The New York Herald Newspaper, April 12, 1850, Page 2

"HB TOPIC OF THE DAY. VIEWS OF COMMODORE STOCKTON, ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. ESTER TO COMMODORE STOCKTON, MR, WEBSTER isninatox, March 22, 1850. My Dear Sin:—I send to you, as an old friend, a copy of my late speech in the Senate. It relates to ‘subject quite interesting to the country, as con- nected With the question of proper governments for those new territories which you had an im- rtant agency in bringing under the power of the Jnited States. | would hardly ask your opinion of the general sentiments of the speech, although I know you are a very competent judge; but that, being out of the strife of politics, your judgment is not likely to be biassed, and that you have as great a stake as any man in the preservation of the Union, and the main- tenance of the government on its true principles. lam, dear sir, with great respect, Yours, Dani. WeBster. Commodore Stockroy. REPLY OF COMMODORE STOCKTON. Princeton, March 25, 1850. Dear Sim:—I thank you for your letter and @ copy of the recent speech delivered by you in the Senate of the United States. I need say nothing in commendation of your course, which has been so generally approved, and will proceed (without referring to any difference of opinion that may seem to exist between us on the subject) to communicate to you my candid and jong cherished opin on the subject of slavery as it exists in the ted States, and the duty of the government and the people in connection with it. In yiew of a national crisis in the affairs of Great Britain, one of her emi statesmen once said:— “*In order to be prepared for the trials of these times, we should be possessed of a prompt facility of adverting, in all our doubts, to some grand and e@omprehensive truth. In a deep and strong soil must that tree fix its roots, the height of which is to reach to heaven, and the sight of it to the ends of the earth.” A great crisis presents itself in the path of the republic, Interests of incalculable consequence are involved in it—to you, to myself, to every citi- zen—consequences not limited to our times, but ex- tending onward to all future generations; and, if there is anything in the hopes that have been cher- ished of the universally progressive principles of liberty, to the world for ages to come, ‘*There are times, (says another eminent pe ) when the assertion of great principles is th best service a man cen render society,” and this is such a time. We are all called upon to pause at the present cri- sis, and consider well what are the demands of du- ty. It is no time to palter about party distinctions or sectional diflerences; now, if ever, it becomes us to feel that we are Americans, only Americans. It is no time to calculate questions of personal po- pularity; that sacrifice which any citizen may make 1s a8 nothing, if it contributes to save his country. A Jerseyman myself, born on one of those proud battlefields where American liberty was purchased, bearing a life devoted to the service of the Union, I can withhold nothing from the cause of that Union with which! solemnly believe liberty is herself identified, “tone and inseparable.” Tt appears to me that the polar truth to which the view of our fellow citizens should be directed in | the present emergency, is this—That God works in the aflairs of nations, and shapes them to his pur- poses; and that to ascertain His will, we must study in the school of His Providences, and take counsel from the observation of His ways to regulate our own. The destinies of men and of nations are in the bosom of the most High. He lives in the his- tory of the past; He will live in the history of the future; and he who has most deepl the records of the past, has most clearly seen that the great characteristics which have marked the faa sep of every nation in every age, have even- tually resulted in the accomplishment of some nd design, in which the hand of Providence, though for a time obscured by shadows, has been at last clearly and distinctly seen. Of this our own history furnishes a laminous ex- ample. The preparation for the erection of the t temple of civil and religious liberty we now inhabit, began in the discoveries and convulsior ofthe 15th century. The materials for it we: found in men schooled by providential trials, a disciplined to the work they were to commence”; and it isas rational to suppose the world was the pro- duction of chance,as to suppose that the combination of events which led them to this continent, which cherished and protected their infant colomes, which brought about the revolution and its results, and has made us what we are, was the work of chance; | itis this which inspires me with hope, that He who founded the republic will save it—that pie hi et purposes to accomplish yet, and that they will e unfolded through successive years, for ages to come, in perfecting the institutions of a rational freedom here, and in extending them to all other continents. Though men were the instruments, the Ameri- can revelation was the work of an unseen power— the actors in it themselves looked back with as- toniehment at the course they had taken, and the results thathad been accomplished. The greater the event, the more clearly has the hand of Pro- vidence always been seen in it—the greater the hero, the more heartfelt always has been his ac- knowledgement that a superior destiny controle | his actions. The American constitution e re- sult of a fearful struggle. Its full price was by no means the sufferings undergone in the conflict. ‘The series of events by which it was accomplished we are now able to trace distinctly back, threugh the privations and trials of the early colonists, to the days when popular freedom first began the con- test with arbitrary power in the civil wars of Eng- land ; and its pathway is everywhere marked with patient endurance and costly sacrifice. Things permanently good are of slow ite a the offspring of hardship, they are made strong through suffering. So universal is this law, that the most hasty tainds have a secret misgiving of the efficacy of hast cts; and we would as foon expect undiseiph hardships and perils of a dangerous campa that an undisciplined community could tri that fiercest of all warfares, the wart which marks everywhere the pathway to national exist- . as H ence, greatness, and virtue More than two centuries have passed since the events Which were to result in founding the re- public were put in motion ; and who does not per- ceive, both in our colonial and constitutional his- tory, that the process by which we have, within a comparatively few years, come to the ful eve- ment of a distinctive nationality, has been one mainly of forbearance and self-denial? Nor hw we been the only sufferers. When our anc came to this country, they nd it in the possessic of another rac That race had had their day great cont t, fitted by noture f ments in the progress of centuries committed to their keeping, am proved faithless It was manifest from the commencen struggles, that one of the two races m y to the other, and no one doubts the beneficence of that Providence which decided for the Anglo-Saxon race. Yet how touching is the story of the red man’s wrongs. We ate