Washington telegraph., 1850-05-22

~. hVes, TO friend in this county, on the agitat-
ing Questions which have unhappily divided the
country. The noble and patriotic sentiments
winch 1t contains will receive hearty response
from nus le'iow .countrymen, who, we proud to
say, nave already endorsed, by large majority,
ms views upon the value Of the Union. and the
dangerous character of the convention proposed
to be held at Nashville.
| PARIS, March 27, 1850.
My dear SIR: l cannot describe TO you the deep
modification and chagrin with which read the
accounts, brought by successive steamers, of the
fratrlcdal contest now openly waged in our legs-
lative halls between brethren and represe natives
OF a common country, and the levty with which
that word of evil omen, Gisunion, is now echoed
! from mouth to mouth. Many of us, indeed, fore
saw and predicted that intestine controversies of
most angry character would grow out of the war
with Mexico, if that war should terminate,
seemed most probable, in any large acquisition of
territory rom feeble neighbor. But had
certainly not expected to witness the mel
ancholy spectacle which is now presented of the
national legislature, well as the public authori-
ties Of many the States, cooy de,iberatng upon
the dissolution of the Union, which sealed
with the blood of our fathers and which was des-
tined as they believed and it has hitherto proved.
to be the source of unnumbered blessings to their
posterity.
AS to the immediate occasion of this painful
and unnatural exhibition, will say to you, with
out reserve, that nobody reprobates more heartily
than do the conduct of the agitators of the Wal
mot proUis0, and of the whole political movement |
which is disguised under the specious name of !
Free-sOitiSm The measure which they propose
is in my humble Judgment under the circum-
stances in which it is presented, impressed with
the worst features of factous origin, is intrinsic
ally opposed to the just and equal spirit OF our
institutions, and is, moreover, without warrant in
any sound Interpretation Of the text of the Const-
ton. Let it, therefore, be resisted with all the |
energy of patriotism, and by all rig ghtfu means
which the Constitution itself sanctions and sup
plies. These means alsufficent to defeat,
and, if pursued in a constitutional and loyal SPIRIT
will nfalIibly defeat it. The position which the |
slavehold1g States should occupy is an impregna-
bic one, by its simplicity and self-evIdent justice.
Absolute -interUentiOn on the part OF Congress
should be mottO-no Wttm0f propas0, no
Legislation aohateuer by Congress, either to pro-
hbit to introduce slavery in the new territories
Leave them TO the natural and spontaneous course |
of things, and to the people who may settle the |
country, the unimpared liberty, when the time |
arrives to establish permanent government for
themselves, to exclude to permit slavery, as TO |
them may seem good, and as it will then be their |
unauestionable right to decide lfw go beyond
this, and demand of Congress any action whatever |
in aid of the establishment of slavery IN any por- |
tion of the Territories in question: We abandon the
great principle of nOn-interUention, which alone |
constitutes safety and the invincble justice of
our cause.
have seen, with infinite regret. that measures |
have been proposed in our own beloved common |
wealth looking to an eventual dissolution of the |
Union, aud that some have made the bold expert
ment of attempting to hatter her pride with the |
idea of being the pioneer and leader in this Ingo-
rious work. Surely this is a rote which does not I
belong to Virginia The State, which of all others
was most instrumental, under Providence, in call
ing into existence, should least Of all, if We consd
er historical propriety alone, be expected to lead
the way in its destruction. But beyond this, and
supposing it possible for moment. that V'rglnians
could ever forget the sacred allegiance which |
their fathers to the Union the ark OF our
common safety, and which has descended upon
us with redoubled obligations since have lived |
to see the wonderful and unparalleled of
national greatness which it has opened to the |
whole country, can any one be SO blind as not to
see the especial and uitaL interest which Virginia
has in The maintenance and preservation of the
Union?
She is geographically, she long was and may
again be politically, the centre of the federal sys-
tenn. The liberal and enlightened policy OF her
legislators has, of late years, been rapidly making
her, what nature designed her to be, the thorough
fare and rendezvous of gre at and united sister
hood of States. Her great lines ofrailway, from
north TO South and from east to west, already
completed in progress under the noble and mu-
niicent provision recently made by the Legislature
were intended to be the avenues of q great conti-
mental intercourse both Of travel and of commerce.
between the remotest extremes OF an empire ex-
| tending from the Lakes TO the Gulf Of Mexico, and
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Into what
| ridiculous but costly and runous abortions would
they dwindIe if Virginia, instead of being the
thoronghfdre, aad, in some Sort The enrepot of the
continent, enriched by the currents of free and
| unsha ckeled intercourse passing through her
bosom, it is to become border State, standing
on the edge of divided conederacy, and looking
out the contiguous territory of foreign, and pos
| IDLY hostile States, both to the North and the
! West-for hold it to be absolutely certain that
neither Maryland nor Kentucky ever be drawn
| into any scheme of disunOn.
| In exchange for these and the other precious
advantages of her position the central State of
the Union, what has Virginia to gain by joining
southern confederacy2 Will she have any more
security for the legal rights of property connected
with the nstiiu ution of slavery, when the whole
| North ard northwest will be thrown open to fugi-
tive slaves without any obligation whatever, and
certainly without any disposition to restore them;
than she now has while those States are bound
by constitutional stipulation for their surrender?
la regard to commerce, what trade have we, or
can we have, with the South to be compared to
| our growing and valuable trade with the North,
our future prolific trade with the West, when
great lines of railway communication are compile
ted to the Ohio and Mississippi, and the free and
unrestricted trade now secured to US by the Con-
stitution with the wholo Union, the South itself
included 1t is easy to foresee if the Union should
be dissolved, Qhe suppositon tselfis species
of sacrege,) and southern confederacy be
formed out of its ruins, that the production and
commerce of cotton would be the great m1teriaL
interest, the nexorable Jugernaut, to which every
thing else would be sacrificed in the new confede
racy. The planters and farmers of Virginia best
know how far they would be likely to profit by an
exclusive policy of that sort
We have sometimes been told Of the advanta-
geous treaties of commerce which the South, as
separate confederacy, would be abe to form with