The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-10-28


disguise, aud no circumstances can Justify.
You further assert that We Will be
bound to admit Cuba as Slave State II
she desires it after annexation. 10 TINS
| believe the Republican are unanimous
IL opposed. The very object aud design
Of annexation is to extend aud Increase
the despotism OF Slavery +; to giGe the for
eign Catholics Of Cuba. assisted by the
Democratic party, the power TO elect our
President aud Vice President, and con
troll the administration of our Federal
Government for an indefinite period Ill
the future To effect this object the
present Administration is wiling to give
the free population Of Cuba superior pow
pr and influence over the interests, the
rights aud honor Of our people to that
which We ourselves exert, By allowing
them three votes for every i've slaves
they NAV hold in bondage. Republicans
deny that Congress or the Federal Gov
crnment hold any right or authority thus
to take from the people ofthe Free States
the coutrcl of their own rights, their own
honor. apd transfer them to the discre-
ton and keeping of Cuban Shareholders.
You are reported as quoting from a
speech Of Mr. Adams upon the sdmisslon
Of Arkansas as Il State. in which that dis
tinguishcd Statesman said he did not re-
gard il as an objection 10 be urged against
the admission Of that State that she had
not formed an ti-Slayery Constitution.
You must be aware that, in the pur-
chase of Louisiana, President Jefferson
did not profess 10 act in pursuance OF, OF
under authority Of the Constitution but,
on the contrary. he expressly y said the
treaty would be void unless the Constitu-
ton should be 50 amended as to author
ize it; ana that he aud other statesmen
regarded the subsequent unanimous ap-
proval of the treaty by the several States,
and by the people Of ali the States, as
equivalent to such an amendment; that
The treaty had, at the time Mr.. Adams
spoke, for more than thirty years been
affirmed and sanctioned without dissent
ing voice that sixteen years previously,
Congress had, with his entire approval,
prohibited slavery in that part of the Lou
lsiana purchase lying north of IS deg. 80
min. north latitudc-just as Republicans
will abolish it i'll Cuba-but leaving Ar
kansas with her slavery, to which no OBJ
lection had been previously made. 1t
was in view Of these circumstances, with
a desire to ratify the past action OF Gov
ernment, SO long and SO universally ap-
proved. that Mr. Adams made the remark
to which you refer. They could IN no
respect apply to future annexation
against the will of any State, or against
the will Of any respectable portion Of our
people. His views in regard to the an
nexation of Texas in 1913, while that
policy was cherished by the Executive
precisely as that Of annexing Cuba is now,
will give the views of our departed friend
upon case exactly parallel to that of
which you spoke. At the close Of the
NNEIIth Congress, Mr.. Adams aud 10
other Members of Congress published an
address to the people of the Free States.
1t WAS dictated and signed by him.
The address, speaking Of the annexa-
ton Of Texas, declares that "lt is impos-
sible for any man to doubt that the form
alton of several ac,o slareho'diny States
are the real objects Of the Executive
The same infcrenees (says the address,
will show that the particular objects Of
this new acquisition are the PERPETUAL
TIoN OF SLAVERY tha continued oSccn-
Gancg Of the Store P3Wer. We hold
there is no political necessity for 1T, no
advantage to be derived from it, aud there
Is no Constitutional po,cer IN any depart
meet Of Go0erAment TO effect 1t. That
no aot Of Congress nor treaty Of annexa-
ton can inposc the least obi;gatioM upan
the se0era} States qFtts Enion to submit
to such miwarraMtabie act, or to receirc
l"to Their family or fraternity such Wc-
gitjmate progeny. We hesitate not to
say that annexation, by any act or pro-
ccedins Of the Federal Government, or
any Of its departments, acout8 be idcntj-
cal 7cib dissolution" ."
Such were the opinions Of hr. Adams
left or record over his own signature, and
| feel authorized to say he cherished them
while he lived 1t is true that the Free
States preferred submission They went
into a new Union with Texas rather than
separate from the Slave States. Ihey
joined in the war, participated in the sac
riico Of eighty Thousand human victims,
and incurred a debt Of two hundred mil
lions dollars; and to this day the people
Of the Free States are taxed millions Of
dollars annually to protect the people OF
Texas in their Slavery, and maintain the
ascendancy Of the Democratic party by
aid Of Texan votes. | may also add that
the unmanly surrender to that outrage
struck the WHO marty with moral and n0.