The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-05-24

trneic stTonRtn preserve tie Union and per
petuate rational liberty. Thus, it may b.
averred, you hold the Union in your hand
The right political position" as noted,
will with all Difference endeayor to explain. Blu
to show the ground the slave Stdtes occupy, ant
prepare the determined stand they must take II
case the late compromise should prove Dulity
(the whole circumstance then becoming resolved
into momentous question of ULion.l will re-
quIre some expositions OF bygone events thai
many might think, az suggested, should not b.
touched at this day. Nevertheless, as before
said, "studying the errors of the pa tenables u
to improve and profit in the future," and in this
spirit and purpose the past will b. investigated
Mr.. Jefferson was Justly and earnestly in the
hearts of the American people, his Judgment
and patriotism deservediy confded in, his public
services eminent. He committed two serious
errors, however, in declarations, az bearing upon
the interunial relations Of the United States
and results arising partly out Of these errors
have been, in some degree, pernicious to the
peace and harmony and fraternal concord of the
Union. One was, "a men are created equal'
the other. an unofficial one, slavery is a great
evil" The first declaration may be termed a
merely socialistic postulate, and the other can
te only in measurable sense-in human cir
cumstance measurable in good, and measurable
in evil. In unional point of view, neither OF
them should have been presented to the country;
for both were inmcal to the genius of, and in
consistent with, its condition: and the revered
sage of the revolution certainly had not weighed
deliberately the consequences in future, nor ex.
amined sufficiently into the intrinsic qualities,
rightness, or fitness Of the declarations In
reference to our unonal relations, both were
mistakes Of magnitude: and 20 these, and a
primary wrong in the Constitution, that will be
explained, we may mainly attribute the unionaI
commissions Of some years past No alegiant
Of the United States who does not use slave
labor, has particle Of right to question, union
ally, slave circumstance it is in such light an
ungracious, it might be said, insulting, assump-
tioa outside of the Constitution
1t may be convenient, and craftily polite, as
they may think, for nations that do not use
slave labor directly (although they may be ex
ercising it most oppressively in various ways
Indirectly to reprobate it; but it is certainly
UnionaIy, unjust and unwise, for States that do
not use it-as portions Of coalition of States
for better defence and protection and carrying
on of free government, to abuse, revie, pass
resolutions against slavery and violate the rights
of other States of the Union that do use it.
And it is evident, as the MONDAY sun, that
in disunion.
"All men are created equal" This item in the
declaration has been seized on and used, as we
have experienced, rs an unavailable by the Union
distracting devotees. How careful should emf
nent public men in our republic be Of what they
say and do, propelling more or less good or evil
to the coustry. "Al men are created equal"
How may this declaration be designated? AL
though emanating from the mind Of the great
sage of the revolution, can it be termed other
than a mere proposition? 1t is to be believed il
meant simply that men were born equal in natu-
raj rights, intended too as contradistinctive
testimony against the inequality of rights in the
old world-not intended as an axiom; far
it deceives the ear into a single de.
when it really comprises al in
definite variety of circumstance and organic
qualities BE this as it may, it has been catched
at by demagogues, factionists, and slave circum-
stance agtators, and carried into insdiOus eff
feet among the people; and although every
candid mind is sensible that the African races
in the United States were not considered in the
yet the agtaOrs and their partzans
pretend that the "created equal
must cover all. AS to slave labor polity, Mr.
Jefferson spoke "a in his wisdom he believed
but what it is or Is not what for or against, every
loyal United States citizen will pronounce-is
wholly and solely the affiir of the States that
use it, their own consideration exclusively,
above unional question. Federal Legislators
nave no right to question, in any sense, under
any pretext whatever, on the floors of Congress,
The qualities of slave labor polity, or other
species of servitude that States sovereignties
in their own right, may choose to apply to, in
governing their own concerns in their own way.
Any such questioning is plainly gross assump-
ton, an intolerable outrage on the equal rights
Of the States.
To every intelligent mind that will investigate
tho matter di.passionately, the three fifth CON-
promise of the slave labor representation in the
Constitution will prove itself an unfortunate
radical wrong; and it is a pity that it had not
been avoided. 1t, and the declarations, as ex
planned, have, in great measure, been the foun-
dation encouragement to the oficistic, dema-
gogue, and non slavery craft and abors that
have been increasing in value during the late
years of the republic. For although the three
fifth compromise was concession on the part
of shareholders towards forming Union, it has
been pretended by design, and viewed by igno-
rance, as being weakness of right No, the
House of Representatives. should have been
based on the entire population of each State,
of slave labor polity; anything
else was falling from the true position by those
who used slave labo- the three-ff compro.
mise was unequal in compact, unequal in rights,
unequal in results, infracted supreme principle,
and we experience the consequences of this
error and others, in unional degradation and
The House Ct Representatives is based on,
proportion ed from, the populate capacities OF
the States, for it originates the tsxes-the
cravest power of the government. The taxes
must be derived from labor, measured by the
populate capacities of the States, be the labor
polity of the population what it may--hence,
the House of Representatives speaks the labor
of the States in their populate capacities, real
izing true equal rights principle in an associa-
ton Of States for carrying on free government
What a mistake, that this fundamental princi-
Pile should have been infracted bv the three
fifth compromise in the Constitution! What a
sacrifice of weight in the government Cat this
a loss of some II representatives. on
the part Of the States wherein slave labor is
a constituent of their domestic economy How
ungratefully too, the sacrifice has been apprccia-
ted! If there were at this day sufficiency Of
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