his sufleringe, while we clearly see decree by which his race wastes away be- fore the advancing footsteps of civilization, is the fint of lntinite Wisdom The came all-pervading Providence has brought we in contact with still another race he African— but under widely different circomstances. Out of s conuected with this circumstanc jes of the Union, are in the cond tion .of servitude. Individuals in the non-slav holding States have not only been long in the habit of denouncing the holding of slaves as a sin—as, in- deed, among the worst of crimes, but have insisted on immediate and unconditional abolition—have corned on the work of agttation—have encouraged slaves to desert their masters—have protected fugi- tive slaves from pursuit and reclamation, and have even gone so for as to declare that it was cause for separating from the South altogether. The general government has been agitated; com- promise after compromise has been made, and | jo ed as wasto be expected, only the me , father than of settling the qu t last things have reach real danger to the Union seems nof both sec calmly but ng should be the rstion settled now and for Id not meanly shrink from « and put them upon our children. ‘ow, in reference to the relation of master and slave, it is proper we should hear in mind that Afri- can slavery was introduced into this country by no act of ours. For its introduction, the American | people are in no just sense responsible. Ite intro- | duction here was the act of Great Britain, while ‘we were her colonies. She engrafted this «yetem into our communities gt a time when these commu- nities (then in their infancy) were unable to make | any effectual resistance. Our ancestors, at the time, and through all the process by w accomplished, remonstrated and proteste: it; but their remonstrances and protests were un- | Ite introduction was considered by the | ©" fer opinion and conseience to act upon. As heeded. early colonists an evil—a measure of nto them as well as to the slave—but they were as powerless to resist it as the slave himself. LAAT : Ft penned our condition Y pet me we would presume the ways of Providence, we irst principles. God rules in and of men as an absolute sovereign, and shapes all hamnan events to his great ees The purposes he to accom Pplich in all thie, May be involved in comparative darknees now; but if it shall — hereafter the’, reflected upon | to be equal to the , this was the means by which, in I turies, he socemgtaned the redemption of ‘i frica sa means herself, who will s “y ae were inconsistent wi f his good- nese? This fact, then, is undisputed, that when the bat- tles of the Tevolution had been fought—when the North and the South had ¥, .d shoulder to shoul- der through that long bloody and self-sacrifi- cing struggle, and the. independence of their coun- try was achieved, t'e institution of slavery, planted by other hands iy, our midst, existed. A very large number of our citizens, both in the North and the South, were slave-holders. Property is the crea- ture of the law, and slaves had been made property by law—been so held for ages. What was to be done ? The general welfare—the preservation of all that had been gained—the law of self-defence, required that a government should be established, and that this government should embrace and com- bine in one indissoluble union, all the liberated colonies. If that had not been accomplished, all would have been shipwrecked together. | r The men of the revolution saw this plainly. They were men equal to the crisis. They con- sidered the question as a whole. They sacrificed on the altar of concession their different views and interests as to particulars, that they -might reach harmoniously the grand result, The articles of confederation, and subsequently the constitution, were the results of compromise ; and whatever politicians may say, the spirit, the intent, the fair construction of that compromise is, that the insti- tution of slavery belongs exclusively to the States. as matter of State regulation, and that the general government has nothing to do with it. A No power over it was delegated by the consti- tution to the general government (except as to the importation of slaves into the States,) nor was any such power prohibited by it tothe States. Tt was expressly provided, that persons held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, es caping into another, should not be discharged from such service or labor, but should be dehvered up on claim of the party to whem such service or labor might be due ; and by an amendment to the constitution, adopted in 1791, it was provided that the powers not delegated to United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people. Suchjis the constitution—such the com- promise upon Which it was formed—such the im- perative necessity of that compromise ; and even if that compromise and that constitution were the re- sult of a mistake, it is binding now, and as long as it shall remain unaltered, on every law-abiding man. If the toleration of slavery—if the permission for its existence in any part of the Union was a great national crime—when and by whom was that crime committed? At the formation of the govern- ment, at the adoption of the constitution, and by the Washingtons, the Roger Shermans, the Hamiltons, the Madisons, the Franklins, the Pinkneys of the land—by such men as Livingston and Paterson, Brearly and Dayton,{of my own native State, ap- proses! and sanctioned with unparalleled unanimity »y the North and South. Under its auspices, I need not say with what giant strides the republic has advanced to greatness and prosperity, nor that leaven has smiled propitiously upon our common heritage. Now, the question which has come up with such | athreatening aspect before the country, is in my judgment one of morals not of politics —cueions always the most difficult and dangerous to deal ith, beeause they donot lie in notions of expe- | diency, but in matters of conscience. They are always liable to run into fanaticism, and are always mingled with questions of religious faith and moral obligation. The question is one of morals, and as | such it is to be settled, if settled permanently at all. Out of this aspect of the case have sprung, as inci- | dents, all the questions that have heretofore been | and are now the subject of discussion. The con- vention of ’87, the M uri compromise, the con- tested question of abolition petitions in Congress, the agitations in the North, the recriminations of the South, the difficulties about fugitive slaves, and latterly the California question and the Wilmot | proviso, are all but branches of one fruitful tree— | the question as tothe moral character of slavery as,it exists in the States, and the moral duty consequent upon that character. In reference to those phases or ineidents of this question which involve the | action of the Leeson they never would have been unsettled, or at uny rate never would have come up in their present embarrassing forms, if the general government had adhered, as it ought in my | opinion to have edhered, from the beginning, toa strict construction of the constitution. The framers of this instrument meant to exclude, and by the language of the instrument did exclude, the