Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1851-06-28


: Congress attempted to legslate on the subject OF
$ slavery in the States! By no means. Have
they refused to pass necessary laws in order to
carry out the provisions Of the Constitution for
delivering up fugitive slaves! They have not.
On the contrary, Congress has passed most
stringent law on the subject, and the President
has expressed his determination to enforce 1t. Ii
. has been, and is being, enforced at this time"
We shall not find better opportunity than the
present TO introduce to readers an extract ger
name to the matter in hand, from Letter publish
ed some time ago in the Georgia papers, from one
of the most honest and independent men that the
South ever sent to Congress, and whose experience
in public affairs adds much value to what he has to
say on this subject
Eztract of Letter from Hon. JAMES A. MERI-
wErHER to Mssms. A. H. ChappeH and Others.
"Let me ask you, gentlemen, WHAT HAS THIS GovERS-
that should destroy it, and seek the uncertain
chances Of another That in instances its acts may
have been unwse its laws at times unjust and unequal was
to have been expected No Government which man could
make could do otherwise. To is human But that It
deserved the vupeaon which has been heaped upon II
by its enemies utterly false and there breaes not man
oho truth fully say that he has eper felt the Government
oPpREss him. is, and has been, the pures BEST
happes and freest Government the world ever knew and
whenever is destroyed, the last hope Of liberty will be ban
hed from this EARTH No. gentlemen, those who so violently
assa i. and seek its destruction do not be charge they
make aganst it. They ,oish to destroy merely to look
upon the mass of mischief they The Govern
ment could do no which would please them If II had
an emanaon from Heaven, and its administrators had
been spirits Of purer hearts and brighter inegences than
angels possess, they would have denounced its with
much unscrupuloumess they have already done DIS
UNION, REvoLUTIoH, ANARCHY, their purposes and
they will their struggle to gain them until the
united action Of every patriot repeated and continued shall
force them to abandon their disloya purposes They
bent mischief; hence they vglant energetic, untirng
| in their schemes and efforts to secure success"
| How truly does not the Southern Patriot-that
independent journal already quoted-represent the
manner in which the people Of South Carolina
precipice by the public men and presses Of that
State!
"The people of South Carolina" says the Pa
trot have not been fairly dealt with by their pub
lie men and their public presses. They have had
exaggerated to them, in all the extravaganza of
language the ndignities offered to them, and the
wrongs perpetrated on their rights. The grossest
misrepresentation have been made as to the state
of public feeling towards them at the North. The
Infamous language of few abolitionsts has been
published and circulated amongst them as the
universal feeling of the whole Northern people !!
When the patriotic and virtuous portion of the
Northern people have held meetings and spoken
by thousands and tens of thousands in our favor,
not one word of what they said has been reported
at the South !! The Southern people have been
| made to believe that slavery was in danger, that
our negroes were about to be set free, and that we
were excluded from all the territory of the United
States. In addition to this, the people of South
Carolina have been persuaded that the other South
ern States were rife for disunion, and if they
| struck the blow all the others would unite with
| them! NIL this is Dithout the shadow of tounda-
fion, reason, or hope"
With regard to the institution Of slavery, which
has been the fruitful theme Of defamation by the
Disunion Orators, (of the present generation, that
is to say-never having been even SO much as men,
toned as cause motive for the first attempt al
revolution by political leaders in the same State,
under cover of the grand mystery Of nullifcation)
how justly does the same journal speak
"There cannot be doubt in the mind of an un.
prejudiced man." says the Patriot, that slavery
is, at this moment, stronger, more valuable, and
more numerous than it has ever been since the
formation Of the Federal Union. II also extends
over of territory in the United States twice
or three times large it did at the organization
of the Republic. Why, then, are we SO much
alarmed for its safety continuance, and security"
eSlavery IS more secure, and this security more
felt thaait eUer Uas before by the Southern people.
: In the early history Of South Carolina, SO much
apprehension was there of servile instructions
that the Legislature made it the duty Of every white
man to carry his gun to church. Who now thinks
of having gun at all for any such purpose
Such an apprehension would be laughed at as RI
diculous.
"Why is it, then, that reasonable men will per-
NIT themselves to be so frightened by imaginary
: d,at,cipations of danger from the North and the
Federal Government? 1t is not in the po,0er of
the North or the Federal Government to abolish
or seriously iyure the institution of SLAVERY. Its
security and safety lie beyond their power and
reach. They may denounce it, they may legis-
late against it, but so long as the South are dis
posed to hold on to it, and that will be forever it
is safe and secure from all aggressions."
Yet, in the face of truths SO undeniable as these,
what is the language with which men, reckless of
every thing but the qualification of cherished hate
and unhallowed ambition, are daily addressing
through the Disunion prints of the State-to their
own children even, and their children's children,
and to the mothers of those that are yet unborn
Hear them
Extract from Communication published in the Charleston
Mercury Of the l4h ofkhe present month.
ceod