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Report of the Committee on Federal Relations. 1835 26 (1835)

handle is hein.slavery/ssactssc0280 and id is 1 raw text is: 26 COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL RELATIONS. hd Senate, Dec. 10, 1835. The Joint Committee on Federl Rlations, to whont was referred so much of His Excelleniy the Governor's Message, as r'dates to the Institution of Domestis Slavery, and the Invend iary proceedings of the Aboli tionists in the Non-Slavehold. iug States, beg leave to Report:-That they have given to this subject the deep and nnxionis considoration which both iromn its intrinsic importance, and from the pro. found and patriotic reflections of the Executive, it so abyiously demands. They desire to respond in terms of the most emiphatic concurrence and approba. tiotn to the view wllivih his excellency is plea seid to present of the inild and patri. arelial character of the Institution of' Domistic Slivery in the Southern Slates, its inflierice on national character and civil liberty. mn filde nature of' those obligations, resulting from tn coustil utionjal compact, amd the principls of international law, lipon whichouir tenur' to t his sloewls of piroperty so inviolbiily rests. TIhe prielt. conidition of' th slave qustion in thn States of' this confederacy, pre. sents one of' th most extraordiinary siectaicl'es Vltihih, your colinistne will venture to assert, has eveir ciullenged the noticn' of I lie civiliz'di world. We see Sovereign States. iiited by a coiion leagu', ini about one half of' vhiehl States the institu- tion of slavery not onily exists, but its legal existence is solenally recognized and guaranteed by their compact of' inionI. Yet in t he theu' of this compact, inid tile n10111' ind distiict atllliSSan1i, that. theM upnm-slavi'iolding States havi' ioet the slightest right, eitherconlitit uti onally Or otllrwise, to iiblerfere with this institution, tile most incendiary astsociations are tol'rated or pieriltted to exist within lheir limits, the ob. ject atd ends (if whicth not only strike at the prosperitY and happiness of' eleven States in the conf'iracV, Ibutat th'ir very seent u'xistenice. Painful as it llay be, it is impossible to disguise the fhlut, that this is a condition of things wich cannot, ill the long runl, be peillitted to exist. Every wise instinct of self- Irese'rvaltion forbids it. Let it b admitted, that the three millions of' free white inhabitants in the slive-holinig Staits are imply competent to hal in secure and lIacific subjection the two millions of slaves, whichl, iy the inscrutalble (ispellsations of Providence, haveeion placil uldr our donei'ion. Let it le admitted, that, by reason Of' all eflicient police uinl judicious internal legisition, we may render abor- tive the designs of the flnatic a;nd incendiary within our own limits, and that the torrent of' paumphlits and tracts which the Abolition presses of the North are pouring forth with an inexhaustible copiousness, is arrestod ile iomeit it reaches our fron- tier. Are we to wait until our enemies have built up, by the 7;rossest misrepreson. tations and fidsehoods, a body of' public opinion against us, which it would be almost impossible to resist, without separating ourselves from the social system of the rest of the civilized world? Or.are we to sit (town content, because from our own vigil. anice aml courage the torch of' the incendiary and tie angucr of the midnight assas- iiin may never be applied? This is impossible. No people can live in a state of perpetual excitement and apprehension, although real danger may be long deferred. Such a condition of the public imind is destructive of all social happiness, and con- sequently must prove essentially injurious to the prosperity of a community that has the weakiess to suffer under a perpietual panic. This would be true, if the -causes of this excitemtieft proceeded frot tie external hostility of a foreign nation. But how infinitely interesting and monentous the consideration becomes, when they flow from the itsand doings of citizens of Stiates, with whom we are not only in amity, but to whom we are bound by the strongest bonds of a common union. Which was framed to promote the lappiness, peace, security, and protection of all. We have, therefore, a1 c1aim oIl the Gov'rnmruentts of tile non-slaveholditig States, not only moral and socinl, but of itlispensibl' constitutional obligation, tilat TIS NUjtNCE SuAL. 11E AuATED. They not only owe it to us, but they owe it to them- selves, to that Union, at whose shrine they have so often. offered up the highest pled- ges, by which man cal pl ight his temporail fith. Your Committee would be inclined to retcommend to this Legislature to make an ex plicit demind on the non-slaveholding States, for the passage of penal laws by their Legislatures, providing for the punishment of ihe incendiaries within their lim- its, 'Who a1: are engaiged in an at'ocious cospiracy ngainst our right of property and life. But acordial confidence, a fi'aternal feeling, and the colmity which belongs to

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