COM
mercial and national power, and the pros
pcct of a future, through whose vista the
enlightened statemen can already perceive
a grandeur which will place the United
States first among the powers Of the earth,
the wonder increases, that any section OF the
country should be willing to peril, even for
moment, the prospect Of our common glory,
| by an attempt to enforce mere sentiment
Of more than questionable philanthropy
| The free States Of this Union have retro
spect to crafty the pride Of any people--a
prospect promising increased prosperity and
] power BY the excrtion Of energy, their
4 people have assumed public and private
wealth-have difused the blessings Of edu-
cation, broadcast, among the milion--have
connected the natural channels Of trade by
artificial improvements, and checkered their
magnificent country with stupendous works
4 of art.
i Tie rapid swell Of numbers, under the
provisions OF the Constitution, regulating
our political relations, has transferred the
reigns Of empire to their grasp, except SO far
as the organic law has reserved rights to the
States and the people, or regulates their ex-
ercise. Moderate ambition should surely
be content with such measure Of past sue
cess, and such a promise Of future splendor.
Can it be that the free sons Of the North in
tend to mar this great partnership Of freedom
and glory" by an unhalloweda attempt TO tram
pie upon the rights Of their brethren Why
! interfere with the condition and institutions
Of your neighbors Why read homiles to
US, your political equals, upon the moral
iniquty of domestic slavery Why cheat
4 yourselves with the deusion that Providence
has called you to a special mission !os lis ex-
tirpation Why seek to act as if we had
no voice in the disposition Of our common
4 domains Look back on the history Of the
pa st, and initiate the example of the slave
i holding country. When the war of the
i Revolution closed, Virginia transferred
to the common treasury for the payment
Of the public debt, and for the common
i benefit, domain richer than dozen Eu-
ropcan principalities. She agreed t. mark
it by the popularity of your own system OF
labor. VIII you now deny to her fair
participation in the acquisitions Of our COM
was acquired, slavery existed over its entire
surface. Remember the language of the
Moth 1t was then marked by no assump-
! ton of arrogance--no determination TO rule
all, according to her own view Mr.. Tay-
lor, Of New York, the gentleman who moved
the restrictive clause, (since known by the
name Of Wilmot Provso, held this just and
emphatic language:
eve have no desire to restrict the emigration
from the South, to deny to itan equal participa-
ton of territorial benefits. The powers Of
sovereignty over the territory ought to be exer-
cised, not on the principles of Massachusetts or
Virginia, but upon those of the United States. =
How different, Mr.. Chairman, is this Ian
guage from that held the other day by a
representative from Massachusetts,, Mr..
AsHMUN,] who said:
"If you claim this right as a money right, we
will not grant it. II you claim it as poin, Of
honor, and will Join us in resolution saying
slavery is not there and never will be, them to save
your feelings, we will not pass the proviso."
Far better, sir, adhere to the spirit which
admits the equality Of the States, and an
nounces the just doctrine, that neither Mas
sachusetts nor Virginia possess the right to
impress their peculiarities of sentiment, or Of
their system Of labor exclusively upon the
common domain.
This irritating question was supposed to
be settled BY the Missouri Compromise, which
divided the territory between the two classes
of States. know the slave States yielded
much in that settlement. They voluntarily
yielded the right, clearly possessed, to carry
slave property into any part Of the territory
Of the United States, and agreed, for the
sake of peace and harmony, to partition,
which confined slavery south Of the line OF
SO deg. 80 min Of north latitude. The
: spirit of that compromise was an equitable
tipision Of The territory--ons part to be gov
erned by the principles Of Massachusetts,,
aud the other by the principles of Virginia,
if the people who formed the States chose
to adopt those principles. 1t Is fashionable