Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-09-29

whom proper sense OF selt-respect III not OF con-
stitutonal obligation should restrain from imper-
tinent interference. Virginia in 1881, and Ken
lucky more recently, were agtated from centre
to circumference by bold and unrestrained dis
cussion of the subject Of emancipation Upon
the hustngs and in the legislative assemblies, the
subject was thoroughly examined, and every pro-
Ject winch genius or philanthropy could suggest
was investigated Brought forward in the Old
Dominion, under the sanction of names venerated
and respected throughout the limits of the Com
monwealth-well known to have been cherished
project Of her most distinguished statesmen-fa-
vored by the happening Of then recent servile
disturbance, and patronized by some of the most
patriotic and enlightened citizens-the scheme
nevertheless failed, without show Of strength or
a step in advance towards tho object contem-
plated. The magnitude of the difficulties TO be
overcome was so great and SO obvious as TO strike
alike the emancipationists and their adversares
The result has been, both in Virginia and Ken
lucky, that slavery Ito use the language Of one
Of Kentucky's eloquent and distinguished sons,
and one, too, of the foremost in the work of eman
cipation) 'has been accepted as permanent part
Of their social system" Can it be that there is a
restitution of honesty, of intelligence, of patriot
ism and piety, in slaveholding States, and that
these qualities alone to be found in Great
Britain and the Northern free States Ifnot, the
conclusion must be that the difficulties in the way
OF such an enterprise exceed all the calculations
of craftsmanship and philosophy; and their re-
moval must await the will Of that Being whose
prerogatve is to make crooked paths straight
and justify the ways of God to man.
We have thought of discussing the subject
Of slavery. Viewed in its social, moral or eco
nomical aspect, it is regarded, the resolutions
of the convention declare, as solely and exclu-
sivey matter of State jurisdiction, and there
fore one which does not concern the Federal
Government, or the States where it does not
exist. We have merely adverted to the fact in
connection with the recent Abolition movements
upon Kansas, that, amidst all their fierce denun-
Citations of slavery for twenty years past, these
fanatics have never yet been able to suggest Il
plan for its removal consistent with the safety of
the white race-saying nothing of constitutional
guarantees, federal and State.
The colonization scheme of Massachusetts, as
we have said, excited alarm in Missouri. Its OBJ
vious design was to operate further than the
mere prevention of the natural expansion Of
slavery. II was intended to narrow it's existing
limits-to destroy all equilibrium of power be-
tween the North and South, and leave the slave
holder at the will of majority, ready to disre-
gard constitutional obligations, and carry out to
their bitter end the mandates Of ignorance, pre-
JUDGE, and bgotry. Its success manifestly in
volved radical change in Federal Govern
ment, or its total overthrow. If Kansas could
be thus abolitionizcd, every additional part Of the
present public domain hereafter opened to settle
ment, and every future accession Of territory
would be the subject of similar experiments, and
an exploded Wilmot provso thus virtually en-
forced throughout an extended domain still
clnimed national, and still bearing on its mill
tary ensigns the stars and stripes of the Union
If the plan constitutional and legal it must
be conceded that il was skilfully contrived, and
admirably adapted to its ends. 1t was also emf
nently practicable, if no resistance was encoun-
tered, since the States adopting it contained
surplus population which could be brought IN
and shipped, whilst the South, which had an in
terest III resisting, bad no such people among her
white population. The Kansas N ebraska law
too, which extremely hateful to the ia
natics, and has constituted the principal theme
OF their recent denunciations, would be a dead
letter. both it regards the Territories for which
il was particularly framed, and as precedent TO
Congress for the opening of other districts TO
settlement. The old Missouri restriction could
have done more, and the whole purpose Of the
antl-slavery agitators, both in and out of Con-
gross, was quietly accomplished. But the scheme
failed, as it deserved to fail; and as the peace
prosperity, and union of our country required il
should fail 1t was scheme totally at variance
with the genius of our Government, both State
and federal, and with the social institutions
which these governments were designed to pro-
tect, and its success would have been as fatal TO
those who contrved it as it could have been TO
those intended to be its victims.
The circumstance of novelty is entitled TO its
weight in politics as well as law. The Abolition
Eruption upon Kansas is without precedent in
our history. Seventy-nine years of our national
life have rolled by; Territory after Territory has
been annexed, settled, and added to the
galaxy Of States, until from thirteen we have in
creased TO thrty-two; yet it never before entered
into the head OF any statesman, North or South
TO devise plan Of acquiring exclusive occupa-
ton of a Territory by State colonization. To
Massachusetts, belongs the honor of its invention
and we trust she will survive its defeat. But she
is not the Massachusetts, we must do Justice Ia
her past history 10 say, that she was in the times
of her Adamses, her Hancocks, and her Warrons;
nor vet is she where she stood in more recent
times, when her Websters and Choats and Win
throps led the van Of her statesmen. Her legisla-
tive halls are filled with ruthless fanatics, dead
to the past and reckless to the uture her statute
books are polluted with enactments purportinp 10
annu the laws Of Congress, passed in pursuance
and by reason of the special requirements of the
Constitution; and her senatorial chairs at Wash
ington are filled by rhetorician and bigot, one
of whom studies TO disguise in the drapery of
classic elocuton of the most hideous and treason
able forms of fanatcisrn, whilst his colleague is
pleased TO harangue city rabble with open and
unadulterated dsunionism, associated with oraces
of abolitionism and infdelity--a melancholy spec
tacle to the descendants Of the compatriols Of
Benjamin franklin
No southern or slaveholding State has ever at
tempted TO colonze Territory. Our public
lands have been left TO the occupancy OF such
settlers soil and climate invited The South
has sent armies TO force slave labor upon those
who preferred free labor. Kentucky sprung from
Virginia did Tennessee from North Carolina,
and Kansas will from Missouri--from contiguity
of territory and similarity of climate. Emigra-
ton has followed the parelles of latitude, and
will continue TO do so unless diverted by such or
CARNATIONS as Emgrant Aid Societies and Kan
sas Leagues.
IL has been said that the citizens Of Massachu-
setts have undoubted right to emigrate TO
Kansas that this right may be exercised indivi-
duay or in families, or in larger private associa-
tons; and that associated enterprise, under the
sanction OF legislative enactments, is but another
and equally justifable form Of emigration Poll
teal actions, like those of individuals, must be
judged by their motives and effects. Unquestion-
ably, emigration, both individual and collective,
from the free States TO the South, and rice versa,
from the slave State to the North, has been pro-
crossing from the foundation of our government
TO the present day, without comment and with
out objection. ID is not pretended that such emf
grafton, even If fostered by State patronage,
would be illegal, in any respect Objectionable.
The wide expanse Of the fertile West, and tho
deserted WASTES Of the sunny South, invite occu-
pation and no man, from the southern extre,n,N