Bedford inquirer and chronicle. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1854-1857, 1856-01-04


GENTLEMEN Having relinquished po-
iitiral employment, and. to avoifencounter-
ing again its anxicties, addicted myself tC
country life, I am constrained to decline
our invitation to joia the Republican As
sociation Of Washington City, although
tempted by the honor Of becoming its pre-
siding officer. Yet feel it my duty to
say that in the main | concur IN the aims oI
The Association. To exclude Slavery from
the territories of the United States, and to
rebuke the violation of the compromises
| which were made TO stand as covenants be-
tween the Slave and Free States TO effcci
| that exclusion, are, in my opinion, the most
| important movements which have engaged
| the public mind since the Revolution.
The extension of Slavery over the new
territories would prove fatal to their pros
| rcrity; but the greatest calamity to be ap-
| pretended from it is the destruction Of the
Confederacy, on wLich The welfare of the
whole country reposes. Every conquest
Of this element Of discord, which has 50 Of
ten threatened the dissolution of the Union
increases the danger. Every surrender Of
| the Free States invites invasion.
The cause which your organization is in
tended to promote may well draw to Its sup
port men Of all-parties. Differences on
questions of policy, on constitutional con-
struction, Of modes of administration, may
well be merged 10 unite men who believe
| that nothing but concert of action on tie
part of those who would arrest the spread
Of slavery, can resist The power of the
combination now embodied to make ii eta-
brace the continent from ocean to occar.
Tie repeating clause Of Tue Kansas bin
Is prsssieafed sn the naliity Of the elausc
il tbs constitution which gives Congress
the power e'to make regulations respecting
The territories Of the United States.' Y ct
nothing Is clearer in tie history of our gov
ernment, than this phrase giving power TO
Congress to make regulations respecting
the territories, was meant to give it the
power 10 exclude slavery from them.
Afr. Jefferson 5 resolutions of lTSi de-
claring ''ihat there shall be neither slavery
Kor involuntary servitude in any of the
States" laid off in the Western territory,
was subsequently renewed in the Congress
of 1855, which added, es'hat this regula-
tinn shall be an article Of compact" and it
was so voted unanimously by the delega-
tons of eight States out of the twelve.
/; was passed BY the unanimous votes of
all The States BY the Congress of 1877,
which sat eontemporaneously with the Con-
yention forming the Constitution, and that
Constitution gave Congress the power to
make regulations respecting the territories,
and moreover affirmed the VALIDITY of the
engagements entered into before the adop-
ton Of the Constitution; by the Confedera-
tion-one of which engagements was that
made by the regulation excluding slavery
from the territories. Thus the Congress of
the Confederation and the Constitution uni
ted in giving double sanction to the cx-
clusion.
The first exerted the power of enacting
Nr. Jefferson's inierdict of slavery in the
territories then held by the United States,
to which il had previously given an impress
sive sanction by adding, ''this regulation
shall be an article of compact &C.; and
the con vention guaranteed this .'engago-
ment," entered into under the Confedera-
tion, BY declaring it valid, and employed
the same terms, CIRCULATION Of the terrific
ries," to transmit the power here exerted to
future Congresses. In the face Of this his
tory, and the letter of the Constitution
granting the power to make whatever regu-
lations it deemed fit, respecting the terrific
ries Of the United States, the authors of the
Kansas and Nebraska bill deny the consti-
tutionality of all the regulations which ex-
clude slavery from the territories, and set
at naught all the preecdents that confirm
them, which have followed in uninterrupted
succession, from the foundation of the gov
ernmeDt
That other clause in the Constitution, en-
poacring Congress TO pass laws to prevent
the migration or importation of slaves after
1908, shows the fixed parpose OF the found
ers of our Union to limit the increase Of
this evil. The consequence was au inhibi-
ton, which prevents South Carolina plan
ter, who has slaves in Cuba, from bringing
them TO his home plantation; and to re-
move this obstruction 10 the increase Of
slavery within the Union, aud open Africa
to sadply the demand made By the new act,
the Northern ngllifers are already called On