The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-10-24
From the Washington Constitution
The Plea for the Limitation of Slavery

Mr.. Bell, whom the know-Nothings are
| striving to elect to the Presidency, and who
shares with Lincoln the favors of Mr.. Dong.
las, holds that the Constitution authorises the
limitation of slavery within its present boun.
darieS In this regard the Tennessee politic-
ian expresses the view of Mr. Seward, Both
| profess readiness to submit to the Constitu-
| ton, as themselves interpret it. Both admit
that under the Constitution, Congress cannot
touch slavery where it already exists, save in
| the District of Columbia, from which both
would have Congress abolish it.
The ruling spirit amongst the Black Re-
publicans maintains that the Constitution ad-
mits of yet more radical application. Lysan-
der Spooner has fortified with legal subleties
| the doctrine that the Constitution does confer
on Congress power 10 interfere with slavery
| IN the States that Congress may, in fact, not
only prevent the removal of negroes from one
Southern State to another, but NAV provide
for the abolition of this institution in the
States themselves. The opinion has not orig
mated with Spooner. Gerrit Smith and the
Rochester Douglas has taught it seduiously /:
Mr. Lincoln has expounded it in Illinois /;
Carl. .Schurz upholds it in Wisconsin Giddinos
has rendered it a household word in the West
ern Reserve and so on without an end.
Wherever black-republicanism is strong this
doctrine prevails. The Bell-Scward compro-
mise has few supporters ;sSpooner,s out-and- :
out idea pleases the fanatics better.
Nor can We wonder at the circumstance.
All shades Of Abolitionists, includno Messrs,
Seward and Bell, have ENCOURAGED the onin;on
that slavery is moral evil for which the
whole Union is Responsible. The North has
said to the South, a am bolier than tbou ),
and by reasonsof superior virtue claims the
right to control Southern institutions, At
any cost the fanatics have BROUGHT themselves
to maintain, negro slavery must he terminated
w hat more natural than that they should set
their ingenuity to work to invent the neces
sary appliances The Redpaths and John
Browns, rather than endure deIay, would cut
the knot with the sword The Lincolns and
Spooners would unite it with assistance WHICH
they allege is afforded to them by the Consti-
tuition. Starting with Mr.. Bells proposition
to abolish slavery in the District, they would
proceed congressionally to legisiate it out of
existence IN the States using all the resour-
ces at the command of the General Govern
ment to carry out the abolition enactment.
MIR. Douglas tells us in advance that he will
cooperate with Mr.. Lincoln in enforcing the
law, whatever it be !; whilst MIR. Bells more
cautious adherent, the National IqteRiqencer,
prepares the way for the same result by a
steady inculcation Of the ancient federalist faith
in relation to the supremacy of the Govern
ment at Washington.
There is but one mode of averting the dan
| ger which thus threatens the peace and the
existence of the Union and that is by a dis
tine, nct,euncompronising antagonism to the alb
clifton issue in all its notifications This is
not time in which temporising can be safely
attempted. Squatter sovereignty is but the
precursor Of abolition. Mr.. Bells evasive
generalities are but so many loop-holes through
which the spooners of the anti-slavery party
may advance to the citadel of the Constitution
| The issue is unmstakable and must be un
mistakably met. We must meet it, not with
a craven apology-not with a halting, prevari.
eating plea, as for favor in behalf OF the South
but with the averment that the right Of the
Mississippi planter to his property is as sacred
as that of the Massachusetts, manufacturer tc
his mills, and that the Constitution secures tt
both an equal interest in the fields afforded
by territorial development. The allegation
that "this Union cannot stand half slave, hal
freen must be hurled back as libel upon the
history Of the Union and an insult to the goot
sense of its citizens.