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THE SOUTHERN SEMT.MIL
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XX COLUMBUS, GA.
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Columbus, March 7, 1850. 10 tt
NORTH CAROLINA
Kutual Life Insurance Company.
LOCATED AT RALEIGH. N. C.
HP HE Charter of this company gives important advan-
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The husband can insure lus own life for the sole use and
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t C/’ Office at Greenwood A Co.’s Warehouse.
Nov. 13,18-19. ___ “
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rpJLL the first daj of January next. The old printing
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~ County Surveyor.
THIH undersigned informs his friends and the Planters
JL of Muscogee county, that he is prepared to make
offi dal surveys in Muscogee county. Letters addressed
to Post Office, Columbus, will meet with prompt atten
tion \YM. r ofc.KKr.L.L.,
County Surveyor.
Office over E. Barnard A Co.'s store, Broad St.
Columbus, Jan. 31,1850. 3 y
M RS. BA R DWELT a
ITTOULD inform the Ladies of Columbus and its
\ V vicinity, that she has just returnedGrom New \ ork
with a handsome stock ot MILLINERY . LACL
C Vl'F.S.&c . and trusts the Ladies will give iur an
early cull. She opened on VVednesday. ,
April 11, 1850. n _
TEAS! TEAS!
DIRECT from the “Canton Tea Company,'’ just re
ceived and & REDD,
Feb. 7, 1850. 6 11
NOTICE.
rpHE firm name of “M. H. DessauAgentF tschanged,
1 from tins date, to M- . UEtbAL.
Columbus, Feb. 7, 1800.
Williams, Flewellen & Williams,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.
May 23, 1850. 21
J. JOHNSON,
attorney at law,
RANDOLPH STREET, COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.
“1T T II.L practice in the Chattahoochee Circuit and
\ \ the adjacent counties in Alabama.
Columbus, Jure 13, 1850. ~ 4 A* j
a Globe Hotel,
BUENA VISTA, MARION CO., GA.
BY J. WILLIAMS.
March 14,1550. 11 ts
Williams & Howard,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA.
JtOBT. R. HOWARD. CHAS. J. WILLIAMS.
April 4,1850. . 14
J. I>. LENNARD,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
TALBOTTON, GA.
WILL attend to business in Talbot and tlio adjacent
counties. All business entrusted to his care will meet
with prompt attention. ’
April 4,1850. _ 14 4 V
KING & WINNEMORE,
Commission Merchants,
MOBILE, ALABAMA.
Dee. 20, 1849. [Mob. Trib.] 15 ts
THIS PAPER
IS MANUFACTURED RY TIIL
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NEAR THIS CITY.
Columbur, Feb. 23,1950. 9 ts
YOL. I.
ADDRESS
To the People of Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Flori
da, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Lou
isiana, Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, and
Arkansas :
Fellow Citizens:
In obedience to the commands of those we
represent, we have assembled together to
confer with each other concerning your rela
tion with the general Government and the
non-slaveholding States of the Union, on the
subject of the institution of Slavery. We
deem it proper to lay before you as briefly as
the subject will permit, the result of our de
liberations and councils.
In order that your condition may be un
derstood, and the conclusions at which we
have arrived be justly appreciated, it is neces
sary briefly to refer to a few past transac
tions.
It is now sixteen years since the institution
of Slavery in the South began to be agitated
in Congress and assailed by our sister States.
Up to that time, the people of the Northern
States seem to have respected the rights re
served to the Southern States by the Consti
tution, and to have acted under the convic
tion, that the subject of slavery being beyond
the legislation of Congress, all agitation with
respect to it on the part of Congress, was
equally forbidden by the Constitution. But
at this time, a portion of the people of the
North began to assail, in Congress, the insti
tution of slavery; and to accomplish their
object of dragging it into the vortex of con
gressional agitation, they claimed the tight of
petitioning Congress upon all subjects what
soever. Asa petition is only the fii-st step in
legislation, it was clear that a right to petition
a legislative body, must be limited by its pow
ers of legislation. No one can have a l ight
to ask of another to do that which he has no
moral or legal right to do. Nor can any tri
bunal have the power to receive and consider
any matter beyond its jurisdiction. The
claim therefore to present petitions to Con
gress on the subject of slavery, was consid
ered by the Southern Representatives gener
ally, as an attempt indirectly, to assume juris
diction over the subject itself, in all parts of
the Union. • The object, without disguise,
was the overthrow of slavery in the States;
but our assailants framed the petitions pre
sented, chiefly against Slavery in the District
of Columbia and our Territories, and against
what they call the internal Slave trade—that
is, the transmission of slaves from one South
ern State to another. Conscious of the fatal
tendency of the agitation of Slavery in Con
gress, to destroy the peace and stability of the
Union, an effort was made, supported by a
large portion of the Northern Representa
tives, to suppress it bv a rule in the House of
Representatives, which provided, that all pe
titions on the subject of slavery, should be
neither considered, printed, or referred. This
rule was assailed by the people of the North
ern States, as violating that clause of the
Constitution which prohibits Congress from
passing laws to prevent the people from
peaceably assembling and petitioning for a re
dress of - grievances. In December, 1844,
this rule fell before the almost unanimous
voice of the North; and thus the unlimited
power of introducing and considering the sub
ject of slavery in Congress, was asserted. In
the meantime, the course of the Northern
people showed clearly, that the agitation of
slavery in Congress was only one of the
means they relied on to overthrow this insti
tution throughout the Union. Newspapers
were set up amongst them, and lecturers were
hired to go abroad to excite them against
slavery in the Southern States. Organiza
tions were formed to carry off slaves from the
South, and to protect them by violence from
recapture. Although the Constitution re
quires that fugitive slaves, like fugitives from
justice, should be rendered up by the States
to which they may have fled, the legislatures
of almost every Northern State, faithless to
this treaty stipulation between the States,
passed laws designed and calculated entirely
to defeat this provision of the Constitution,
without which the Union would have never
existed, and by these laws virtually nullified
the act of 1794, passed by Congress to aid
its enforcement. Not content with the agi
tation of slavery in political circles, the North
ern people forced it also into the religious as
sociations extending over the Union, and pro
duced a separation of the Methodist and Bap
tist churches. The result of all these vari
ous methods of assailing slavery in the South
ern Suites, was, that it became the grand
tonic of interest and discussion in Congress
and out of Congress, and one of the most im
portant elements of politics in the l nion.
