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

be sage ihe legislature Of that territory, has
!. rsfmended that prohibitory acts OF the Sc
! sefest character be passed to prevent the en-
trance Of free negroes into that territory. lie
treats the race as nuisance, and their presence
as disgusting degradation" and would have
them excluded, by law, from the whole territory
II was the effort to effect the same purpose
with regard to Missouri, which obstructed the
admission of that State into the Union, after tne
slave question had been compromised on the line
| Of $780, and State constitution formed win
out restriction as to slaves. The constitution
authorized the Legislature to pass laws 70 pre-
vent the migration of free negroes ana mu'at'oes
into the State This was resisted Win grsa'
zeal, as In violation of the Constitution OF ue
\ United States, and it came near preventing 'ns
admission of the State into the Union. itwouiu
probably have had the effect, but Tor tee opinion
(which ereyailed, that to refuse admission 10 inc
| State aftesit had been regularly framed WIN
constitution and government, would not remand
| - ~ af.ry;torlql condition. Missouri would be
| 4 Stafes hut n in the Union. Hence theqnes-
ton was eom,romised, on Mr.. Clay's motion, in
manner which left it as unsettled as before.
Since that time, however, States have passed
laws containing the same principle-that OF ex-
cluding free negroes from residence or citizen
ship-and no action of the federal government
has vet pronounced them invalid.
| The State laws in regard to colored seamen
| in Southern ports are founded on the same claim
of power. What the power of Legislation may
be in a territory of the United States is differ
ent question: but it is pretty certain that it will
not meet with even SO much acquiescence as
49, State claim has received. If the New Mex
Ioan9 slow the counsels Of their governor, we
shall lock Tor n howl of horror in all the anti
slavery ,Stufcs, and piteuus sermonising over
the prosecutions and sufferings 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 wretrhedness of this race
They are regarded everywhere as an inferiau
class, and nowhere as class for whom society
is bound to provide, or for whom philanthropy
labors with cheerfulness and perseverance, The
census returns show that they are inferior in
condition to the slaves; that they are, more de-
PRAYED, more neglected, and more miserable
and that, while all other races are incr asing in
number and condition in very rapid ratio, they
scarcely keep UP their numbers, and in some
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 rs a 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 are
most irredeemahly degraded and lost where the
ciamor in favor of the blacks is loudest, and
where the most fervid interest is displayed for
the redress of the wrongs and the mitigation
- To-, ~ fho ntha a~Io
who are living in the distant South in comfort
and want they have by the rapid multiplication
Of their numbers in state of subsection to su-
perior race. This p-phanthropy is for foreign
uses; it has no energy or credit for good acts
at home It's 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 sufferings they do not see, while they
are blind and deaf to the misery at their doors
The problem of the disposal oftbe 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-
sistently with the paramount rights and interests
of the superior classes, to whom their presence
is dangerous and offensive, tasks unavailinely
the wisdom of the C ost profound statesmen and
the purest of philanthropists. The instincts OF
natural pity are at war with the more compre-
hensive principles of public duty and self preser
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 outpourings of
sympathy over the fate of the free blacks and
mulattoes everywhere, might learn lesson of
wisdom against the precipitaie multiplication of
so miserable class The most rampant Adolf
tionists, in considering the extent of the degra-
dation they take so much pains to deplore, might
on the score Of the benevolence to which they
make pretences, well hesitate to aid in the eman-
cpation or escape of new multitudes, to be
plunged into the same state of helpless and
hopeless misery, TO swell the aggregate of crime
and destitution around themselves. Il very much
quickens the force Of this argument when il is
brought home to their own homes; and thew
see signs Of preparation in other quarters TO turn
upon them, for the practical manifestation of
Oh cir theories and sensibities, the mass of this
dreaded population, elected from other States by
the pitiess law of necessity. If New Mexico
excludes them, why, a for,iori, may not South
Carolina, and Alabama, and Louisiana keep them
out, and drive them out, but for better reasons
rs dangerous TO domestic institutions. The
North will not receive them; but the North agi.
tates with the view, or, at all events, with the an
ticipated result, Of giving this worthless free.
dom TO myriads more TO whom IL will give no
shelter, and whose fate is inevitable degradation
and final extinction. Has not humanity strong
plea for the unfortunate, that they should not be
seduced from the state Of contented bondage
until at least their pretended friends have bet
ter fate provided for them than want neglect,
prescription, the Jail, and the grave.--M o. Pic
EXTENSIVE AND TERRIBLE SToRM.--Aecounts
reach 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
rain, and hail, with thunder and lightning
proved very disastrous south Of Washington
to telegraphic wires and posts, to cattle, un.
housed crops, and houses Telegraph poles
were shattered between Baltimore and Wash
ington, and some damage experienced between
Baltimore and Philadelphia. In the magnetic
telegraph Offices at Philadelphia and Princeton
they were enlivened by the frequent entrance
and explosion Of thunderbots," and magnets