Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1856-01-09

Practically, it is immeterial whether
interference between the States
or deliberate refusal on the part of any
one of them to comply with constitutional
arise from erroneous convic.
ton or blind prejudice, whether itbe. pre- |
petrated by direction or indirection. In
either case, it is full of threat and:of dan
ger to the durability of the Union.
CONSTITUTIONAL RELATIONS OF SLAVERY.
Placed in the office of Chief Magistrate
as the executive OF the whole country,
bound to take care that the laws be faith
fully executed, and specially enjoined by
the constitution to Congress on the state
of the Union, it would be palpable neg
lect of duty on my part to pass over a
subject like this, which beyond all things
at the present time, vitality concerns indi-
vidual and public security.
It has been matter of painful regret to
see States, conspicuous for their services
in founding this Republic, and equally
sharing its advantages, disregard their
constitutional obligations toit. Although
conscious of their inability to heal adj
mitted and palpable social evils of their
own, and which are completely within
their jurisdiction, they engage in the Of
fensive and hopeless undertaking of res
forming the domestic institutions OF other
States wholly beyond their control and
authority. In the vain pursuit of ends,
by them entirely unattainable, and which
they may not. legally attemp pit to compass,
they peril the very existence of the cons
stitution, and all the countless benefits
which it has conferred. When the peo-
pie Of the southern States confne their at
tenton to their own affairs. not presum-
ing officiousy to intermeddle with the So
cial institutions Of the northern States, too
many of the inhabitants of the latter are
permanently organized in associations TO
nAict injury on the former, by wrongful
acts, which would be cause OF war, MS be-
tween foreign powers, and only fail to be
such in our system, because perpetrated
under cover of the Union.
1t is impossible to present this subject
as truth and the occasion require, without
noticing the reiterated, but groundless
allegation, that the South has persistent
~ asserted claims and obtained adyanta-
ges in the practical administration of the
general government, to the prejudice OF
the North, and in which the latter has &C
guessed. That is, the States, which e.
Their promote or tolerate attacks on the
rights Of persons and Of property in other
States. to diguise their own Injustice. pre-:
tend orimagine, and constantly aver, that
they, whose constitutional rights are thus
systematically assailed, are themselves
the aggressors. At the present time, this
imputed aggression, resting, as it does,
only in the vague, declamatory changes
of political agitators, resolves itself into
misrepresentation, or misinterpretaton, OF
the principles and facts OF the political or
ganzation of the New Territories of the
United States.
What is the voice of history When
the ordinance which provided for the 90
vernment OF the territory northwest of the
river Ohio, and for It's eventful division
into new States, was adopted in the Con-
gress Of the Confederation, it is not 10 be
supposed that the question Of future rela-
tive power, rs between the States which
retained, and those which did not retain,
a numerous coIored population, escaped
notice, or failed TO be considered And
yet the concession of that vast territory
to the interests md opinions of the nor
thcrn States, territory now the seat OF
FIVE among the largest members Of the
! Union, was, in great measure. the act of
the State Of Virginia and of the South.
When louisiana was acquired by the
! United States, it was an acquisition net
less to the North than the South for
while it was important to the country at
the mouth of the river Mississippi to be-
come the emporium Of the country above
it, so also it was even more important to
the whole Union to have that emporium
and although the new province, by rca-
son Of its imperfect settlement, was main
in fact, it extended to the opposite boun-
diaries of the United States, with far grca,
ter breadth above than below, and was
in territory, as in yerything else, equal
! y at least an accession to the northern
States. It is mere delusion and prciu-
dice, therefore, to speak of Louisiana AS
an acquisition in the special interest OF
the South.
The patriotic and just men, who parti-
| cipated in that act were influenced bv
motives far above all sectional jealousies
1t was in truth the great event, which
by completing for us the possession of
the Mississippi, with commercial access TO
the Gulf of Mexico, impaired unity and
strength to the whole confederation, and
attached together BY indissolubIe ties the
East and the West, as well as the North
and the South.
AS to Florida, that was but the trans
fer by Spain to the United States Of ter
ritory on the east side of the river Miss
issippi, in exchange for large territory,
which the United States transferred 10
Spain on the west side of that river, as
the entire Diplomatic history Of the trans.