na- ional government from all action upon the subject. | . They granted no such power—they expressly ex- cluded all powers not granted. Whenever the doc- of inferential powers—that latitudi trine—comes fully to be insisted on | the constitution will become itocl! « r to be moulded, by the ever changing opinions ot | men, into whatever shape those opinions happen to take—the majority will become supreme—its will, the constitution, and everything conservative, will ' be liable to be broken down. Suppose a measure | e—ruinous to one portion of the Union—i: | adopted by a mere constitutional majority, and in | constitutional form, it is said the party complaining and denying its constitutionality, has an appeal to the Supreme Court. But to avgue that that i | ways to be regarded as a place of absolute security, is to argue that it is infallible. It undergoes the process of change by death; the new incumbents ure apt to partake of the views of the constitution held by majority of the government, and the court ne itself the advocate of those views. Be- are the rocks—the breakers of revolution— r resort of un oppressed people. The constitution itself was originally intended to be the cable and anchor of the Union and all its parts— and nothing, you may rely upon it, but the doctrine of a strict constraction can ever preserve it what it was intended to be. Upon the question of domestic slavery im the States and in the territories, nou-intervention is the that his wi true principle, ‘There the letter of the constitution The law of tion by the the soil, and the will of the people acting through the State placed it, and there it should be left. nature, fixing the bounds of the insti unalterable constitution of the colored race temperature of the climate and nature of th Legislatures upon their several States, are the true and legitimate regulators; and all interference, ex- | cept moral suasion, the power of argument, the | free expression of opinion, ought to be 6 | now come to the main question which lies back of all the others. slavery « sin, or an unmitigated evil? What is the duty of the 5 holding States, respecti to the root of the whole difficulty. Ist. Is domestic slavery a sin, or a evil? In order to arrive at an intelligent conclusion respecting the right or the wrong of any complex scheme of any existing institution, we must be care- ful not to array our feelings against our reason; nor onght we to allow our displeasure at particular cases of excess to interfere with a fair and de | rate consideration of the general working end ten- dency of the system as a whole. It belongs to this question to consider first—the condition of the co- loved man as it would have been, had he been left in Africa ? inder which we tind him here such there be, of his present cor in the condition in in which we find h ith. The ultimate tendency of what may seem to be a Providential arrangement | of this state of things. Ist. Of all the races of men with and travel have acquainted us, th none so | sunk beyond all hope of self restor the Afri- | can, on Tis wide continent. In ignorance so utter, thet he is elevated little above the brate; in super- stition so gross, that it drags him even lower than the brute; without a thought of liberty, he is the sport of tyranny in its lowest, meanest, and most cruel forms; he has nothing he can coll his own; he has no idea of God, of justice, of moral obliga- tion, ef the rights of perse property. Ina word, “ Africa has a4 sorgotte | ond has aban- hich history asa reneral rule, treated with kindness; he is proteeted ron Want in sickness and ald age; and is, on the whole, better off, safer, happier, than he would have been in his native aniry nd place, with the moral et of bringing the slave to this to do. We find So for as the slave charaeter 01 county, we —the trade is concerned, we have aeted on that, and wee introduced in other auspices. It existed when stablished; an instit il ofwhich had property in the government found it an ¢ and uneontrotlable—to be nete clusively by the States; subject to the moulding and ch mging and controlling opinians and consciences of those concemed. hese have not been inactive. fa | many of the States the institution has been abo- lished; in others, emeliorated; im all, it is a ques the general government has no power to abolish it, £0 it has no power to prevent any State from abo- lishing it. A... fn the —— place, every fo re | man es, that in t nt condition of things, =! Cannot be immediately sad atwolutely ‘abolished, We must reason about things as they are—not as we might wish them to be.” The slave is property; he became so by 4 law of our common ancestors; he left in that condition by the law of our common fathers who founded the republic. The burden of this purchase should be borne in all jus- tice, equally by our citizens, and we are not ready to pey the price. But if we were weedy he is not t a condioan, YY take care oof himself. He has not the culture, the training, Sepenigace, soquanngy to eelf-dependence. And where, is he to got fo reflecting man is prepared to say he is willing to have three millions of slaves turned loose in the States, to fill the prisons and poor-houses and alms- houses of the country, or to live by plunder on the community. What, too, is to be his lot for the fu- ture in such a cave? Is he to live in our midst as marked and degraded being, through all time, or are we prepared to place him on an equality with us, cid lly and socially; are we ready for amalgam- aon There seems under those circumstances to be a necessity for his continuance at present in the con- dition in whieh he is 5 4 In the {bank pla e, the hand “< Providence seems to be clearly pointing out an ultimate design in all this arrangement of things. Yonder is Africa, with her one hundred and fifty millions of misera- ble, degraded, ignorant, lawless, superstitious idol- ators. Whoever has stood upon her sands, has stood upon a continent that has geographical and physical peculiarities, which A tono other of the great divisions of the globe. The latter appear upon the face of them, to have been ad to draw out the energies of the natives in t in- equalities of temperature, soil, and surface, inviting the ingenuity and enterprise of man, to overcome them, and in the varieties of their products tempting the interchanges of commerce; thus ope ample encouragement to the progress of civil an social improvement. But Africa is still, as of old, a land of silence and of mystery. Like the inter. minable dreariness of her own deserts, her moral wastes of mind lie waiting for the approach of in- fluences from abroad. No savage people have ever advanced to a civilized state, without intercommu- nication with others. All the continents of the world have, in their turn, been occupied and civil- ized by means of colonies; but in no one of them did it appear so inevitably necessary, from a pre- vious examination of circumstances, as in that of Africa. It is plain to the very eye, that Africa is a land to which civilization must be brought. The attempt has been made over and over again by devoted missionaries and others to penetrate that land, and seek to impart the blessings of civiliza- tion and christianity to her savage hordes. But