Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1860-12-20
RICHMOND WHIG.
wYNDHAM ROBERTSON, ESQ, on TIE NATION
AL CRISIS.

| To tie Editor Of The Whig;
Ls one Who heretofore has been frequently honored
by marks Of the confidence Of my native State In her
time Of ease, and nov hold responsible trust BY
the favor OF this important city, ask, through
your journal to lay before the public my humble
views in our time OF troube-a time 80 full oil peru
TO all that any may audience, without presumL-
ton Al the hands OF bis fellow citizens; and address AL
without thought Of distinction OF party.
lam one Of those Who believe that our Union sprung
ont Of sense Of common interests and sentiments OF
mutual regard-WAs constructed Nth the most cohsuin
mate w.dom--vas found'd on just and equal regard
for the interests Of all and the feelings OF all aud stands
eonsecraed 10 US by the holest of memories aud by
such harvest OF essing moral and political social
and national Ms N0rk OF man ever yet secured 10
people Of opinion that It owes its past success 10
he LOYAL lecognoun in fact as in theoryoi these prnc
niles OF the equal rights OF its msmbs and OF the sen
iimeos of fraerna good viii out of which il sprung
that il duration u he extensive with the same loyal
recognition Of them-snd will no., and should Dot sur
vive IT, IL Is plain that cannot, and should not ave
together permanently, 6m as friends aud Equals let
chile couccde that the part Of large numbers. ih's
equ,y has been violated aud this frsterna le'ing lost
sight of-I s think by all the memories OF the past by
eli the RaruCred fruits Of power ard liberty and glory Se
nov e joy people-by I'll the hOp1s OF our great eI
pertinent for the future us our duty TO ourselves to our
fathers and to our Children to east it Of or destroy
H. ill se have made every honorable effort TO save ill
We have Afforded to those mis- guided men who have im
pered IT, the opportunity OF retracng their step, and
of renewing if they have momeutariy forgotten, or OF
proving TO us that they retan il have mistaken them
that ancient good feeling that bound together, aud
which can alone hold together That DONE frTiHess-
IT, should as earnestly demand separation om those
should resist the appeal they Who without max
ing IT, insist the instant dissolution OF our Union
Locking at the prOXmae causes Ot the fearful anag-
onsm that now separates the undivided people OF the
South from the majority, apparently, OF the people Of
the non sayehodng States aud Wh Oh has brought US TO
the verge of Dsunion-i not War-they would seem at
casual gaEce quito mad Quae 10 account for such an
fleet They are mainly the laws intended TO embarrass
or obsruct the recovery of fugitive slaves the refusal IN
two or three instances of Free State Governors to dev
er up ugityes from justice aud the declared principle OF
the Lincoln party that STAKEHOLDER shall go with hs
slave into any part of the public territories No one
would set for a moment any amount of mere pecunary
loss that might flow from the Personal Liberty Laws or
of injury that We night su from the exclusion Of slaves
from present Territories, where scarce anybody
uaus carry them,) against the evils OF Disunon-
Why it, them that all the slavehodng States and peo'
pethOse, ever, TIN have scarce ever oS an escaped
slave or sent emigrant TO the Territories, with one
mind and heart rise ia revolt and.re ady to encoun
ter Ill the untold ills OF DiSunon war iss against
thOe comparatively harmless measures aud designs =
R Is because they deny 10 equality of rights, and i'm
piV The part Of those phO mediate them, prsteHsion
of moral sHpsriority which, while may not stoop 10
IT. yet Utterly refuse to raty II s the same
reason that would lead US AZ home 10 surmary break
of intercourse 9th neghbor Who should decline 10
receive with family scrvan-to hold him an enc
nv he hsrbored runaway slaves or have him hang
cd ii he stole them. is because there necessarily lies
involved aud embodied in these acts aud designs al
though not aVosed IN words, denial II our right Of
property ia sdres aud assertion of criminal
n holding them, or in tho mdest view, committing
great wrong in holding them, ss TO authorize mea.
surcs 20 be taken hy the Federal Government effect
''the ultimate extinction Of slavery throughout the
Union. Il is because they proclaim in eject the uncon-
sttuiiona and AntIederal dogmas that "there be
property ia man and that holding is the sum
OF al vlanies'
core OF the wound that inHImes the whole body
polite have feuessly iitI it because am sstisi'
ed il is that be heacdby suffice treat
meut Let pause here, and reason little together
| Us aud cur Nor,htrn brethren.
