Nashville daily patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1855-1857, 1856-06-14
SATURDAY, JUNE Il. 1856.


Mr.. Buchanan's Anti-SIavery Record.
We have already laid before the readers
OF the Patriot extracts from the record Of
OF Mr. Buchanan, showing that in 1919.
when the Government was for the first
tine seriously threatened with overthrow
ny the ill-feeling and discomfort growing
out of the agitation of the slavery question.
he was unsound. 1t was at that time
that the admission of Missouri as a slave
State was resisted by the North, and so
angry had the contest become, nothing but
a compromise and surrender, on the part
OF the South, of a portion of her constitu-
tonal rights, preserved the Union. This
was the beginning of the enroachments of
the North on the rights of the South-the
entering wedge which opened the door to
all the ills which have followed. Mr.
Buchanan, at that important crisis, when
respect for the constitutional rights Of the
South was virtue little practiced, attend
ed, as we have shown, public meeting in
Lancaster, Pa, and with others, a commit
tee appointed for the purpose, reported the
following resolutions:
Resolved, That the Representatives in
Congress from this district be, and are hereby.
most earnestly requested to use their utmost
enoeavors Is members of the National Legisla.
tnre, to prevent the existence Of slavery an
any OF Tie he1o Territories and Reao States which
may be created by Congress.
Resolved, That, in the opinion of this
meeting, the members of Congress. who. at
that session, sustained the cause of ia .tice.
humanity and Patriotism 10 opposing the in
PRODUCTION Of slavery in the State then endeav-
ored TO be formed out of the Missouri Terri
tory, are entitled TO the warmest thanks OF
every friend of humanity"
Opposed to the extension of slavery, and
a Missouri reStrictionist in 1919, we find
him in 1874 on the question of the annex
alton of Texas to the Union, declaring that
he still 'Jat strong repagnancc by am act
Of ms TO ertend the limits of tie Union orer
nel0 slaUeLoLding territory" We are re-
minded of his speech on that question, by
the Washington Star, a Pierce organ,
which reproduced a portion of it on the
2Sth ult., for the purpose of killing him off
at the Cincinnati Convention. The speech
will be found in the Congressional Globe,
part 2, vol. Is, of the Appendix. The
following extracts from it are to the point:
I'm arriving at the conclusion 10 support
this treaty, had TO encounter but one serious
obstacle, AND THAT WAS THEQUK>TIoN OF LAVE
RI Whilst l ever have maintained aud ever
shall maintain, in their full force and vigor.
the oons titu'ional rights Of the Southern States
over their slave property I get felt a strong
repugnance by any act Of mine 10 eTtend the
limits Of the Uhion oUer Rec sLaUehoLdipg
territory. After mature reflection, however.
overcome these scruples, and now believe
that the acquisition of reEss will be he means
OF LIMITING, not ENHANCING the domin.
ion of SLAVERY.
in the government of the world, Provi-
denoe generally produces great changes by
gradual means. There Is nothing rash in the
councils Of the Almighty. May not, then,
tie acquisition OF Texas be the means of grad
ually drawing the slaves far TO the South To q
climate more congenial to their nature: and
may they not finally pass off into Mexico and
THERE NINGLE WITH RAoE WHERE NO PREJU
DICK Exists AGAINST THEIR COLOR The Mex-
can nation is composed of Spaniards, Indians
and negroes, blended together in every variety,
who would receive our slaves on terms of per-
feet social equality. To this condition they
never can be admitted in the United States.
THAT the acquisition ct Texas would, ere
long, convert Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky,
Missouri, and probably others of the more
Markham ala int e.. 4
tain not doubt.
But should Teras be ANNEXED TO the Union,
causes UiH be brought into operation aOhtch
must Inevitably re'nOre slarery from Wtat may
DC called the farming States. From the best
information, ii is no longer profitable 10 raise
wheat, rye, and corn, by slave labor. Where
these articles are the only staples of agrjcul-
ture, in the pointed aud expressive language of
Mr.. Randolph, if the slave does not run away
from his MASTER the master must run away
from the slave. The slave will naturally be
removed from such country, where his labor
Is scarcely adequate to his own support, to =
region where lac oan not only maintain himself
but yield large profits to his master. Texas
will open an outls;; and slavery itself thus
finally pass the Del NOrte, and be lost 10 Mex.
leo. One thing is certain: the present number
OF slaves cannot Do increased by The snne1a.
ton of Texas.
81 have never apprehended the preponder
ance of the slave States in the councils of the
nation. Such fear has always appeared 70
me visionary. But those who entertain such
spprehensions need not be alarmed by the &C.
QUESTION OF Texas. More than one half Of its
territory is wholly unfit for slave labor,
and, therefore, in the nature Of things must
be free. Mr.. Clay, in his letter Of the 18th OF
April last on the subject of annexation, states
that, according to his Information
"'The territory OF Texas is susceptible Of a
division into five States OF a convenient size
and form. OF these, two ouly would be
adapted to those peculiar institutions (,layery)
70 which have referred; aud the other three,
lying west aud north Of San Antonio, being
only adapted TO farming and grazing purposes
from the nature of their soil, climate, aud pro-
dnctions, would not admit OF these Institutions.
la the end, therefore, there would be two
slave aud three tree States probably added TO
the Union
"And here, permit me TO observe, that there
is one defect ia the treaty which ought TO be
amended, IL we all did not know that Il Is des-
tined TO be rejected. Tue treaty itself ought
90 determine bow many free aud how May
slave States should be made out Of this terri
tory."-PagS osl, 722.
From these extracts it appears that the
question Of slavery was serious obstacle"
in Mr.. Buchanan's estimation, to the annex
alton of Texas-serious, because he had
strong repugnaHce by any act of bis to
extend the limits of the Union over new
slaveholding territory" and that at last,
ha oonsanfad M the annexation because he