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WASHINGTON CITY. j? ? " ' ?'>'/ 1 ? ? en SUNDAY. MA Kill SO, I860 t|M btfc SLAVERY IN AMERICAN POLITICS. fuj Though opposed to the eternal discussion of yj{ slavery, we ahull luake no apology for publishing the ^ remarkable letter ou the subject which occupiea u ^ portion of our paper this moruiug. It is the production of a man who has evidently boxed tie coinpass of northern fanuticiams and follies, and has returned, a weary and repentant prodigal, to the pa- ' jt | tenia! roof of the constitution of his country, to the j ^ conservative measures of the founders of our politi- j((g cal system. We have not read, for many months, u ! ^ piece of composition so pithy, so sententious, so ^ able, so sound, catholic, or conservative in its Bontion ments and conclusions as this letter of Mr. Lovejoy. . The production is the more remarkable, as the ex pression of the sentiments, not alone of tho individ- ^ ual author of it, but of an iinmcnso class of honest sec men at the North who are sick to disgust of the ^ abominable fallacies of anti-slavery fanaticism. It ncj is die production of a "representative" mind, and ^ llio conclusion* which it enforces are, those, we <1 ir doubt not, of au immense majority of honest, candid ^ men in the uortheru States, lint, although publishing this strong document on this subject, wo must ^ ;| not fail to reiterate our reprobation of the habit tho whole circle of our American politicians have fallen ' into of making slavery tho chief topic of partisan ' debate and gladiation. It is quite as necessary to understand who is specially interested in tho extension of slavery as to Hl1^ know who it is that would overthrow that institution cXI c ,1... o,_i ...i tin. . _ tor OI HOCluiy in uiu oiait'B wiittiu it UAiom. Iin.iu in a sad misapprehension all over tlio country about the character of slavery?how it lives?by whom it is ^' maintained, aud for what ends. It has been so long denounced in the free States that the South has come to regard it as the chief object of rational existence, not only to support it, but make it the very cor- l" nor-stone and foundation of civil government. It 4 lias been thrust into the foreground of every reprc- lt 1 scutatiou of the southern States. When the subject >"t of federal revenues is discussed, slavery is suro to ^u' crowd itself into the very heart of the discussion. If the interests of this government in Central America comes under examination, slavery is certain to ^ i creep into the inquiry, and the subject must take on (ji(| the lights aud shades of that omnicieut institution. If the question of maintaining the army and navy is r under advisement, slavery is brought up again, and pathc claims of both are measured by the bearing they dim happen to have upon that everlasting interest. Cer- llii 1 tain it is that. American politics have somo how got 1 sadly mixed up with slavery. It is in every I jl man's mouth?on every tongue; and promises to become, in an early future, quito equal to the em- u, ployment of all tho spare intellectof American repre- COI, sentatives in the national legislature. It is very too proper, thorefore, that tho public should understand Ap 'I distinctly what is this wondoriul institution of '1 slavery. tio1 i We do not underrato its importance in connection I with the industry of tho Stales where it exists ; but ,j ' we are convinced its naturo and character are not very yjr well appreciated there. It is not, and never ought ; I to liavo been, tho subject of political controversy at 1L'h i all- Its very importance is enough to prove this. Wi, We doubt exceedingly whether the actual owners nec of slaves have been foromost, or are now foremost, in investing their proporty iuto national politics. There lnc iB not another kind of property in tho Union lhat 'j could bear such an ordeal. When slave ten- me ureB wo subjected to the caprice of politicians and 1o\ the value of that species of property is made to ebb ' and flow with the success or defeat of this or that party at elections, that will be tho timo when slave- II. holders will have discovered that partisan controversy is a poor roliance for the protection of slavery, pq It is beneath tho dignity of a sovereign Stato of this ' in . - . .. <1r>l Union to 8ond representatives to Uongress to discuss ^ the character of its domestic institutions. Tho 11a- [>ec tional legislature should bo the scene of appropriate 1 investigation into subjects over which that body has ext | at least a color of jurisdiction. And tho question of tho extension of slavory in this or that direction is ||js, one which is equally foreign to the two ropresenta- it 1 tive bodies. Speeches can no more extend slavory tan than propagate slaves. Nobody goes to this or that place with slaves on the advico of members of Con- thi gross. Nobody in this wise, practical ago of ours, is foolish enough to invest his property in a Utopian nvt scheme for colonizing territory with slaves to effect i great political ends. Tlioso who talk such nonsense spc arc worthless agitators without means or rosponsi- neI bility. They get enlisted as partisans, tlioy talk as . ( partisans, tliey make partisans, and they are purely jn , partisan representatives. Precisely so it is with the uat abolitionists right at tho other end of tho Union. ''ia, . Kul They see in a congressional speech a formidable aud Up< pregnant scheme for extending slavory. They are cut alive to the subjoct and to the necessity of resist. ance. It is God's service to meet and overwhelm , tho "slave oligarchy." The country is full of these nol miserable political trickcrs; theso frothy, wordy me philanthropists on the one side, and theso chivnl- < . roua nlavo propagandists on tlio other. The two : classes are really utterly worthless. There is no ^ ' value in them. They do nothing but excite animos- to | itics where thcro should bo cordial friendships. ^ j They aro mere bill-stickers, advertising affairs in ?t,i [ which they havo no possible interest. They talk str: , loudly of freedom and independence, whon, in truth, ; they aro the slaves of passion and prejudice. They rat dicuss learnedly tho question of righls, whon they j'('' know nothing of such matters in practical lifo. They oxl devoto themselves to the liquidation of abstract ac- Ja< counts. They are hypothetical politicians, with iutel- j((] loct just enough to discern a principle, but not of sense enough to apply it. It is tho right of any man to walk across tho ocean ; and if he can over i ' come physical laws or induce their suspension, dot he may undertake the work. Nothing could bo ' more absurd, at all events, than to question his right thus to