the labor has been spent in vain. The white man cannot live in Africa. The annals of the Mora- vians, of Cape Colony, of Sierra Leone, of Liberia, contain the record of the sacrifice of some of the best men that have lived to grace the pages of an) people’s history, in the vain attempt to accomplish something for her redemption through the instru- mentality of white men. Who, then, is to do this work ? Let now any calm, reflecting spectator of the present state of the world be asked to look at Africa, and then, from among the nations point out the pecwte best calculated to do this work—and when is eyes fall upon the descendants of the sons of that continent now in America, will he not say, These are the people appointed tor that work ? The ways of God are mysterious. So Joseph was solda slave into Egypt; so his father and his brethren were driven thither by pi cireum- stances ; so their generations remained as slaves in Egypt for four centuries and a half; and when the appointed time had come, in His own appointed way, the Ruler of nations fed them to the accom- lishment of His great ee. And it is not to be forgotten, that it was not for the act of holding this ao in bondage for so many years, that Pharaoh and the Egyptians were pnnished ; but their crime was this, that when the Divine Being had pre- pared all things for the event he proposed to accom- plish, and demanded, by an accredited ambassador, that wp ap ote be allowed to depart, ** they woul gre’ not let people go.” The great nitor of the Israelites wasa slave- holder ; the Israelites, after their emancipation, be- came slaveholders. othing is clearer than that, under the Mosaic dispensation, slavery was lawful; the institution was ise: i regulated law of Hoses apd the founder of Christianity and his disciples (though Judea and all the provinces of the Roman empire were in their times full of slaves, and slaves subjected to the most rigid lawe,) never forbade or even denounced the relation as sinful, orexhorted masters to liberate their slaves; but enjoined on masters the principles of humanity and justice, and on slaves obedience and con- tentment; and those notions of morality may well be questioned, which in our days llow what Christ and his apostles did not disallow. Such an exodus as that of the Jews from Egypt may not be within the of the Deity, in Te- lation to the children now in this country, or their descendants. But has He no purpose in all this arrangement that has been going on, in the family of these people here—in ion of servitude, endurance, discipline the difficulties with which their emancipation is surrounded—in the natural that the whites ever will or can consent to raise toa condition of equality ? lot in a country nO Tree Tey cere aatine these grecave, and there is 40 much Eenevolence and ssive,and there is 60 and “hristian enterprise? Has he not a purpose in all this to accomy (in some way of his own. through this instrumentality) the regeneration of the millions of benighted Africa ? e germs of colonies are already planted there, as the fruits of this system of servitude. But the free African Ps, | us clings to this country still, under all his disabilines, regardless of the claims of the land of his fathers upon him; and may not slavery and the necessity of migration as the condition of his re- lease, be the appointed instrument to produce com- pliancet The colonies we have settled in Africa would, ere this day, have become a republic of foes, had the free negroes of the North been wil- ing to become citizens of it. But, like the Israel- ites of old, who would, but for the divine inte: tition, have sacrificed their liberators in the wilder: ness and returned into Egypt, these liberated descendants of Africa cannot be persuaded to look toward the land of their fathers. The millions of olored bondmen there awake no sympathy hearts. Their fixed and resolute purpose H rs to be to remain among the whites, and force themselves by prgoenive stepe into a civil and social equality with them; and it is chiefly with 4 view to strengthen themselves in these particular views and aspirations, that they band together un- der the abolition flag, and fill our cities with threats of vengeance aguinst the white race, if they shall dare to execute the laws in relation to fagitive slaves, y Now, when we come to reflect calmly and can- didly upon all these circumstances, in connection with the quest is domestic slavery, as it ex- ists at the South, 1 it seems to me that quee- tion must be answered in the negative. The rela- tion of master and slave may be, and doubtless is, someti the occasion of cruelty and injustice. But thi Iso true of the relation of husband and wife, parent and child, master and apprentice, and of employer and employed, in our system of labor. But the abuses of a system or relation form no sound argument against the system or relation itself. 1 am no apologist for abuse. [amas ready as any mun to denounce cruelty, unnatural separations, a disregard of the domestic relations, or a depriva- tion of the means of moral and religious culture to the slave, under our system of slavery, as a crime. But the correction of these bele to the duties of the State governments. We, in New Jersey, have no more right to interfere with South Carolina, than she with us, in such matters—nor in fact have we in New Jerrey 7 oo right to interfere with the slaves of South Carolina or Georgia, than we have we the slaves of Russia or Austria; each southern State being, in respect to this question, as absolutely sovereign as are Russia and Austria. We are to reason about the institution of slavery as we reason about every other human institation, from its proper, humane, conscientious and lawful use, when both parties discharge their mutual obli- gations. Having established, as I think, that domestic slavery, as it exists in the Southern States, is not in itself sinful or an unmitigated evil, this subject is relieved fram its embarrassment, and I now proceed to consider; What is the duty of the veo ¢ the non-slaveholding States respecting slavery Shelt we attempt forcibly to bresk down thie in stitution of slavery?) To make the attempt is— First. To vielate the constitution and its compro mises. | not w! under color of inferen- tial instroction—assaming the constitution to imply the power of interferenee—(which, by the way, I unconditionally deny)—or acting regardless of it— in either case it is, at best, the appeal to the mere majority power, acting upon and forcing the mi- nority Second. It is to attempt the liberation of the sluve, ond fail. For, by the eflort, che most we con do is to drive the South, with its saves, out of te Union, without liberating # single stave; and nok It is to compel a dissolution of the ple considered the consequences in branch of the alternative! Suppose, ofl, that in opposition to the pliin texcksngs of ide, and the jud of God's holiest :nen, y stilt hold that slavery is in itself sinful, and the ew nen of slaves are men st . tobbers, and preter, shen, indeed, this — assumes a mnote serious aspect, and Mr. Calhoun may no longer be denowwed as either unpatriotic or extravagant, in calling fora amendment of the constitution, of any other neans that will secure his