| OCR Text |
Show 274 'rTTE MISSOURI QUF.STION. ized to illhibit Rlavcry in tho territory, than they nrc in tho State-for, if they should have tho power, iL would indirectly oil'cct the same thing; it not being difficult to sec, that, when a territory hn.s been, like Missouri, for sixteen years in a strict state of tcrr~torial discipline, ~r~bibiting slavery, when the period arnvcs for her adtmsswn as a State she will be peopled entirely by inhabitants not having I . slaves, and who will, of co urse, insert the prohiuition in their constitution. It ought to be remembered, Ml'. Chairmnn, that the greatest part of the dcl>t due for LouiBiann. is still unpaid, n.nd that, if tbc mode I have n sorted, by which your treasury is now furnished, and mn, t be in fu turc, is true, then tho slavcholding States will have more than half of the purchase to pay; IJnt, suppose we have only one-half of it to pay, is it not fair·, is it not just, thai the usc of this purchase D~~~;::;~~~~~:=----.) should be as open to the inhabitants of the slavcholding, as to the inhuiJitants of the non-slavcbolding States? And }tow can this happen, if you say to the inhabitants of the Northern States, you may go there with your fn.milics, and all your properties; bnt, if you, from the Southern or slaveholding States, choose to go there, it must be without your slaves, these shall not go ? thus denying to the, e tbe instruments of their agriculture, and the means of their comfort, and completely preventing the possibility of their removing. From this, sir, will arise another evil, that of t.ho fall of tho vnJuo of all the lands the United States may have to sell in the rrcrritorics or States from which slavery is excluded, at least one-half, which, if the computations of the number of acres come any thing ncar the mark, must amount to at least six hundreds of millions of dol1ars to the common treasury. I have not condescended to notice tho remark, that one of the evils of slavery is, the lessening and depreciating tho <'haracter of the whites in the slaveholding States, and ren- 'l'liE MISSOURI QUESTION. 27G dering it less manly and republican, and less worthy, than in tho non-slavcholding States, because it iH not Ic. s d 'orous than true; it is refut ·din a moment l>y a revi w of the revolutionary, and particulal'ly the last war. Look in to your histories, com pare tho conduct of the heroes and stalesmen of tho N orlh and South, in both tl10sc wars, jn the field and in the Senate; sec the monumenlH of valor, of wisdom, and patriotism, they have left l>chind them, and then ask an impartial world, on which side the Delaware lies the preponderance: they will answer in a moment, to tho Sout11• Jt, will not l>c a matter of surprise to any one, thai so much anxiety should be showu by the slavcholding Stales, when it is known that tho alarm, gi von by this attempt to legislaic on slavery, has led to the opinion that the very foundations of that kind of property are shaken ; that the c. tablishmcnt of the prcccclcn t is a measure of the most alarming nature; for, ,'hould succeeding Congresses continue to push it, there is no knowing to what length it may IJc carried. Jiavc the Northern States any idea of the vnJuc of our slaves? At least, , ir, Rix hundred millions of dollars. If we lose them, tho value of the lands they cultivate will be dimini shed in all cases one-half, and, in many, they will become wholly usclesR, and an annual income of at least forty millions of dollars will be lost to your citizens; the loss of which will not alone be felt hy the non-slo.vcholding States; but by tho whole Union ; for, to whom, at presen t, do the Eastern States most particularly, and the Eastern and N orihcrn generally, look for the employment of theil' shipping, in iran 'portillg our l>ulky and valuable products, and brino-ing us the manufactures and merchandises of Europe? Another thing, in case of these losses being brought on us, and our being forced into a division, what becomes of your public debt ? Who arc to pay this, and how will it be paid? In a pecuniary view of this subject, |
