New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-16
MR.. BATEs's LETTER.

uR. BATESS LEIVEH.
The Hon EDWARD BATRs's letter-which hiss
been tie subject Of much natural solcitude-sp-
pears at length in cur columns to-day It seems
that it was origin ally dispatched from ST. Louis BY
mail, about the end Of February, to Mr. Hiram
Ketcbum in this City, bat was never received.
The letter read before the Wing General Com
"mittee" Of its late meeting simply stated, in re-
ply to an inquiry that the one expressing the writer
views oa Nationsl topic, had been sent as afore-
.sid. In response to an application, Mr. Bates
has recently copied it from bis letterbook ard 70
mailed it-and this time it has come through
INST lien. Its views on the great topics it dis
cu,ses are just, sensible, and will be very generally
approved.
As 10 "ienoriDg the Negro question" there are
two diverse read ngs Of that phrase. Ore oil tnen
couttmplates the ignoring and oiscouraglng oil al
resistance TO the tchemes and sggressions Oh inc
Slavery Propaganda no matter how unre"ooaoi0
and ipiouitous those schemes may be. Mr. Hiram
Ketchum, for example, was formerly deternineoS
hostile 70 sny enlargement of the area OF slave
holding and slsve-breeding IN our onion-He 90
not know that he is otherwise 10 dsy; oas ne
"ispore," that issue, and thus practically gives
aid and comfort TO the Slavery EItensionists. Five
wears sgo. or thereabouts, he deprecated agitation
soain,t the Nebraska bill, because be held it impos
sble that Any party should seriously attempt to Dis
turb the Missouri compact; we believe he stu phi
yately condemns the Nebraska bill as needlessly
wing dang rous agitation; but he publicly Gig
"nores' any further resistance to the principle Of
Indifference to Slavery Extension affirmed in that
BILL We are sure be must at least reprobate the vii
ainies snd robberies the arson aud murder, freely
perpetIated in Kansas and upheld at Washington,
having for their general object the subjugation of
Kansas TO the Slave Power; he only ignores
any agitation on that subject. To-day, he doubt
less opposes the purchase Of Cuba at an enormous
price for the sake Of strengthening Slavery IN the
Union; he will doubtless IGNORE this question
al.o whenever the triumph of the iniquity therein
involved iball have become probable. The re-
opening of the African Slave-Trade will be
someu hat harder dose for him; but let it once be
sccop plisted and triumphant, and he will exhort
his ielow-citizeDs to "ignOre the Negro question"
ard regard all who persist in opposicg that infer
nal traffic as sgstOrs and disur ionsts And while
Hiram Ketcbup Sc lior, under the guise Of main
tanning Wing principles, thus reierates the phrases
and does the journeywork Of our Democratic poll
ticians, it 10 but natural that Hiram Ketchum
junior should go straight over bag and baggage, to
Tsnmany Hall, and put in for his share of the fat
things there dispensed. If the father is to shake
the lush, why should not the son catch the bird
There is very different mode Of ignoring the
Negro question" which seems to US ulster and
sounder. 1t regards Slavery as a lamentable but
local and temporary evil-one which, when con-
fined within the limits of the States which see TT
to uphold it, the other States and the Federal Gov.
eroment have no power to abolish. We may coun'
sci, inform, exhort, rtmOnstrale with, our South
ern brethren respecting Slavery as with regard to
sDy other evil but We have no power to eonstrain
or coerce them, and it is neither wise nor necessary
to ir,ut or exasperate them. This mode contents
itself with moral and intellectual opposition to
Slavery, confident that, if kept within its legal
boundaries it will soon die of its inherent vicious
uess-thst it can DO perPetuated only BY repeated
ard extensive acquisitions of new territories to
oyerrun, new regions to exhaust. This mode
sternly resists every new pretensiOn OF the Slave
Power, whether it be to repeal coupscts of which
it has enjoyed the benefit and now seeks to with
hold the stipulated quii pro quo, or TO acquire
new domains in its interest, or to open new terri
tories TO its inroads or TO the settled prn.
ciple. of Common Law to its advantage, or to de-
fraud and Cypress people struggling to escape its
ne.bes, or to reopen the foreign Slaye-Sr.de for
its sggrandizenent. We believe this sort OF
"iguoripg the Negro question" has the approval
ard 81 ppathy of Edward Bates.