navigate the waters of the sea. tin The truth is, there is no such thing as an ah- '',ri ntract right, and there never can be in civil socio- t.;u ty, which, in its very nature, presupposes a surren- we der of all abstract rights, and the substitution ef rela/live principles adapted to tlie ends of government. A man, for instance, has the abstract right, as it is called, to seize bis property wherever be finds it; an but the j>e*ce of the community requires that be shall resort to its legal tribunals for reinodies ; and hence the law decides that ho may exercise bis indi- pi. vidual power over his estate, without the iuterven- ( ioi u of civU officers, only when il has been taken I in him by fraud. This principle, applied to slaves 1 ticed away from their owners, would confer upon | j latter the right to retake them and carry them ; ck to their homes. Justice and fair dealing would ly sanction this practice ; for no right of au indi- i lual ought to be impaired by the fraudulent and i igal conduct of another. The right is unqucstiou- , le to take slaves to the common Territories. Tho estion whether any given Territory can be sucisfully colonized by slaves and their owners iB j i'te another affair. It is not at all a legal problem, is a question of profit and loss- It is a question dollars and cents ; and there is no necessity or tification for quarrelling about it. It hus not one tde of politics in it. Congress has within twenty irs deponed a tax upon the country, in wrangling this subject, of inoro than twenty millions of dols. It has largely occupied the press. It has on>>m-d the pulpit. It hart sundered loop-established igious organizations. It 1ms arrayed one great :tion of the Union against tho other in deadly ifo. It has occupied tho timo of Congress to the fleet of the public interests and the dishonor of i government. AU this lias been the result of a ference upon a purely abstract question. There lot in it a single olouiont of practical liib. Tho rst feature of the whole case is to bo found in the j t that tho country hus gained no wisdom by icrieucc. Men charged with high public trusts t and proclaim, on tlio one hand, a purpose to ex- e d slavery ; and, on tbo other, au oquully deluded ? mm talk as valiantly of their purpose to prevout p h extension, and often to strike it down whoro it t sts. Neither of these classes have the least in- r est or control over the subject. Tho constitution 1 i fixed tho general principles of intercourse boson tlio States ; tho lattor, under it, having revod tlio right of sovereign control over their own i noetic affairs, including slavery, of course. With- t tho States, if at all, slavery exists. They are ablo 1 take caru of it. They aro responsible for it. They B j\v its uses and how to manage it. If it is wrong, . u theirs ; if it is a benefit to tlio negroes, tltoy aro ,, itled to the credit of its existence. It has no ? ainess in national politics. I POLITICAL IN TELLIGENCE. Ion. Charles J. Faulkner was re nominated as a can- ' ate for congress from the Winchester district of Vir- ' ia on Wednesday last. [he democrats of Clinton county, Kentucky, have j .scd a resolution recommending the convention in that , tried to nominate J. 8. Chrisman, of Wayne county, j their candidate for Congress. Iho convention to nominate a candidate for Congrers , the seventh congressional district of Kentucky will bo t d on the 2(ith instant. 11 view of the fact that there aro several democractic 1 irants for the nominations for Congress in the sixth r igressional district of Kentucky, the central commit- h have called a convention for the third Monday in i ril next. I I'he democrats of Harnett county have adopted resolu- s as approving of the conrsc of Hon. Warren Winslow, fl 1 recommending hiui as their first choice in the con- I itioo < [ho Warrenten (North Carolina) News, speaking of ginia iHilitics, says: 1 Hi our Virginian "opposition" exchanges are terribly i icted with the liolit. It is really distressing to see ,] v tliey aro ulmost oaten up with that fatal disease. a . o*-,. tin I'l.f/triimrv tmrircnn hilt we think, in a muu! of essity, we would prescribe a good Democrat cathurtic. " .yolks wondoiu, and when followed by a Letcher veruge, would cleanse out all the Holts that ever afflicted n or cattle in Virginia. i'lie FJmira(N. Y.) Caret to, referring to the announccnt in 1838 that the treasury of that State was overving, says: ' Such was the language of the celebrated Ruggles rct in 1838, when the democratic administration of rcy was succeeded by the whig administration of Win, Seward. In tho interval of twenty years which have t psed, the government has been, a large share of tho le, in tho hands of tho opposition ; with what result facts answer. ' Instead of an overflowing treasury, we now have a >t of $35,000,000 which is constantly increasing, nothstanding the burdensome taxation imposed upon tho >plo from year to year." lire Hartford (Conn.) Dally Times thus speaks of the ravaganco of the republican party in that Ktutc : 1 The Tress is floundering about to get away from tho to debt?the half million squandered by its party?the appearance of tho surplus left by the democrats ; and , >as the impudence to charge meusureB of tho juist four irs upon tho democrats ! This same Press has susaeil every 'opposition' administration in this Ktato ce its existence. This opposition party has hud twords of the legislature and HtAtoofficers regularly. They re carried their lueusures in oauctuts, and then pushed in through the legislature. Tho New Haven Journal, her more honest than tho Press, acknowledges this." l'ho Tenth Legion, published at Woodstock, Va., aking of tho renomination of lion, Charles J. Faulk for Congress, says : " Whilst we harbor no unkind feeling toward any of i gentlemen named, wo must be permitted to say that, our judgment, the convention acted wisely in renomi,ing Mr. Faulkner for Congress, lie lias served his trict we should rather say the country--with distinished ability in the national legislature, and his course m all important questions has been that of an cnlightkI and judicious statesman, lie is, besides, the man canvass the district against Mr. Iloteler, or any other itleman who may be nominated by the opposition." l'ho Harrisburg Patriot and Union thus speaks of tho ninees of tho democratic convention which recently t in that city : 'Tho candidates nominated by the democratic con veiln are men of tliu most unexceptionable character and tiding. Richardson L. Wright, who was nominated uuditor general,, upon the first ballet, is well known the democracy of Pennsylvania. He lias represented i city of Philadelphia In the House of Representatives, ring several