Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1861-02-12
For the Enquirer.
No. !.
To tiie De! ogates of the Virginia Couycu.

the weight Of the responsibility that attache
to the posit ion which your rellow.ctizens hav
assigned yc u i'll this august asscmblage. Thes
you have I 20 doubt deliberately weighed an,
duly collsit icred. But claim the righ, Of q,
humble Sc II Of the Old Dominion, 80 treat o
the dsor! ers that disturb and vey her in sucl
an aarni ng way; and respectfully entrea
that you will, before you finally decide upor
your coul sc in the Convention, bear with m,
and go along with me, while, in n spirit of fair
ness and the most sober sincerity. treat ir
my poor way, Of her disease and the remedies
Seventy 'odd years ago, desiring among othc,
things, to form more perfect Cnion, to insur,
domestic tranquility and promote the genera
1rflfd"e, Virginia united with twelve othe,
States. and ordained the Constitution. She
now finds that that Constitution no longer an
s|ess is purposes, for the Union is rent in
pieces; the usual quiet that rcigns within he1
borders has given place TO the hustle q
military preparation and parade; ard, as
for the general welfare, let the distress of her
people, and the universal cry among them Of
hard times and low prices, tell Indeed. she
herself is making large appropriations and in
curing heavy expenditures for the purposes OF
defence Defence Of what: Why surely Of
her rights under the Constitution, and the
precious inalienable and transcendental rights
10 which, in memorable language, the laws OF
nature, and Of natures God, entitle" her
Shall she, in the exercise Of these her rights,
and in the discharge Of her duty incident there
10, throw oil her obligations under that Con.
| siitution 10 the Union, or seek first to 'pro.
vide new guards for her future security" in it !?
That is the question, gentlemen, for you 10
! decide. But it, together with the nature Of
| the security and the mode Of obtaining it, is
also the question upon which, in my plain and
! simple way, wish TO be heard.
take il for granted there is not one among
you who does not subscribe heartily with NE
to the motto: The rights, the sqtety aid aonor
| Of Firginil-ia the Cnion il zee nay, out nf
IL II asc must.
No wonder that the Constitution, so far as
Virginia and the South arc concerned, has fail.
ed Of its objects; for in the course Of political
events the country has been divided bv Il geo
graphical line, the people have accepted it, and
Virginia finds herself on the minority side
while the other section. having the polls, the
States and the power TO turn the federal ma
ehincry against her, is proclaiming hostility to
her industrial forces and threatening their u.li-
tlict' which that other section has itself conf
menced TO wage.
These lhingS-the difficulties in the Union,
the wrongs Of Virginia, and the antagonisms
between the sections are-to bs viewed calmly,
considered fairly and treated dSpaSsionatelr,
for you are TO speak the mind of Virginia with |
regard to them in the majesty and with the
dignity Of free people, acting in their sove-
reign capacity.
How is it that the slave States came to be in
the minority, and why is it that they hold |
themselves no longer safe in the Union and |
with the Constitution as it is?
Now, connected with this question there is q |
iecply-rooted popular error it IS important TO !
eradicate it, and while enGeavor to clear it
a#ay and answer the question, beg YOU 10
lay aside all prejudice, and come up to the dis
cWssion Of it i'll the spirit Of philosophy seeking !
truth. This error is that the North has &C.
qnired her ascendency in polls and States by
virtue of some innate energy Of her people,
which those of the South possess not in an
equal degrce-No sueh thing
Our wise men and legislators, both from the
North and the South, have thought proper to
encourage free, to discourage-indced, to for.
bid-slave immigration. The vast majority Of
those free cmigrants who for the last half cen
fury have been pouring in upon the Northern
shores, at the rate of tens Of thousands and
hundreds Of thousands annually, has settled
III the free States and Territories Of the North
There they have increased and multiplied aud
in tl.a. way, and no other, has the balance
between tho sections as TO population, been
destroyed. Not so the balance as to States.
The fathers saw and appreciated the necessity
OF preserving this balance here, By admitting
into the Union free and slave States in pairs.
and but one Of each ut time Thus with the
OF Louisiana, in 1912, the votes in
the Senate we're Is and rs. After that, and as
twin sisters, i'll came Indiana and Mississippi
in lSl6-'lT; Illinois and Alabama, in lSlS-'l9;
Maine and Missouri, in ls20-'2l; Arkansas
and Michigan, in 1s36-'3T; and in ls45, Flo
rida and Iowa.
But instead Of taking into consideration the
fact that the population Of the free States and
territories was increasing in ratio compound.
ed trebly Of the natural increase of the orig-
nal inhabitants. Of the immigrants and their
descendants, and Of the continual arrivals Of
fresh importations without taking into con-
sideration the fact that the steamboat the To-
connective, and the telegraph had SO compressed
areas rs to make new States three or four times
the size Of Virgnis really smaller, when
measured by tho time required to compass
them, than sne was at the time Of the confedera-
ton; instead Of taking these various circum-
stances into consideration, but ignoring them,
Congress, by the joint vote of Northern and
Southern members, proceeded to cut up the
common territory into comparatively small
sections and to admit them into the Union as
new free States, most Of them not so large in
area as Virginia. The consequence was
change in the Senate which placed the free
States in the ascendant there, as the Immigrant
policy had placed them in :5e House.
Arrived at this stage with eighteen free and
fifteen slave States, the South with ninety
against one hundred and forty-seven votts in the
House, and thirty against thirty-sx in tho
Senate, has found herself by tho course of q
faction in the free States arrayed in sectional
against the North. The fact Of
finding herself in this category, even if there
had been no question about slavery, ought to
have satisfied her that she was no longer con-
sdcred by tha other section as its equal in the
Union, and that this sectional division had
been made lor the parpoSe Of depriving Viz
ginia and the South of some one OF more Of
lHell llSLlS III Tie UNlpu. EStH III SUCH Il CdSe,
it would have been tho duty of Virginia as tits
her right, to seek new guards for her future
security.
Much now then does it become her to seek
these new guards now, when her institution of
slavery is threatened and she is not only de-
MED her equality among the States but her
rights in the Union and in the Territories also
Having thus shown why the slave States
find themselves in the minority, ard that mi.
nority being sectional, it follows that they
nrs no longer safe under the Constitution as it
is because the parties arrayel against them,
have the power under tha. Constitution to in-
terpret it, TO construe, to make, and to en-
force the laws,
Virginia, therefore, is at the mercy Of this
faction" and use the word as Mr.. Madison
defines it to be: IA number Of citizens, wheth-
:'er amounting to majority or minority Of
1.-The whole, " no are united and actuated by
6 1E ,..k..