Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-04-05

LII unlrlenQly itShiasioi "ay t"sP""
expel slavery from the territories, notwith-
standing the constitutional right to carry Slaves
there, then, by parity Of logic, unfriendly le-
e~islation may be interposed to defeat the con-
stitutional right to retake a fugitive slave. The
consistent logic and the constitutional right in
each case alike are, that there is no rishtful
authority Of ''unfricndly legislation" in either
instance. The master has a right TO retake his
fugitive slave from a free State, and the owner OF
a Slave who has a Constitutional right to carry
his slaves into a territory, has a right to keep
them there, not only undisturbed by unfriend-
" legislation, but positively protected by legis-
lation ample for the purpose. Each high pre-
~rocative subsists alike and only in that ele-
mental principle Of the individuality OF the
property-right.
When the South shall have returned to that
high ground, and shall have ceased to compro-
mise. that is, to be satisfied with legislation
short of it, the slave power will be re opened
and NAV be enlarged, but not until then. Tell
me not that | may carry my slave to a terrific
~: and be denied legislation for his protcc-
ton to me and my "~posterity as our proper
~, better tell me at once that / have no right
to carry him there as such. If Virginia will
not insist on this right let her not reproach any
other State or any person for not insisting on
il for her, and least of all reproach her generous
ally the noble Douglas for the failure.
In conclusion, / will distinctly state the po-
s;tion intended to DC defended in this argu-
mcnt. do this to save the position from mis-
apprehcnsion by the casual reader, who may
not have a mind to its critical anal ytical con-
temptation, not because it is necessary to give
n lens to the practiced eye to discern what the
| nicture is. The position defended is this II
the Kansas Nebraska act had not asserted the
doctrine Of non-intervention. it could not be
logically or Justly controvcrted that the consti-
~tutional right to carry slaves into those Terri
tories, would necessarily carry with it the fur.
Their right of the slave owner there to have le-
c~islation by the Federal Legislature for the
protection (there) of his slave property. AS
long rs that act stands in the strength OF all its
provisions. the Badger amendment and
all. the protection Of slave property there
is RENTED. (firom the General Govern
mcnt where the Constitution confided the
duly ! 10 the territorial authorities for protec-
lection of that property by local law. with
right of appeal by the slaveowner, only to the
courts. against unfriendly legislation, whether
such legislation be by the territorial Legisla
ture, or bv q territorial convention framing a
State constitution. From this position two
streams flow, which sober justice demands
shall not be passed over unseen or unielt as
having their banks and beds deeply groovcd
longitudinally in the political geography Of the
times. The one bears on its placid bosom the
shin in which Senator Douglas has taken pas
sage. lie is exhibited in it consistently true
to the South in his support Of the fugitive
slave law, on the principle embraced in tho
Constitutional provision which required fede-
raj legislation to give it activity and elevate it
from a barren bencvolence TO n practical benc-
fit; although he now denies "a slave-code' by
Congress for the territories. The doctrine OF
non.intervention interposed by the Kansas
Nebraska act %iustifics that denial and indicates
his consistency. The other stream bears on
its likewise unrufled bosom, the men in the
South who opposed the Kansas Nebraska act
The ship in which these have passage, has not
had for any part Of its cargo any love for the
Missouri restriction" for its n sake. These
all have had no affection for the line Of 36 deg.
80 min. which that act obliterated. We have
had for our stcerage the motto. that the euro was
as bad as the malady. Our ship, sound in al her
timbcrs, gallant in her little crew, and freighted
with intense attachment to 'the peculiar inSti.
tuition and with faithful desire to extend it,
encountered the trade-winds Of politicians who
gathered into their sails the popular gale OF zeal
without knowledge, is now stranded on the
shoals of non-interrention. do not care SC
much for the figure as for the idea it embodies.
No criticism Of the dress can detract from the
strength of the form i; covers. Truth is lovely,
and beauty unadorned is most adorned. See
the South painting for Kansas. All hope is
gone. The South is there, but cannot abide
can only linger a little while without the aid o
local law-without n slave-code." The peo
pie understand that the proofo Of the pudding j:
in eating it PrpLIrs'