sessions, and is u. w a member of the SenAs a legislator lie has earned ft high reputation by ict attention to business, vigilance in the discharge of duties, and uuliending integrity, lie belongs to the lical democratic school, and lias upon all occasions sod bis voice against grantng exeessivo corporate privies, without being awed by the sneers and threats of >so who pursue a contrary policy. Ho would mako an J . client auditor general, and prove a worthy successor of j xib Fry, Jr. "John Rowo is our candidate for surveyor general, j now fills that office, and so much to the satisfaction the democracy, that they have determined to continue ' n for another term, lie wire nominated by acclnina- j 11, and will stand In this contest with the democratic rty, upon the democratic platform, maintaining the j mocmtic organisation." The democracy of Rhode Island held their convention Providence on Thursday. Mr. Eiisha It. Potter, of uth Kingstown, ono of the most prominent men of i< State, was nominated for governor, and Mr. Fcuncr own, of Cumberland, for lieutenant governor. Mr. 01y Arnold, of North Providence, was nominated for the , item, and Mr. Alficd Anthony, of Johnston, for the stem congressional districts. i PERSONAL PARAGRAPHS. The Philadelphia Bulletin states that Judgo Douglas rived in that city on the 17th, nnd had taken rooms at 3 Girard House. Second Lieut. John Bonuett, of tho fourth artillery, S. A., died on tho 4th ult. at Fort Brown, Texas, of asumption. j THE POSTAL REVENUES. ? To the EtUlore of the Union : J I lour correspondent M. 1*. aud 1 agree tlurt, no money t am be drawn from the treasury without appropriation by v aw, and I agree tlurt if the statute*, when all taken to- ? {ether, peremptorily require tlxe postages to be paid into | die treasury before being applied to meet the expenses of t .be service, tlurt they must go there undiminished for L uiy cause wlurtever. I contend that when all the laws j rre construed together they do not require the actual t sryment of the postage receipts into the treasury. Mr. I ?. docs not deny my assumption that the act of 1825 is p u full force, and thut it provides : " lie [the Postmaster , ? ieneralj shall pay all expenses which shall arise in con- ! M luctiug the Post Office, and in the conveyance of the i u nail, und all other necessary expenses arising on collec- u ion of the revenue aud management of the General Poet j 1( Iftice. 0 ? He shall once in three months render I ^ o the Secretary of tire Treasury a quarterly account of ^ he receipts and expend.tures of said department." If n force, tlie Postmaster Ucueral can now act under tiiis irov ision. HI It is not questioned tliut under this act the balances in I he bauds of postmasters were drawn through drafts, costly in favor of mail contractors ; nor is it denied thut he business, except at u limited number of offices, is ^ row actually transacted iit tire same mariner. I It is not controverted that, under this system, there j vero quarterly accountings at tire treasury, though it ras merely fururul, and that rrot a dollar of postage ^ rrouey ever went into or was drawn from tire Ttoasury ^ Jcpurtmerrt to pay for mail service. It is not pretended that there is any law expressly noliiluting tire use of postage receipts to discharge tire ,j, xpenses of the uruil service. But it is claimed thut under those words, found in the irst section of the act of 1836, "thut the revenues atisug iit tire Post Office Department, and all debts due to ^ he same, shall, wlreu collected, bo i>uld, under the di- Hl ectlon of tiro Postmaster General, Into tire treasury of tl Ire United States," requires all the Post Office revenues to oi re paid into tire treasury. If this provision stood alone, w ltd there had been no practical construction under it, the ttl rgunront would be plausible, though not conclusive. ^ tut there arc severul other provisions of law, and tweuty- ^ wo years of practical construction to be considered with t. The following clause, found In the fourth section, hows that it was contemplated that postage money 11 vould be used without goiug into tiro treasury and be- 01 r,g drawn out by appropriation: "That all charges tl rgaiirst the deportment by postrnasters, on account of P iiich expenses, (compensation of postmasters, the ex- ;l reuses of tlieir offices, &c.,) ahull bo submitted for exuiu- 1" nation anil settlement to the Auditor herein provided K or ; and no such deductions hIiuII be valid unless the ? xpenditure no deducted be found to bo male in coufornity to law." Under the theory contended for, the 'l (ostmuaters could neither bo allowed their commissions 'I lor their expenses unless there was an appropriation for " heir payment, because appropriation!! are required for c' he compensation of postmasters, and for their office cxicnses, just us emphatically no for mail transportation. s< f all the revenues must go into the treasury, and must x cumin there until appropriated, then postmasters' com- h uissions (which constitute a portion of this all) must go " here also. The 5th suction provides for the appointment of an 11 \ editor, whose duty it is to audit and settle all accounts ^ irising in the department. The following provision ^ hows how the Treasury Department is iuformed of the I* cceipts and expenditures of the Post Office Establish- 11 nent, without the money ever actually, or fairly, con- " tructively going into the treasury : "He shall close the r( iccouuts of the detriment ipiarterly, and transmit to On 1 Secretary of lite Treasury quarterly statements of its receytts unci 0 xpenditures.'' Theso " quarterly statements" lay tlie foundation for " 1 covering warrants," which constitute the only paying 0 nto and drawing out of the treasury. The 9th section lireets, among other things, the Postmaster General "to uperintend the. disposition of the proceeds of post of/ices and other " toneys of the department ; to prescribe the nner in which ostrn enters shall pay over their balances, to grant warrants ^ or money to he paid into the treasury and out of the umc in pursuunco of appropriations by law to persons o whom the same shall be certified to be due by the 1 iiiditor." Under this authority, the Postmaster Gen- " ral, long since, mado the following regulations, which 1 lave the force and effect of law, and are found in 'l lie Post Oflice Regulations: n " Sec. 23G. No moneys arc to be paid directly into the ?