constituents fron ieinent il, and his posternty from the ealami- hes et civil wer, But— ls there not, in thisyiew, @ crime of deeper and redder di in merefing over a desecrated Bible and e broken compact, s\ oceans of fraternal Mood t t lawful, on their own principle: do evil that good Md ecomoemeven if ml could ivy it be secomplished | If they aueceed in driving the South (0.8 eccessicn, they inevizably kindle the fire onflagration whieh will bitra over this whole ic, until it reduces to ashe the strneture Providence hoe for centuries been preparing end rearing vp on this continent; and, in the con- flegration, their own homes and hopes wilh be min- cled with the sacrifice. “One Cp ”? says Dr. Channing, “which we day true, iar apn t's See cepare be cocriah ethene c se trol benevolent spirit of C! ity, the time for doing it has not come, God aid of our vices. overrule one ; but they are not the chosen instru- me! bu . But if we would adopt, us I sincerely do, the other alternative—that with the institution of slavery, as it exists in the South, i we are not » we have nothing to d oly prohibited by the constitution from meddling with it, but that itis a question of conscience to be settled by Southern men for themselves—a question upon which good men may differ, and must be left to differ if they will, whether in the North or South —a new train of thoughts, a new field of benevo- lent and Christian enterprise, opens before us. Go- eg ace to the t truth from which we started, and regarding all the circumstances of the present state of things as a part of the ona of Provi- dence to accomplish a great result for Africa, there is a work, and a great work, for us todo. Let the great heart of Christion benevolence in the North and the South unite in selecting from this vast Af- rican family, this nursery planted and growing on our shores, the proper subjects to be sent upon the mission of redemption to the land of their ances- tors, until the last slave shall have departed, and Africa’s long night shall have been dispelled by the sun of freedom and civilization. The philanthro- a will find here enough to do to enseavene largest henevolence—in acts, in personal sacrit , in con- tributions to the cause of humanity, without the violation of personal or legal rights—doing that good may come. Let the general government then retrace its ste and, instead of previsos and compromise lines, ai agreements to keep up the balance of power, fall back upon the literal construction of the constitu- tion—adopt the principle of total non-intervention, now and torever—leaving the laws of nature, an the voice of public opinion, to adjust the limits of the institution, free, uncontrolled, and uninfluenced by the action of Congress, and all will be safe. he Gerdian knot will be dissolved—not cut—and the ark of the covenant, with its sacred deposit, be borne on safely to its destination. The measures, in short, which I would propose, are: Ist. A declarative act, in such form as may be deemed proper, thut the constitution give no power to the general government to act on the subject of domestic slavery, either with respect to its existence in the States, the Territories, or the Distriet of Columbia. 2d. The most efficient act that can be framed, to enforce the provisions of the constitution in re- lation to fugitive slaves. 3d. That California, in consideration of the pecu- liar circumstances of her case, be admitted without the approval or disapproval of that part of her con- stitution which relates to slavery. I believe these three propositions, carried out, would settle the question for ever. They involve no concessions—no compromise—they are no tem- porary expedient. They put the solution of the aienky upon the eternal principles of right—the law of the constitution. I think the great majority of the North and South are prepared to place it there, and having placed it there, to stand by and maintain the Union at all zards. I fee] that I have already trespassed too long on your patience. But it is a subject of vast importance, and I cannot close this letter without a few general remarks in reference to the foregoing views. At such a time, all good men will forbear, ex- change opinions, and reason, in the spirit of con- ciliation. Conscientious differences of opinion among men will always exist in relation to moral questions. Some conscientious men believe slavery to be a sin—other conscientious men believe that the law of property, which enables one man to hold what they insi the common gift of the Creator to his creatures, is sin. Again, still other conscientious men hold to take a glass of wine is sin, on through an endless variety of subjects. If these conscientious opinions, or any of them, pervade the majority, are all who do not hold them to be driven with fire and eword out of the Union, or compelled to yield their opinions, equally con- scientious, to the majority? ‘These notions are in- consistent with a wise moderation ; they come from an abuse of reason in the first place, and a proposed abuse of power in the second. Such arguments are always drawn principally from the excesses of a system, rather than from the If, and there lies the error; it is the er- ism which always puts in the plea of hether it burns the supposed heretic conscience, at the stake, or hunts down witchcraft, or impales the Nestorian, or fans the flame of civil war. Instead of railing with aes —— against a tem, because its excesses, Ww an: iecident to every human institution, we should calmly and dispassionately seek to extract the truth from the general rule, rather its excep- time ‘The aputem of alauany, system, has its excesses, its exceptions From general tule. But it is quite probable that there may exist in the one, as in the other, an absolute law, which is working out a beneficent result. man wishes to fall under the delusion of a universal fanaticism, it is only pecomery that he adopt the method of looking at the speci: stenlennetabe system, to the exclusion of the general law whic! ites them, and the work is done ; while he is sin ee —~ ae a ce the train itse| 8 long since passed on, leavil im to we more and more inflated with conceit, indignation, unholy zeal and misanthropic railing—all the natural results of so narrow-minded a jure. ie a a run off Si eee features out of the general complexion of any subject or t iidesses o2 ons Ieuancn los oneeaieanpeheiate ly enough, and the best thing within the range juman experience will become to hima bugbear. The individual, however, who neglects the “ at w of compensation” in judging of human affars, to the same method of judging to himself—a by his redeeming qualities, and looking only at his own excesses and defects, he will find in himself, if he is honest in the seareh, enough to satiate his appetite for condemnation and hate. It is far easier to condemn than to judge correctly—far easier to get into a passion about a subject than to get a comprehension of it, he idea that out of the institution of domestic slavery in this country is to spring the regeneration of Africa, derives, it seems to me, great force from the recurrence to past history. We invariably find that in the dispensation of Providence, nations which have been called to act an im; nt part