Memoirs of John Adams Dix; comp. by his son, Morgan Dix.

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MEMOIRS OF JOHN ADAMS DIX.

prove anything, it shows this, that General Dix and those
who acted with him truly represented the thought of our
earliest statesmen on that subject, and vindicates them from
the reproaches of extremists in both sections of the country.
Throughout that exciting period, in which the skies grew
stormier every day, their position, as stated by themselves,
was as follows:
" 1. All external interference with slavery in the States is
a violation of the compromises of the Constitution, and dangerous to the harmony and perpetuity of the Federal Union.
" 2. If territory is acquired by the United States, it should,
in respect to slavery, be received as it is found. If slavery
exists therein at the time of the acquisition, it should not be
the subject of legislation by Congress. On the other hand, if
slavery does not exist therein at the time of the acquisition,
its introduction ought to be prohibited while the Territory
continues to be governed as such.
"3. All legislation by Congress, in respect to slavery in the
territory belonging to the United States, ceases to be operative when the inhabitants are permitted to form a State government; and the admission of a State into the Union carries
with it, by force of the sovereignty such admission confers,
the right to dispose of the whole question of slavery at its
discretion, without external interference."
It was the determination of those men to resist interference with slavery in the States, as unauthorized and disorganizing, and at the same time to withhold assent to its extension under any pretext, and to oppose such extension in
every constitutional mode, as of evil tendency in government,
wrong in itself, and repugnant to humanity and civilization.
They appear to have demonstrated that in this position they
were in accord with the fathers of the Republic. The appeal
to the representatives of the Southern people, with which
the speech from which I have just quoted closes, will be read
with profound interest, considering the contempt with which
the solemn remonstrance was met: