Franklin Repository

A correspondent, says the New York Tribune, writes to us to inquire what are Mr. Lincoln's opinions concerning the Fugitive Slave Law and the Admission of New Slave States. We are able to answer the questions without difficulty. In the discussion between Mr. Lincoln and Judge Douglas as Feeport, Ill., on Aug. 27, 1858, the former took up, one by on, and answered a series of interrogatories relating to all the various points of the Slavery question, and, to leave nothing ambiguous or doubtful, made some additional explanations upon some of them. This part of Mr. Lincoln's speech, delivered on that occasion is as follows:

"Question 1. `I desire to know whether Lincoln today stands , as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law?'

"Answer. I do not, nor ever did, stand in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave law.

"Q. 2. `I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to-day, as he did in 1854, against the admission of any more Slave States into the Union, even if the people want them?'

"A. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against the admission of any more Slave States into the Union.

"Q. `I want to know whether he stands pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make?'

"A. I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make.

"Q. 4. `I want to know whether he stands to-day pledged to the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia?'

"A. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia.

"Q. 5. `I desire him to answer whether he stands pledged to the prohibition of the slave- trade between the different States?'

"A. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the different States

"Q. 6. `I desire to know whether he stands pledged to prohibit Slavery in all the Territories of the United States, north as well as south of the Missouri Compromise line?'

"A. I am implied, if not expressly, pledged to a belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit Slavery in all the United States Territories.

"Q. 7. `I desire him to answer whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any new Territory unless Slavery is first prohibited there in?'

"A. I am not generally opposed to any honest acquisition of Territory; and in any given case, I would or would not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might think such acquisition would or would not aggravate the Slavery question among ourselves.

"Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an examination of these questions and answers, that so far I have only answered that I was not pledged to this, that, or the other. The Judge has not framed his interrogatories to ask me anything more than this and I have answered in strict accordance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly that I am not pledged at all upon any of the points to which I have answered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his interrogatory. I am rather disposed to take up at least some of these questions, and state what I really think upon them.

"As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive Slave law, I have never hesitated to say and I do not now hesitate to say, that I think under the Constitution of the United States, the people of Southern States are entitled to a Congressional [sic] Fugitive Slave law. Having said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the existing Fugitive Slave law, futher [sic] than that I think it should have been framed so as to be free from some of the objections that pertain to it, without lessening its efficiency. And, inasmuch as we are not now in agitation in regard to an alteration of modification of that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a new subject of agitation upon the general question of Slavery.

"In regard to the other question, of whether I am pledged to the admission of any more Slave States into the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of having to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another Slave State admitted into the Union but I must add that, if Slavery shall be kept out of the Territories during the territorial existence of any one given Territory, and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear field, when they come to adopt their Constitution, do such an extraordinary things as to adopt a Slave Constitution, uninfluenced by the actual presence of the institution among them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to admit them into the Union.

"The third interrogatory is answered by the answer to the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the second.

"The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia. In relation to that, I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad to see Slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the constitutional power to abolish it. Yet as a member of Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, unless it would be upon these conditions: First, that the abolition should be gradual; second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified voters in the District; and third, that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. With these three conditions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see Congress abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia, and, in the language of Henry Clay, `sweep from our Capitol that foul blot upon our nation.'

"In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here that, as to the question of the abolition of the slave-trade between the different States, I can truly answer, as I have, that I am pledged to nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have not given that mature consideration that would make me feel authorized to state a porition [sic] so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. In other words, that question has never been prominently enough before me to induce me to investigate whether we really have the constitutional power to do it. I could investigate it, if I had sufficient time to bring myself to a conclusion upon that subject; but I have not done so, and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge Douglas. I must say, however, that if I should be of opinion that Congress does possess the constitutional power to abolish the slave-trade among the different States, I should not still be in favor of the exercise of that power unless upon some conservative principle, as I conceive it, akia [sic] to what I have said in relation to the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia."

Such are the opinions of Mr. Lincoln on these important matters. In some respects, they do not accord with our own; but as they are his and not ours, we do not see how we can change them. It will be seen that in regard to the Fugitive Slave law he holds substantially the well-known views of Mr. Corwin; while as regards the admission of new Slave States, his doctrine is the same as has been put forward to Mr. Seward.

Notwithstanding the terrible financial crisis which prevailed all through our country since the present administration came into power; crushing beneath its fell weight many good men, and blasting the hopes of thousands of American citizens--the necessary result of the Free Trade policy of locofocoism--and, notwithstanding the powerful appeals which have been made by influential men of all parties from the North, in favor of the passage of the excellent bill now before the Senate's Committee on Finance, (known as Morrill's Tariff bill) which passed the House by a large majority, there seems to be a settled determination on the part of the locofoco majority in the Senate to visit upon the country a return of the pecuniary disasters of the fall of 1857.

Every person who is not a natural-born idiot knows, and very many locofocos admit, that unless there is a revision of the present ruinous Tariff, nothing can prevent a recurrence of the sad calamities of the latter part of the year in which the Administration of old Mr. Buchanan was inaugurated. All honest, thinking men agree that unless there is some method adopted to stem the tide of importation of foreign-made goods, which threatens to inundate our land, that is now flooding our shores, there will be a greater amount of suffering and distress in the United States before three years than was ever before experienced on this side of the Atlantic; yet foolish politicians refuse the only proper remedy--a good, wise Tariff.