in the work of human 38, have been led through a long previous discipline of trial; the restraints and endurance of youth have — the power and efficiency of manhood. ry subjection is the law of stable wth, and seems an indispensable condition of the ad- vancement of our race. ‘We have only to look back through a few cen- turies, to find the evidence of this in the annals of our race. Our ancestors were for centuries a dowa- trodden, enslaved and toili a The a Saxon race have become what they are, by a long training in the school of patient endurance; in the case ae under oppressive servitude to the t Norman; in the toed of een oppression our mot coun al ing discipline of colonial suffering. hs the life of a nation, hundreds of _ may be as a day : the life of an individual. fe for many generations to pass, ode to effect the mass, can be If all were willing, the work of national preparation might be more rapid; but thousands are to be made willing—and by the Providential adaptation of the means to the end. It is conceded, on all hands, that the probation of the African people, now in bondage on our shores, os to come to an end. That while there is an interchange of benefits be- tween the parties, there is at the same time a com- munity of evil, which renders it better, both for the whites and the blacks, that it should come to an When shall that time be, is the great question before the American people. In seeking an answer to this question, we may be sure there is some safer ground on which to take our stand, than that of political chieane, of fa- natical prejudice, or of any merely temporary or prudential expediency. If slavery is to be abolished now, then it is to be done in a moment. That is to say, at one stroke a comnmnity of three millions of people, habituated to a certain way of life, are to be thrown into new cizcumstances—a thing plainly preposterous, be- canse no kind of society changes its customs sud- denly and succeeds in doing well. Great changes in soeiety anust come in with previous preparation, or they come in to little — Seven years euf- ficed é fight the battles of the revolution, but many more were epent in preperation for that event, and mony tnore will be required to perfect its results. If Providence rules in the affairs of nations, the ex- istence of slavery has some prospective pu e, enly to be accomplished by ptior preparation for it. 4 nm us not | impatient or ——. yd rican ple are pass to their destiny a! the same path which has been trod by other na- tions, through a mixture of hardship, of endurance, but in e lend of light and amid a civilized society. They are preparing to accomplish a work for their native ce mt, which no other people in the world can secomplich. Their plain mission is, vi imetely, to carry the gifts of society, of religion, +f government, to the lost remaining continent of the earth—where these blessings are totally an- knew, Their work ic a great one, as it would seem te be connected ¢ ly with the final and universal uriumph of civilize and christianity, in the world, It is our daty to follow, not to ate to lead in the Ways and purposes of Providence. We cre fe move furward when the pillar of fire and clond moves forv..tu; and to rest when it rest, Doubtless there is @ tune for action; but it is chareetcristic ofall great cPanges, thet they make krown their own sevsons. That time, in the pre- sent instonce, has not yet come—for the manifest reason that the wey is not yet open for it. Whea the iene shall the wa will ith i ae ie the preparations for it be complete. settled this question, easily, quietly. Surely it is no great stretch of charity for us to suppose that in due time the same thing will be accomplished in the South. We of the North have given no liar evidence of superior goodness, that we should suppose the South not to be possessed of as much justice, charity and good sense as ourselves. I believe that the hour for the comptete enfran- chisement of the Southern slave, will be the hour of the complete preparation for the work of African redemption and civilization—and that hour will make itself known in the removal of all obstacles here and there; in the preparation of the workinen and the work; and I earnestly hope that, guided by happier influences than seem now to pervade the country, the pulpit, the press, the people of the North and the South, may give their thoughts and efforts to this subject in irit of Him, whose mission to our earth was heralded by the procla- mation of peace and good will. With great regard, = F. Srockron. The English Ministcr on American Orators, and the Battle of Buena Vista. SPEECHES OF SIR HENRY LYTTON BULWER AND THE HON. DANIEL WEBSTER, BEFORE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MARYLAND. The president of the day, introducing the first four regular toasts, said, before coming to the fifth :— Our board to-day i# graced by the presence of an illustrious citizen, whose baw? payed service is fami- liarly known to every houschold in the land, and made the theme of conversation and discourse wherever the citizens of our Union are accustomed to meet together. One who has for ey years been looked to as a guide and light to the people, and whose fame. far transcend- ing the limits of his country, has added new glories to her name wherever it is hea Whilst he is here at our banquet to-day, let him be remembered in our social pledge, and when he is gone. let him ever be so remembered at every festive board where friends of the American Union may be gathered together. I offer you— Daniel Webster—A consummate statesman, whose wisdom, equal to every emergency of affairs i invigorated and adorn= ed by that highest courage which walks in the path of duty the more stedfastly for the peril it te, Mr, Wrnsren then rose and said :—I cannot well say, Mr. President, how much Lam obliged to you for the very civil and kind toast offered in commendation of myself. Mr. President, there are‘men more easily van- quished by friends than foes, and I am one of those men, On an occasion like this, the recollection of which, I trust, will be deeply impressed upon any memory, I am completely unmanned by the flatteri tones of commendation which have just been utt q You have alluded to a7 performance of public duties in too strong terms. and to my mind they are scarcely merited. Men are courageous in proportion to the magnitude of the objects which demand and receive their dearest regard—which occupy a high place in their aspirations; indeed, I may well say that feeble men, of quiet nature have never fallen by the faggots of martyrdom. It was faith and hope that served them. Men will throw themselves into the sea, en- counter the rage of the tempest and the perils of the storm, to rescue an object of their affections. They will enter the house enveloped with flames, and expose their lives in attempts to rescue their fellow creatures, ‘as well as the property of their friends ; and, in every circumstance of life, men will act with a courage and a spirit undreaming of, or insensible to danget id which cannot fail to clevate and ennoble human nat Who is there, then, that will not be co us, if he finds himself in an emei Public servant, not new in the councils of th have recently felt that