( lepartineut, neither arc any to he paid out directly by it. lie proceeds of postage, or moneys received for jjostags tamps, or stamped envelopes sold, will, therefore, never to remitted by jiostmasters to the department, nor be ti Mid to any of its officers or agents without due authority s| rom tho Postmaster General. w " 8se. 237. For the purpose of paying over the funds >f the department, all tho ]>ost ofliees, except special of- '' ices, arc classed cither as deposit?, ofliees, draft ofliees, or '1 olUction ofticCH. UfliceH are transferred, from time to time, si rom 0110 to another of these classes, to suit tho conve- ft lience of tho service, and when such changes arc ncces- p ary, they are notified to the postmasters, resi>cctively, by i circular letter. " Sec. 238. Deposite olfices nro such as aro ordered to dace, quarterly or oftener, their funds in deposit in some w lepository. p Bsc. 231). Draft offices are such as are ordered to ro- a1 ain their funds in huud to meet drafts drawn by the q 'ostmaster General and countersigned by the Auditor of , he Post Ofliee Department. "Sec. 240. Collection ofliees are such as nrc required o pay over their net proceeds quarterly to the mail con- tl ructor named in their sptK.'ial instructions upon the pro- oi luction by him, from time to time, of the proper orders ,i tnd receipts sent to him by tho department. In these [uavterly payments must be included all moneys received or postage stamps and stain |>ed envelopes sold." Under these regulations, which make no reference to laying into the treasury, tho revenues from postages aro :ollcctcd and expended in defraying tho expenses of the ervico. Except at tho six places designated by the sub- '' rousury luw, it is not probable that one out of the over ' 17,000 iiostinosters ever paid a dollar into tho treasury. 4or has tho Postmaster Geuerul, or tuiy one else, done it " or them. Mr. P. does not allege that any money has '' iver actually been paid into tho treasury. The lucre 01 instructive pay iiient is shown to be limited to tho ren- " lition of quarterly statements, a thing that was done, In 8 fleet, if not in form, under the act of 1825. If tho opposite theory Is correct, then the Post Ofticc It department lias been substantially violating tho law of 183G for more than twenty-two years, because it has not lr n substance, nor really in form, complied with tho first n icction of that net. It has, in fact, conformist to the ai uw of 1825, and the subsequent and controlling pro- ai , isions of the act of 183(1, which modify and tlx the a: iraetic.il meaning of the first section. If the first section is s to prevail over the Biilmequcnt provisions now quoted, q and which I formerly admitted by mistake,) then every ti joetmoster must collect and semi his entire receipts to oi lie treasury, and apparently at his own expense, and T hero let the same remain until appropriated, ami tiicn w )btnin warrants and draw out the amount to which lie may T x) entitled. Such difficulties and delays would be ruinous J o the service. The 10th section of the act of 1836 o ihows that nothing of the kind was contemplated, and ti hat tho object wow to establish a suitable system of w Dook-koepiug. That section reads : a " That the auditor of the L'ost Ofllco Department shall itab- and (certify quarterly to tho I'oHtmaster General ac- 01 rounts of moneys paid, pursuant to appropriations in each o pear, by poetmastera, out of the proceeds of their offices w towards the ex|>enBes of tho department, under each of ^ the bcoils of said expenses R|H'cified In the second section >f this act ; upon which the rostinastcr General shnll '' issue warrants to the treasurer of tho United States, at ' n the cant of the receipt and payment of taui montyn tnlo and S> ml if (hi tmirnri/, in oriler Ihal the tame may be carried to the n mhl and debit of the appropriation for the termer if the Voei f, 0]/i< r Her trlnn ill on the honkt of the auditor if mid dcfHirtment " j 'lliis show i the form which Is gone through, and that h its whole object is a clear and intelligible system of book o keeping, anil that tlie direction to |>ay all the revenues t] into tbo treasury was not intended to be a reality. Stilly ve iiiti now advise 1 that a compliance with these mere mum, which are ftclioiia iu fact, must control aud cripile a great branch of the public service ll thii is to, hen, from 1836 to this day, there has been it continued delation of law in simply conforming to Its substance, uj carrying out its spirit aud inteutlou. Thus the law stood when Judge Woodbury said that he act of 1836 did "nut refer to each individual colleciou or payment, but the aggregate quarterly aud yeary collections cud expenditures. 'Ibis is iu order to make hem ap|icar on the exhibit of the annual receipts and exenditures of the country, and also in the annual approbations, which was not the case formerly, litis is ef ctcd by large 'covering warraute,' quarterly or otherflse, and not by a depositc and warrant in each ind.vidal case over the Union." This shows that, in his upturn, the law of 1836 did not require the money to be |>aid t aud drawn out of tho treasury, but that all that was inteuiplated was a formal ceremony to be performed at tunc subeequciit period for the pur|tosu of systematic jok-keeping. I'rior to 1819 the revenues from customs, public lands, ud other sources, were managed much like those derived ved from the mail service. The ex penscs of collections were aid out of the receipts Iteforo they went into tho treas ry. The expense* of those collection districts where the tvenues were not equal to their excuses were paid by rafts, authorized by the department, ujioii those ollices aviug a surplus. The expenses of collection were under to sole control of the Secretary, except there wore lintiitions upon the number of some classes of officers. Even (pensive revenue cutters were built ut bis will. A praceo sprung up of officers holding on to large amounts illcctud, under pretence of claims fur commissions, &c. u prevent this ubuse, the uct of March 3, 1819, was [used, the first section of which says ; "That from and alter the 30th of June, 1849, the ross amount of ull duties received from customs, from to Hales of public hmds, and from ull miscellaneous nirces, for thu use of the United States shall be paid by ie officer or agent receiving the same into tho tr usury i the United States, ut us early a day as practicable, ithout any abatement or deduction on account of sully, fees, costs, charges, expenses, or claim of any deriptiou whatever : Provided, Tluil nut/my herein corduined uill be construed to alter the existing laws rtyuhduy the miction oj the revenues of the I'ost Office Department." This is thu first law requiring these revenues to bo paid ito the treasury. Since that time Congress lias excrsed its control over the expenses by making approprinous for their i>ayiueiit. Why was the Tost Office De IIIIUCUI. exccjaeu Hum mis uet I mmjnjr