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HENRY CLAY-JOHN Q. ADAMS.

HENRY CLAY.

As a mere laborer, the slave feels that he toils for his master, and not for himself; that the laws do not recognise his capacity to acquire and hold property, which depends altogether upon the pleasure of his proprietor, and that all the fruits of his exertions are reaped by others. He knows that, whether sick or well, in times of scarcity or abundance, his master is bound to provide for him by the all-powerful influence of self-interest. He is generally, therefore, indifferent to the adverse or prosperous fortunes of his master, being contented if he can escape his displeasure or chastisement, by a careless and slovenly performance of his duties.

That labor is best, in which the laborer knows that he will derive the profits of his industry, and his employment depends upon his dili gence, and his reward upon his assiduity. He then has every motive to excite him to exertion, and to animate him in perseverance. He knows that if he is treated badly, he can exchange his employer for one who will better estimate his service; and that whatever he earns is his, to be distributed by himself as he pleases, among his wife and children, and friends, or enjoyed by himself. In a word, he feels that he is a free agent, with rights, and privileges, and sensibilities.

Wherever the option exists to employ, at an equal hire, free or slave labor, the former will be decidedly preferred, for the reasons already assigned. It is more capable, more diligent, more faithful, and in every respect more worthy of confidence.

It is believed that nowhere in the farming portion of the United States would slave labor be generally employed, if the proprietor were not tempted to raise slaves by the high price of the southern market, which keeps it up in his own.

[Speaking of an attempt more than thirty-five years ago, to adopt gradual emancipation in Kentucky, Mr. Clay says:]

We were overpowered by numbers, and submitted to the decision of the majority with the grace which the minority, in a republic, should ever yield to such a decision. I have nevertheless never ceased, and never shall cease, to regret a decision, the effects of which have been, to place us in the rear of our neighbors, who are exempt from slavery, in the state of agriculture, the progress of manufactures, the advance of improvement, and the general prosperity of society.-Address before the Colonization Society.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

Not three days since, Mr. Clayton, of Georgia, called that species of population (viz. slaves) the machinery of the South. Now that machinery had twenty odd representatives* in that hall,-not elected by the machinery, but by those who owned it. And if he should go back to the history of this government from its foundation, it would be easy to prove that its decisions had been affected, in general by less

[There are now twer.ty-five odd representatives-that is, representatives of slaves.]

DUFF GREEN-JOSEPH RITNER.

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majorities than that. Nay, he might go further, and insist that that very representation had ever been, in fact, the ruling power of this government.

The history of the Union has afforded a continual proof that this representation of property, which they enjoy, as well in the election of President and Vice President of the United States, as upon the floor of the House of Representatives, has secured to the slaveholding states the entire control of the national policy, and, almost without exception, the possession of the highest executive office of the Union. Always united in the purpose of regulating the affairs of the whole Union by the standard of the slaveholding interest, their disproportionate numbers in the electoral colleges have enabled them, in ten out of twelve quadriennial elections, to confer the Chief Magistracy upon one of their own citizens. Their suffrages at every election, without exception, have been almost exclusively confined to a candidate of their own caste.-Speech in Congress, Feb. 4, 1833.

GENERAL DUFF GREEN.

We are of those who believe the South has nothing to fear from a servile war. We do not believe that the abolitionists intend, nor could they, if they would, excite the slaves to insurrection. The danger of this is remote. We believe that we have most to fear from the organized action upon the consciences and fears of slaveholders themselves; from the insinuations of their dangerous heresies into our schools, our pulpits, and our domestic circles. It is only by alarming the consciences of the weak and feeble, and diffusing among our own people a morbid sensibility on the question of slavery, that the abolitionists can accomplish their object. Preparatory to this, they are now laboring to saturate the non-slaveholding states with the belief that slavery is a sin against God; that the "national compact" involves the non-slaveholders in that sin; and that it is their duty to toil and suffer, that our country may be delivered from what they term its blackest stain, its foulest reproach, its deadliest curse.-Southern

Review.

