The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1852-09-08


In the proceedings of the Free Soil Con-
vention held at Pittsburg on the 18th ult,
we find the following declaration of prin-
ciples and measures" or at least few OF
| them;
| d. That the Constitution of the United
| States, ordained to form n more perfect
Union, to establish justice and secure the
blessings of liberty expressly denies to the
General Government all power to deprive
any person of life, liberty or property, with
out due process of law; and therefore the
Government having no more power to make
| a slave than a king, and no more power to
| establish slavery than to establish monarchy,
should ut once proceed to relieve itself from
all responsibility for the existence of slavery
wherever it possesses Constitutional power
to legislate for its extinction.
8, That, to the persevering and importu-
nate demands of the slave power for more
slave States, new slave Territories, and the
naturalization of slavery, our distinct and
| final answer is-no more slave States, no
slave Territory, no nationalized slavery, and
no national legislation for the extradition OF
| slaves.
6. That slavery is sin against God and
crime against man, which no human enact
=
christianity, humanity, and patriotism, alike
demand its abolition.
7. That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850,
is repupnant to thu Constitution, to the
PRINCIPLES of the coIumon Law, to the spirit
| of christianity, and to the sentiments of the
civilized world We therefore deny its bind
ing force upon the American People, and
demand its Immediate and total repeal.
8. That the doctrine that any human law
is finality, and not subject to II modification
or repeal, is not in accordance with the
creed of the founders of our Government,
and is dangerous to the liberties of the peo-
pie.
9. That the acs of Congress known as
the Compromise measures OF 1880, by ma
king the admission of sovereign State con-
tingent upon the adoption of other measures
demanded by the special interest OF slavery !;
by their omission to guarantee freedom in
free Territories by their attempt TO impose
unconstitutional limitations on the power of
Congress and the people to admit new States
by their provisions for the assumption of
five millions of the State debt of Texas, and
for the payment of five millions more, and
the ccssion of large territory to the same
State under menace, as an induccmcnt to the
REIMBURSEMENT of n groundlcss claim, and by
fheir invasion of the sovereignty of the
States, and the liberties ofthe people through
the enactment of an unjust oppressive, and
unconstitutional Fugitive Slave Law, are
proved to lie inconsistent with all the prin-
ciplcs and maxims of Democracy, and who'll
ly inadequate to the settlement of the qucs-
tons of which they are claimed to he an ad-
justmcnt.
10. That no permanent settlement of the
slavery question can be looked for, except IN
the practical recognition of the truth that
slavery is sectional, and freedom national; by
the total separation of the General Govern
ment from slavery, and exercise ofits legiti-
mate and constitutional influence on the side
of freedom: and by leaving to the States the
whole subject of slavery and the cXtradition
of fugitives from service.
IL. That all men have natural right to
portion of the soil and that, as the use of
the soil is indispensable TO life, the right of
all men To the soil is rs sacred as the right
of life itself.
What the North can gain by the abolition
of slavery at the South, We are unable to
discern. The vindictiveness of the North
to our peculiar institutions, may possibly
arise from an envous spirit Finding slave
labor improbable there, and seeing il prof.
| IlDlc mere, u spIIll VI envy, Illu1
+ provoke their displcasure.
Twenty years ago slavery existed in New
York State, Ohio was then a wilderness; so
soon as it was discovered in these States
that slave labor was Improbable, it was
abolished. We will attempt to show why
slave labor is not profitable at the North
Ii is known fact to all Political Econo-
mists that when the interest of the capital
invested according TO the legal rate Of inter-
est, exceeds the revenue derived from the
working of that capital, the amount invested
ceases to be profitable, and n change is at
once effected; thus, n negro, say, is worth
$500; according to the legal rate of inter-
est of New York State, the interest would
amount to $50; now if the manufacturer or
farmer found that this negro did not yield
besides $50, an amount sufficient to indem-
Nifty him for risk, taxation, clothes, Sc, il
would be better TO appropriate the $500 to
some other purpose. Now, in New York
State, where the population has increased
to such remarkable extent, labor is cheap
and ut the same time the white labor en-
ployed can be appropriated to any purpose.
The climate, and the peculiar productions
of the soil renders white labor equally as
productive us slave or negro labor. 1t is
known TO all Of us that many, and most OF
the articles we use are bought at n less price
at the North than they can be procured at
the South. Even newspaper is obtained
at n less price, much less price in New York
city than can be procured in South Carolina.
that labor is cheaper There is a marked
difference between the North and the South,
not only with regard to climate, but the pro-
ductions of the soil are essentially different.
, II is well that it is so, as we'll for the North