The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-09
UkiOn s. c., April 20,

Of the 18th inst in which you ask me for al ex-
preston Of my opinion upon the great question
now at issue between the North and South, and
also in regard to the mode Of action which South
! Carolina ought to adopt to protect her people
from the ruinous consequences which must re-
suit from the aggressive action OF the federal
| government
| have not the vanity to suppose that my
opinions upon these subjects are deemed of any
Importance by amy portion Of the people OF
South Carolina but as | hold no opinion that
| desire to conceal, will comply with your re-
quest, as far as | can do so within the limits
usually assigned TO a communication OF this
kind
The great question of the age is that of Afri-
can slavery will present to your considera-
ton, as briefly as can, my views upon the pres
emf state of this question, its tendency and final
destiny, MS manifested by national progress
and development the most palpabe. must do
this in order that the reasons which shall give
for the course waieh in my Judgment South
Carolina ought to pursue in the present great
emergency, may be fully comprehended by all
who feel any interest in my opinions.
| The existence of African slavery is coeval
with the earliest settlement of the white man
upon this continent Its first locality was on
the beach of the Atlantic. 1t spread back to-
wards the interior of the continent with the ex-
tension Of the Anglo American race. At the
| time of the revolution il ,revailed in ALI the
| States Seven Of the Old .nirteen have abOl-
shed it, and it is now found in the remaining
six of them only When the Union was formed,
it consisted of thirteen States each one of which
had front on the Atlantic, and extended back
towards the interior of the continent only to
the extent of the boundary of single State
| All, or nearly ALL beyond that boundary was
then an unexplored wilderness. Since the
Union was formed, new line Of States has
| been formed between the old thirteen and the
| Mississippi river; another line between that
river and the Rocky Mountains in the Louisiana
territory and the third line of new States is
now being formed between the Rocky Noun.
tains and the Pacific Ocean AS the second line
of States were formed, African slavery extended
with the white race into them. When the Lou
!. isiana territory was acquired by the treaty OF
Paris in 1903, Afr can slavery was found pre-
) existing there, and in portion Of that territory
i. still exists
The ordinance of 1887 was the first agrees
sive action against African slavery on this con-
tnent That ordinance arrested its extension
north of the Ohio, and the Constitution of the
United States arrested foreign African emigra-
ton in 1903. The Missouri compromise ar
rested its extension in the Louisiana territory in
1920, and the old Northern and Eastern States,
by their acts of prospective emancipation, with
the liberty to the owner to sell in the meantime,
virtually expelled the African race from their
limits, and drove them into the Southern States
The acts of Congress of l848 and 1850, in ref
erence to Oregon and California, have arrested
the farther extension of the African race, as
GIVES, within the limits of the United States.
ne acts of emancipation of the Northern States
have driven back the African from Maine to
Maryland, a distance of seven hundred miles.
; The fourth line of States, now growing up be
tween the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
Ocean, are therefore, according to act of Parlia-
: ment beyond the reach of African slavery. As
far, then, as the power of the general govern
mcnt is concerned slavery cannot spread be
yond it's present limits A wall of fire is formed
around it, beyond which it cannot pass; and it
is subject worthy of profound consideration,
to determine whether it can even retan lis pres.
ent boundary. | assume that it cannot, and will
proceed to give my reasons why. | will also
show that it not only cannot retain its present
area, but on the contrary, its area is now under
going the process of change, by becoming less,
and this, too, by the absorption of the border
States into the great Northern empire.
1t may be stated as an admitted proposition,
that the fifteen millions of people of the non
slaveholding States are united in their opposi-
ton to slavery extention and to slavery itself
The representatives of these people control
every department of the general government
The government therefore, executive, Legislative
and judicial, like the people it represent, is hos
tile to the existence of African slavery. All its
powers will be exerted for its overthrow
The agitation of the slavery question by the
people of the North, reaching to the threshold of
the border States, and the aggressive action of
The federal government, coupled with the avow-
ed Intention to destroy the institution of sav-
cry, has already destroyed The tenure by which
the border States hold their slaves. A sense of
insecurity prevails everywhere in these States,
and stern necessity is forced upon them 10 sell
their Slaves for the best price they can gel The
slaves on the border are now being sold to the
South in larger numbers than in any past period
of our history. Kentucky, Tennessee and Mis-
souri, are selling their slaves to purchasers who
convey them down the Mississippi, Louisiana and
Texas. Maryland and Virginia are selling theirs
to South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mis-
sissippi The wave Of African slavery, which
| at first spread back towards the interior Of the
continent, is thus arrested, and is rolling back
upon the South Atlantic and Gulf States. The
ebb tide is now rolling back in this direction
The wind Of African emigration now blows
steady gale from North to South, as did the east
wind upon the Red sea when the lsraetes
passed over and it requires no prophetic vision
to foresec that few years only will pass away
before Maryland, a consider r portion of Vir
ginia, Kentucky. Tennessee and Missouri will
in measure be freed from the presence of the
African, and the Allegheny mountains will then
be the boundary of slavery on our own border
BY the ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of Texas, under &
provisions of Pierces bill, slavery is driven
| southward from latitude 36 dep so down To ID
The ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of Texas il thus begun,
but Is not yet ended. That State has still more
territory than federal gold, levied by federal tax
alton, mostly upon Southern labor and capit.
may bny and 1t may be predicted that in few
years, Texas will give up her vast domain to
free soil, and Texas proper, will then be small
State on the gulf shore, and the northern part
Of the State of Louisiana will then be the boun-
dairy Of free-soil in the South west.
This great national development is manifest
to every unprecedented mind, which is capable of