Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-06-27
III :efaqaate..
LETTER OF
NON. LAWRENCE OBJ. BRANCH
70 HIS CONSTITUENTS. MAY 10, l601

The systematic agitation Of the slavery asestron
by the northern people with view to fesasa inc
growth and curtail the political power OF the south
ern States, may be said to have cera'encea ABOUT
thirty years ago. $50. n, ,.,:. s.,.
very in the District Of Columbia, in the forts, arse
nails And backwards belonging to the government,
md IN Florida, which was the only organized Ter
r;torv az the Unicr The means of agitation adopt
ed was to food Congress with immense numbers OF
petitions signed by men, women and children,
praying f. those objects.
No fear was entertained by the South of any ac-
ton ty Congress favorable to the object Of the Pc
Hhf: oners. for there were not at that time twenty
svowed Abolitionists in both its branches; but so
ayerse were our representatives to the introduction
Of the subject into Congress- on any pretext Or for
anv purpose that they adopted the very extreme
policy of oect:ug to even the reception Of the Pc
titSons.
If in this they erred at all, it was from excess of
anxiety to keep the subject out Of Congress
After few years this agitation assumed new
and more practical form. The new system of at
tack was embodied in the Wmot proviso, by which
It was proposed to exclude slavery from oil the Ter
ritories by act of Congress- So rapid had been the
growth Of abolitionism that the Congress which sat
in 1s4s was probably in favor of the proviso. and
under subterfuge, it was ingrafted on the Oregon
BILL The South resisted it not only on grounds of
Justice and equality, but as breach Of the Constr
tuition. We insisted that every community should
be permitted to regulate its own domestic affairs at
such time and in such way as the Constitution al
lows, and that any interference by Congress was
inexpedient and unjust if not unconstitutional
The "Clayton compromise" which was offered
in the same year, was simply proposition that
Congress should take no cognizance of the subject
leaving it to the local law, under the adjudication of
the courts The whole South, including Mr.. CAL
houn, advocated and voted for it. except eight Wing
members of the House of Representatives and two
members Of the Senate.
I lsy no stress on the fact that General Cass was
nominated and voted for by the South, after he
wrote the nicholson letter." for there was diff
ference of opinion at the time to what the letter
meant on one point All agreed, however, that it
meant total non-interference by Congress, and so
well did that suit the views of the South that we
wefe willing to forgive his equivocal language about
squatter sovereignty.
Then came the compromise measures" of 1850.
BY them we gave up the slave trade in the District
of Columbia; the admission Of California the orig
nal of squatter sovereignty and enough Of Texas to
make State. And what did We get in return for
these large concessions? A fugitive slave law, no
better than that We already had. because the north
ern States will not allow either to be executed with
in their limits; stipulation that Utah and New
Mexico should "be admitted into the Union with or
without slavery, as their constitutions should pre-
scribe" and, what we valued most of ALL an under
standing that thereafter non Intervention by Con.
gress should be the established policy of the govern
ment So eager were we to keep the slavery ques-
ton out Of Congress, that seem to have thought
scarcely any price too great te pay for it.
Next in order came the Kansas and Nebraska act
flS54
In 1850 we had obtained nonnterference by Con-
gress in Utah and New Mexico, and promise Of
the same to future Territories. We had paid high
price in advance and in 1854 it was to be determin-
ed whether the bargain would be adhered to. Nom
Intervention by Congress- total and final exclusion
Of the slavery question from Congress- were every
where proclaimed as our wathchwords. We carried
Congress; we carried States; We elected the Presi-
dent on it. After twenty years of hard struggle,
through all of which We kept this one point con-
stantiy and steadily in view, triumphed and es-
tablisbed it as the fixed policy of the government
agitate it. egislate about it. except to carry
( out the express provisions of the Constitution.
That in this long and murderous warfare upon
her dearest rights, the South may have committed
some errors in matters of policy, is not improbable
She may have accepted issues she ought not to have
accepted she may even have pushed sound princi-
pies to excess sometimes but the tenacity with
which she has chung to the one idea of excluding
the slavery question from Congress is worthy of all
ultimate success
In view of the fact that within the last ten wears
fugitive slave law has been passed as stringent in
its provisions as asked for-the odious Missouri
compromise has been repealed-the bred Scott de-
cision has been rendered-and non-intervention by
Congress has been establshed-a distinguished Sem
ator from Georgia Mr.. Toombs could truly declare
in the Senate, short time ago that at no time in
its history had the federal government more faith
<,,l1xy chorn stc I,,f1y 70 10
the last ten years. The evils under which we suf
fer not caused by the failure of Congress to do
its duty, but by the notification of its laws bv
northern States, and the reasonable conduct of
their citizens.
Having thus briefly brought under notice the
prominent points in the history of the slavery agi.
tation with view to remind you that non. nterfer.
ence by Congress is what the South has heretofore
contended for, prepared to enter upon the dis.
cusson of new doctrine, recently made prominent,
which promises no present advantage to the South.
and which may ultimately deprive its citizens Of all
participation in the common Territories of the
Union. l allude to the doctrine of congressional
protection to slavery in the Territories. The dis
ruption Of the Democratic Convention at Charleston
ia its first fruit but fortunately the delegates as
sembled there were not entirely bereft of thei,
senses, and, BY adjourning over to Richmond and
Baltimore, they have placed it in the power of tn,
POo0
viii you insist on having that doctrine incorpo
rated into the platform Of the Democratic party as
the sole condition on which you will act with it ir
pprusching contest with the Republican party
Or are you willing to beat the Republican party
on the same terms we have heretofore beaten then
on, rather than not beat them at allp
That is the question you are to decide between
this and the 18th Of June, when the Convention
will reassemble in Baltimore and it is fairly stated
for have not seen an individual who believes tina
either fragment Of the Democratic party can defea
them single-handed, and many are Of opinion tina
both combined cannot accomplish the good work.
At time SO full Of perils as the present, wou
feel 6isnclined to ask for the adoption Of any nev
tenet even if it promised additional security to tn
South. But. in this new doctrine, see, under tn
insidious garb Of protection, nothing but hidde
dangers and surrender, even before the adversar
has demanded it. Of all the fruits of twenty years
successful struggle with Freesoilsm and Abolition
Ism. The whole doctrine is embodied in three PROF
ositions, which will state:
|. The citizens Of the slaveholding States have