Weekly North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1858, 1851-06-25


MR.. WEBSTER'S LETTER.
We publish below letter from Mr.. Webster to
Mr.. Bolts, of Virginia. in which the former corrects
an error in the report of his Buffalo Speech ::
WAsHlN eToN, June 4, 1851.
MY DEAR S1R: When arrived at New York my
attention was called to paragraph in the telegraph
ic report of my speech at Buffalo. Under the cir
cumstances, it is wonderful that the accomplished re-
porter performed the service as we'll he did; but
mistake occurred of some importance, which he cor
rected as as it met his eye Toward the end Of
the speech am represented having said, Gentle
men, regret exceedingly that slavery exists in the
southern States and that Congress has power over
it,. This is so entirely in opposition to the whole
drift of my remarks, that it might have been hoped
that all would have regarded it as mlsplint or an
1t appears however, that this not univer-
sally the case, and therefore the reporter very prom
pity caused the following correction to be inserted in
the Herald the paper in which the report first ap-
peared: Gentlemen, l regret exceedingly that sla-
very exists in the southern States but Congress has
no power to act upon it. 1t may be, however, that
in the dispensation of Providence some remedy for
this evil may occur. may be hoped for hereafter
1t must he obvious every intelligent person that
in the southern States, any attempt to exercise such
power would break up the Union just as surely as
would an attempt to introduce slavery into Massa-
chusetts. These are subjects of mere State right
and State authority. intended originally TO be left
tirey with the States, and they must SO be left still
if we wish to preserve the Union.
You are at liberty to make any of this letter
which you may think necessary to remove false i'm
pressions.
am, my dear sir, with the truest regard, your
obedient servant, DANIEL WEBSTER.
Hon. JOHN M. Boris, Richmond, Va.
Even with this correction, Mr.. w ebster's Buffalo
Speech abounds in most Objectionable matter. 1t is
sectional Speech, and the great characteristic of it
is his undisgused and inveterate hostility Slavery.
He exuts in the fact that he has done nothing, dur
ing his public career. to extend the institution; and
he seems to draw much consolation from the belief
that it is at last circumscrbed and hemmed in. We
have given Mr.. Webster credit from the first, and
still him credit, for his manly stand in favor of
the fugitive-slave law but We have objected, and
still object, TO the law this subject which he would
have had, if circumstances had permitted it-a law
which would have granted to the escaped slave trial
by jury in the free States! In commenting on his
positions heretofore and now, we have uniformly
given his language-we have not condemned him
without allowing him TO be heard through our COL
umns.
The Raleigh Register has repeatedly charged US
with misrepresenting this Speech, and with having
done Mr.. Webster injustice in relation to it; and the
last Raleigh Star joins in this charge of the Register
as follows:
We copy the following letters from the Rich
mond Times, and commend them to the consideration
of the editor of the STANDARD, who has been exertng
himself of late inure Mr.. Webster, and to make
him odous in the eyes of the people OF the Southern
States. Whilst the course which the editor of the
Standard fit to adopt, is iliberal and unjus,6a
BILE, it is at the time calculated to weaken the
affections of the people towards the Union, and to
produce in their minds dstrust and want of conf
dence in every distinguished citizen Of the North,
however patriotic he may be- and however ready to
do justice to the South and her institutions. Is the
Standard willing to do justice to Mr.. Webster, or
will he persist in the remarks he made upon the re-
port of speech which did not convey the ideas or
the language of that distinguished Statesman and
Orator! We shall see."
Now. what we have to say in reply to the above is
this: We published the whole of Mr.. Webster's
Buffalo Speech, found it at the time in the Re-
p ublic and other Northern newspapers. As soon as
we saw the correction made by the New York
Herald, apparently by authority, we copied it into
paper, and expressed the hope that Mr.. Webster
would make the correction himself, over his own
name; ; and now that he has done so, we have nser.
ted his letter at length.
And now, what has been the course of the Regis
ter and Star They haze soithheld the Speech from
their readers, though they fully aware of the
importance of the effort this crisis of public affairs,
and though they knew also. and now know, that Mr..
Webster spoke for the Administration which they sup
port, as we'll as for himself. They suppress e docu
ment-slip in little correction of it, when that cor.
recton happens to turn up-and then seek to cover
up their want of fidelity to their readers and to the
Constitutional rights of the South, by charging US
with misrepresentation - and illberaty." These
are facts which we challenge these papers to dispute.
We now call upon these papers to say why they
have suppressed this Speech, and whether they ap'
prove it. If they approve it. will they not say so
And if they disapprove it, will they refrain from say
ing so out of regard for the Federal Administration
God save the Union and the rights of the Southern
people, if their only reliance in the hour of trial is to
be upon such public journals!
1t is gratifying to observe that in Mississippi, the
name, even, of Disunionis has become so unpopular
that none but the most daring avow it. The hand
bill announcing that Senator Jefferson Davis would
speak in Columbus, was headed, "A Rally for the
Union.' Richmond Enquirer.
We know of no public man, out of South Caroli'
ma, who is for dissolution of the Union matter
of choice. The people of this State, we know, are
for the Union but not at all hazards and to the last
extremity.'' They are for Constitutional Union
but they would regard the Union without the COnsti
ion, or with the Constitution disegarded and viola
ted. as curse instead of blessing.