The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-11-06

Eo"An w eo""Hn<so OVEh sLANEni' IN lnE
TERRITORIES. n9ssr ~ laraa gte' ~ 80
tt.tt t67as d flH ~ gea; ~ itiigF n ets6+ae
ABKnpExs, tbiississippi,) e e
7s8sa.stsse e e october "a, 1857. n
sur / address You without formal introduction Truth
should be spoken without indrccton or excuse. The
can't courtesy Of affected apology deserves contempt
and in this case you would be excused for deeming it
ironcai 10 defend nom spcrsion the obscure deceased
Is privilege which personal friendship may claim To
vindicats against wgcpg and Misrepresentation the Illus
trous dead, whose opinions and history constitute tho
chief element of nations character and fame is work
of patriotism, and the duty of every citizen
Your susceptibility to- cankerng prejudice which
colors and poisons everything into which it minges,
joined to arrogant sesufcieny, say without Of
fence which cAfes at contradiction traits that SO
strkingy distinguish you not TO be denied by any
in the slightest degree conyersan with your char
acter Your dislike and distfust Of Mr. Calhoun to
say your malice toward the nanhas long since become
theme 50 trte and stale neither to attract de-
notice. When therefore, YOU proposed to write
your "Thrty Years IN the Seaoe, il sernly asserted
by many, and felt and feared by ALL thai You would be
incapable Of doing justice by stating the truth or at
leaat tho whole truth in relation to that eminent states
man. IT. then, it shall be asccrtaincd that you have
done him injustice, though By misaEs the coincidence win
be most unfortunate for the character both of yourself
aud your book IT, furthermore, it shall be found that
this mistake as not unwilling TO believe it consists
in palpabe Misrepresentation of public record and
published debate, things about which you profess and
admitted to be unusually accurate 1t will tend but
little to soften the criticism which such discovery may
fairly provoke. But lastly IT, still further invcstiga
tion 1t shall he developed that your no consists in
gross Misrepresentation Of the opinions OF Mr. Calhoun
upon subject involving the dearest rights Of the South
that you committed this mistake AZ Tine when the rights
of hat hal.
ance and when your opinions and wishes and action had
been heaped in the opposing scaeif this should be
tabishcd surely 1t must be confessed that fatality Of
incident has attended your mistake which might well
silence just in your defence and sharpen with the
keenest pognancy, the nvectves Of the uncharitable
That YOU have thus misrepesented that eminent de-
fender of southern and State rights upon such subject
and at such time, respectfully submit.
In chapter xXXIH of the I'd volume of your Thirty
Years View you charge Mr. Calhoun with having recog
nised In 1888, the Constitutional poter Of Congress to es
late upon the existence Of sapoy iae Tavors, with hay
ing yielded that power to Congress in his resolutions upon
the subject of slavery offered to the Senate in that year.
and with having placed his objections to the exercise of
that power "soicly on The ground Of ierpeieicy You
also charge that the idea of tho ,ocoasoaiy of such
power In Congress had not then 1888 entered his
head that it aterthought, dogma, first
brought out in his DIR Calhouns resolutions of ls47,
inconsistent with all his anteccdents that question
and which he estopped from promulgating
In order to avoid doing you injustice by mistake,
through improper Interpretation Of your words sub
init the charges contained in your language You
say
Every memorial and petition (aboton) had been dis
posed Of according to the wishes Of the from the
savehoding States, but Mr.. Calhoun deemed it due to
those States to 60 further and to obtain from the Senate
declarations which should all the questions of ede
although had
lust said that paper reports would do good For that
purpose he submitted series of resolutions in
berwhich derive their importance from their compare
son. rather contrast with Others on the same subject
presented by him i'm the Senate two years later and
which have given birth to doctrines and proceedings
which have greatly disturbed the harmony of the Union
and papably endangered its stability, ''Ihe
fh relative to the Territories and the District of Column
ba- and the only that excited attention has
left surviving interest 1t was in these words;
=. Resolred, That the ntenneddling Of any State
States their citizens to abolish slavery in this District
any Of the Territories the ground under the pre-
text that ii is immoral sinful, the passage of any
act measure by Congress with that view, would be
direct and dangerous attack the institutions Of all the
saveholding States a6N
THE dogma of No power in Congress to legislate
upon the existence of slavery in the Territories had not
been invented at that time ; and of course,
cd this re intended by its author to define the extent
of the federal Legislative power the subject The
solve went upon The existence Of the ior and deprecated its
abuse 1t put the District of Columbia and the Terrific
res into the category both for the exercise of the
power and the consequences result from the informed
ding of States citizens the passage of any act by
Congress to abolish slavery in either; and this adj
ntig The posr IN The Territories in the District, when it
Is an express grant in the grant of all legislative power.
The nterneddling and the legislation deprecated in
both solely he ground n inerpeietey PIP 1867.
After quoting short extract from the speech in which
Mr. Calhoun admitted that his impressions had been In
favor Of the Missouri Compromise but asserting that he
had g entirely changed you say u