oe> ,u?. ll null peculiar system of Its own, aud it was substantially imussiblo for that department to comply with the provis>n which was for the fust time applied to the collectors f the customs and receivers at the land offices. Here ongress put u legislative construction upon the act so ir as to indicate that they thought it was not then reuircd and ought not to bo com [silled to pay its revenues ito the treasury before they could l>c applied in disliarge of debts duo for mall service. The opposite construction would bring the whole mail jrvico to a btund-still when the present appropriations 10 exhausted. The rent of [K>st offices, when allowed ) Is) |?aid out of the postage receipts, the fuel to keep lem warm, the clerks to transact the business, whore liowcd, could not be [mid, nor could wrapping paper nd twine he procured to wrap up letters to go by mail, [either could hags, locks, or keys bo purchased, nor lunks or advertising be [laid for, because all these excuses stand upon tiin same footing ils the expense of i.iil carrying. If any of the postage money must go ito the treasury all must go there, because the provision ifcrreil to, in words and effect, includes all alike, llut >r the peculiarity of the provisions of the act of 1851, ven stamps could not be supplied, without which no let;r can now bo sent by mail. If it is conceded that a postl.ister can retain his commissions aud pay the expenses f his office, then the whole argument is yielded, because ley all stand upon the same ground. If one bepneh of jo service for which appropriations have heretofore been ladocan be paid, then every other branch may also be paid, ccauso if there is a real prohibition in the act of 183C it x tends to oaeli and every branch. I have endeavored to row that the subsequent provisions of that act clearly jiitcniplatcd that all the money collected could lie used nd applied without going into the treasury at all, aud mt the act only contemplated a subsequent formality for [ articular purpose. This view lias been sanctioned by practical construction for twenty-two years, and lma si to no hazard or abuses, and is In reality in conforlity with the provisions of tlio act of 1825, whicli is till in force, and under which the department lias been cling since the day of its enactment. The construction for which I contend is a plain, raonal one, and does not yield to, or sacrifice the subunco of tilings, to conform to u legal fiction, which the hole act, taken together, docs not impose upon the dcurtment. I cannot yield to a construction which rcuircs what was designed as a self-sustaining department, lOiild it ho crippled and destroyed, and its whole useilness lost to the public, in order to conform to the imposed mandates of a legal fiction, appearing in the fiist art of the act, when its subsequent provisions clearly jow that book-keeping and mere "covering warrants" ere all that was intended, and when such has been its radical inlcrnretution for near a uuurtcr of a oentnrv ml when any other construction would render the l'ost dice establishment substantially an impracticable mabine ? If the law requires all monoys to go into the reasury, and is to bo complied with, over twenty-seven lousand postmasters must transmit the whole proceeds f their offices four times a year to the treasury, and then raw out again so much as shall be allowed to them by ro Auditor on settlement. This would make over 08,000 payments into the treasury, and as many out, very year. The law thus construed could hardly bo iccuted. The authority of the late Attorney General Butler is ivoked against my construction, (.'10. Atty. Gen., 13.) his opinion was given to Mr. Kendall in Stockton and tokos' case ; and, although acted upon by the latter, jo material point in it has been overruled by the 8uremc Court It has nothing to do with the pros at issuo. It clearly is no authority for construing re act of 183G, because it is dated and was actually Ivcn in 1835 ! Thcro is another view whir h may be taken of this iw. It is conceded that, the money does not, in fact, go ito the treasury, but all that is done is to issue a warint to cover it into the treasury after it is actually used nd applied. It Is used before it goes into the treasury, nd is not in fact drawn out to bo used, but is first applied, nd then the ceremony of a covering warrant to draw out ; resorted to, to get it out. Now if the act of 183(1 re- j uiros all the moneys collected to be covered into the ottsury, then all that is to lie done to comply with the at in to issue a covering warrant to carry tho money in. 1 liin in a paper coremony which is easily gone through lth, and will be a technical compliance with the law. rue, there Ix-ing no appropriation, It cannot be legally rawn out, but if there was one, nothing could Ik) drawn lit, and for tho good reason that the warrant was a ficon, and there wan nothing to Ik) drawn out. Rut it 'ould be a compliance in words with the law. Without warrant to draw it out, the treasurer's accounts would Sow an amount of money 011 hand which he never reived. But that would bo no violation of iaw. Ho ould not lie made liable for what ho novor received. It rould simply be loaviug on record an uncancelled fiction 3 illustrate the absurdity of resorting to fictions, whore sal practical facts would answer a better purpose. No 'ostmastcr Ueneral will ever bo impeached or oven Tenured by good and true men for carrying 011 Ids departicnt in an honest and fair way, if lie omitted to issue a ction, a mere covering warrant to create one sido of an count, or for isviiim: one, whin lie h i t no authority to wiie another to create a set off, by another fictitious pro Mdlng for the mere purpose of balancing on the book* lie first fiction. Manon I9; 1859 K H G. MEAT OF ABQJITJOJttISM LV MAW EXOLAA l?'w Uw W??tUu?u>B tlnkie J Boron March 16, 1859 Dui umriiiu : ] have nwd your ttpeccb of the 2 ultimo, delivered in the House of Kepiescntative*. has puinU of considerable smartness, anil will he prai by your i?rtineas as a very clever ctfoi t ; hut I ace other etfect that it can produce hut to irritate the Sou and alieuate one section of the i'liion still more f rom t other, lluve we Mot ut the North stimulated our o aelf-righteouancas, in contrast with the sins of the Sou ipiite up to, or beyond the healtliy point f Would it i be well for us, for a time, to look, more ut our own fi ings and at the virtue* of our brethren at the South ' You speak of the change of tone and sentiment tl has taken place during the last twenty live year* on I subject of slavery. I plead guilty to the truth this charge It was one of tiie dreams of my eu 1 life, that the conditiou of mankind might In1 gre ly improved by sudden )x>lilical changes 'lire < of the blavo cumu to my youthful ear, wafted the eloquent breath of eye-wituesses, from Yirgii ami New Jersey. Almost every man at Hie Soul at that time, admitted that slavery was an evil, inor j social, ami |M>litical ; the horrors of the middle |iassa| the barbarian cruelties of Jamaica, came to us across t ocean : Wilberforoe and (Jlurkson hud acquired a wur wide fume by tbeir singular devotion to the abolition the slave traiiu ; the ussault was soon mudo upon sluvi itself in the British West Indies, and the first of Augu 1888, w.is entered in the calender as one of the hi days of the year. Campbell painted tiie wild chieftain on ids nati plains, so noble, so free, so happy?