Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-10-29
From the Charleston Is. CO Standard. J
THE STAUE TIP ADE

$500
have since occurred. 1t Is not too much to say
that the position was an extreme one. Men
were generally disinclined to make standard
of slavery. We had slaves, and as against all
others, we had a right to hold them but there
was the feeling that, in some sense, they were
| plumber, which it was enough to get out of the
way with. And, solicitous TO sustain ourselves
within the existing social sentiment of the world,
| we were unwilling to revolt against it. and we
were rather inclined to brave the world in the
practice of an acknowledged wrong than pro-
nudge the social principle upon which our acts
were to be rendered right. This we thought
| unwise. We believed it not only possible but
necessary, to erect standard of our own
Though slavery was possessed of every element
necessary to living social system, we felt il
never could be defended upon pre-existing prin-
ciPles of opinions, but that, TO its vindication
and establishment, there was the necessity Of
distinct organization and intelligence; that, in
stead OF flank, we must present front-in-
stead of fear, we must have hope-instead Of
endurance, action-and, to the end of changing
our attitude in the contest, and of planting our
standard right in the very faces of our adver-
| saries, we propose, as leading principle of
southern policy, TO reopen legitimate the slave
trade.
| There were few at first, to come to this posi-
ton. The southern Journals were generally sill
cnt, and all those which spoke, except the
Charleston Mercury, and the Richmond Exam.
liner, deprecated its temerity. We failed to have
the proposition placed before the Southern Com
mercial Convention; we found an indisposition
in the public mind to be disturbed upon a disa-
greeable subject; and we were indebted to iourn-
ais at the North for the opportunity OF more
4! full discussion of the subject
| Since that time, however, there have been
many circumstances to effect opinion at the
South The sentiment Of opposition to our in
shtutlons has led to further acts of political ag-
erosion. The entrenchment of our position
has been no impeachment to legislative and edi-
torial ciTcumSpection. Yielding ground before
our adversaries, we have come, at last, to points
beyond whichwe can yield no farther and the alter
natives OF surrender or recreation have been fore
cd upon us. To recreation, therefore, we have
been lnPe!led; but at every step we have been
met by difficulties, which seemed only to be OBJ
waited by the measure we propose. One neces-
Sary step was to pre-occupy the territory to the
| "eSt, anu thus preserve, as near as possible an
equality in the Federal branch of the National
Legislature; but there we were met by an in
Sutticicncy of population.
| While men, from supcrabundancc, were crow
ded out from the North, and were directed bv
emigration aid societies upon Kansas we had
not enough for the ordinary Offices Of labor and
! it required force to send them out Even then
there was the further difficulty. If we were to
send laboring whites. there was the apprehcn-
sion that they themselves would aqure an in
terest in the territory in opposition to the insti
| tuition OF domestic slavery, and thus might fail
to secure the state If we were to send slaves
we lose their conservative office in the social
economy at home.
| So many whites have come in since slaves
have been restricted, that this class ofour Dopu.
latlon is greatly in excess. Many have taken to
the walks of manual labor The struggle for
subsistence in competition with the slave, and
already, even in this state, where there is still
an excess of slaves, the proposition has been
made and pressed, to relieve the whites from
the seventies of such contest To fortify the
frontier, therefore, there was the danger of yo-
lating the integrity Of slave society in the cen
tire of our soundeSt state. The political power
to be gained on the one hand was not a COM
pcnsaton for the moral strength to be lost on
| the other.
One effort might be successful, but others
must occur perpetually, and constrained-to elect
between power in Congress or power in the
states; between social strength or political ex-
tension, our speculations turned abroad, and the
minds ofmen were forced to vibrate between
the alternatives Of ''circumscription or the slave
trade"
Another notices. necessary step was to in
crease the general population of the South. and
preserve an approximation to equality in the
| popular branch of the National Legislature. II
1t had been possible 10 preserve footing in the
Sonate by territorial extension, it soon appeared
-ASA'S
eminent That body had elected an abolition
speaker. and its constituents propose to elect
President Without delegation from the South
approaching in strength the delegation from the
! North, there was no hope of participation in the
government The necessity for a greater popu-
lation became apparent. We could expect no
great increase of foreign labor in competition
with our slaves; but should Increase occur. it
would tend still moro TO change the nature of
! our society. The white clement would only the
more surely claim the did 81 legislation TO ex
clude the slave, and there was no reasonable
hope, therefore, Of being able to supply our
wants with the Pauper population of Europe.-
10 submit to the government of an irresponsi.
bic majority IN Congress, was not to be thought
oil, and the lntnds of men were forced again TO
vlbrate between the alternatives of dissolution
or the slave trade.
There was another important step to be taken.
A contrast had been drawn between the North
| and South in respect Of their improvements
the deficiencies Of the South had been establish.
ee, ana the tact was charged TO the Institution
OF domestic slavery. We knew that this was
no evidence OF incfiiciency-we knew that while
labor and been cut off from the South it had
continued to pour in upon the North; TINT in
consequences of this, they have twice ms ,nncb
labor and less land, and it was natural and no.
cessary, therefore, that their relative i,nnroyc.
ments should be greater.
| We also knew that in proportion to population
at tue oOhth the products are greater than among
any other people in the world, and to us there ,,oS
nothing IN this contrast to cause dissatisfaction.
but the fact by allthe world was taken as conclI,
slvc proof ofinefficiency. We knew that conoI;t,,
could ultimately be restored by equality Of Labor
but the tact That interests are already nbl;sb
ed at the North, gives them present adyantage
III the race. u solicitous for free white labor.
It would naturally hesitate to come in comnct;on
hT1f IL =.