The southern press., 1850-11-05
From the Norfolk (Ya.) So.iAsr,. Argus.

From the Norfolk (Ya.) Southern Argus.
THE WAsmsGToE UNION AND RIcHMosD En-
oUIRER.-AThe North has mainly secured the
objects it sought in the late Compromise and
If it were to deprive the South OF one of the ma
terial considerations that rendered 1t pslatable,
man can be So blind not to perceive the aliena-
ton and hostility that would be engendered."
$ We have advocated Compromise calcu-
lated as We hoped, to save the Union. In our
humble Judgment, it respects the rights of the
States and the honor Of the South ; and yet il is
not all that we would have desired for the South.
And now shall one of the most important con-
siderations, which induces the South to accept
it, be stricken out! Shall she be deprived of
one of the great benefits which was held out to
her! And above all, what confidence can she
hereafter repose in our brethren of the North?
This compact broken, how can she expect to
make another that will be more respected r.
"We call upon our brethren OF the North to
stand up to this compact and to the Constitu-
tion. All will then be well. Buff any attempt
be made to violate the compact, do the fanatics
OF the North expect the South to succumb :"
The above extracts we take from late edito-
rial Of the Washington Union. The Richmond
Enquirer, too, discourses in the same vein, and
says: fi& .." Z
"This universal upheaving ofpublic sentiment
from the South, demanding a faithful compliance
with solemn compact, must essentially aid the
noble efforts of the patriotic unionists Of the
North to crush the fanatics"
We could hardly have expected these queru-
lous remonstrances from the compromise organs,
so soon after the passage Of the measures which
they assured us would give immediate and last
ing peace and harmony to the country But it
seems they have been disappointed in their ex-
pectation that agitation would cease upon the
surrender by the South Of those rights which
they had declared their purpose to maintain; and
the actual resistance and threatened repeal of the
Fugitive slave law cause them to protest vehe-
mently against the violation of what they call a
solemn compact between the North and tie
South. 1t is altogether natural that the Union
and Enquirer should encourage the amiable de-
lusion that the measures so warmly supported
by them, really involved "solomn compact"
But as zoe have always contended that they
amounted only to a tame concession of even
more than the North had demanded, and have
never been able to recognize any of the features
of this compact, we will proeeed to consider the
propriety Of this designation @~ y
1t must be confessed that the North displayed
a wonderful alacrity in accepting the territory
acquired from Mexico. Not a man of them
eyinced the slightest hesitation in taking hold of
California, the only valuable part of the whole !;
and the great majority of them were happy in
believing that the Mexican law, achich ttey aooud
mol interfere aoith, had already done the work of
the Wilmot Proviso in New Mexico and Utah.
They were very grateful too for the portion Of
Texas we gave them, though there were some
that, like Oliver, asked for more" and would
not take what was offered because they did not
get more" As for the law emancipating all
slaves who might be brought into the District
to be sold, it was only the consummation of II
long cherished object, and of course, no Northern
vote was recorded against that. But still we see
nothing OF a compact in all this except indeed
that zoe agreed to give, and they ag: eed to take
Such bargain would, no doubt, be considered
very equitable by MIR. Samuel Weller, who
thought he could make "no fairer offer" than to
consent to receive the shilling that was rendered
to him; but the owner of the shilling might
think differently.
But our contemporaries evidently refer to the
fugitive slave law, as furnishing the inducement
and the consideration of the conapact made with
us by the North. The Union, admitting that
\" the North has mainly secured the objects it
sought in the late compromise" seems to sup
pose that the success Of the North Was owing
to the pledge it gave to the South to restore its
fugitive slaves. In the first place we deny that
ary such pledge could Justly have been regarded
as consideration for the surrender by the
South Of rights and interests deemed Of vital
Importance. The delivery of fugitive slaves is
already expressly guaranteed by the Constitu-
ton and instead of our making sacrifices to
secure compliance with its provision, the
North owed us atonement for having so long
refused to carry into effect the law which has
been on the statute book for near sixty years.
But we further deny that any such pledge has
been given by the North, or that any compact
as is spoken of has been made.
The fugitive slave bill was one of the last
measures that was passed by Congress-, and
could never have been passed at all if it had not
received the votes of those who were the most
violent opponents of the whole compromise
scheme. On the other hand, it was opposed by
many of the friends of the compromise, and re-
ceived the votes of only three Wings from the
-slaveholding States. IfOhio, Pennsylvania,
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut Rhode Is
land and Massachusetts, the States into which
fugitive slaves are most likely to go, should de-
mand the repeal of the law or refuse to execute
its provisions, whatever else we might say Of
them, we should have no right to say, that they
We're parties to the compact, supposed by the
Union and Enquirer to have been recently made
by which they consented to surrender our slaves
in consideration of our surrender of our whole
controversy with them. Of the twenty-one
members from Ohio in the House of Represen-
tative, only three voted for the Fugitive slave
bill Of the twenty-four members from Penn
sylvania, there were only six that voted for it.
Of the thirty-four from New York, only one (Mr.
Walden.) OF the five from New Jersey, only
one. Of the four from Connecticut, not one.
Of the two from Rhode Island, not one OF the
ten from Massachusetts, only one, In short of
the one hundred and forty-two members from
the free States, only thirtyone voted for the bill
With what propriety then can these presses
speak Of the late aggressive measures of Con-
gress as a compact between the North and the
South! The North made no such compact it
intended to make none and let us not seek to
cover up the humiliation of our recent defeat, by
pretending that we made terms with our con-
querors which they are under obligations to re-
spect. They are bound to respect and execute
the Fugitive slave law, and have been equally
bound to do so for the last sixty years-not be-
cause they have lately entered into compact to
do so, but because IL IS The la,p.