Delaware State journal and statesman. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1855-1870, 1861-02-26
a Protest from South Carolina against a
decision of the Southern Congress.

ueclslon OF tne southern Congress.
e- From the Charleston Mercury Of February 1atb
SLAVE TRADE IN THE SOUTHERN CONGRESS
Hon JOHN PERKINS, Delegate from Louisiana :
t From the abstract of the Constitution for tb
!, PROVISIONAL Government, published in the paper
n ;, Of this morning it appears that the slave trade
Z except with the Slave States of North America
: shall be prohibited. The Congress, therefore
4 not content with the laws of the late Unitet
] States against it, which, 1t is to be presumed
/. were readOpted, have unalterably fixed he snb
lect by provision of the Constitution. THAI
Z provision, for reasons equally conclusive, will
2 uonotess pass into the Constitution of the Per.
! manent Government. The prohibition there.
lore VIII no longer be question Of policy, but
VIII he d cardinal principle OF the Southern
Coniederacy. Il will not be a question for the
several States, in view of any popularity in their
; circumstances and condition, but will be fixed
by paramount power, iphieh nodhiag bsi, aDofber
repofation can overtarn. IfTexas shall want labor
sue must elect whether it shall be hreling labor
or slave labor; and II she shall elect slave labor
she must be content with that oaiy which Games
from other States on this continent, and at suoh
prices as the States on this continent shall see
proper to exact. If Virginia shall not Join the
Coniederacy of the South, she is at least assured
oil market for her slaves at undiminished priees.
| Ig.
vast demand for labor OF the South: and If
there shall be, as there unquestonably will be.
n vast supply of pauper labor from the NORTH
ana Europe, and States at the South shall be in
danger OF being overfun and abolitionizel as
the States of the North have been oyerrun and
aboiuonized, there must be no power in nnv
state TO counteract tile evil. Democracy is right
Iur mas the approval OF the world slavery
| wrong, aud only TO be tolerated in consideration
of ihe property involved; and while the one Is 10
DC encouraged, therefore the other is to be pre-
senled IN such attitude as to be as little Hsn-
sive as 1t may be 10 the better sentiment of nm
enlightened world.
such take to be fair statement Of the prin-
elples announced in the earliest utterancu OF tho
southern Republic and need scarcely saw that
deprecaie them greatly. | fear their effects
upon tho present harmony Of feeling fear their !
eiieets upon the fortunes of the Republic and |
will take the liberty of intervening and Of pre-
senting reasons why think we should not take |
sueh action at the present time l may seem |
presumptuous, but | have a stake too great 10 |
scruple at the measures necessary to preserye IL |
take liberty, without permission, in making
you the object of this letter; but our personal
relations will assure you that l Lave but the
simple purpose, If possible 10 be Of service to nv
country; and If, in representing a measure SO
offensive, may seem wanting in respect for the
''splrlt OF the age" have but to say that have
been connected with the slave trade measure
from the start l have incurred whatever of
odium could come from its initiation have
been trusted by its friends with q leading part
IN its advancement; aud so situated, at time
When prejudice or mistaken policy would seem
to shape our action to course inconsistent with
our dignity and interests, | have no personal
considerations to restrain me, and feel that il is
WITHIN my province to interpOse and offer what
eau OF reasons to arrest it.
Nor viii be justly chargeable with an un-
seasonable agitation OF this question. We were
truly solicitous to postpone it to another time
VIC were willing to acquiesce in whatever policy
the states themselves might see proper to adopt.
But when il is proposed to take advantage of
our silence to enter judgment by default. to tie
the hands of States, and so propitiate foreign
sentiment by concession inconsiderale and
gratnitous, 1t is our privilege to intervene; and
am in error if your clear conception of the
questions at issue, and your devotion to the par
amount cause of the South, will not induce you
to admit that the odum is not on us of intro.
ducing distractiug issue
The South is now in the formation of a Siqps
Republic. This, perhaps, is not admitted gem
orally. There are many oontented to believe
that the South as geographical section is in
mere assertion OF its independence; but, it is
Instinct with no especial truth.-pregnant of no /
distinct social nature, that for some unaccount.
able reason the two sections have become op- !
posed TO each other that for reasons equally in
there is disagreement between the :
peoples that direct them; and that from no over a
ruling necessity, no impossiblity of coe xstence,
but as mere matter of policy, 1t has been CON I
sidered best for the South to strike out for hpr .
sell and establish an independence of her own n
This, fear, is an inadequate conception of the n
n
The contest is not betEee he NORTH and South i.
rs geographical sections, for 6ereen such sections
merely there can be no contest: : nor beftreen fbe =
,eop'e Of Me Norh and he people Of The South, for
'ar relations haze been pleasant, and on neutral l
rounds there is still nothing to estrange u.s. j
We eat together, trade together, and practice, u
yet, in intercourse, with great respect the cour-
estes of common life, But the real contest IS ii
between The hco ioras Of society which have he n
inc established the one at the North and the d
lthcr at the South Society is essentially differ
i2t from governnent-as different is the nut 81
rom the bur, or the nervous body OF the she'll ii
ish from the bony structure which surrounds il; q
md within this Government two socieiies had s
become developed as variant in structure and II
distinct in form as any two beings in animated b,
nature The one is society composed Of one III
race, the other Of two races. The one is bound pi
together but by the two great social relations of fs
husband and wife and parent and child the IN
iihCr by the three relations of husband and "a,
i''t """ "hu NAiui tuu uitstel anu alhNe Sc
The one embodies in its political structure the IN
principle that equality is the right OF man; tho d,
lther that it is the right of equals only The a.
lne embodyng the principle that equality is the nj
light Of man. expands upon the horizontal plane ii
If pure democracy; the other, embodying the b,
principle that il is not the right of man. but Of M
EQUALS only has taken to itself the rounded Il,
orm of social aristocracy. ln the one there nj
4 hreling labor in the other slave labor; in the nj
me, therefore, in theory at least labor il youn- n
ary in the other involuntary; in the labor Of it,
he one there is the elective franchise, in the In
ther, there is not and as labor s always in ex- Gu
ess of direction, in the one the power Of goVern it
nsntis only with the lower classes in the other in
he upper In the one, therefore, the reins Of gov Nj
rnment come from the heels in the other from wi
he head Of the society in the one il is guided by re
be worst, in the other by the best intelligence CO