The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1860-07-20

fare with these corrupsions will be feeble
unless we attack them in their origin.
The subject is so vast that can undertake
to expose 1t by gimpses only.
/ AT the beginning OF our history, slavery
was universally admitted to be an evil. No
/ body then so hardy as to vindicate il. la
the Convention which framed the Constitu-
ton, il was branded as ga nefarious insti-
tution,o or more mildly called simply
wrong,o and these generous voices came
| from the South as well as the North. Out
| OF the Convention there was a similar ac-
cord. shall not quote the words of Wash.
! ington, jefferson, or Franklin, or jay, for
| they are familiar to all. But as they spoke
others spoke, and might occupy this whole
evening simply in rectlng this testimony
| Nor were these declarations confined TO men
! in public life. The colleges all by special
| action, arrayed themselves against slavery,
especially the University of William and
Mary, in Virginia, which conferred upon
Granville Sharpe, the acknowledged chief
of British Abolitionists, the honorary dee
gree of Doctor of Laws. The literature of
the LAND, such as 1t was, agreed with the COL
leges. The church, too, added It's powerful
voice and here, amid the dIversitiss of re-
ligious faith, we hail that unity OF spirit
which animated all. Quakers, Metkodists,
Presbyterians, and Congregationalists seem
almost TO have We'd with each other In this
pious testimony.
The Constitution was adopted, but the
word aslave" was NOT allowed to pollute
its text; and this was in declared Difference
to the prevailing opinion, which regarded
slavery as temporary, destined soon to pass
away. All looked forward to this glad day,
which seemed to be almost at hand. In bar
mony with this expectation, slavery was pro-
hibited in all the existing territories OF the
Union, so that when Washington, the frst
President of the United States, at his inau-
guration here In New York, took his first
oath 10 support the Constitution, the flag Of
the Republic nowhere on the land within the
jurisdiction OF Congress covered single
slave. Little then did the fathers dream that
the evil which they regarded with shame,
and which they exerted themselves to pro-
hibit, would elevate its obscene crest, as it
now does, and faunt It's pretensions before
the world. Little did they dream that the
Constitution, from which they had carefully
excluded the very WORD, would, 10 defiance
of reason and common sense, be held to pro-
tect the THING, so exceptionally that ii could
not be reached by Congressional prohibition,
even within Congressional Jurisdiction. Lit
tie did they dream that the text, which they
left so pure and healthful, would, through
corrupt Interpretation, be swollen into such
a hideous Elephantiasis.
I've circumstances, eisilzfng in them
selves, have exercised an unexpected inhu-
ence for slavery; first, the abolition OF the
slave trade, which by taking away the sup
plv has increased the value of slaves and
secondly, the Increased cultivation Of cot
ton stimulated by the invention OF new ma
chinery. The last has been OF especial in
fuence. Indeed il is hardly too much TO
say, that out Of this slender cotton fiber
have been formed the manacles OF the slave.
Thus through sinister influences, and the
wick edness of men, is good made the minis
ter of wrong. Next after Christopher Co.
lumbus, who, by bis sublime enterprise,
opened the pathway to the New World, Eli
Whitney, who discovered the cotton gin, has
been indirectly and unconsciously chief
agent in the bondage of the African race
in the North American continent; and sure
ly a proper gratitude for the advantages
which we enjoy in such large store from these
two discov cries, must prompt Us to increased
activity for the welfare of those who, alas
have been such losers where we have been
such gamers.
This change OF opinion, so disastrous 10
it's results, was gradual. Though easily de-
tected, in it's successive stages, by the care
full inquirer, il did rot become manifest 10
the whole country till 1920, when it burst
forth in the Missouri question. Then, for
the first time, slavery openly showed itself VII
client, insolens, belligerent. Freedom was
checked, but saved something by compro-
mise called, at the moment of its adoption,
by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, " q
triumph Of the South,o where, in consider
alton of the admission Of Missouri as a slave
State--thus securing an additional prepon-
derance TO the slave power-it was stipula-
ted that slavery should be prohibited in GER
tain outlying territory, at the time trodden
only by savages. Then came a luli, during
which the change was still at work, until CO.
temporaneous with the abolition Of slavery
ia the British West Indies, the discussion
Was lighted anew. Meanwhile slaves had
augmen in price, and slave masters had
become more decided in opinion. At frat,
in tmid Difference to the world, they ven-
tured on no defense OF slavery in the alb
stract; but at last, boider grown under the
lead of MIR. Calhoun, they threw aside all re-
serve, openly assaulted the opinions of the
Fathers; audaciously denied the self-evi-
dent truths of the Declaration Of Indepen-
dence, and by formal resolution asserted the
new dogma Of slavery in the territories
This was in lS47. A letter from MIR. CAL
houn of that day, addressed to q member Of
the Alabama Legislature, shows that there
was an element OF policy in the exaggera-
ton. His desire was "to force the slavery
issue" on the North, believing that delay
was dangerous, as the slave masters were
relatively stronger, both morally and poiti-
cally, than they would ever be again.
[coETINUED.