Weekly Trinity journal., 1860-02-25
Southern View of the Vexed Question.


The Louisville Democrat gives utterance to the
following sentiments relative to the slavery qnes
tion and other topics now being agitatd by the
South. Southern ranters of the jeff. Davis ana
Albert Gallatin Brown school, when unrPsrict
ed do pretty much as they p asc restrict them
and they raise the old cry of "dSunion.' The
Democrat man is evidently not one Of that sort
It is fashionable now to dnclaim about the ag
rressions of the North and th" wrongs OF the
Soutb. We are told that the South has compro-
missed and Yielded. and yielded and cnmpro-
missed, until she has nothing left, and thai she
must now sard upon her Constitutional rights.
This is all very vague and infammatory nut IL
is perhaps, not popular to suggest mat lh'rn is
more gas than reality in all these TRADES the
South has had the President of the United
States forty eight years whilst the North has
had it but twenty four; whilst the South has
given a majority of her vote for each che oi the
Northern men who have been elected, with two
or three exceptions. the S0nth has in the mean
time. had n controlling influence in Congress
almost always. There is no policy OF the Gov
erumpnt that now exists for which the South Is
not herself responsible. We ask these drcIalm-
ers to name one measure of aggression, which
they talk so much about, on the Federal statute
book for which the South is not as much respnn-
sible AS the North? What particular act of ar
gression is complained of? Let it be specified
| and rectiird. Is the South now dissatisfied with
! herself? She has had the power of the Federal
Government, and if she is il-used she has herself
to blame for it. 1t is to be regretted that she
can't be satisfied with her own acts. 1t is true
we have had Il party North opposed to any more
slave States but we have acquired slave terri
tory and admitted slave States in spite OF this op-
position The particular point OF grievance
now is not that the Congress of the United
o. L. 4 Iip,Y Snnth
that the people Of Territory may exclude
slaves b fore it becomes a State. This will he
! an insuttrrable violation of great C0nsiltutlo-
nal RIGHT, which it will be disgraceiul to com
promise II is the last Of insufltrable wrongs.
not To be endured The Territories were nc
onired bv the common blood and treasure, and
Congress has the power. coupled with the duty.
| to ouarautce this Constitutional right. The
! North has grown in insornc' from our forbrar
ance until this last aggression is tn be attempted
fl is strange that reasonable men should he
com" 50 "Xitcd over snch point, when they re
collect tn" history of the country. Slavery was
nrohibitrd by the ordinanc' of 1887 ia tn whole
Northwest. This done by Virginia. it VIII
be said in the deed of Z sSion. All the worse,
that a slave State should eXclud" shareholders
from taking their property to IA Territory bought
by the common blood aud treasure. Yet our
fathers lived nader this great iniqnity nnd n
this deprivation of right and Justice. and ddn't
know they an i'll used people Nearly
| forty wears ago Congress, worse then than that
body has ever been since, refused TO admit a
slave State into the Union from the vast region
of Louisiana North of &c degrees and 30 minutes.
The South agreed to it ; agreed to give up their
ripht acquired by the common blood and treas
ure, and generation passed away unconscious
of this great wrong that we are suffering. 1t
was a wrong and it unconstitutional, but
our fathers let it pass unchallenged for thirty
wears Where was the "commnn blood aud
treasure" argument all that time? And how
happrns it that now, after Congress has repealed
the restriction which we submitted to for thirty
wears il suddenly becomes an aggression ii the
people of Territory shall exclude slavery,
which they will not do Of course if it suits their
interests and which they will have the acknowl-
edged right to do in few years?
The present excitement must appear to every
cool observer very unnatural and absurd. 1t is
n new agony magniled into an Importance that
doesn't belong to the subject. When the South
was excluded from the Northwest, and from the
northern part OF the Territory of Louisiana, by
Congress- our fathers didn't even raise an issue
about it now, when We have no exclusion, eX-
cept what is the effect OF manifest destiny, and
which no Government can control, we have sud
denly discovered that we are suffering an intol
erable wrong.
We pass over the wrongs done by States in
nulGfyng the Fugitive Slave Law, aud the con
duet of lawless men who run off slaves upon The
underground railroad. We have always had
more or less of these evils to encounter, and
time will mitig them. no doubt aud th'
Federal Government is not responsible far them
Over these real evils, b" it observed, nothing il
= said They are forgotten for one almost purely
imaginary and abstract Let us hav" IL littl'
more calmnrss and reason on this matter, and
not empty defamation and wild cXagge alton
We shall not avoid aggression by charges tha
J are utterly futile the eXtravagance of which d
seen by all mankind. So far from the Soutt
losing by compromises on This slavery quest on
as they are called, she has been more and more
released from restI lotions We once suffered with
out complaining, at each succeeding comprom
Use, aud never had less to complain OF in th,
Federal Government than now