New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-09-16

down under a government founded on vicious
principle OF representation. and which must be as
short-livcd as it would be unjust
An interesting episode in Rufus Kings history
was bts connection with the Ordinance OF l'o''
Tho ybole narrative turns upon the authorship
~ tho famous paragraph excluding slavery from
III. tarri,orv northwest Of the Ohio River Ihis
was the subject of an elaborate and interesting
article nv Professor Charles King twho was theh
oreaped unon his fathers life and correspond
ence, which was published in The Tribune IN
~, Professor King showed that the act OF Con-
ereas April o. 1884 which was replaced by the
Ordinance of ST. contained proviso forpidons
s,ax,orv In the new territory after the year looV
but this was stricken out That law was drafted
-. rorerson The omission OF the snti-slavery
clause aroused the resentment OF Tifnothy RICK
er,rq who appealed &c Mr. King after the latter
entered Congress to take measures 10 remedy INC
do,oct Pickering wrote with PROFOUND earnest
ness to a man who felt Just as he did hlInsen on
tho suh,ect His letter was 30 impassioncd and
so emphatic that It was cited as the reason Tor
refusing Professor Kings article a place IN
prominent monthly before it was sent to The
rr,hure "This earnest. honest impassioned APP
peal from one who was still wearing the UNIFORM
"vho through the triale and pers Of the Revolu-
tionar War had molly done his part-ieh NOT
unon an unwilling heart. for it was within
week of the date OF Mr. Pickerings letter mat
on the 18th OF March. 1885, Mr. King introduced
his protiso Of freedom differing essentially from
that Of Mr. Jefferson in that it was Of immedi-
ate and not prospective application; tha' IL iof-
bade then and forever the existence of slavery in
To- law where
as Mr. Jefferson was for planting it there and'
after fifteen years OF growth, then eradicauhs
IT,"
The present volume and its expected successors
are the result of many years of work Professor
Charles King in 1885, as already md,ca'ed' was
engaged upon their contents. He made large
collection of his fathers papers, ana began
biography. but only completed small fragment
That is included here. The careful article once
published by The Tribune forms chapter in the
work as now carried out by DIR. Charles K King
grandson of Rufus King. The letters include not
only those of Kings writing but also many ad-
dressed to him by his friends. They throw
light on the land business. the finances, the
constitution making. and indeed the whole his
tory of the young Republic in the days wheh i's
premature death was feared as much as its lie
was hoped for. In the appendix Is given Jour-
nal OF the Constitutional Convention, from kihg
own manuscript which is interesting especially
as betraying the singular modesty OF the man
He does not allude to his own speeches In the
record. Few distinguished orators seem to nave
had less of the arrogance of their art than Rufus
King. This trait in him astonished well-known
French traveller. Brissot. who in his "Nouveau
Voyage" said of him. "Ce qui me frappa dahs
lui c'etait sa MODESTO" The frontispiece or
the volume is a copy of a portrait OF Rufus King
painted by Trumbull in 1900.