The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-09-14
Anew way to furnish your Enemy with
Ammunition"

Anew way to furnish your Enemy with
Ammunition.
The Constitution newspaper at Washington
City is amazed The Constitution is outrag-
ed The Constitution is indignant The
| Constitution is sorely troubled. The Consti-
tuition whose right to call itself par excel
Ience, the defender of the South and the
hope of her friends, the reader will admit
who glances over our columns to-day-the
Constitution finds that the Mississippian is ac-
tuaIly furnishing ammunition to the Black
Republicans. 1t could bear with composure
| the broadsides of the white Douglas, the i'm
pudence of the black Douglas, and the slang
of the Tribune, but when the Mississippian
essays to replenish the armory of these enc
mics of the South, and thereby "rejoices the
hearts of the Black Republican intriguers''-
it, that is the puissant Constitution, is undone!
But how has the Mississippian rendered it
self amenable to the grave charge of giving
aid and comfort" to the enemies of the
South Have we encouraged their assaults
by telling them, as other journals we wot of
in this climate have done, that she will bend
her neck to the yoke and submit to their rule?
Have we falsifed our honest convictions and
sought to propitiate their favor by admit
ting that there is anything of justice in their
cause Z?
Our readers will bear us witness, We hope,
that we have been guilty ofnone of these things.
But we have discussed the question of the
African slave trade-have ventured in the
face of virtuous Abolitiondom to say that the
laws prohibiting the trade are unconstitution-
al and wounding to Southern honor-that the
South needs more slave labor to settle the ter
ritories and restore the equilibrium of the sec
tions-needs more slave labor to hold her su-
premacy in the culture Of her great staples
needs more slave labor to increase her popu-
lation (Which will increase her representation in
the federal c6uncils)-needs more slave labor
to enhance her wealth and her commerce
and seeing the necessities of the South, how
she is harrassed by enemies without and be-
trayed by enemies within-how slaves are
commanding prices SO exorbitant that men
of humble means are not able to purchase
them-how Northern Legislatures are encour-
aging Northern citizens to trample upon the
constitutional provision for the reclamation of
fugitive slaves-how premium is placed by
Northern authorities upon the crime of robbing
the Southern slaye-owner of his property
seeing all these things, we have ventured to
pray that prosperous gales may speed the
honest pirates who set out on their voyage
to the African coast in their noble mission to
augment the supply of Southern labor, and to
obey the injunction to feed the hungry and
clothe the naked.'
The head and front of our offending hath
this extent, no more. We have fallen upon
strange times, indeed, if Southern men are not
permitted to advocate measures having for
their object the defence Of their institutions
and the Strengthening of the position in the
Union of their assailed section, without rem
dering themselves obnoxious to the damaging
charge that they are furnishing ammunition"
to her embittered and sworn foes.
We can tell the Constitution that in this
free land there are no laws of mans creation
which bear the stamp of divinity, and the
wisdom of which it is sacrilegous to question,
much less that law which stigmatises the pur-
chase of negro in Africa as piracy and af-
fixes to the alleged crime the penalty of
death" The trainers of the Constitution
(the compact Of union, or terms of copartner-
ship between the sovereign States, not the
Constitution newspaper at Washington city,
set the example of free inquiry when they
questioned the wisdom of the traditional policy
of the Mother Country. And when they
came to create that instrument they provided
a way by which its features might be changed,
wiped out entirely, or modified, as the case
might be- And they did alter and amend
freely, and then left it to posterty to perfect
what they had commenced. But we are not
proposing to change or remoddle their work.
We are merely citing their example of free
enquiry Our present efforts are directed to
the repeal of laws which are in direct conflict
with it, and which operate oppressiyely upon
the slave States. But when we do this, the
Constitution says hold, you are furnishing
ammunition to the enemys' Keep silent or
they will unleash their bloodhounds and set
them upon you, as if they were not already
in full cry and doing their worst. What an
idea The morality and justice of measure
are not to be considered Its intrinsic merits
are not to be regarded. First ask yourself
what the abolition plunderers and fanatics Will
think of it, and il they do not raise the "howl,
then 20 ahead AS if their denunclations
would not be strong evidence in favor OF the
Justice and efficacy of your labors-as If 1t
would be sensible to take counsel of your en-
emies when you are aiming to defeat their et-
forts to destroy you
If the logic of the Constitution is good, the
advocates of the repeal of the statutes on the
subject of the African slave trade, do not stand
alone in the guilt of furnishing ammunition
to the enemy" 1t was furnished by the De- |
mocracy when they annexed Texas to the |
Union. 1t was furnished by the authors |
of the fugitive slave law. 1t was furnished |
by the authors of the repeal of the Mis-
souri, Compromise interdcting slavery North
of the line of SO. 80 1t was furnished
L., o4{,n - oF flo A o,ol 4ho
South to bring Kansas into the Union as
slave State under the Lecompton Constitution
1t was furnished by Chief Justice Taney when
he pronounced his great decision proclaiming
the unconstitutionality of the Missouri restrc-
ton, the right of Southern men to take their
slave property in any and all territories be-
longing to the United States, and proclaiming
the ''power of Congress, coupled with its duty,
to protect them in their rights" But new
light has dawned upon us. The Democratic
party has been all wrong. The authors of the
fugitive slave law were mistaken. The Mis-
souri Compromise ought not to have been
touched. The Administration has erred
The Supreme Court has committed a fatal
blunder. The Constitution has pointed out
the way of safety
GEr The Coahoma Citizen announces the
death of Jacob Magee, Clerk of the Courts in
that county. He died at Friar's Point, on the
% ult. The Citizen says
Mr.. Magee wasa native Mississippian. In
1886 he was elected Assessor and Collector of
Rankin county, in which capacity he served
for a number of years. He was Deputy Mar
shal under DR.. Gwin until 1874, when he re-
moved to Coahoma In 1851 he was elected
Clerk of this county, which post he held up