-caught, chuiui doomed, suffering, till the hurricane* in the West Ind were com missioned to avenge his wrongs. The pluinti Cow per wept out his compassion in the touching lines, would not iiave a slave for ull the gold that sinews boug and sold have ever earned and these tones of suflerii of oom|>uHsioii, of pity, were echoed by every harp, and echoed by orator and preacher, till the whole atinosplu of New Knglund was vocal witli the cries of the slave, have done my full share of it ; hut greater men ha been mistaken, and have in riper years been compell to revise and revoke tIre opinions of earlier da Burke once was enraptured with the voice of Liberty, site cried from across the channel ; liut iu the full strong of his manhood, lie was compelled to denounce the orin committed in her name. Sir James Meiutosli wrote " Viudicial liailka hut was eoui|ielled, by a ion; experience and u wider observation, to cancel tlio op ions of early life by those of maturer years. I am co pelleil to cancel many things that 1 have said on t subject of slavery, and substitute for tlieni the opiuii of riper age. 1 might have once said what, or neai what, you huvu said in your late s|>eecli in Congra though 1 think 1 should have left out those porth which serve no other end than simply to iriitate, wil out convincing. But my convictions at the present tii are, not only that the slaveholders have a complete v dlcatlon of their present position, hut they are enliti to be looked ii|ioii as benefactors to the country uiid the human race. Tiie only ground on wiiich 1 can claim their putici iiiul forbearance towuril us luciluliug Willi their alim mid for abusing them as much as wo have, anil as soi still continue to <lo, is this: They gave us the la premisoa on which we reasoned correctly to false conci sions. They nave away their case by concession ; foi slavery be a sin, a wrong, or an evil, no fair mind c resist the conclusion that efforts ought to be made soon as jiossible to do it away. This philosophy, tl slavery is wrong, sprang up in Virginia, and was adopl and enoouraged in nearly all the slave States ; anil t seed was thence, in connexion with the correct and gra principles of human government, scattered wide over t free States. They have had their growth, and now it not a little ditlieult to pull tlieui up ; hut they shall ta tin; wheat with them also. The South are impregnable. The constitution prote them, the ltible protects theui, and the experience mankind protects them. Our fathers mode a oovenn witlr their fathers. They came into the Union with th African slaves on terms of equality with us, and witlr the rights and privileges that we can claim under t same instrument. They would make 110 covenant i cept upon terms of equality. We uecepted those term we could get no better to-day ; and yet we should glutl to make it, if it were not made, or to renew it, broken, anil on the same conditions we now have. T South claim the right to go into new territory, and t the new land witli their slaves, till the territory beeon a sovereign State, and then bow to its will, as before other sovereigns. This is a just anil equitable claii founded on a fair interpretation of the constitute Slavery should be permitted to (low by natural laws regions for which it is best adapted, it will go nowlu else. You could not force it into Now Hampshire, i keep it there if introduced. The experiment lias be tried and failed. Slavery was given up in the northv States not by the force of moral, but natural laws. It is true the discussions of the last twenty-five yet have produced a great deal of sentiment on the subject slavery in the northern States ; hut you know how i terly barren of any good results it lias been to the At can. In worth and liecause their number is small, a will continue to lie small?we have in the extreme Noi given tliein the rights of citizenship and equality ; I in works wo deny them. The most respectable color men in lloston would not be permitted to hire or to oi and quietly enjoy a pew in the broad uisle of any fusliic able church. In the West, where your soil is more fi tile, and where more frco colored men would be liki to go, you are more stringent ; and the black laws Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and Oregon, and the still more t pulslvo Topoka constitution of Kansas?for which, I I licve, you aiul all your republican associates voted proclaim, as with trumpet-tongue, the innate and i cradlcablc prejudice against the African, lurking, as still docs, in the bosom of those whoso tongues are c quent for his rights. I am not a little surprised at the manner in which y speak of Noah. The ltible calls him a "just man, a perfect in his generation;" and yet because ho, by Divi inspiration and by Divine command, foretold the slave of the children of Hum, you give him some very ho thrusts, and leave liiiu on the pages of your speech wi ii character by no menus ho fair iih tlmt given him by t sacral historian. Was Noali in the way of your thcoi that you strike at him ho vigorously, as though y would hew him down ? You say he mistook Canaan 11am. Suppose lie did, tho prediction and the curse r< somewhere?on some nation. The principle is the sai in the Divine administration. Who uro the children Canaan ? Tradition and history unite in the belief tl they inhabit the continent of Africa. Their conditi fultils, with remarkable fidelity, the prophecy of tl "righteous man and preacher of righteousness," Noa "A servant of servants" was tho double curse, which 1 rested 011 that continent and race for many centuries, is covered with a net-work of double slavery- every ch having his retinuo of slaves, while ho pays tribute some higher chief or petty king. You seem to lay groat stress mam the fact that the C naunites wore not black, llow do you know ? 