Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-01-20
fCoNNCNICATED.l


NiA"hI ~ al ~ olalCS Vi TIC OOUtGUcFdCF,
and to have it protected there under the Fed
erai Constitution. Neither Congress nor a
Territorial Legislature, nor any human power
has authority to annul or impair this vested
right"
This doctrine is of recent origin, and, being
precisely the reverse of the principles and poll
cv we adopted at the commencement of our
national career, it will not be amiss to consid-
er what may be some of its legitimate fruits
Even Mr. Buchanan, in his message of 1856,
enumerates four cases where this now extinct
right has sought TO restrict Slavery, and with
varying success. The first Was the JefferSoui-
an ordinance which gave Freedom to the ter
ritory Northwest Of the Ohio for this he has
not a word of disapprobation.
The next-the Missouri prohibition-which
he seems to consider the offspring of the pre-
ceding, he calls the most questionable in all
its Constitutional relations"
The third-the effort TO apply the Jefferso-
Man principle to Texan territory-hc stigma
ties as an attempt of one section TO interfere
in the domestic affairs of another in defiance
of their rights as States, and of the stipula-
tons of the Constitution"
The fourth-the attempt to secure Freedom
to the territory conquered from Mexico-he
terms /" abusive and unconstitutional: :" and
now he says that no human power has author
ity to annui or impair the right of S!ave-hold-
ing in any Territory belonging to the United
States.
The promu!gators of our Declaration of In
dependence asserted as a self evident truth
that all men have a certain inalienable right to
liberty the trainers of our Constitution asser-
ted that it was designed to secure the blessings
Of freedom the first Legislators of our Re
| public inangurated the policy of Slavery-res-
friction, How it is that this policy, which
met with unanimous appreciation, both North
and South. and which was sustained by every
branch Of the Government, has become rcver-
sed?
Why is it that our Chief Magistrate now
denounces as unconstitutional the measures
which were adopted by the framers of that
Constitution Why is it that our government,
instead of protecting Democratic rights and
interests, is now welded to promote the selfish
aims Of n few hundred thousand Aristocrats =?
The answer 10 these queries is to be found in
the fact that Slave labor has become more pro-
ductive and Slavery more profitable. The
Siaveholding interest is a tremendous monopo-
ly, enabled by its vast horsepower to control
every department of our government and it
is not strange that it is ever vigilant so to rule
as to augment its own resources. Let US illus
trate by i single example.
Prior to the annexation Of Texas Slare-hol-
ders estimated the value Of their slaves at
twelve hundred million dollars and Southern
papers claimed the annexation would add fifty
per e2Lt. to the entire value. This expecta-
ton has been fully realized, as is proved by
the enormous prices at which slaves have since
been selling. As a necessary consequence of
this increased value Slave holders are becoming
more clam0rous for new concessions by the
Free States-are tightening the bonds of the
victims 4 ready in their ~power-and seeking in
various quarters to sieze and subiugate others.
Some are clarnoring for a repeal Of the Slave
trade prohibition-some are with impunity
bringing negroes from Africa-and others are
reducing to bondage free men, woInen and
children already here.
This cis,aving process is not confined to
people of color poor whites arc sometimes ita
victims. In former days, when the Theology
of the country oniy apologizrd for slavery, but
did not defend it from the Bible, men on their
death be-, sometimes, especially when they oc-
cupied the two-fu'd %re;ation of Father and MAJ
ter, em~ancipated their slaves, in obedience to
religious teaching or in accor lance with natu-
raj affection. Suffice it to FAY there have re-
Gently been in the Slave States Il large MN
Der of free persons OF al shades of complex
ion from the pure blooded African 10 the near
" pure b!oodel Ang!o-Saxon. AT the pres
ent state of the market these persons would
probably be worth two or three hundred mil
lions Of dollars thus placing before Avarice
a temptation too great to be successfully rcsis-
ted in the present state Of political and rc!i-
gious indifference to the rights of man. The
question Of cnslav;ng these frcemen has of late,
l believe, been agitated in nearly if not quite
all the Slave States and l think the process
is partially if not fully consummsted in some
of them. Justice Catron of the U. S. SUI
preme court has written a letter to the Nash
vile Union & American in reference to q bill
pending before the Tennessee Legislature, in
which he says " 1t provides that these persons
free colored) shall be seized and sold if found
here after the first day Of May next, if they
are aiuIts-and that the children shall he
bound out, &c; \ \ n 4. Now who are
these people? There is not one in one hun
drcd Of them, to say the least that ever has
been IA slave. \ \ + : They all hare d
Vested right to freedom by the judgments and
DEGREES Of courts. Il 4 x y now, of these
women and children there is hardly one in ten
that is of unmixed negro blood, Some are
half white; many have halEwhite mothers and
white fathers, making u cast of 6%713-1OOths
of white blood many have a third cross, in
H. Al. o... lIo.l J.z.A - -
is the unfortunate fact" These free persons
are undoubtedly destined to be ens!aved, as
well as such persons in other Save states, ex-
cept q small proportion who may escape.
Now, according to the Message, should the
Southerners spread over Kansas, Nebraska,
and Utah, taking with them, as slaves, these
frecmen thus reduced TO bondage, and ranging
in color from half bloods to those in whom no
trace of African blood could be discovered, no
human power would have authority to interfere
in behalf of the victims.
Suppose the Mormons. seeing masters thus
living upon the unpaid labor of slaves of ali
shades from black to white, should conclude to
become shareholders too and Offer their neigh
boring Indian tribes a handsome price for every
person, Of any color that they would sell and
that, for the sake of gain, these Indians should
steal men, women and children from our from
tier settlements,-should capture California
emigrants and L. S. Mail carriers, and sell
them to the Mormons. What " human power
has any authority to annul or impair this YES
ted right " Of the Mormons. Should some of
the Mormons remove, with their white slaves
to Nebraska, would there be- any power in
either Congress or a Territorial Legislature to
release these slaves? Can any friend of Mr..
Buchanan point to a clause in the constitution
of our Union which woald hold the victims of