The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-07-26


selfgovernment. This treason against hu-
man hope will signalize their epoch in future
history, as the counterpart of the model Of
their predecessors. Tn. JEFFERSON.
Mr.. Holmes, of Maine, member of Con-
crcss, addressed Jefferson letter, which
/ drew from him the following remarkable re-
| ply:
MONTICELLO, April 22, 1920.
! 81 thank you, dear sir, for the copy you
have been so kind to send me Of the letter
to your constituents on the Missouri cues
ton. 1t is perfect justification of them.
81 had for long time ceased to read
newspapers, or pay any attention to pubhc
affairs, confident they were in good hands,
and content to be passenger IN our bark to
the shore from which | am not far distant.
But this nlomentous question, like hrc
bell in the night, awakened and filed me
with terror. | considered it at once the
| knell of the Union. 1t is hushed, indeed,
for the moment. But this is repTievc on
~, not a tiUal sentence. \ geographical
t line, coinciding with marked principle,
moral and political, once conceived and held
up to tie angry passions Of men, will never
be obliterated; and every new irritation
will mark it deeper and deeper. l can say,
with conscious truth, that there is no man
on earth who would sacrifice more than |
would to relieve us from this heavy re-
proach, in any practicoble way. The ccs-
sion of that kind of property (for it is SO
msnamed) is bagatelle which would not
cause me second thought, if, in that way,
general emancipation and ezpdtriation
would be effected; and gradually, and with
due sacrifices. think it might be- But as
it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and can
neither hold him, nor safely let him CO.
Justice Is in one scale, and sClfprcservation
in the othgr. OF one thing ! am certain,
that as the passage Of slaves from one State
10 another, would not make 4 slave Of hu-
man being who would not be so without II,
so their diffusion over greater surface
would make them individually happier. and
prcpoFtionaliy facilitate the accom-! !i;sAIcHt
Of their emancipation, by dividing the our
then on a greater number of cOadIuioTs.-
An abstinence, too, from this act Of pewer,
would remove the jealousy excited by the
undertaking Of Congress 10 regulate The
condition ef the different descriptions of
men composing State. This certainly Is
the exclusive right OF every State, which
nothing in the Constitution has taken from
them, and given to the General Govern
ment. Could Congress, for example, say
that the non-freemen Of Connecticut shall DC
freemen, or that they shall not emigrate into
any other STATE:
II regret that am TO die in the belief
that the useless sacrifice OF themselves by
the generation of lT16, to acquire seli-go-
verEment and happiness to their country, Is
to be thrown away by the unwise and un-
worthy passions of their sons and that my
consolation is 10 be, that live not TO weep
over it. If they would but dispassionately
weigh the blessings they will throw away,
against an abstract principle more likely to
be effected by union than by secession. they
would pause before they pcrpeirate this
dreadful act of suicide on themselves, and
of treason against the hopes OF the world
To yourself, as the faithful advocate Of the
Union, tender the offering Of my high es-
TEEN and respect. III. JEFFERSON.
lie wrote December 30, 1920:
Nothing has ever presented so threaten
ing an aspect as what is called the Missouri
question. The federalsts, completely put
down, and despairing of ever rising again
under whig and tory names, devised new
one, Of slaveholding and -slaveho!dlng
States, which, while it had semblance OF
being moral, was at the same time geo.
graphical, and calculated to give them as
cendancy by debauching their old opponents
to coalition nth them. Moral the ques-
ton certainly is not. because the removal OF
slaves from one State TO another, no more
than their removal from one country to ano-
ther, would never make slave of one hu
nan being who would not be so without it.
Indeed, if there he any morality in the
question, IT is on the other side; because by
spreading them over a large surface, their
happiness would be increased and the burden
of their future liberation lightcned by bring
ing greater number of shoulders under it
However, it seemed to throw dust into the
eyes of the people, and to fanaticise them.
while TO the knowing ones it gave geo.
graphical and preponderating line to the Po-
tomac and Ohio, throwing fourteen States to
the North and East, and ten to the South
and West With these, therefore, it is
merely a question of power. But with the
geographical minority it Is question OF
existence for If Congress once goes out OF
the Constitution to arroSate the right OF re-
gulatiDg the condition Of the inhabitants OF
the States. its majority may, and probably
will, declare that the condition Of all within
the United States shall be that cf freemen;
in which case all the whites south of the
Potomac and the Ohio must erscuate their
States, and most fortunate are those who
can do it first
He wrote December 90, 1920, to Laiay-
cite: ..
"Nith us things are going well. The
boisterous sea of liberty, indeed. is never
without a wave; and that from Missouri is
now rolling towards us. But we shall ride
over it as we have done over all others. 1t
is not moral question. but one merely of
power. Its object is TO raise geographical
principle for the choice of President. and
the noise will be kept up until that is ef