1 Thompson, who lias written, perhaps, the most thorou work on Byria and Palestine that lias over been puhiked, says the ancient inhabitants of that country cm from Africa. The great painting of Samson grinding the mill shows his Philistine drivers very dark, if 1 black. Dut you miss the point of the Scriptural prei dent and example for shiveiy. Y011 prove, as you thin that the Canaanitea were not black, and then jump once to tho conclusion that, if they were not black, tli must have been enslaved because they wen; laboring m< This docs very well to stir up prejudice at the Nort but is it the truth! The Israelites were permitted to <. slavo the Conaanites not localise they were tailoring nu but because they were kealhen, and thereby go degrad tliat a transfer to the Hebrew Common wealth, wiiere t true Ood was worshipped, was a privilego and a blessii 'Iliis fiirnislies the parallel point on which Amerlc slaveholders rely with great confidence. Tho Africa wcro taken from the most degraded heathenism, and 1 1...... in WAraliin U,i> Olio 11.^1- <,.,.1 I.. (1....... ||1 ID xx.pjl.v ? | ?" >111- W(il ion of every Biblp inan, iqore of them have lieon fitt for and gone to heaven froni the thousands in Amori tlian from the millions in Africa. Dr. Dvyiglit and, nfi long experience and wide observation, that he nc\ knew but one Imty man converted. And as (lod h some chosen people in Africa, it was necessary that Hi should be taught to work in order to their converse lint in the South they are not allowed to read the llili Well, in Africa, they neither read it, hear of it, nor frc it. Faith ooincth by hearing : and ip it not lietter hear the truth than to live entirely destitute of iff You quote the eighth commandment as n proliihjti of slavery. This Is singular. Were ' your ancestc thieves f They brought, or assented to the bringing slaves to tiiis country It is a singular fact, that wh we Is suit of our Puritan ancestry, the laws of the prose day would hang hull tho men that lived a hundred yei ago, as engaged in the slave traffic, directly or indire. ly ; and another law would imprison all the men w lived Inrty years since. Tho eighth commandment w given on the way out of Kgypt. it was the charter, t constitution of the Hebrew nation. Ail their ofher la were controlled by tho Decalogue. Well, now wlm Why, they had slaves by Divine permission under II J), olutrtrr. How could tL?y, U 11m eighth oeniuiaii dun1 foibhls lit But are the sluvea stolen f Certainly uui ^ I Aim i i' ana. They buy tb<*ut, jury for them, tramf,, I them, uud provide for th >11, In the only an.I must beutu I oleitl mailuer iu which it urn be done. As to tU? iui l? I let physical thrtncUiM, that man cannot btre property ig I It mall, it baa been ixuillivlk'lel front lb* Inundation ul lb I luxl world to the present time. Holding, use, and tramJu I no are the elements of property ; ami this biu lioeii litMm by H 111, uieu to muu in nil agon ; ami yet you nay tbat tbere is uu I the word in tin- good old Hebrew tongue tbat conveys the 1 wii idea of pro|icrty iu man. When a inuatcr inadvci truth I lb, killed Ills clave, 110 blood was to lie abed, for "kt ,,ui to I lot mmty." Docs not that mean projierty f Ul- It cannot be denied tbat ttie idea of slavery ruuii all I | tbrougb tbu Bible ; it was stamped upon the eullre hi* I tut tory of tbo Jewish nation, mid upon tlie liistoiy of vveiy I .be vigorous nation upon the lace of Uie eartb . iudced 1 I of ; strongly *us|>ect this is the normal oondition o( lurgt I rly |s>rtions of a depraved race, and 1 can readily believe tbst I at a man may sustain the relation of slaveholder, iu all I ry good conscience, and witli the entire Divine appiobatiou | by '/'hire are vutUr footprints of (rod * disapprobation If tkr abuh I da tuniisni of this country Ixtok at tile (lucks of uuclrau I 111, (toasts and birds tbat have coiue up out of its train Iu | id, fldels tliut curso God, abuse every muu of good charsc I ;e, tor, and than praise humanity In general to ctuintcibsl I be anoe their malignity and blasphemy. Out of the alwiiwu K Id riglils of man have grown tbu more abstract rights U I of woman; and oni-e respectable wives call St I'aul aeiusty I try old bachelor, and Abraham a tyrant, because Sarah oUysd I st, bim, and Paul makes iiicntiuii of the (act. The secern! I tly edition of the riglits of woman is divorce, "attinity," and I universal concubinage. We have far more of these im H ve moral tendencies in llio northern States than they Iim? I ul, at the South, is it not time to look at home? | ics 'Pile truth is, we have lieeii wont to contemplate tbo ve couditioii of the slaves at tlie South from a wrong point I "I of view. We couiiuiie tliem witli races or tuitions mors I lilt highly civilized, and their condition seems a harsh and I '61 degraded one ; hut whut were they when the Christian B re- nations took them by tlie hand and led tliem across tbo I no ocean f American slavery has produced and cultivated I 1 more African intellect, more social affection, more Chti* I vo tiau emotion in two bundled years tiuiu all Atilca (('en I led tral and Soutlicni) for two thousand ycais. American I ys- slavery is a rodemptloi, a deliverance from Aftlcsu I as hoathenbua. " The dark places of the earth are full of I ;th the habitations of cruelty and no part of tha sartli is I les more dark or more filled witli cruelty than Afiica. I his Treading beneath tliulr feet one of the most fcilile soils, E ;cr they cultivate almost notliing live 011 tiuits and nuts, I in- witli few cuttle, und little commerce. They are in the I m- first place busy beyond all hope of self improvement I lie 'l'hey will not work. Now, (hsl lias oidoincd the law ol I uis labor so surely, and so universally, that if barbarism I rly will not work, civilization will yoke them up and drivo I 's ; tlioiu to it. This i* fixed, sure as light and gravity, ft >ns Why not t Why should one (fiiarlcr of tlie glolic, one I ?li- section of tlie liumaii family do nothing for flic race I it I mo Ham will not biing timber for the ark, Sbein and Japlietb I in- will drive him to it. | led But Africa is not only a great wilderness of loungen, I to hut out of this idleness grow all manner of vices. Woik I is salvation. Work regenerates tlie earth and iuiui | >voik it) progress, una wiinoui H nothing. The title rs, deed of tlio earth to luan tiiut thin proviso : that Im no should subdue it ami multiply upon it. Now, if he only multiplies mid does not subdue, ho has only it iquaUti hi- tuivrtignly?no certified title till he builds his house ami if tills his farm. Hence the Indian must bo driven out; an h0 will not work on any condition, neither self-moved as nor driven by the hand of another, and, therefore, the at htst tomahawk of the ted man will soon luing as a tiopliy *d jn the balls of the oouqueror. Now, the African woikt he