The necessity for remodelling the duties on importations is so plainly apparent to all who feel any interest in the actual welfare of the country, that the course of the locofoco majority in the Senate, refusing to provide for our own people against ruinous competition, is hard to understand. There is only one way of accounting for their obstinate, perverse course, that is, that to encourage the manufacturers of home-made goods and wares--which are chiefly produced in the North--is certainly favoring the industry of Free White men. The majority of the Senate being locofocos, they come from the South--the land of Slave labor--or are the willing tools of the Slave-power and do all they can to put down Free, and advance Slave Labor.

Fifteen States of this great Republic are represented in the Senate by the owners of the souls and bodies of their fellow-men. They acknowledge, to each other, in private, that the holding of human beings in bondage is a great curse; that it would be infinitely better for the whole South if all the States there could get rid of the intolerable burden, yet, on the principle that grief likes company, these same men are doing all they can to desolate every portion of the country, even that free from the pleague [sic], by extending the foul system into regions which have not hitherto felt the weight of sorrow engendered by the contaminating association with the accursed policy which prevails at the South--compelling men women and children to occupy the position of brutes. To promote the interest of Free White Working People would be, in the opinion of the Pro-slavery locofoco United States Senators,--as well those from the North, as those from the South, where slavery really exists,--to a certain extent, a death-blow to the horrid system of American Slavery which now covers some portions of our land like a dark cloud; hence their opposition to the passage of a wholesome Tariff bill.

Of all the States in the confederacy, there is none more deeply interested in a good, wise, healthy Tariff that Pennsylvania. We of this State, are especially concerned about the revision of the abominable law which exists at present. We, though not manufacturers ourselves, feel for our neighbors who live by manufacturing various kinds of goods and wares--the proper products of man's skill and industry. Therefore we, of the Republican party, the true friends of Free White working men, are anxious for the adoption of such measures, by our National law-makers, as will give to those worthy men the relief they so badly need.

If the Republicans had the majority in the Senate--as have their foes, the locofocos--there would be no delay about giving to the free-born sons of toil the aid and comfort their present prostrate condition so loudly calls for; but, the ability to dispose of the matter being in locofoco hands, the people need not look for relief from the present Senate.

In the eyes of Slave-owners, and in the view of their allies--dough-face locofoco of the North--there is no object for which the American nation was brought into being, or is kept in existance, but that Slavery might have a place to spread, and a land to blight. Whatever, therefore, is done, or attempted, for the advancement of the exacting claims of those who are immediately interested in unpaid labor, is cheerfully acquiesced in and defended, while the interests of the other portion of society, the non-slave owners, are totally disregarded. For Northern poor men to ask for any favors at the hands of the lords-of-the-lash, is considered by them--and by the whole locofoco party of the North--as an act of presumption; a great piece of assurance. What rights have poor men in this country--is the language of a locofoco Judge--which rich men are bound to respect? Knowing, then, the sentiments and being familiar with the practices of locofocos, how can we expect a change of the Tariff, beneficial to free labor?

The present Executive has professed to be in favor of giving the people that for which they have been calling so loudly for several years--a properly adjusted Tariff. His party is in the ascendency; they can give, and they can withhold the relief which the country needs. If he is sincere in his assertions of friendship for the interests of American industry, he will not permit an adjournment of Congress before they properly divide for the wants of the nation; or if they do disperse without doing their duty, he as a faithful officer, should immediately recall them to their posts and make them remain in their seats till the time for commencing the next session, if they did not sooner agree to do justice to the nation.

Congress had better never meet at all, than to assemble, year after year, and squander millions of dollars of the public treasure--the people's money--and, despite the urgent appeals of those who suffer from their neglect, heartlessly refuse to protect our own citizens from being robbed by people in foreign lands. Of, if they meet, they should be made themselves to feel some of the hardships which they so wantonly inflict upon their peers. The pay of a Congressman is so much per year, and if they can get through with their labors in a few months and go home, where living is less than the one-fourth of what it costs to subsist in Washington, there is nothing to be lost by serving in Congress; but if the members can be compelled to remain in that expensive city, by means of the President's prorogue, from one year's end to another, or until they learn to respect the rights of their constituents, there would be an end to this everlasting dallying and procrastination, and a good Tariff law would speedily be enacted. The people want a Tariff, and, if they do not get it, they will visit the consequences where they properly belong, upon the heads of the locofocos.

We have uniformly contended that the locofoco party is the most deadly foe to white working men. All its powers are constantly exerted to the utmost to increase the strength, and wickedly bolster up the arrogant assumptions of those who hold their fellow-men in bondage.

In Virginia the laws for raising means to carry on the affairs of the State are so framed that working white men have nearly all the taxes to pay. The amount of taxes levied upon the Slave-owner for his property (?) is but nominal--about eight five cents upon a negro worth a thousand dollars. The burthen [sic] of taxation falls upon white men who are in no manner interested in the "peculiar institution."

