Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1857-01-24

We have said that the prohibition of slavery
does not exclude the people of any state; and the
proof Of this, in practice, is to be found in the
operation Of the old ordinance of 1887. BY that
timely and immortal deed, slavery was forever
shut out from the whole northwestern territory
from all the territory then in possession of the
United States, or which they ever expected to po-
soss. But, were the residepts of the South there-
by excluded? Consult the census: i've states
have been formed ont OF that scrrirary; ohio,
Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and
how have they been pcopled. indiscriminately
from all parts of the Union. 0hir ha1 n popula-
ton Of two millions, of which 1000 came from
other states, and Of these $4,000 from the slave
states. Illinois has POPULATION of $4,000. of
whom 400,0 900 were not born in tbe state, and Of
these IA 900 came from the slave states. 1t is
the same with oil the other northwestern states.
From one third to one half of the emigrants
from other states were derived from the South,
which, considering how much more active and
mobile the free states are, from the nature of
their society, is their just proportion at least.
Virginia has $4,000 Of her children in these
states; can she DO said to have been excluded |?
Maryland has as many as 81, 900; has she been
excluded Kentucky nearly as many; has she /?
There have gone from the slave states into the
free territories, $50, 900 persOus-more than five
times the whole number Of effectual shareholders
in the Union. That is, ono ninth of the entire
white population Of the slave states, have settled
in States where slavery was prohibited" What
means the clamor, then, that the South is excln-
ded from the territories by the prohibition OF sla-
very? 1t does not mean that their people, but
that their peculiar laws, are excluded; not that
the men of those states, but that the slaves-as
slaves-o of those states, cannot be taken there.
Meantime, there is another side of the account.
White freedom does not exclude the South, to any
great extent, from the new regions of settlement;
slavery, when it is established there. does exclude
our free people. II is fact, demonstrated by
the whole course of our experience of internal
migrations, that free labor will not willingly go
where slave labor exists. As long ego as l7s7,
George Mason, of Virginia, said. in the Conven.
ton which framed the Federal Constitution, that
s'slavery discourages arts and manufactures
The poor despise labor wnen performed BY
slaves. They prevent the immigration OF whites,
who really enrich and strengthen country" and
our history since has been an ample proof of the
truth of his remarks. Our farmers, our mechan.
les, our laborers, avoid settling, and when re-
gion is opened to slavery. it is virtually ban
ishment of free labor. New York has sent $780,
600 people to Michigan, $1,000 to Illinois, 49,
900 to Ohio, which were free, as territories; but
to Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana
which were slave territories, not $4,000 altogeth-
err Pennsylvania has sent 100000 to the free
northwestern Territories; bat to all the slave ter.
ritories not $4,000 altogether. lsitby excluding
slavery. that we destroy the equality of the
States Is it not clear that by establishing it
we do SOP .
We have dwelt upon these points because we
desire to show how completely mistaken the prin-
cipal opposition to the free soil movement was,
and because the debate is not terminated, and
will not he terminated, except in triumph Of free
labor. The party in power will upquestionaby
make an effort to carry out their schemes during
the next four years; and with the President, the
Senate and the House at their disposal, there are
apparently no political means of resisting their
plans. Yet it is not impossible that they will
pause little before the great demonstration
made by the free states in the recent election
The policy Of the slave party may lead them
to attempt an appearance of moderation and
Cancellation. But logically, that party can make
no serious concession. The war between the two
principles of labor in now fairly engaged. As
the smoke Of the present battle clears away and
exposes the condition Of the field, as the merits
of the real issue emerge more and more into the
light, as the utter groundlessness of this cry
rent, as the masses of the laborng people discern
more sharply.-as they are beginning to discern
the incompatibility of slave extension with their
own interests-tho great sentiment of liberty,
which is The deepest and most inspiring senti.
ment in the American heart, must acquire a
more prevailing might. Every day the vulgar
prejudices, the old commonplacss of party war
fare, which are the last strongholds of dissolv-
ing system, are loosening and falling away. A
prodigious advance in this respect, was accom-
plished by the last campaign; it has opened thou
sands of eyes that have never before been open
cd; and it has lodged great truths and liberal
sentiments in many breasts, from which they
Will not again depart. In the state Of opinion
now, as compared with that Of only four years
ago, we possess the evidences Of a vast revolu-
ton. The public mind has been purified of many
political superstitions, and the public heart beats
quicker to the call of freedom. The nature Of
that contest which the peopagandists of slavery
have forced upon US is everywhere more accurate
ly estimated. 1t is seen to be contest between
property, on one hand, and popular freedom on
the other-in which the single aristocratic ele-
ment Of our society is pisted against its Demo.
cratic and progressive civilization. And in such
acontest, who can doubt the termination
We have hastily compiled, from the last Census,
the following tables, which exhibit this matter
in its practical aspects, in a nutshell.
NATIVES OF FREE STATES INHABIrNG TIE SOUTH
WESTERN (sLAvE) TERRITORIES.
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