patiently ami well when driven to it; lie will work on nd no other condition. liis climate is a terrible protection he from white invasion, therefore he must lie transported is and taught to work, thereby civilized, thereby christian ko Ized, thereby improved eveiy way, and perhaps byand by sent buck to yoke up and subline bis whole continent, ots according to the puttern tiiat lias been shown him in this of working bee hire of America. int You touch in no very fraternal manner some of the eh social vices of your brethren at the South. Perhaps il all they deserved tiie stone, it Nhotild hardly come from s be northern band ; the garments of our cities are dripping 'x- witli the waters af Nodoui, and some of the western States Bi sunder the marriage covenant with as little consideration be as the most ruthless slaveholder. Sensuality is not at h this hour producing as much social degradation nor den ho troytng as many lives at (lie Souili as at the North ; lilt try this is not the point. What were the blacks socially ics when taken from Africa T The King of Uahoiil.y lins four n" hundred wives, whom ho employs in cariyiug palm oil to in. the coast, and thence new rum and tobacco hack to tlio palace for their husband and king. This rum and to to liacco are ihe joint production of slavery nnd freedom. ;re Slavery produces the tobacco uixl molasses, and then wo i?r Yankees make the rum and send them both in our vetam sels to the coast of Afiicu to buy oil gathered by women 'in and carried on their lieuds in jars from fifty to two linn died miles. They are driven along by a herd of lazy nn men, and stepping carefully every minute under the ex ?' press condition thut if one pot of oil is spilli-d, one head it- of a woman and a wife must he cut off to atone for it. i Now, is it any great sin to catch a set of these lazy felnd lows, tint live on the earnings of their wives, learu tlitru th to work, make I bout work, teach them to love one an !"t other and to love their children, so that their highest ?d ambition slinll no longer he to buy an extra number of ivn wives that they may have a few i'pickaninnies" (chil'ii dren) to sell ? A wild African recently brought to Doubt ton by a merchant begged for an old gun which lie saw. dy When asked what he wanted of it, lie replied," "to buy a ol wife and Imvu pickaninnies to sell." Is it any harm to ix- yoke up such men and work the laziness and the brutal o- ity out of them t Yes, hut you say there is a better way ? to do it. There may lie, hut it wants the evidence of a J hi- successful experiment. The Moravians once kindled their " altars of devotion all around the African coast, hut the lowaves of barbarism have extinguished them. Jamaica, I in spite of devoted missionaries, British philanthropy, and ft 011 American sympathy is fast receding through idleness to li id barbarism. Half a million of people there In twenty | "= years nave not. linen us many spailes of earth ax twrnty ry thousand Yankees in California in one-third of the time. ir'l If this half million liud the twenty thousand to hud them "' and guids them and plan for them, then tliut ixUii'l, I"5 which was onco a fruitful field, would not 1m: going l>w k T> to a wilderness. The Irest tiling that could bo done lot 011 Africa, if they could live there, would lie to send tin m f?r a hundred thousand American slaveholders, to work them set up to some degree of civilisation. u0 It is charged that the life of the slave at tho South Is ?l sometimes at the mercy of tho master. In Africa tho 'at immediate body servants of every eliicf, at his death, arc <)" at once beheaded and hunicd forward to attend the new 'at wants of their old master. Is it wicked to buy these dod'. voted victims of heathenism and [iut them under the protection of civilised, and often of Christian masters? Just 1' in proportion as tho jirice of these slaves is raised in Af'ef rica, just to that degree is tlicre a motive to the heirs to spare their lives. So far as Africa is concerned, the slave trade was and is liumane in i's o]ierations ; its abolition 'a- was tho result of sentiment, ami not the determination >r. of calm and deliberate stu'cHiminahlp. 'fluit it was not gli called for by tho erudition of the world nor by any deep 1I1- seated moral sentiment, is proved from the tact, that the no nation foremost in its abrogation lias now revived it on in oilier shores and under another name, milling to what lot ever sill there is in tike direct open slave trade, tho other >?- sin of hypocrisy and false pretence, ik, Jamaica wants laborers, not because there are not at plenty of thorn on the island, but because they will not ey work ; and the same ltritisli philanthropy which stsmb 11. guard over the stalwart and immensely lazy sou of Hum, li ; brings in the feebler children of Sliein, and dooms them 11- 1 to the sumo bondage, under another name. i Honor to the sagacious and far-seeing statesmen of Ul' ! Georgia ami South Carolina, almost the only consistent j slave States In the Union ; fur they breasted the glutei 'K- j streams of ltritisli and American fanaticism, claimed aud an maintained their rights, and saved the South from I*' ins ; yennessand desolation, the North from a civil war, bi"' ire phe negroes from barbarism If more lftlxirers arc need|n I i-d for Texas, Central America, jmrts of Mexico and Culis, ed they ought to Is- brought, without objections, under such ica humane regulations as are npulo in other rates for tho ter I comfort of p i qgers. 'ilirse laborers should couie from or ^.fricn, bepaUbe they uro struugei and nmke better ?l*voo ml than any of the OOpper-colored races, because tliey W? ey ipore susceptible of trausfniniation, and tlieii improve hi. | merit will lie greater, and, lastly, because they are tho le. most degraded. >ln As to the influence of slavery on the character #f tho whites, thut isijujtu another ipiestiim ; hut bo far as tho poimow nisiory ot out (outiiry is , oncrrntHi, u i? iw ^ on eaity to ?*, how we could .1,, without the *UvehoW?i? E , h0,w l,,u,r nainea thine along ami mlorn the pant hb ft i i ,"7,' c",""lry Washington, Jefferson, the Itan B ilulphs, l>n?jr, Madison, Monroe, Crawford, B n Jjutledge, Jackson, Calhoun, Clay, Ikntou?blot out ira those name*, anil a countless host of others, from th? fl t- slave States, ami what a blank in left in our history B 11 1 " *"" J"1' '''ul luen from these Statist now hi Con fl as girss fully the peers of any that you ran name from tin- B . 111 "tatesmansliip, honor, Integrity, patriotism, and I v ' Dioral and religious character t Do you not M* I' hoiiio ?ri^ht uixl whining lights nrountJ you from th" I n Month I have read no specie s that give more ?ntfw fl *