JOSEPH RITNER.

Last, but worst of all, came the base bowing of the knee to the dark spirit of slavery.

For the preservation of this last and most cherished article of our national political creed, the sacrifice of which has not yet been completed, it is our duty to make all possible effort.

To ascertain what have been, nay, what are the doctrines of the people of this state, on the subject of domestic slavery, reference need only be made to the statute book and journals of the legislature. They will be found imprinted in letters of light upon almost every page. In 1, Smith's Laws, 493, is found an "act for the gradual abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania," with a preamble which should be printed in letters of gold. This is the first act of the kind passed in any part of the Union, and was nobly put forth to the world, in the year 1780,

in the midst of the struggle for national freedom. This just doctrine was, through a long course of years, adhered to and perfected, till slavery ceased in our state. And finally, in 1827, the following open avowal of the state doctrine, was prefaced to the act "to prevent certain abuses of the laws relative to fugitives from labor." "The traffic in slaves, now abhorred by all the civilized world, ought not in the slightest degree to be tolerated in the state of Pennsylvania.”—Pamphlet Laws, page 485.

Not only has Pennsylvania thus expelled the evil from her own borders, but she has on all proper occasions, endeavored to guard her younger sisters from the pollution. On the 19th of December, 1819, the following language was unanimously made use of by the legislature, and approved of by the governor, on the question of admitting new states into the Union, with the right of holding slaves.

"That the senators and representatives of this state, in the congress of the United States, be, and they are hereby requested to vote against the admission of any territory as a state into the Union, unless the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be prohibited, and all children born within the said territory after its admission into the Union as a state, shall be free, but may be held to service until the age of twenty-five years."

The preamble to this resolution, too long to be cited at large, is worthy of all consideration at the present juncture.

On the much discussed question of slavery in the District of Columbia, there never has been any thing like hesitation. On the 23d of January, 1819, the legislature passed a resolution instructing our representatives in congress to advocate the passage of a law for its abolition; and the voice of public opinion, as expressed through the press, at meetings, and in petitions, has been unchanging on the subject.

These tenets, then, viz: opposition to slavery at home, which, by the blessing of Providence, has been rendered effectual; opposition to the admission into the Union of new slaveholding states; and opposition to slavery in the District of Columbia, the very hearth and domestic abode of the national honor-have ever been, and are the cherished doctrines of our state. Let us fellow-citizens, stand by and maintain them unshrinkingly and fearlessly. While we admit and scrupulously respect the constitutional rights of other states, on this momentous subject, let us not, either by fear or interest, be driven from aught of that spirit of independence and veneration for freedom, which has ever characterized our commonwealth.

Above all, let us never yield up the right of free discussion of any evil which may arise in the land or any part of it; convinced that the moment we do so, the bond of union is broken. For the union being a voluntary compact to continue together for certain specified purposes, the instant one portion of it succeeds in imposing terms and dictating conditions upon another, not found in the contract, the relation between them changes, and that which was union becomes subjection.Message to Pennsylvania Legislature, 1836.

TEXAS AND MEXICO.

TEXAS AND MEXICO.

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But the prime cause, and the real object of this war, ere not dis tinctly understood by a large portion of the honest, disinterested, and well-meaning citizens of the United States. Their means of obtaining correct information upon the subject have been necessarily limited; and many of them have been deceived and misled by the misrepresentations of those concerned in it, and especially by hireling writers of the newspaper press. They have been induced to believe that the inhabitants of Texas were engaged in a legitimate contest for the maintenance of the sacred principles of liberty, and the natural, inalienable rights of man:whereas, the motives of its instigators, and their chief incentives to action, have been, from the commencement, of a directly opposite character and tendency. It is susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that the immediate cause, and the leading object of this contest, originated in a settled design, among the slaveholders of this country, (with land speculators and slave-traders,) to wrest the large and valuable territory of Texas from the Mexican Republic, in order to re-establish the SYSTEM OF SLAVERY; to open a vast and profitable SLAVE MARKET therein; and ultimately to annex it to the United States. And further, it is evident-nay, it is very generally acknowledgedthat the insurrectionists are principally citizens of the United States, who have proceeded thither for the purpose of revolutionizing the country; and that they are dependant upon this nation, for both the physical and pecuniary means, to carry the design into effect. Whether the national legislature will lend its aid to this most unwarrantable, aggressive attempt, will depend on the VOICE OF THE PEOPLE, expressed in their primary assemblies, by their petitions and through

