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Show 366 'PlliC AGI'l'ATlON IN 1847-50. try an<l its inslitntions. It is brief: I will scnrl it to tho Secretary lo be read. rl,he t i lllC or the cnn.te cannot bo better occupied ihn.n in list.<'ninp; to iL: 11 J\loNTI ET.LO, April 22, ] 20. ' 1 I thn.nk you, den.r sir, for the copy yon lmvc been so kirHl n. to s nd rllc of the letter to your con:.;tilucnts on tho .Missouri qnrHlinn. n is a lH'l'f('(!t justifi<'atiun to them. I h:td for n. long tiuw cear-:~c•rl to rc:Ht ne\\' Sp:~pc rs, or pny nny n.Ltcnt.ion to public uff1tirs, ·onfid 'nt they were in good hands, and content, to he n Jllt'lseng-cr· iu our lJnrk to tho ~horo from wlli<·h I nm not. distant.. But this momentous quest ion, lik' n lin·-lH'll in t.he nig-ht., awakenerl nncl fill ed me with terror. J CUIIS id rr <1 it ttl OIICC ns the knell of tho Urrion. It is !rushed, indeed, for the moment; but this is a l'('pricv' only, not n. finnl sent 11 '<'. A gcogTaphical line, ('o: n ~ · idin g with a marked principle, morul an<l political, onc·e concl'ivc•d nnd h ' lcl up lo t.he nngry pn.·Hions of men, will never be oblit 'rat.c<l; nn<l eve ry new irri tation will mark it deeper and tlecpcr. I enn say, with coni'icious truth I that then' is not rt man on earth who wonld . acrifice more than r would to relieve ll.' from this heavy I'C'proneh, in nny ptadt.('abfe way. 'l'h' cession of that kind of property (for so it is misnamctl) i. a bag-at ' li e, whieh wonld noL co. t me a l:'econd thonp;ht, if, in that wny, n. general cmnncipntion nn<l e.rzmiriation could be c1Teete<l; nnd grndnnlly, n.nd with dne sacririct'R, I think iL might be. But ns it is, we h:we the wolf by the cnrs, nnd we can ncithct· hohl him not· I safl·ly lrt him ~o. Ju. lice iH in on scale, nncl self-prcsct·vn- 1inn in the Other. Of one thing f am certain, that fiR the frcr passage of slnve. from one ~..ta t e to n.noih r woulcl not make a sln.re of a sing-le hnm:tn being who wonl<l not be so withont it, so th 'i r <lifl'lrsinn ovt'r n. g-rrn.t 't' surface would mn kr I hc•nt ind ivitlually ha pp il'r, n.n<l pro portionnlly fucil itat c the aecom pi ish men t of thei r crn n.nei pation, by dividing the bnr<l<m on n grcntrr numhrr of condjnto rs. An n.bsti 'J'!IE AOI'l,A'rlON TN 1< 47- GO. nence, too, from this act of power, wonld r 'move tllo jealousy 'XC iLed by lhc lllld('l'takirq; or CongTCf-iH Lo 1' gnlo. te Lhc (.'0 llt1ition or Lhc differ 'IlL de~cription::; of Jll('ll COIIIposing n. ,ta.Le. 'L'his e<'rtninly iR the cxcl u s i n~ ri ~hL of every 'Late, wh ich nothing in Llw ,onst itntion hns taken from thc111, and g iv •n to the general ~ovc rr tm nL. Uoulcl Co11 grcsB, for exam pic, say t lmt the HOH-f'reemcn of Connccticnt Hirai I be freemen, or Llw L t hc'y slwll not emigrate in to rtny other HLnt •? 11 J r gTct thn.L I nm now to <lie in the hcli f, that the uscless so.crifico of themselves hy the genemlion of 177G, io ncqnire self-governm nt n.n<.l happi11 esH tu their cou nlry, is to be thrown n.way by the nnwii'ie and unworthy passions of their sons, n.nd that my only ·onsolntion is to be, that 1 li vo not, to weep over it. If they woul<l but diRpnssionnlcly weigh the blessings t.hcy will throw nwn.y, ngainst nn abstract principle, more likely to be cll'cet '<1 by union than by R<·ecssion, they would pnusc before they would perpctrnte this net of suicide on Lhcmsclvcs, and of' t rPn.son against the h<>JH'R of t.hc world. 'ro you rs If as the f:titltf'ul advocate of Lhc Union, I ic11<ler the oll'cri11g of my high cslrem atHl re-spect. 11 TJIO.MA J l•~FFgH.SON." "J ouN ITor.MER, Esq." Murk his prophetic words! Mu.rk his profound reasoning I "It [the question] is hushed fo?· the momrml. nut this is n rl'pn'c1 c only, not n, final .'if'?ilcnee. A geogmphien.l line coincicling with n. marked principlr, morn! n.n<1 politien.l, once concdved and lif'ld 117J to !lw anyry l)(Ts:·duns of men, wfll ne1•e?· be oblilr?·atf'd, anrl (n n·y new i?Tilatirm w1"1l mm·k it de<';wr and rlt' l'JW1' ." Twenty-eig-ht. yra r8 hnvC' p:1ssc•(1 since thrRe rcm nrkn.hlc words were penned, rt11cl there is not n. thonf;ltt which timo hns not thus fn.r verified, nnd it is to he fcnrod will continno |
