Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-03-21

where it may be found. 1t may be that the
. equal rights Of the States to the common terri
tory of all should have been constitutionally
, denied. Yet it is constitutional law. 1t is toe
late TO inquire what ought to have been done
at the time this government was established
: our sole business is to know what was done.
II the appointed dispensers Of ordinary sta
: tute law were permitted to question its policy
and expediency, we would soon be without law
and II the dispensers Of constitutional law are
permitted to go behind the Constitution, we will
soon be plunged into anarchy and disunion
Mr. Chairman, this cant about the immoral
ity and horrible tyranny of slavery may answer
its purpose among the masses of the north
who have been Systematically deceived, and for
purpose, but it is out of place here. If slavery
be morally wrong, then those gentlemen who
so regard it should have paused before they
took the oath to support the Constitution which
SO thoroughly recognises it as right. The
very grave question presents itself to them.
whether it be the greater sin to violate.a moral
sentiment peculiar to themselves, or to violate
an oath which they have taken in the face Of
the country, and which is recorded in Heaven?
Abolitionists and their "twin brothers of the
same womb" the freesoilers, are wholly ex-
empt from the original sin of slavery. They
have long since washed their hands of this
"pollution," and how, with one hand on the
Bible and the other upon the price, they "make
broad their phylacteries," and "thank God they
are not as other men are The responsibility
of opening the Territories to slavery is with the
makers OF the Constitution-the responsibility
of introducing it upon the people who have
their election The responsibility Of preserving
the Territories in condition in which the
equal rights of all the States may be represent
ed, and in which the unforestalled judgment Of
the people may be exercised upon all masters
| affecting themselves In their internal relations,
Is the responsibility of an oath as binding up
on treesoiers as upon other other men. If the
decision Of the new States is for slavery, their
withers are unwrung."
/ This universal difference of sentiment on the
! opposite sides of geographical lines must find
| ITS solution out OF the department of morals.
Good morals are the same everywhere, and
undefled religion is as pure lin the planter on
the banks of the Mississippi as with the Puri-
| tan descendant Of New England.
have known of too many being converted
| by having bought negro and too many con-
yerted by having sold all Of theirs, to believe
IN this being question of morality.
It is, sir, question of political power be-
tween the. manufacturing and agricultural
States; and this cry about liberty, humanity,
and brotherhood, is but the cant Of the dema.
gogue, who rides into place by deluding his
friends, and endeavors to increase the strength
OF ms section by presenting false issues to US.
When sir, a northern man meets me with
manly frankness, and tells me that slave and
free labor cannot coexist, or that our three
fltths representation is unequal or unjust, can
reason with him with patience and, if proper,
agree to disagree. ] would say to him, sir, it
is as impossible for you to judge correctly Of the
institution OF slavery as for blind man to
Judge of colors. Your prejudices were formed
before your judgment had matured. They
have been tostered through life by association,
misrepresentation, and remoteness. You know
nothing Of the negro character, or of his init
mate and inseparable connexon with the moral,
social, and political condition of the south If
you wish either of us well, let us alone. IF Won
would not crowd ship already full, give us our
constitutional rights in the Territories. The
laws Of God will regulate this matter between
US. lie has given us products which the null
tiplied wants of rapidly -increasing population
imperatively demand, and has restricted their
production to sections in which YOU will not
and generally could not, live.
The incompatibility of free and slave labor is
onlya northern notion. It is not so at the
south You object to having three-fifths Of our
negroes represented, because of the political
power it gives US. If they were free, the whole
would be represented, as at the north; and the
political power Of the slave States would be
increased to the extent Of the remaining two
fifths.
But, sir, when the positions assumed, and the
DRIFT of the argument deduced, are, by necessary
implication, to charge my people with the black
est offences in the catalogue Of crime meet it
with scorn and detestation.
The history of the African contains proof
upon every page of his utter incapacity for self
government. His civilization depends upon
his contact with and his control by the white
man. Though elevated and educated by this
association, taught by experience the blessings
OF law, and provided with all the machinery Of
government ready to his hand, when he is left to
his own government, he descends to the level of
the brute. Let freesoiers read the history of
the blacks on the Island Of Jamaica since their
emancipation and if one drop of genuine phi.
lonthropy runs in their veins they will guard
a population, of which they are par excellence
the champions, from the evils of such a liberty.
The institution Of slavery which it is SO fash
ienable now to decry, has been the greatest Of
blessings to this entire country. At the north
it has served as vent for fanaticism, commun.
ism, and all those secretions of q morbid senti-
mentality, which, without this safety-valve,
would long since have resulted In a social ex-
plosion; and which win be as cruel to the pure
and the good, when it does come, as it is GER
tain in the future. From Maine to Texas the
slaves have been the pioneers of civilization.
The forest has bowed before their march, the
earth yielded its rich harvest to their labor, and
given us commerce which excites the admira-
ton and jealousy of the world. The power Of |
commerce is greater than that Of armies and
navies England saw wherein our strength
lay, and endeavored to shear us of our power,
by her experiment in the West Indies, which |
involved the loss Of millions of dollars to her
sell, and the miserable degradation of the very
race which, with hypocrtical philanthropy, she
professed desire to elevate and benefit.
Every section of this confederacy is now in |
the enjoyment Of the rich rewards Of the labor
Of the slave. He gives employment to the
shipping interest Of the east, wealth to the man
ufacturer of the north, and market for the