the ballot boxes.

The land speculations, aforesaid, have extended to most of the cities and villages of the United States, the British colonies in America, and the settlements of foreigners in all the eastern parts of Mexico. All concerned in them are aware that a change in the government of the country must take place, if their claims should ever be legalized.

The advocates of slavery, in our southern states and elsewhere, want more land on this continent suitable for the culture of sugar and cotton and if Texas, with the adjoining portions of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Santa Fe, east of the Rio Bravo del Norte, can be wrested from the Mexican government, room will be afforded for the redundant slave population in the United States, even to a remote period of time.

Such are the motives for action-such the combination of interests -such the organization, sources of influence, and foundation of authority, upon which the present Texas Insurrection rests. The resi dent colonists compose but a small fraction of the party concerned in it. The standard of revolt was raised as soon as it was clearly ascertained that slavery could not be perpetuated, nor the illegal specula tions in land continued, under the government of the Mexican Republic. The Mexican authorities were charged with acts of oppression, while the true causes of the revolt-the motives and designs of the insurgents

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BENJAMIN LUNDY..

-were studiously concealed from the public view. Influential slaveholders are contributing money, equipping troops, and marching to the scene of conflict. The land speculators are fitting out expeditions from New York and New Orleans, with men, munitions of war, provisions, &c., to promote the object. The Independence of Texas is declared, and the system of slavery, as well as the slave-trade (with the United States,) is fully recognized by the government they have set up. Commissioners are sent from the colonies and agents are appointed here, to make formal application, enlist the sympathies of our citizens, and solicit aid in every way that it can be furnished. The hireling presses are actively engaged in promoting the success of their efforts, by misrepresenting the character of the Mexicans, issuing inflammatory appeals, and urging forward the ignorant, the unsuspecting, the adventurous, and the unprincipled, to a participation in the struggle.

Under the erroneous construction of the treaty with Mexico, General Gaines was authorized to cross the boundary line with his army; to march seventy miles into the Mexican territory; and to occupy the military post of Nacogdoches, in case he should judge it expedient in order to guard against Indian depredations! And further; he was likewise authorized to call upon the governors of several of the southwestern states for an additional number of troops, should he consider it necessary.

From the Pensacolo Gazette.

"About the middle of last month, General Gaines sent an officer of the United States army into Texas to reclaim some deserters. He found them already enlisted in the Texian service to the number of two hundred. They still wore the uniform of our army, but refused, of course, to return. The commander of the Texian forces was applied to, to enforce their return; but his only reply was, that the soldiers might go, but he had no authority to send them back. This is a new view of our Texian relations."

The following decrees and ordinances are translated from an official compilation by authority of the government of MEXICO.

Extract from the Law of October 14th, 1823.

Article 21. Foreigners who bring slaves with them, shall obey the Laws established upon the matter, or which shall hereafter be established.

DECREE OF JULY 13, 1824.

Prohibition of the Commerce and Traffic in Slaves.

The Sovereign General Constituent Congress of the United Mexican States has held it right to decree the following:

1. The commerce and traffic in slaves, proceeding from whatever power, and under whatever flag, is forever prohibited, within the territories of the United Mexican States.

2. The slaves, who may be introduced contrary to the tenor of the preceding article, shall remain free in consequence of treading the Mexican soil.