Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1860-02-11
Commodore R. F. Stockton Union
Meetings In Relation to the South
The Legal Existence Of Slavery.

mt6llu&b III ltdlhtlCn W tho oO0eh-
t The Legal Existence Of Slavery.
PHiscRrox, Jan. "a, 1850
GESrLENRg-I have received your letter re
questing "the expression of my opinion in re
lation to the recent Union meetings held in New
Jersey, and upon the dangers which at the
present time threaten tho republic thank
you for the commentator you bestow on my
q national and conservative spirit, and my de.
! votion to the Union" and will proceed to an
swer your inquiries without further delay.
have declined participating in the Union
meetings to which you refer. Such conyoca-
tions, composed promiscuously of all parties
are in my opinion fallacious and calculated to
deceive.
How can it be otherwise when portions Of
those who constitute the parade, return to their
political associations, and with augmented
yirulence prosecute their sectional designs and
continue their sectional warfare If am not
mistaken, republicans as we'll as democrats
and Americans, have taken part iu those meet
ings and although the sole object of such
meetings is to counteract the disunon tenden-
cy Of sectional party, especial care IS taken
to use no language offensive to the most ultra
republican. Yet the republican party is an
organization formed for the purpose of hostile
geographical aggression. 1t breaths menace
and perpetual conflict towards the laws and
institutions, and social compact Of fifteen States
of the Union II is from its nature and con-
stitution, IN instrument adapted to produce
disunion. It's success must inevitably insure
that result.
What farce, therefore, of hypocrisy and
deception is the performance Of republicans at
| Union meetings Is it possible that our South
ern brethren will not detect and despise the
imposture. For these reasons am unwilling
to take any part in such demonstrations. They
| l,n han hut oiulv o.
duce no substantial change in the relations
now so alarming between the North and the
| South.
A Union meeting which should be so con-
sttuted as to speak substantial words OF fra
ternity and encouragement to the South, ana
which should say that the Fugitive Slave law
| is right, and should be executed which should
say that Southern men msy lawfully take their
slaves into the Territories, aud that the decls-
ions Of the Supreme Court must and shail be
| considered the supreme law of the land, such
Union meeting could attend With pleasure
| and without any forfeiture Of selt-respect. My
| opinions on the subject of slavery have long
since been freely expressed, when the geogra-
phical conflict had hardly commenced, and the
portentous dangers with which 1t was preg-
nant could only be discerned in the future, like
dark cloud on the distant horizon
| Commodore Stockton here reiterates his
views, which were expressed in letter to the
Hon Daniel Webster in 1850, as to the debas-
ed condition of the African and his unhtness
Tor self government. From the dark land OF
Africa, sold, bartered away By his countrymen
the slave was brought to these shores while
we were coonists, and subject to British law.
Here he is in a civilized and Christian country
he has more opportunities of enlightenment
than he would have had in Africa, he is, as IL
general rule, treated with kindness; he is pro-
tected from want in sickness and old age; and
is on the whole, better of, safer, happier, than
be would have been in his native country.
He goes on to say We must reason ABOUT
things as they are, not as we might wish them
to be. The slave is property lie became so by
a law of our common ancestors; he was left
in that condition by the law of our common
fathers who founded the republic. The bur-
den Of this purchase should be borne in all
Justice equally by our citizens, and we are not
ready to pay the price but if VIC were ready
he is not in condition to take care of him
self. He has not the culture, the training, the
experience, necessary to self-dependence. And
where is he to gol No rejecting man is pre-
pared to say he is willing to have three mil
lions of slaves turned loose in the States to
Gil the prisons, and poorhouses and almshouses
Of the country, or to live by plumber on the
community. What, too, is TO be his lot for
the future in such case2 Is he to live in our
midst as a market and degraded being, through
all time, or are we prepared to place him on
an equality with us, civil and socally2 Are
we ready for amalgamation?
He maintains that sit the permission for the
existence of slavery in any part of the Union
be q crime it was committed at the formation
of the government at the adoption Of the con
stitution. and by the Washingtons, the Rogers,
Shermans, the IIamiltons, the Madisons, the
Franklns, the Pinckneys of the Landry such
men us Livingston and Paterson, Brearly and
DAYTON, of his own native State, approved and
sanctioned with unparalleled unanimity by the
North and South, The constitution is neutral
on the subject of slavery; to make i agrees
siye or defensive is to violate ii. The Union
can only be preserved by Il strict adherence TO
the constitution Ii that be violated, the bonds
of the Union are broken, and the aggreved
parties will seek redress and compensation
without regard to its obligations" The
discussion of these vexed questions has only
aggravated the angry feelings Of the hostile
sections. Step by step the anti-slavery agta-
ton has advanced in the work of producing
the most inilammatory excitement. The pulse
of the people has been felt from time to time,
and il the fever abated, new methods of stimu-
lating it to the desired state Of frenzy were
adopted until at last the public were awaken
ed as il by an earthquake shock, to find that
vile war commenced.
In the midnight hour of Sabbath away
among the secluded mountains Of Virginia, a
slumbering village 10 suddenly aroused by arm
ed rufiians, its citizens killed or made prsioners
the slave melted to instruction, govern
ment arsenal seized, and murder and robbery
perpetated.
In vain had wise and good men years de-
clarad that anti-slavery agitation would pro-
duce lust such results as John Browns foray.
Their warnings were unhecded-the;r prophe-
cies derided-and how has John Browns trea-
sen been greeted2 BY one universal, unani-
nous voice of execration? No such thing =
| He is glorifed by numbers as martyr-vil-
| lage bells tolled in requiem to his departed
| spirit-sermons and oratiohs were delivered in
various quarters to applaudng auditors, ex-
tolling his Understanding his crime, and
with infdel ribaldry comparing the execution
| of this criminal with the crucihxion of the
Blessed Redeemer. Now will not be guilty
of the injustice of holding the great body OF
the republican party responsible for John
Browns acts, or for the encomiums lavished
upon his crime.
The great body of that party are innocent of
such responsibility They have been organ
lied as they believed for the redress of great
wrongs. But they have been led by their mas
ter spirits from one stage Of excitement to
another, until they have reached that point in
which furth II advance must be over the
q broken and dismembered fragments of a once
glorious Union" u Against these
designs and results the South stands as one
| wan an tho defenqiye-they clearly perceive