Washington sentinel., 1854-02-03


slaves of which we are thus robbed Are they
improved in their moral or physical conditionl
! II travellers and Journalists are 10 be relied
u upon, many in Canada are actually suffering
from want; and, hated and despised as they are
Il BY most of the white inhabitants, they become
exceedingly immoral and debased, and swiftly
hurry through q life of crime, wretchedness
and degradation. a E.
Would the moral, physical, and religious
condition of our slaves be improved by their
liberation ? England has given us a practical
illustration in the emancipation of her negroes
in the West Indies. What now is their condi.
ton? Worse, infinitely worse than when in
bondage. Vice, crime, vagrancy, and ten
dency to barbarism, prevail among them to an
alarming extent. The English admit that
| British emancipation is failure.
Would it be wise, humane, or charitable, for
US to release our slaves from the obligations OF
servitude, and turn them loose, to depend upon
/ their own exertions and the charitable atten-
ton Of those selfstyled philanthropists The
free negro is hated and despised, and wallows
in rags, wretchedness, and filth; he almost dies
at the very door-sil Of his northern sympa-
thizers. In many free States law exists pro-
hibiting the emigration of free negroes within
their borders. What is to become of the
emancipated slave? He meets with no coun-
tenance from his abolition friends They are
only interested in getting him free. Here
their sympathy and their efforts cease. In
Canada it is equally as bad, if not still worse.
The two races, oil admit, cannot live together
on an equality. What, then, is to be the fate
of the negro? Either annihilation or subserv-
iency to the white, the superior race and, ac-
cording to the DEGREES of Providence, the prn-
ciples of humanity, and enlightened philan-
| thropy, we should retain them as "bond-men
and bond dmaids, and leave them rs an inherit
anee to our children's children unto the latest
generation" Such was the practice and belief
Of the Puritan fathers, the founders Of New
England, who first introduced slavery.into the
States of the Confederacy.
i The slavetrade was extensively carried on
at the time of the formation of our present
system of government and in the Convention
/ which adopted our present Constitution the
| subject was elaborately discussed. On prop
| osition to extend it to 1908, a period of twenty
one years, the New England States voted
| aifirmatively, while some Of the slave-holding
States voted in the negative. By New England
votes, the slave-trade was continued till 1903
and, not satisfied with the slave-trade, Massa-
chusetts actually sought, and did to some ex-
tent succeed, in making slaves of some OF the
Indian tribes; and a portion of them were
shipped to the West Indies, and sold as slaves,
by Massachusetts men. The southern States
were principally supplied with slaves by their
northern brethren; and when in the progress
of events experience demonstrated that slave
labor could not be proftably used in so cold a
climate as that Of the north, laws were passed
abolishing the institution. But did the people
Of the north emancipate their slaves, and
make them free and equal with themselves, as
they now propose to do for us? They did not,
but sold most of them to the SOUTH and thus
drew large sums Of money from the souths and
enriched themselves. With perfect knowl.
edge Of all these facts, these God -defying hypo
critics. the abolitionists, are trying, by all the
means that bad men can devise, either to desc
late the land with n servile insurrection or to
force our negroes from us.
The moral and social aspects of this question
are not more important than its political bear.
ings The so-called "Missouri compromise :
although regarded as surrender of constitu-
tional rights, was acquiesced in from love of
the Union and desire to perpetuate it. As a
consequence, Missouri is completely hedged in
BY Gordon Of non-slaveholding States, and the
policy of abolitionism is to crowd us together
in the small compass embraced by the slave
holding States, so that, by the process Of gene
ration, the blacks will so far out-number us as
to be able to free themselves by fire and fag-
got and the bloody sword Of insurrection.
The adjustment Of this question in 1920, un
fair, unjust, and unconstitutional as it was, and
the peaceable acquiescence therein Of the
southern States, has not only not satisfied anC
stopped the invasion and encroachments of the
north, but new demands for further sacrifices
are still being made. The fugitive slave law
one of the provisions Of the compromise mea
sures of 1850, is declared nullity, and its re-
pudiation is gloried in by many Of the citizens
of the north. AT this early period Of the
present session of Congress, an attempt is be
ing made to organize Nebraska into terri
torial government, and to exclude slavery
therefrom by congressional legislation. Why
this hot haste to consummate this measure
Wild and untutored savages are its principal
inhabitants and constitute its chief population
Are they. in violation of treaty-rights, to be
forced into subsection to our laws, or must they
be driven from their hunting grounds and the
graves ftheir fathers-pnshed still further into
the forest towards the setting sun, to linger and
, die? Yes, the poor Indian is to be sunk deeper
into barbarism- -"crushed beneath expressions
: iron heel and totally sacri6ced-that the peo.
, pie of the north may possess that rich and
beautiful country, purchased with the treasure
: of the whole people of the Union; and we, the
{ people of Missouri and the other slave States
: equally entitled to the occupancy and enjoy
ment of that territory, are denied the right to
remove thither and take with MS our property
/ We are gravely told, not only by the people Of
the north, but by the politicians in our own
: State that the Constitution of the United
States, founded upon the basis of equality
, among the States, and which was designed
] to secure to all the enjoyment of life, liberty
property, and equality, gives to the abolitionist
| and the freesoiler the constitutional power to
| prevent the extension OF slave territoryA-a doc
f trine not only against the letter, but agains,
the spirit of the Constitution. Ask such from
what clause Of that instrument they derive their
power, and one viii answer that he derives il
! from the warmaking power; another, that he
t derives it from the treaty-making power; a
third, from the Constitution, taking all its parts
together; and fourth, (embracing not few
Missouri politicians,) from that clause which
says the Congress shall have power to dis
pose Of and make all needful rules and regula
tions respecting the territory or other property