Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1856-01-12

the countless benefits which it has conferred.
i While the people of the Southern States con-
i line their attention to their own affairs, not
presuming ofliciously to intermediate with the
| social institutions Of the Northern States. too.
many OF the inhabitants of the latter are
| permanently organized in associations to M
| fiict injury on the former, by wrongful acts
| which would be cause of war as between for
! eign powers, and only fail to be such in our
| system, because perpetrated under cover of
the Union.
! ut possible to present this subject as truth
ana the occasion require, without noticing
the reiterated, but groundless allegati on, that
the South has persistently asser ted claims
ana obtained advantages in the practical ad-
| mlhlstratloh OF the general government, to
| the prejudice of the North, and in which tho
latter has acquesced. That is, the States.
| which either promote or tolerate attacks on
the rights OF persons and OF property in other
| States, to disguise their own Injustice, pre-
| tend or imagine, and constantly aver, that
| they, whose constitutional rights are thus
systematically assail led, are themselves tho
| 2g9reSsors. AT the present time, this imput-
ed aggression, resting, as it does only in the
| vague, declamatory charges of political agi-.
| tators, resolves itself into misapprehension,
| or misinterpretation, of the principles and
| facts of the political organization of the new
| territories OF the United States.
What is the voice of history When tho
ordinance, which provided fer the government
! OF the territory northwest Of the Ohio, and
| Ter Its eventual subdivision into new States,
| was adopted in the Congress of the confede-
! ration, 1t is not to be supposed that the ques-
| ton OF future relative power, as between the
States which retained, and those which did
| not retain, numerous colored population
escaped notice, or failed to be consdered-
| And yet the concession Of that vast territory
| to the interests and opinions of the Northern
States, territory now the seat OF five among
! the largest members of the Union, was, in
great measure. the act of the State of Vir
! gHia and of the South.
When Louisiana was acquired by the limited
States, 1t was an acquisition not less to tho
| North than to the South for while it was
important to the country at the mouth of the
Mississippi to become the emporium of the
country above it, SO also it was even mora
important to the whole Union to have that
emporium; and although the new province.
by reason OF its imperfect settlements was
mainly regarded as on the Gulf of Mexico
yet, in fact, it extended to the opposite bound
aries OF the United States, with far greater
breadth above than below, and was in terrific
ry, as ia everything else, equally at least an
accession to the northern States. 1t is mere
deluSlon and prejudice, therefore, to speak
OF Louisiana as acquisition in the special in
terest Of the South.
The patriotic and just men who participa.
tea IN That act we've influenced by motives far
the great event, which, by completing for us
the possession of the valley of the Missis-
sippi, with commercial access to the Gulf of
Mexico, impaired unity and strength to the
whole confederation, and attached together by
Indlssoiuble ties the East and the West as
well as the North and the South.
AS to Florida, that was but the transfer by
Spain to the United States of territory on the
east side Of the Mississippi, in exchange for
large territory, which the United States trans
ferred to Spain on the west side of that river,
as the entire diplomatic history Of the trans
action serves to demonstrate. Moreover il
was an acquisition demanded by the common
cial interests and the security Of the whole
Union.
In the meantime the people of tho United
States had grown up to proper conscious
ness OF their strength, and in brief contest
with France, and in a second serious war with
Great Britain, they had shaken off all which
remained Of undue reverence for Europe and
emerged from the atmosphere of those trans
Atlantic influences which surrounded the in
FAINT republic, and had begun to turn their az
tention to the full and systematic develope-
ment OF the internal resources of tho UniOn
Among the evanescent controversies OF
that period the most conspicuous was the
question of regulation by Congress of the
social condition of the future States to DO
iouNfed in the territory of Louisiana.
The ordinance for the government OF the
territory northwest of the river Ohio had con-
tanned provision, which prohibited the use
OF serviie labor therein, subject to the eendI-
ton OF the exhibitions Of fugitivos from ser--
vice due in any other part of the United
States. Subsequently to tho adoption of the
constitution, this provision ceased to remain
as u law for its operation as zach was abso-
lutely superseded by the constitution. But
the recollection of the fact excited the zeal
of social propagandism ia some section. of
the confederation. and 1rbo,
that OF Missouri, came to be formed in the
territory OF Louisiana, proposition was nads
to extend to the slater territory the restrio.
ton originally applied TO the country situated
between the rivers Ohio and Mississippi.
Most questionable as was this proposition in
all us constitutional relations, nevertheless 1t
received the sanction of Congress- with some
slight notifications of line, to save tho ex-
listing rights OF the Intended new State 1t
was reluctantly acquiesced in by southern
States as a sacrifice to the cause of peace and
Oh the Union, not only of the rights stipula-
ted by the treaty of Louisiana, but of the
principle OF equality among the States guar
antied by the constitution. 1t was received
by the northern States with angry and resent
ful condemnation and complaint, because il
did not concede all which they had exactinv
~ demanded. Having passed through the
forms OF Legislation, it took its place in the
statue book, standing oren to repeal, like
any other act of doubtinl constitutionality.
subject to be pronounced null and void by
the courts OF law, and possessing no possible
efficacy to control the rights of the States.
Which might thereafter be organization out of
any part ofthe original territory of Louisiana.
In all this, if any aggrossions there we're,
any innovation upon pre-existing rights, to
which portion oi the Union are they Justify
chargeabe
This controversy passed away with the &C.
casion, nothing surviving it save the dormant
letter of the statute.
But long afterwards, when, by the proposed
accession OF the republic of Texas the Uni
ted States were to take their next step in ter
rtorial greatness, similar contingency CO.
CURED, and became the occasion for SYSTEM
atized attempts to intervencc in the domestic
affairs Of one section of the Union in defiance
OF their rights as States, and of the stpula-
lions of the constitution. These attempts as
sumed practical direction, in the shape Of
persevering endeayors by some of the repra-
scntatiyes in both houses of Congress to de-
priye the southern States of tho supposed
benefit of the provisions of the act author
izing the organization of the State Of Mis-
souri,.
But, the good sense of the people, and tha
vital force of the constitution, trinn,phett
over sectional prejudice, and the political er-
rors of the day, and the State of Texas re-
turned to the Union as She was, with social
institutions which her people had chosen for
themselves, and with cypress agreement by