the emergency of the case demanded some- thing like risk, and endeavored to act accordingly. (Loud and continued applause.) Mr. President, there is a natural life sesigned to man, also, a political life ; and when it happens that man naturally dies, happy is he'who bas faithfully performed his duties, If-he has been faithful to the trust reposed in him, he may derive inexpressible consolation from such a course of life when called upon to die, and never comes to bis final end on earth too soon, in the defence of the con- stitution and liberties. (He was interrupted with bursts of applause, which continued seyeral minutes.) When, Mr. President and gentlemen, the Roman re- public was threatened with civil war, and arms intro- duced into the Senate, the orator of the ancient world—of all antiquity —in defending his measure, arose in his reat, and thus expressed his feelings :— il Marcus Tullus, what are you about? you suffer my approved enemy, him whom you see, who, you are sensible, s8 to tat t dof this impending War, whose presence i xpect; that spring, that first prin- . the wan wi my slaves, ny wo ‘as driven from, but into’ this cltyt thee, the tice of our ancestors? when it in this State, persone uninvested with ve often put to death their wicked coun- of posterity? A to, thy counter, which, self, without the merits = so early raised rious proof of gratitude, wing ee anly through iy cestors to speak in thy fa every gradation of subord rey Should ver ever dreadful, render thee remiss, when all that is threatened? But if art to dread reproach, art to dread it more on account of thy not being destitute of honesty and courage, than sloth and pusillanimity? When Italy shall be desolated wi foes, and her dwellii vn pei th ‘ame: ‘thi _ ‘and her dwe wraj oA m think, in'what 6 conflagration of reproach thou thyself mui . (The honorable er here showed the application of the extract in the relative condition of Italy, at the time in which it was delivered, and the recent in our own history, when the dissolution of the Union ‘war thseatened and allke feared. } fenthi ‘ic appl ause,) and I will live on and die the hope that such ‘a glorious Union as this will never perish. I(ncreased shouts of applause.) Indeed, when I reflect upon this momentuous subject, I cannot find out by any process who are to be disunited. nited States are \d to remain united. Differences of opinion and difference of interest exist in all countries, and must necossari ly exist. Can we better our own present happiness by Birt, Lconceive it impossible for ot jaryiand to go back to what it was. (Renewed ap- laure. Foret AN. a} Fo a mange pens achieved © independence country, and at a later period established the Union—they took all th Los themselyes. They bave left us to preserve and defend that which they have achieved, the establishment of the constitution. It is our duty to shed the last drop of blood to defend it. (Enthusiastic use.) We are bound to have a common interest. very laws of nature, as they arise from our geographical e! ter, forbid a separation of the States. y have 0 much cause to pursue a common end, that whoever Massachusetts cannot retrace her steps. Our tries to rate them must needs reverse our rivers and turn back their streams. Every man must see the ge of Union, Internal improvements connect ur, am he shortening of epace will strengthen the bonds of fellowship. (reat applause.) Gentlemen, f I approve the object 1 certainly flow ton 1, ennobling and intelligent research, will not detain you any longer of Your soelety: good results it.” It ie a rat society will be most prosper thus conduce to the interests of the I now give you, in honor of the early settlers t feerty nad the € May thei fu Crom—! ir united fi re and rerenerate the world. er atone Joun Hi. B. Lavnoi . now rose by appointment, to the sixth regular toast, which with an eloquent eulogium upon English arma, English Tierature. Maglish selence andart. flesaid-cl am satie- fied, Mr. President, that I am of all around me, when I eay that we rejoice to see at our festive board—im our midst—with ail the kindii- ness and homeliness of family intercourse—-the re sentative of England. One, sir, whose name, both in Uplomacy. has long and honorably nd who, we feel and know, would join id cecasion serve, in thore investixat istory of the past, that would soon waite us ommon pt ¢, upon common ground. 1 propose then. Mr. President, as a toast -— Sim Hewny Lyrrow Retwen—The Missionary of a kindred m we lo the our This sentiment elicited a round of applause that last- <a minutes. After the uproar had somewhat ful , Sin Hewny Betwer rose and said :—That in rising after the Senator from Massachusetts, he was re- ho being called upon to waid that the — adience sequit him ndscmel, his task. was xelaiming, ~Gen- tlemen, I to say ditto to illustrious orator who has sat down.” This would suit him expe- cially, for his very profession was that of silence; never- theless there was one feeling that ‘0 give utterance to, nor even allow the eloquence of hisitiewd: the Benator of Marsachusette. to express for him, namely, the warm and lively gratitude which he felt for the sentiment which had jtst been so kindly Proposed and 60 flatteringly received. If he had wanted ang asaien of the fact that the people of the United States and the people of Great Britain ought to live on terms of the closest friend- bom | with each other, he should have found such illus. tration im sneedote related to him during dinner, ud to the left. “I wae wandering one day,” man. in the woods of Baden, and lost luckily I met « strange gentleman, German. tongue are not intended by Providence to cut exch other's throats. If any two people in the world should dwell together in peaces it was those whom you have coupled im the tonet just given, and who were al. ready drawn closer together the very fact that it had been given. He would furthermore «ay tht if a treaty of eternal peace were to be contracted between these two people, there was no place so proper for rign- ing and ratifying euch a treaty as that in which thoy then were, nor any witnesses who could #0 duly testify to ite propriety as a society dedicated to the purpose and pursuits of history Yes, it wae history, which united the two p question, by giving to both a comme: things imperishable, lence, were cir hea he same household deiti to their ears. in Infancy and age, aro dies. and over their bierr, the same holy ious Alfred, to whom both cou ed for their old Saxom laws; the ma beth, to whom both alo were indebt ing the Englich and ret the Spanich la brave aud pelitio William, whe, while defying the feat monarch Of France on the continent. tay at me in the recoqnition of the great principles of civil aad religions Iberiy. the corner stones of every sath edifice of free government; (nnd he knew that he had only to mention efvil cid religious liberty in Mary- land. in order to excite ihe warmest enthusiasm; tl teat Princes, aud not only they—chak«peare aad ‘rous in their ing the sentiments Milton, Raleigh aud Bacon, tom and Locke, Elake and Mi ~ weciy on toed others almost «quully worthy to mention, though he should not then enumerate in their fame and nemeas much the of all there pre- sent as hig own; were as