The Constitutional. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1860-1861, 1860-10-27
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MON AND SLAVERY.

to tlr questions which one Of the electors
of flat party in Virginia proponndcd to
Mr.. Douglas, and which said elector pledg-
ed lis hoaor Mr.. Breckenridge sAou1U ans
wer We can suppose nothing else but they
are for immediate disunion if the pending
canvass should unfortunately result in the
election of the Old "Rail Splitter"
If such be their determination as so Of
ten shouted forth by their stump orators
and press, the question very naturally arr
SEES have the States, without denying to
them perfect sovereignty, North or South,
or any Of them Constitutional right to Sc
cedc at pleasure and thereby break up the
Confcderacy! fit be admitted that it
can be done, it would be the most fatal
stab ever aimed at the institution of slave
ry The simplest mind must see at a
glance, that we loose at once all control
which We have over this peculiar species
ofpropcrty. Let ustsuppose State has
not only the right of peaceable secession
at pleasure but the colrolative duty ofother
States to protect her in that secession, and
then suppose that Ohio or Indiana, either
of them should declare an independence,
aud refuse, as either of them most assur-
edly would, and as all nations now do, to
enter into treaties to deliver up fugitives
from mental servitudc, by that single act
as n matter of course every negro would as
soon as landed upon their soil, be declar-
ed free and emancipated from his recent
slavery. If we take Ohio as an example
we would soon have another Canada and
her British policy and Wilberforce doc
trinc, and if Ohio would be n Canada, the
remainder frontier States would he so many
Canada's, ready to throw open their pOr-
tails as asylums of the oppressed, and re-
produce as far as possible beneath hcvery
wings OF the proud bird of Washington, all
the dark and bloody scenes of st. Domin-
20.
If then the Constitutional right of
State to sccedc be admitted, any Northern
State by retiring from the federal COM
pact may destroy slavery. Then indeed
is the Union an army of bristiing bayo-
nets to protect slavery, and this is well
I,o,,u 20 a., c,o,+,,-,., of 4Io ..;rrorroSc;I l.,
conflict" for they say that the very best
method of destroying slavery is to dessolve
the Union. d
VIII not then the continuing of Mr.
Breckenridge in the field aid the Black
Republicans, and more than ever impcril
The Union and therefore the institution of
slavery! Why don't he decline!!!
The DiSunionists do not contend that
dissolution OF the Union would enlarge the |
area Of slavery, for without wOr for that
purpose, the destruction ofthc Union would
leave matters precisely as they stand now
that it, slavery would exist actually in
only fifteen States, and tbs remainder would |
remain still Free Soil States. Throwing
aside all idea Of an enlargement Of the
bounds Of slavery bya dissolution of the
Unio2, let us see what effect that awful
event would have upon that institution as
it now (Ni~ts in its present limits.
Supiosu We divide the Union into a
Northa'n and Southern Confectionery, and
he Southern composed of fifteen States,
arranged on the slavery basis-that is, a
of States united for the pro-
cction Of slavery within the limits Of each
State. Is that institution is the connect
ng lgamant of tie confederation ofcoursc
t would lie an Indispensable prerequisite
o membership for the possession and tie
consequent recognition Of slavery, "a that
my one State aboiishing Tie institution
would at once Lec4ue totally disqualified
> remain in the conGedcracy. But j. it
lot !uoraliy certain that in the course Of 4
cry short time, that the States bordering
pon tic Northern coatedcracy-harasscd
" border fyuda--imi'.-cd by an insecurity
n the tenure of their slaves and a conSc-
ucnt decline in their value, would abolish
lavcry in their limits, from those border
States thus brconing free soil, the remain
ng would scccdc aud form NV confcd-
racy upon The same basis as before, and t
" this process of disintcgration the asso-
iatios would be finally dissolved and
lavery become extinct. This final issue
you'd be accelerated in proportion to the
isintcgration, for the area ofslavcry would
e contracting instead Of charging, and
wing to the great augmentation Of the
lave population, there would ncccssariaily
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