March 6, 1861; The Charleston Mercury
It is said that the President has vetoed the Act currently passed by the Congress to suppress the African slave trade. The grounds of the veto are not as yet known; but it is certainly unfortunate that there should be a difference between Congress and the Executive on such a subject. Slavery is the immediate cause of the existence of the Confederacy. That difference should already arise concerning it, in its councils, is very much to be deplored. That Congress expected no such thing is plain from the fact that it removed the injunction of secresy, and published the act to the world. This act is a modification of the laws of the United States upon the subject, which were adopted, with all the other laws of the United States, by the Congress of the Confederate States. The laws of the United States make the importation of African slaves piracy. This act punishes it as a high misdemeanor. To veto the latter, is to keep in force the former. Can this be the object of the veto?