_A direct Prohibition by Congress necessary to prevent Extension of Slavery._--An attempt is made to divert attention from this question by denying the necessity of Congressional enactment to prevent the extension of Slavery into California, on the ground that climate and physical condition furnish natural obstacles to its existence there. This is a weak device. It is well known that Slavery did exist there for many years, until excluded by law,--that California lies in the same range of latitude as the Slave States of the Union, and it may be added, also, the Barbary States of Africa,--that the mineral wealth of California creates a demand for slave labor, which would overcome any physical obstacle to its introduction,--that Slavery has existed in every country from which it was not excluded by the laws or religion of the people; and still further, it is an undeniable fact, that already slaves have been taken into California, and publicly sold there at enormous prices, and thousands are now on their way thither from the Southern States and from South America. In support of this last statement numerous authorities might be adduced. A member of Congress from Tennessee recently declared, that, within his own knowledge, there would be taken to California, during the summer just past, from ten to twelve thousand slaves. Another person states, from reliable evidence, that whole families are moving with slaves from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. Mr. Rowe, under date of May 13, at Independence, Missouri, on his way to the Pacific, writes to the paper of which he was recently the editor, the "Belfast Journal," Maine: "I have seen as many as a dozen teams going along _with their families of slaves_." And Mr. Boggs, once Governor of Missouri, now a resident of California, is quoted as writing to a friend at home as follows: "If your sons will bring out two or three negroes who can cook and attend at a hotel, your brother will pay cash for them at a good profit, and take it as a great favor." [9] Notes on Virginia, Query XVIII. After these things, to which many more might be added, it will not be denied, that, in order to secure Freedom in the Territories, there must be direct and early prohibition of Slavery by Act of Congress. POSITION OF THE FREE-SOIL PARTY. The way is now prepared to consider our precise position with regard to the accumulating aggressions of the Slave Power, revealed especially in recent efforts to extend Slavery. * * * * *