The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-10-28
POL1TLO a Il.
THE FACTS OF THE CASE.

souri, Compromise, is without the slightest
Foundation and an outrage which deserves
the severest reprObation, coming from
Southern men. What is the history of the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise In
1920, the then Territory of Missouri, hav-
ing complied vita the acquisitions of the
Constitution of the United States, applied
in proper form to be admitted as State
into the Union, having formed such Con-
stitution rs entitled her to enter as equal in
rights to the other States of the Union. A
majority in Congress, in violation of the
Constitution of the United States, rejected
the application, because she wished to be
admitted as q slave State. Tennessee,
Kentucky and other States had been taken
into the Union as slave States, and now a
ruthless majority, in violation of their oaths
and the Constitution and usages of the
government, refused to admit the Territory
of Missouri, because their citizens were
slave owners. Where did this opposition
to the admission of Missouri come from
Who led the unprincipled majority Let
with his Northern tail, like baleful meteor,
appeared in the North as the omen of the
rise of the sectional question. The Com
promise made was made in violation of the
Constitution and the usages of the govern
ment-was but an act of Congress, subject
| at any time to be repealed Did this salts
| fly the anti-slavery party Of the North ,
! Not at all. A regular war has been waged
ever since on the slave States. The Con-
! stitution of the United States, giving to
! the slave States the right to re-capture
! their slaves in free States, has been virtu-
| ally violated and the property of the South
taken from it under the sickly scntimcntali-
| ty and fanaticsm of party at war with
our institutions. The halls of Congress
! have been the arena where the abolitionists
have heaped upon the South all the oppro-
bious epithcts their malice could invent,
and endeavoredby by petitions and resolutions
to attain their miScheviOus ends. Men high
in Office, even an Ex-President, has said.
let slavery perish, though oceans of blood
flow for words of equally horrid meaning.)
When the anti-slaYery party threatened to
convulse the government, returning justice
enabled patriotic Congressman from the
free States to pass the Nebraska bill, which
virtually repeals the Missouri Compromise
and places all the territories on the same
platform of equal rights-the right to enter
the Union, with or without slavery, as they
may choose.
The democratic party, a national party,
maintain the old Republican doctrines of
the equality of the States and the sovereign
ty of the States; they make war on no sec
ton of the Union, and in their candi-
date for the Presidency, present to the
Union talented and long tried and expert
enced statesman, fitted by legal and politi-
cal knowledge for the office. The triumph
of the conservative principles of the Demo
cratic party, under his administration, will
Danish the political storms that appear to
menace our Union, and our progress in
prosperity and happiness will still be on
ward.
THE CHARLESTON DUEL.--A public
meetingof the..citizens of St. Johns, S. Car
olina, was recently held, in relation to the
duel between Messrs. Tabcr and Magrath,
were adopted:
l. Resolred, That the people of this
Parish have heard, with equal surprise, in
dignation and sorrow, of the scene lately en-
acted in the Parishes of St. Phillips and ST.
Michaels which resulted in the death of
Wm. r. Taber, Jr., one of the T litors of
the Charleston Mercury; and, a, citizens
of the same State, and equally interested
in maintaining the principles for which he
fell, deem it our duty to protest earnestly
against its violation.
?. ResoIred, That the Constitutions of
South Carolina and of the United States,
alike guarantee tho liberty of the press, and
the right of free speech, and forbid the en-
actment of any law restraining either and
that those instruments are virtually nullified
in that respect, if, by a higher law" the
editor of public journal can be held res
ponsible at the mouth of pistol, for the
publication of articles from correspondents
commenting upon the political conduct of
public men.
3. ResoLred, That the political opinions
and acts of office holders and candidates
for the same, in the gift of the State or the
people, are u proper subject for comment
and criticism in the newspapers of the day;
and that the only conditions which have
been hitherto imposed upon such criticism
in our State arc that they be couched in the
phraseology customary among gentlemen,
have truth for their basis and the author be
responsible for the same.
1. Resotred, That when these conditions
arc violated, the party assailcd has ample
means of redress, in first himself rcsorting
to the public press, TO viadicate his SLAM
dered character. and then to such other
means as are open to every good citizen
and upright man. !
New ERA IN WHALING.-The Liver |
pool Times of the Doth ult., says: An !
American whaler. the W. F. Stafford, of
New York, has arrived at Queenstown, on
her return from Nova Zembla-On ncr /
voyage, which was an experimental one !
she Captured three whales by a new meth /
cd. first practiSed by her master, Captain
Rovs. and which consists of firing kind
of small shell Mt the animal. which explodes |