on the subject of slavery, could not have designed to give it the power of agitation-a power which would have annihilated all restraints, and laid the domestic rights of the South at the very fect of the central government. Let the general government but possess and exercise a right to agitate the subject of slavery in the South, to use the influence of her public councils, the power of her immense patronage, and of the treasury of the country-and she will not need the empty privilege of legislation. The South will be completely at her mercy.

Should the abolitionists triumph in the approaching effort, they would make the general government an abolition engine. The measure of abolition in the District would be regarded as a direct and emphatic approval of the course of the abolitionists. The fanatics would take fresh courage; the venal and time-serving would flock to a standard sustained by the government; and the cause would soon be considered "the cause of the country." The passage of the act referred to would put the seal of national sanction on the calumnies and vituperation of the abolitionists against the South; and would hold the citizens of that section of the country up to the detestation of the world, as brutal and fiendlike monsters, destitute of mercy and justice, and wholly sordid and savage in their character and habits. It would do more—it would extend to the slaves of the South, hopes that would madden them. The government itself would become incendiary; and the slaves, like those of St. Domingo, under a like policy of the French government, would respond to the lure held out, and rise in a mass to commence the work of murder and desolation. With the countenance of the general government, it is impossible to say what would be the results of an insurrection of the slaves of the South. The dangers are, at least,

sufficient to make it the duty of the South to guard against them. The lives of the citizens of the South, and all that is dear to them, depend on their preserving, wholly untouched, their jurisdiction over the slave question. The power that violates these rights, is their worst foe-and as such, must and will be met.

The passage of such an enactment by Congress would be a virtual infraction of the compact between the general government and the States of Virginia and Maryland. It cannot be supposed, even by the most insane of the fanatics, that those States would have ceded their territory to the United States, if they had supposed that the national government possessed the power to pass an act of abolition; or could ever so far forget its own character as to assume such power. Would they have exposed their own citizens to be thus robbed of their property? Would they would Washington himself, have sanctioned a measure which would be certain to endanger the institutions of Virginia and Maryland, and found a city of refuge for the reception and shelter of the runaway slaves from those States? It cannot be, for one moment, believed. These States would be deeply injured by such a measure; and they, as well as the citizens of the District, would regard it as unauthorized, unjust, and oppressive. The general government would be petitioned by the whole District, to remove the seat of government, and recede the District to the States from which it was received. Amid such opposition and contention, surrounded by an indignant and injured population, the government would find itself placed, by its injustice, in a situation so embarrassing, that in all probability it would be constrained to remove the seat of its deliberations to some remote and more tranquil spot. The government of the United States, in adopting

the District of Columbia as the site of the capital, · never contemplated an interference with the existing right of the inhabitants to their slaves. Had the measures now urged been anticipated, the seat "of government would have been fixed in one of the non-slaveholding States, where the government would not have been disturbed by the agitation of this ill-fated question. It may be added, also, that the slave-holders in the administration, of which the sainted Washington-a slave-holder was the chief, would never have sanctioned the measure, had they supposed that the question of slavery in the District was open to Northern interference.

But whatever right may be claimed, for Congress, in the District of Columbia, it will be admitted that it has no greater power than a local legislature would have, were the District a State, and Congress its legislature. No republican, no lover of freedom, no friend of justice, will deny that it would be improper and oppressive, should Congress assume powers which such a legislature would not possess. It may, therefore, be presumed, that Congress will be guided by the rules which would control such a legislature; and will consult the interests, but more than all, the will of the community. If the voters of the District are anxious for the abolition of slavery, it is well. If, on the contrary, they are opposed to it-to trample on their will, would be but a humiliating specimen of American liberty and justice. When the national government is convinced that the will of the community, for which she legislates, the community of which she is the protector, craves abolition, then let its inhabitants be robbed of their property, despoiled of their rights, and offered up as sacrifices at the shrine of Northern fanaticism.

The surrender of the District of Columbia would prove one of the most afflicting calamities which

could be visited upon the South. It would become the focus of the abolitionists. They would make it their head-quarters-the laboratory for the preparation of their incendiary weapons. From this place, they would operate, with irresistible effect, upon the surrounding country; and in a short time completely pervade the south with their insurrectionary spirit. The district, too, would become the shelter of tens of thousands of fugitive slaves. Arrangements would be made to receive them, and forward them by sea to the North. Thus the District would become the avenue, by which the slaves of the south would pass on to freedom, at the North.

The opposition to slavery in the, District of Columbia has existed ever since its cession to the United States. As early as in 1805, the following resolution was brought forward in the House of Representatives.

"Resolved, That from and after the 4th of July, all blacks and people of colour that shall be born within the District of Columbia, whose mothers shall be the property of any person residing within said District shall be free; the males at the age of and the females at the age of —————.”

This resolution was rejected; ayes 31, noes 77. The views of the South on this subject are distinctly understood. The people of the slaveholding States deny the right of Congress to discuss the subject; and are prepared to act, as one man, in vigorous and determined opposition to any measure, calculated to undermine their rights and endanger their tranquillity and safety. In some of the meetings recently held at the South on this subject, the representatives of the South in Congress were requested, to vacate their seats the moment the discussion of abolition commenced. The following firm and eloquent appeal from the South to the North, published in the

Richmond Inquirer, and extensively recopied, will exhibit the feelings and determination of the South on this subject.

"The South, therefore, calls upon the North to put forth her strength, and assist us in putting down the emissaries of the fanatics, and their poisonous presses-and, moreover, to keep off their hands from the District of Columbia. It is neutral ground, with which neither party is permitted to meddle. 'Pass not the Iberus, (as the Romans warned the Carthagenians.) Touch not Saguntum.' We warn you in the most ingenuous but respectful terms, touch not the District-disturb not the order of things, which has been established there since the foundation of the government-violate none of the rights of property which belong to her people, originally the citizens of two slave States, and protected by their laws. Open no asylum in the slave region, and on the borders of Virginia, for fugitive slaves or incendiary emissaries. The federal constitution never could have intended to convey any jurisdiction to Congress over this delicate and agitating subject. Beware, then, we beseech you! You are kindling a flame which must consume the sacred temple of the Union itself. The South has taken her stand on this subject, from which she will not depart. She will not permit the discussion for one moment of such petitions. She will consider the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia as forbidden ground in debate. Here they are on a footing as firm, and occupy a position as strong, as they do, when they reject interference, in an open manner, with the institution of slavery within their limits. They may with safety point to the constitution, and demand whether agitation can be justified and upheld by the authority of Congress, and whether it does not impair the securities to slave pro