familiar y American heart. as to (he ‘of every English ae on the other side of the A’ But whilst he dwelt on those in whom the history of” the past gave Englishmen and Americans a copartaer- ship, and was proud of them, he was proud also-to see that as shoots of the old tree were transplanted grew up in the original form, and brought forth fruit. of the original charactor; and for this reason he z homage to men worthy of the ancient race of and whom future history, nev 88, W cl as altogether American. ‘here, indeed, could he find in old England a senator and orator more clear and concise in his logic. more copious and noble in his il- lustrations, more extensive and profound in ace Poa meraer® than au Laoag Bag New ngland—the gre: ses ebate, the wise, the- nee scccmplished, “the alssact ’Iesdasparable Daniel Webster? And where, amidst the statesmen of his own country. for whom he felt patriotically partial, where could he point to a statesman more gallant in his bearing. more chivalrous and heart-stirring in his elo- uence, more mild and moderate in his counsels, ie who united the experience of Nestor with the spirit of Achilles—the knight and sage of Kentucky, his able, amiable, and universally beloved friend, Heury Clay, whose absence was the only drawback to the pleasures. of hat entertainment. int poco ead his tg — had achievement those great Spaniards ried the cross and the sword into the New World, until he had read Hernan Cortes in the es of Prescott; and yet. just at the time it ap) to him that the heroes drawn by that t artist were matchless, if not fabulous, there stepped torth heroes from the artist's own land, who. on the country which he had taken as the subject of his immortal work, equalled or si | by thelr exploits those whose fms been describing. A gentle-- man had spoken of Agincourt. The name had sug- gested to him (Sir H. Bulwer) a singular oc applicable to the topic he was then speaking % @ battle of Agincourt was fought on the asth of October, on the plains of Picardy, in France. There enfeebied by sic lena ta givtag the sigesk vi fd to the English leader to bargain for his ransom, That leader's answer had been thus given— army bat s weak and slekly Fuard, a on went King Henry and bir gallant band, and off and on went an ni went, though not without a fight, the vaunting enomy. It was a it victory, and won on St. Crispin’s day. Well, in 1847 was fought another battle in a valley of bay a ~~ ae descendants of those who fought and conquered four centuries previous, were, as thelr ancestors had been on the oceaslon alluded to, few in numbers, fatigued by marching. enfeebled by sickness, and encom| foes. who. like the * con- fident and over lusty French,” felt so sure of success in the approaching contest, that their commander sent to the American commander, summoning him to sur- render at discretion. Did gentlemen remember the answer that was re- turned to this summons? They ought todoso, It would live in their history. If H. Bulwer) re- membered rightly, it ran thus; “ Head quarters near Buena Vesta, February 22. Sir—In reply to your note of this date, summoning me to surrender my forces at discretion, I beg leave to say I decline acceding to juest. I am sir, with greatest respect your ‘aylor.”’ servant, Zachary T: This was not poetry, but it was stout and sterling old Anglo-Saxon prose; and it was followed up in an there was a ‘Anglo-Saxon manner. Aj not this time on the birthday of Washington. But, did not the old battle Agincourt resem! the modern battle of Buena Vista? Might not they, who were proud of their fathers having been at one, be as proud that they themselves been at the other? He said, yes: and many were the gentlemen who had slept qu in their beds timore, on the night of the of February, who would at that moment give half their fortunes to have 4 eh quence and song. whose blood circ: veins of those who heard my them in the cabinet, the council chamber, ¢ field. But these were gloomy and Sores, ae had only ptnal, because he knew men rarely F ; z- rH dircovered how much loved « friend, until they contemplated the possibility of losing him. id Brishter and more picture offered to his eye. rell to be spread. The the future smiled on it, and Heaven ‘Mess it—for it was the union of family, and had for its object the benefit of the world. Navigation or tae St, Lawrence River.— Bh pone Meta of by dee inst., comme e wi ter to u St. Lawrenge River by "Ame iene oeeais hems a member of the Canadian ne. - 'DRONTO, ‘Mareh 90, 1850, Tem this morning receipt of your note of the Zith inst, and have plearure in giving you the in- now perm pase our to the sea—neither will” special poo og purpore be entertained. The fact is authorities of this Province look w the use of the St. Lawrence and Inland Nav @ valuable concession, which should not without an adequate compensation. The perm! to the Eurcka was granted by the Home Government, it hay been treated as a syecial case. An American vessel, fi becomes a privileges incident to that character. A dereription has a clear and indisputable right down to the sea, on payment of tolls now charged for the use of the a Political Intelliges Tue Naswvieee Convention ix Gronora.—A very small vote was polled throughout the 8 of for ae tes -<. ep Convention. nal a vs were polled; in Columbia, about 120; ‘and in Athens, but two votes were cast. New Yorx Etecrtoxs.—At the in Columbia county. the whigs elected nine and the de- mocrats eleven officers, Last year. there were fourteen: whigs and six democrats, I demoerate and two whigs, three democrats, In Wayne county, eight : pempnean Last year, nine whige and moerats, Supertor Court. Before Judge Sandford. Aran 10.—William in.—Mr. John Fe Jt. counsel on the plaintiff, claimed that on the 7th defendant sold out the ye Four hundred B Mormo: on the 26th ult. en toute for Salt Lake, tS VO There were 149 deaths by cholera in New Orleans, for the week ending the ult. There were 106 deaths in Philadelphia, for the week ending the 6th f ining 900 half barrels of powder. A houre, co at I Middlefield. Cotn.. was blown he Ist inst. The explosion wan heard at a dlosanee of thirty miles and corn crops of Lafourche jah, most entirely destroyed hy am Wall. Jr's, company were drowned in the harbor of Son Francisco, on the night of the 28th of January. Their names were Nat 1W. Wallace, Ist oMficer. of Beverly. Mase; Wellit Tuttle, Chas. W. Foster. oud Thomas F. Castle, of Bristol, Conn., and Erekiel W. Nettleton. of Milford. Conn. The trial of Dr. Webster gost the State of Massacha- setts about $2,000 The Legislature of Louisiana, at ite recent seesion, Passed 265 nwa, William Hantey is on trial at Providence, R. I., for the murder of his wife. Mary Hanley. There werg ithe in Baltimore, for the week ending the Sth inet The D are river was so much swollen by the late storm. that all the mills about Lambertville have sus- pended operations. Job Barrett. Se oe thine confine: sen 8. an abolitionist, died at ., on sucpicion ublin, Indiana, ow the ultime, R chard, whe died recently Loner, Maen besuenthed 860000 Tor the foueding of te a hig beak in t town, harles Whitford, confined for twelve years in the Maceneht State prison, for murder, has heen par- domed by Governor of that State. |