before receiving
Missouri as a member of the confederacy, it had been demanded of her
that she should abolish slavery; and supposing Missouri had acceded to
the terms proposed, that she had really given her slaves freedom, and
been added to the Federal Union in consequence: suppose Missouri had
done all this; what was there to prevent her from re-establishing
slavery so soon as the end she sought was gained. No power was
possessed by the other states in the matter, and all that could have
been said was, that Missouri had acted with bad faith--that she had
broken a condition precedent--that she had given just cause of war.
According to the most latitudinarian notions, this was the extent of
the remedy in the hands of Congress. But Mr. Thompson, being a holder
of peace principles--if we may judge by his published speeches--must
admit it to be as really a sin to kill, as to enslave men; so that, in
his own showing, this argument amounts to nothing. But when it is
considered that every state in the American Union has the recognized
right to alter its Constitution, when, and how it may think fit,
saving only that it be republican; it is most manifest that Congress
and the other states have, and could have in no case, any more power
or right to prevent Missouri's continuing, or creating slavery, than
they had to prevent Massachusetts from abolishing it. But, if we were
to stand upon the mere rights of war, he (Mr. B.) did not know but
that America had just cause of war against Britain, according to the
received notions on that subject, in the speeches delivered by Mr.
Thompson under the connivance of the authorities here. But the causes
of war were very different in the opinions of men, and in the eye of
God. If Mr. Thompson was right in condemning America for the guilt of
Missouri, then they should go to war at once and settle the question.
But, if they were not ready for this conclusion, they could do
nothing. In the edition of Mr. Thompson's speech which had been
delivered on the preceding evening, an argument had been adduced which
was omitted in the present. The argument to which he referred, was
concerning the right of the slaves to be represented. A slight
consideration of the subject might have shown that the whole power
over the subject of citizenship in each state, was exclusive in the
state itself, and was differently regulated in different states. In
some, the elective franchise was given to all who had attained th