Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-03-05
Frcra de r. " Tines
WHO Is THE Al.s:R ESkx,rs

:
The Southern people have demanded Of The
Union that Il should allow them peace, that Il
should allor them to emi0s their own fnsiitn-
TONS and ifiiabis their own SOIL without fear OF
invasion or conspiracy set on foot by their con-
federate States. They have thought that this
was no hard demand 10 make of their ASSOC.
ciates, il, compact of lasting asnity and al
| lance. Yet the whole difference between the
North and fhe-Soaifs. raised as il has been, du-
ring the last twenty Years, 10 50 bitter social
and political warfare. has grown absolutely and
entirely from the denial OF the North that the
South had the right, under the Constitution, 10
peaceful and unquesfioncd management OF her
own domestic affairs. II there has been any
movement, if there has been anything, that
| could have been construed into aggression. at
any tine in our political history ii has had this
| limit: Of a struggle on tie part Of the South to
preserpe an equality nth the NORTH in a riagle
braach of Congress- aeitle she asas hopeiessig in
! tcrior IN the other
We extract the above from recent number
Of the Charleston Mercury, one of the most able
and candid of Southern Journals. But, in our
| judgment, there could hardly be more palpa-
bic misstatement of the causes Of difference be-
/ tween the North and South, of the foundation,
as well as Of the objects of the dispute, than il
/ presents Yet we cannot doubt the perfect SIN
| cerity of the writer, because he concludes his
statement of the case with an admission of the
utmost signiicancy and Importance. As re-
| spectacle organ of Southern opinion the Mercu-
| nv is entitled to our thanks for this present
/ nent of the whole difficulty between the Free
and the Slave States, and ii its positions are
| shown TO be wholly false, something viii have
been done toward the suppression of agita-
ton.
| The indictment against the North contains
| two material statements, to-wit
| First-The Northern States are engaged in a
conspiracy for the invasion of the South, with
the purpose of eradcating Slavery.
| Second-The North has denied to the South
| the right, under the Constitution to peaceful
and unquestioned management of her own do
nestle affairs.
| These two allegations are admitted to COM
prise the whole cause of complaint by the South
against the North, and the bitter sectional strug-
gle now in progress is said to have grown "abso-
lutcly and entirelVn from the complaints thus
stated. We join issue upon these assertions as
matters of fact, and as such we say not only that
| they are not correct, but we deny that they have
! any foundation whatever; we go further, and
! admit that if these allegations against the Free
States were correct, they would place that por-
! ton of the Union wholly in the wrong, and
| would Justify those frequent appeals to dsunion
! as a remedy for her supposed political grievances
|
| For newspaper articles and stump speeches
| the North cannot be held responsible; and
when she is charged with aggression VIC must
presume that some public and official action is
| referred to-the action Of Northern majority
in Congress or of Northern State Legislatures.
1 We ask, when, or where have any such acts
been committed? Not one can anywhere be
found The only domestic institution" of the
| South referred to in our political discussions Is
| Slavery We cannot recall any legislative meas
urc consummated or proposed by Northern men,
which even refers to Slavery. Laws have been
passed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont
and Maine, designed to protect their citizens
against the operation of certain unconsttu-
tional law of the United States. Bit that does
not touch Slavery. Resolutions innumercble
| have been passed by State Legislatures respect
| ing the extension of slavery, the Fugitive Act,
| and such other measures offensive to Northern
feeling but all this does not affect, nor does it
approach the domestic institutions of the South,
nor interfere with its right to manage its own
domestic affairs. ID .2t
In truth, the piercing clamors against North
ern Interference with Southern rights resolve
themselves upon investigation into this that pub
lie and private opinion at the North is unfaVora-
bic to Slavery, and this unfavorabe opinion finds
expression in lectures. widely circulated news
|
| extent of even this discussion is greatly exaggc-
rated for there is infinitely less said thought
nj the North upon Slavery as an abstract and
isolated question, than upon the political preten-
sions of the South and the legislation of Con-
gross founded upon it. The South cannot ra-
tionay object to this discussion, nor can we ad-
nit, as valid, its protests against the Anti-Save-
rv opinion of the Free States In that opinion
the North agrees with the whole christian and
! civilized world, while the institution upon which
| it is di.ectad is peculiar to the South. The North
might more reasonably demand The abolition OF
| this peculiar institution than the South can re-
| quire the suppression of discussion opposed to
her own notions of what is generous and just
Beside, we must remind Southern orators and
etl;tnrs. that they use, without scrupc, the cor
| responding lfiyiicgc of criicizing Northern lab
| its institutions and Iioiplcs and that they do
| il with merciless severity. Nobody here com
| plains of that, and wond be laughed at if he
| did We remember that, Il few months since
the Richmond Enquirer announced its purpose
! to expose in series of extinguishing editorials,
+, the failure of Free.Society at the North, and
lecturer was sent from Virginia to eXpound that
text at New Haven, one or two Of whose cu-
sions were quite generally published in the
| Anti Slavery papers as literary and political Gu
riositcs.
| have shown, groundlcss charges OF aggression
upon the North is a most important admission.
1t is admitted that there has been q movement
! which might be construed into an aggression
| against the North, which movement consists in
! the attempt of the South to maintain equal
power in the Senate between the Free and Slave
States by acquiring foreign territory to be ad-
nlitsyd az Slave States, and by excluding Free
States formed OUT O. territory held at the time
of adopting the Constitution, ujiitas balanced by
| new Slave States. Granting this to be the only
aggression pcrpctrated through the agency Of
the Federal Government in the name of Slavery
against the equal rights of the States, is it not
most serious one? Is it not sufficient to account
| for all the bitterness and rancor which the Mcr-
curry observes has OF late years characterized
the political warfare between the two sections?
Is it not, too, direct attack upon the Gonstitu
ton. Under the Constitution new States were
to be admitted without impeachment from the ter
rtory then held. As fast as population expand
ed territorally, so fast were States TO be formed
and taken into the Union. The right to intro
duce thenf s clear as the right of given
number Of tie population 0 be represented by
member in the other House. II, then, the South
has deliberately resisted this right she has denied
to the North her due share Of power in the Ma
tional Legislature and has sought TO dwarf the
political development Of the Free States to the
standard of her own advancement in popula-
ton. Nor can there be any doubt Of the per-
feet truth of the confession. Maine, Michigan
Iowa and Wisconsin were all refused admission
until they could be balanced by Missouri, Ar
kansas, Florida and Texas respectively. Mime
sofa has at this day q population of 10000 or
$4,000, but WING imagines that she can ever be
brought into the Union except as Il eounterpoise
of Slave State? All remember the furious con
test over CALIFORNIA; and the fact that she was
only admitted at last because she was to be rep
resented in the Senate by two shareholders,
and in the hope that she would become Slave
Safe. .-.
1t is strongly indicative of The utter contempt
into which those parts of the Constitution which, |
In their present operation, happen is be fayora- |
bic TO the North, have fallen at the South, that
the Mercury, in looking about for some act |
2lltch might be construed as aggressive against
she North, aces p92t think the laws Of its own
State against free colored se2mca citizens of
other States, worth noticing. Under the laws of /,
nations this is paipabie iniraetion of the conf
ty which regulates the intercourse between
friendly countries, and that it is a violation of
the constitutional obligations which South Caro-
lima has contracted toward her sister States. we