The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-24

gard this as a cheap and easy victory! Will
they not say behold what we have already ac-
complisbed, and how much success attend US
The South no longer dares TO demand the Mis-
souri, compromises; she dares not insist upon a
division of the territory, but abandons it all to
escape the insult of restriction which her sur
render makes unnecessary. Our anti-slavery
petitions are no longer denied reconsideration in
| Congress they are not only received, but are
producing their fruits. Already is Congress act
! ing upon the subject of the slave-trade in the
District of Columbia. Have we not already met
with success enough in our past efforts to stim-
ulate us for the future :.
But there is another class of agitators upon
this subject They may be denomnated az
camp followers of the first they consist of men
who understand the power off third party, Or
ganized upon an idea stronger than the ties OF
parties, merely political. They attach them
selves to il to obtain its aid in advancing them
selves in the church, in society, and in the State
Will any of these be deferred from an agitation
hostile, to slavery by the adoption of this scheme!
Surely not. ~ 3iG68f 6a
But there is yet third class of agitators, more
numerous and occasionally more dangerous
than both of the others. i mean those who agi-
tate for political purposes, without any particu-
lar feeling upon the subject of slavery, either
the one way or the other. But they represent
what may be called the capitalist interest in
society, and they regard the Southern power as
hostile to their schemes. The Southern propri-
tor represents labor, and it is his interest that
The wages of labor should be high In all the
wars between labor and capital he is therefore
the defender of the former. Upon the subject
of banks, tariffs, and mall the schemes by which
Government is invoked to give capital an indi-
rect advantage over labor, Southern influence
has been felt and often fatally felt by the former
For this reason the Northern capitalist has
shown himself hostile to every increase Of
political weight in the Confederacy on the part
Of the South. Upon that question he is consis-
tent and undertaking. He never fails to oppose
any measure which could increase in the least
degree the relative power Of the South in the
Confederacy, because he regards that power as
hostile to him. Upon the mere subject of sla-
very, his agitation is occasional and not steady.
He agitates for other purposes, and not from any
hostility to the institution. He will agitate
whenever thereis aquestion OF extending South
ern power to get up a feeling at home which
otherwise might not be directed against such an
extension. He also agitates sometimes for the
same reason which used to induce France, when
at war with the English, to stir up their Scotch
neighbors, TO produce a division at home. If
Southern influence is about to become danger
Gus to his schemes of protection or assistance,
he is then willing to give them trouble at home,
to alalm them if possible 50 deeply as to deter
them from attending to his measures, or to pre-
vent them from opposing him to get peace at
home. Upon this subject, sir history has some
thing to say. II was not until it became evident
that the protective system was Keeling under
al i
to madness and desperation, that the antislavery
war assumed its most dangerous form. If the
tariff was to fall before Southern agitation, then
slavery, the great Southern interest, must tcter
under Northern agitation, and upon that institrl-
ton blow after blow has fallen, until we have
reached our present condition
How often have we heard certain Northern
Senators adverting in bitterness of spirit to the
fact that the votes of the Texan Senators passed
the tariff act of 1916 Who does not see that
this feeling has much to do with the determine
ton to exclude the South from every foot OF
territory acquired from Mexico? Sir, we have
already heard more than obscure limitations
that the true grounds of compromises were be-
tween the slavery and protection interests. But
the Senator from Massachusetts, in speaking OF
the ambitious spirit of the cotton interest," forgot
to say that there were two classes of the cotton
interest, the one in the free, the other in the
slave States, with opposite views, in some res.
poets, and the former, as think, far more ag-
gressive than the latter. If Mississippi has her
cotton planter and slave owner. Massachusetts,
has her cotton lord, whose capital is engaged in
manufacturing that fabric; operatives depending
upon that employment for subsistence, and ships,
and mariners, and merchants largely engaged in
the transportation and exchanges of that raw
material and its fabrics But as said before,
the cotton interest North has in some respects
different views from the cotton interest South.
The firt desire to make slave laborlow, and cotton
abundant and cheap; the latter desire to make
their labor high, and to raise the price Of cotton
The former wish to confne all the slave labor
therefore, to the cotton lands; the latter have a
deep interest in extending it to other employ
ments, and over larger surface. In this differ
ence of feeling and interest is to be found, per-
haps, one of the bitterest elements in the present
strife. If slave labor had been permitted to be
employed in California there is every reason to
believe that it would have gone there to great
extent. We have the evidence of a member of
their convention, quoted by my colleague, who
measured the value of years labor Of slave
in thousands of dollars.
We know too, that in all times mining seems
W uaFS pccii 'he eiiiPioyHuSlt PSSuihHiy hteo''
for slaves. 1t was carried on by Indian slaves
before the Spaniards came, and it was to relieve
them that African slavery was introduced. So
soon as the mines had fallen into private hands,
slaves would have been employed in them, had
the Government permitted it. They would have
gone, probably, in great numbers from Mary
land, Virginia, and North Carolina. Why should
any Northern philanthropist object to it Was
it not better if slavery was such an evil, to re-
lieve the old States from it, and sent it to va
cant territory! In that point of view, yes, but
in another far worse. 1t would have raised the
price of slaves, of slave labor, and of cotton.
1t would have diverted a great deal of that sort
of labor from the production of cotton. The
general belief is, whether correct or not j dc
not say, that slaves will leave t.le grain-produc-
ing States in the course of time. To concen-
trate them in the cotton States must, for a long
time, be regarded as valuable object to those
who desire to see cotton abundant and cheap
Now, unless this bill should give these persons
all the territory, and all the power in dispute
how is its passageto satisfy them? And if thos,
are the terms on which alone they can be Quoted
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