IL there sord, line. clause ef thc Constitution
licb inp,tsin the mannrT, JiIt man Iy nor
bc held - property, and that to so hold him s crime
or even wrong requiring to be redrcssed. Not one
On the the principles embodied IN the Constitu
ton are that he may be held rightulyand that j,
is no more crime 20 hold him, than not to so hold him,
and that DO those who choose 10 held slaves aud those
Uho choose not sand equal in all respects in the eye OF
that instrument The prOviSios which authorized the
continued importation OF slaves for twenty wears after
ter the date OF it, and the recovery o fugitEes from
Labor are absolutely incompatible with the denial OF the
right Of property in man. the ascrpion OF erimnaty
even wrong to the exercise OF t:-whlle the rlica-
ton of the ordinance OF 81 showed like and just re-
gard 20 the Set Imens and righS OF t1ose Vho we're
syerse 20 the institution and the presence Of slaves
among them IN effect and in fact the Constitution pro-
vded for slavery where the people wished aud the el-
mate suedit-Gnd for the absence oil where the people
and the climate averse and unsuited 10 It. Aud
,hi. ius fair and impartial principle Of adjustment Of
conflicting views again embodied in tba; great mea-
sure of healing aud peace, the Missouri Compromise,
when new Territories made provisions necessary;
and is the principle alone, in my judgment in some form
or other which the friends and opponents of African
slavery existing amOrg can ever remain perma-
nenily together under common Government
II this view be correct then every act and purpose,
whether OF States parties citizens, founded upon i'm
puted defect Of tight in the STAKEHOLDER TO hold property
il slaves or the crminaty, or wrong, oil savehodng,
ia not ONLY uruarranted BY the Constitution, but directly
At ar with is principles and spirit The Personal Lib
ertv Laus-the denied surrender Of negrosteaersthc
threatened exclusion OF slavehOlders from their equal
rights in the Terriioriesthe adoption Of any
Losper "sltRq,e" for the extinction OF Ofsavery-which
the Constitu ion merely recognizes but part intro
duced and extended fall plainly within this category,
aud involve clear breach Of faith on the part OF all
whom the Constitution binds-the people Of the States
uho ra if dit tsroush thd Conyentonstheir State and
Federal authorities who al! swear to support 1.-THE
PRECEDENT above all whose oath IS TO preserve protect
| and defend it.
To Justify these breaches Of good faith, the plea Of
Conscience" is set up 1t has been always recognized
a an honest plea for not entering into engagements at
Ubch il rtvoted but know no code OF morals or olaWs
which admits t TtfNtttHg dh
oaosaent after it is uttered info IL not the
land vet ennobled 10y the fame OF her Ames that to
have been expected TO furnish the occasion of this Op
probrun" lie said ~ erctptan 10 the respect that
is paid among nations 10 ihe lao Of good faith IL Is
,Ls y,j;gjon # oyerHmentS u iS Observed by bdrbd-
yiap," or them who broke IT, he said "shanae ,coHd
,tek 10 tlem-lnd that "os should say Of such race
If men that heir name is heavier burden idn their
debt" commend to Massachusetts, TO the false idols
abe has set up and to all who not quite lost to sense
of honor 10 fresh themselves with the whole OF that
grand ami eloquent tribute to national virtue ON which
make this extract-aud then turn with what appetite
they may TO the treacherous eahngs OF their Summers
and Wsous, their Haes and Stewards.
As long as this conscientious disregard ofengagements
uAa confined 70 a few, little regarded it. Though
We Witnessed with the spread of bad faith yet
hon ii reason you'd sSiulS combat Law etec-
lively repress IT, NO it is not only preached and prac
ts hy menacing numbrs, and eubalwed in slate laws
but is ths distinctive feature of that platform OF doc
tripe nov advanced power in the person OF Mr. Lin
colin IL is true the ucgat Of thai doctrine Is shown
10 be held by majority Of near million of votes in
the Union-that il il also held by ma ofS OF the House
and Of the Senate sni bs the Sl Court-that mum
bers perhaps large numbers, voted for Lincoln who are
not Free. soersthat cGrgs adverse TO il is in ro
gresa and that there Is therefore not only no imm JAtS
danger Of host Fed raj gislaton unless Southern
men abandon th. posts it is their duty 70 manain ou
ever, probabitya certainty almost Of the def at oil
Rapuhi canism at the next el ct on S i'll ! tlinl
in view Of all crcu stances, it is best we should
come nov TO an understanding with the N0ith
and either continue oUr Union In harmony or dissolve
hope il mlt he in peace. Ii is too late to speculate
nov on what might ave Earpaned had the country con
tipued cal n IL is rot calm-but az tated to its very
centre Mems pass ous are ever, whore strongly
universally srousedther antsgonisms brought out int
tood rel ef-ther interests already too deeply oil cted
AMI s. o4n to be too much opredized and too essll
shaken, BY their present political relations to maze th'r