A young man who, by industry and good habits, is able to earn a thousand dollars per annum is compelled to pay sixteen mills State tax on every dollar of his wages, while his neighbor, the haughty slave-owner, with thousands of dollars invested in human chattels, gets off by paying about four and a half mills on his stock,(?) so highly is a negro prized above a free white man who, by his daily occupation, procures an honest living for himself.

The people thee are beginning to get their eyes open to the wrongs which the cruel system of slavery heaps upon the shoulders of those who have neither lot not part in the accursed iniquity. To get their feelings aroused, is to a great extent to alleviate the evils which unrighteously oppress them. In consequence of the grinding meanness of those who live upon unpaid labor, slave-owners, toward their fellow-white-men who have, themselves, to work for a living, slavery is receiving her death-blow in the old Dominion.

In North Carolina, also, the same question is agitating the public mind. In that State the old Whig party is still in existence. The principal duty at present devolving upon the members of that gallant organization is to be seen by reading the following from a recent number of the Patriot, published in Greensborough, in the "old North State," as that State is familiarly called:

"Now, will our friends, the poor men, just look at these things? A certain amount of money has to be raised every year by taxation--to do this, the Democracy say, and Gov Reid said, every species of property should be taxed so s to make the burdens of Government bear equally upon all, as near as possible. The Whigs say that is right, but you can't do this, unless you alter the Constitution, and bring in the negroes--that an ad valorem tax as proposed by Gov. Reid, and the Democracy, would bear too heavy on the property of the poor men; their horses and cows, and too lightly on the property of the rich--their slaves. But let us bring in the negroes, say the Whigs, and then the burden will be light upon all. But Democracy says no--you mus'nt, you shan't touch the negroes. Will the people consider these things, and then say who are the friends of the poor man? Is it the Democrats or is it the Whigs?"

The old, rotten machinery of locofocoism in North Carolina, as in Virginia, and every place else, is bearing down upon poor white men and upholding the rich, aristocratic slave- master. Why is it that poor men, those who gain their daily food for themselves and their families by hard, honest labor, continue in the ranks of that ruinous political organization--that monstrosity in America?

In Austria, and in France, as well as in other countries ruled by the most relentless of despots, just such an organization is to be found--forever upholding, sustaining and defending the claims of the rich and trampling upon the rights of the poor, and poor men are compelled to join it; but in Republican America there is no excuse for poor men uniting with tyrants against their own dearest rights. The sooner the foul, stinking, loathing carcass of locofocoism is buried, forever, from sight, and its corruptions removed, the better for all classes of society and for every branch of Government--National and State.

The Nigger democracy, unable to agree upon a standard bearer for the present campaign, at its recent Convention, at Charleston, S. C., have re-assembled in the city of Baltimore--to make another effort. On Monday of this week, the 18th inst., the fag ends of the once- powerful party came together in the Monumental City, to see whether it is possible for them to unite upon some person to be most mercilessly beaten, by the mighty Illinois "Rail Splitter," for the distinguished position--that of President of the United States.

We believe, and we hope, that Stephen ARNOLD Douglas will be the choice of the Baltimore Convention. "Honest Abe" carried Illinois over the "little giant" in 1858--when they were the opposing candidates for United States Senator. Douglas succeeded in getting the place, but it was in consequence of the manner in which the State was laid off in Senatorial and Legislative districts; the majority of the popular vote having been cast for Mr. Lincoln. The next contest will be decided by the popular vote, and Lincoln can again beat Douglas out of sight--then trot out your short legged nag we want a chance at him.

The following is one of Lincoln's illustrations, made in a speech at New Haven, Conn. Speaking of the right and wrong of slavery, he said:

"The other policy is one that squares with the idea that slavery is wrong, and it consists in doing every thing that we ought to do if it is wrong. Now I don't wish to be misunderstood, nor to leave a gap down to be misrepresented, even--I didn't say we ought to attack where it exists. To me it seems that if we were to form a government anew, in view of the actual presence of slavery, we should find it necessary to frame just such a government as our fathers did, giving to the slaveholders the entire control where the system is established, while we possessed the limits. [Applause.] From the necessities of the case, we should be compelled to form just such a government as our blessed fathers gave us, and, surely, if they have so made it, that adds another reason why we should let slavery alone where it exists.

"If I saw a venomous snake crawling in the road, any man would say I might seize the nearest stick and kill it; but, if I found that snake in bed with my children, it would be another question. [Laughter.] I might hurt the children worse than the snake, and the snake might bite them. [Applause.]--Much more, if I found it in bed with my neighbor's children, and I had bound myself by a solemn contract not to meddle with his children under any circumstances, it would become me to let that particular mode of killing the gentleman alone. [Great laughter.] But if there is a bed newly made up, to which the children are to be taken, and it was proposed to take a batch of young snakes and put them in with them, I take it no man would say there was a question how I ought to decide. [Prolonged applause and cheers.]

"That is just the case! The new Territories are the newly made bed to which our children are to go, and it lies with the nation to say whether they shall have the snakes mixed up with them or not. It does not seem me as if there could be much hesitation what our policy should be."