The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-07-23

!. From ~ Sssta Csvos;aisa aad 7si<svspA.
The Pan u the Free Hegrs.
The governor Of New Mexico, in his late mes
sage to the Legislature Of that territory, Ia
: recommended that prohibitory acts Of me x
verest char1eter be passed to prevent the en-
T! trsnce Of free negroes into that territory. H
, treats the race AZ nuisance, and their presenc
as disgusting degradation" aud would hav
them excluded, by law, from the whole TERRITORY
II was the effort to effect the same purpos
with regard to Missouri, which obstructed tn
admission Of that State into the Union, after tn
slave question had been compromised on the lin
OF $780, and State constitution formed with
out restriction to slaves The constitution
authorized the Legislature to pass laws to pre-
vent the migration of free negroes and mulattoe
into the State This was resisted with grea
zeal, as in violation of the Constitution of tn
United States, and it came near preventing th,
admission Of the State into the Union 1t woult
probably have had the effect but for the opinion
which prevailed, that to refuse admission to th,
State after it had been regularly framed with
constitution and government, would not REMAND
it to a territorial condition. Missouri would b,
a State, but not in the Union. Hence the ques
ton was compromised, on Mr.. Clay's motion, il
manner which left it az unsettled us before
Since that time, however, States have passee
laws containing the same principle that Of OK
GLIDING free negroes from residence or citizen
ship--and no action of the federal government
has yet pronounced them invalid
| The State laws in regard TO colored seamer
in Southern ports are founded on the same claim
of power. What the power of legislation ma,
be in a territory Of the United States is q differ
emf. question; but it is pretty certain that it will
not meet with even SO much acquescence az
the State claim has received. If the New Mex
leans follow the counsels Of their governor. we
shall look for howl Of horror in all the anti
slavery States, and piteous sermonizing owe,
the prosecutions and sufferngs of this prescribed
race. Abolitionism will run melancholy mad
over the wrongs of the poor negro. There is
in truth, something to excite melancholy for
the degradation and wretchedness Of this race
They are regarded everywhere as an inferior
class, and nowhere as a class for whom society
is bound to provide, or for whom philanthropy
labors with cheerfuness and perseverance. The
census returns show that they are inferior ia
condition to the slaves; that they are more de.
PRAYED, more neglected, and more miserable
and that, while all other races are ncr, asine in
number and condition in very rapid ratio. thew
places they are dwindling away. giving evident
signs that, in the enjoyment of absolute per-
sonal freedom, and in the midst of the abund-
ance of all the elements of life easily procured.
they are in progress of extinction as race, and
would soon disappear from the earth unless re-
cruited by the addition Of new victims, seduced
from the thriving slave classes to perish in the
degradation and vice of black freedom. Marked
for avoidance and disgust everywhere, they ere
most irredeemably degraded and lost, where the
cfamor in favor of the blacks is loudest, and
where the most fervid interest is displayed for
the redress of the wrongs and the mitigation
of the sufferings Of the other colored ra ,es,
who are living in the distant South in comfort
and contentment, and showing how little of care
and want they have by the rapid multiplication
Of their numbers in state Of subsection to a su
perior race This lip philanthropy is for foreign
uses it has no energy or credit for good acts
at home. Its only domestic use is for the profit
of spectators in politics and charity, who make
gain by the cheap display of fine sentiments in
favor Of suiferings they do not see, while they
are blind and deaf to the misery at their doors
The problem of the disposal of free blacks
in this country is one of the most vast and com
plicated of all the moral and political questions
of the times. How to dispose of them con-
bStcutIy Will lilo TiSItS anu interests
of the superior classes to whom their presence
is dangerous and offensive, tasks unavaiIingy
the wisdom of the ost profound statesmen and
the purest Of philanthropists. The instincts OF
natural pity are ut war with the more compre.
hensve principles of public duty and sefpreser-
walton. Colonization may do something, but
colonization is feeble and lingering cure for
the evil that is immediate, and very Inadequate
one for those which the future threatens. At
least, however, Northern philanthropy which
finds such vivid cause for the outpourngs of
sympathy over the fate of the free blacks and
mulattoes everywhere, might learn lesson of
wisdom against the precipitate multiplication of
so miserable class The most rampant Adolf.
tonsts, in considering the extent Of the degrn-
dation they take so much pains to deplore, might
on the score of the benevolence to which they
make pretences, we'll hesitate to aid in the eman.
cipation or escape Of new multitudes, to be
plunged into the same state of helpless and
hopeless misery, to swell the aggregate of crime
and restitution around themselves. 1t very much
quickens the force of this argument when it is |
brought home to their own homes; and they |
see signs of preparation in other quarters to turn
upon them for the practical manifestation of
IN cir theories and sensibilities the mass of this
dreaded population, elected from other States by |
'Hc plIlicns INV ol HeCtSSity. III view MEXICO |
excludes them, why, a fortiori, may not South
Carolina, and Alabama, and Louisiana keep them
,ut, and drive them out, but for better reasons,
IS dangerous to domestic institutions The
North will not receive them; but the North agi-
ates with the view, or, at all events, with the an.
icipated result, of giving this worthless free
|om to myriads more to whom it will give no
heller, and whose fate is inevitable degradation
nd final extinction. Has not humanity strong
lea for the unfortunate, that they should not be
educed from the state of contented bondage
Until at least their pretended friends have bet
er fate provided for them than want neglect,
prescription, the jail, and the grave.-N o. Pic
EXTENSIVE AND TERRIBLE SToRm.-Accounts
each US that the tornado and thunder storm Of
Saturday afternoon last was very extensive and
destructive, reaching from Virginia to Boston,
probably beyond, in both directions. Wind,
ain, and hail, with thunder and lightning,
'roved very disastrous south of Washington,
o telegrnphic wires and posts, to cattle, un.