Thus an institution, belonging to the South
ern States exclusively, was wrested from
their exclusive control; and instead of that
protection which is the great object oi all
governments, and which the Constitution ot
the United States guarantees to all the States
and their institutions, the Northern States,
and Congress under their control, combined
together, to assail and destroy slavery in the
South. The Southern States did nothing to
vindicate their rights and arrest this course ot
things. The Mexican war broke out; and
instead of that patriotic co-operation ol all
sections of the Union, which would have ta
ken place in the better days ot the Republic,
to bring it to a just and honorable conclusion,
in the very first appropriation bill to carry it
on, the North endeavored to thrust the sub
ject of slaverv. Throughout the war, they
kept up the agitation ; thus clearly manifest
ing their determination that the General Gov
ernment in none of its operations, internal or
external, shall be exempted from the introduc
tion of this dangerous subject. The war
closed with honor, and an immense territory
was added to the United States. Their pre
vious threats were realized, and the non
slaveholding States immediately claimed the
right to exclude the people of the Southern
States from all the territory acquired, and to
appropriate it to themselves. If this preten
sion arose from a mere lust of power, it
would be hard to bear the superiority and
mastery it implies. It would degrade the
Southern States from being the equals of the
Northern States, to a position of colonial in
ferioritv. But when your exclusion is not
j trom a mere lust of power, but is only a fur
| ther step in the progress of things, aiming at
j the abolition of slavery in the States, by the
i extension and multiplication of non-slavehold
i ing States m the Union, the pretension is seen
!to be as alarming as it is insulting. The
Southern States, in their Legislatures, set
j forth with great unanimity the rights in our
! territories belonging to them in common with
®J )t Smtytxn .Sentinel
the Northern States, and declared their deter
mination to maintain them; and finding in
the Northern States no disposition to abate
their demands, the Convention in which we
are assembled, has been brought together to
| take counsel as to the course the Southern
! States should pursue, for the maintenance of
i their rights, liberty and honor.
Such is a brief, but imperfect statement of
past transactions; and they force upon us the
‘.question, in what condition do they place the ;
Southern States? And first, what is their j
condition in Congress ? The time was when
your Representatives in Congress, were nei
ther offered, nor would they endure reproach
in your behalf.
But for many years past, they have heard
you in Congress habitually reviled by the
most opprobrious epithets on account of the ,
institution of slavery. If their spirits are yet
unbroken, they must be chilled by a sense of
humiliation at the insults they daily receive
as your representatives. Aou are arraigned
as criminals. Slavery is dragged into every
debate, and Congress has become little else,
than a grand instrument in the hands of abo
litionists to degrade and ruin the South. In
stead of peace and protection, aggression and
insult on the South characterize its proceed
ings and councils. And what is your condi
■ tion, with respect to vour sister States?
YV :iere is that respect and comity, which
(due from all nations toward each other) is
more especially* due from States bound to
gether in a confederacy, and which was once
displayed in all their intercourse. Instead of
i respect and sympathy—denunciation and
hostility, on account of your institution of
slavery, have for past years characterized the
communications addressed to you by the
Northern States. And what is your condi
tion in the Union? The non-slaveholding
States stand combined, not only to wrest
from you your common property, but to
place upon your front, the brand of inferiori
ty. You are not to extend, on account of I
your institutions, but they are to increase and
multiply, that the shame and sin of slavery,
may by their philanthropic agency, be extin
guished from amongst you. But the worst
feature of your condition is, that it is progres- j
sire. As low and humiliating as it now may j
: be, it is destined, if not arrested, to “a lower
i deep.” Every efl’ecl is a cause, and the spir-
I it of fanaticism brooks no delay in the pro
gress it creates. 1 f you were to yield every
j thing the North now requires—abolish slave
: ry in the District of Columbia—submit to be
legislated pirates lor conveying slaves from j
one State to another—let trial by jury and
the writ of Habeas Corpus, wrest from you
in the Northern States every fugitive slave—
give up all your territories to swell Northern
arrogance and predominance—would things
stop there ? These are all means aiming at
one great end—the abolition of slavery in
the States. Surrendering one of these means
you will but inflame the power by which an- |
other will be exacted—and when all are con
quered, will the evil be arrested ? In fifty
years, twenty new non-slaveholding States
may be added to the Union, whilst some which
are now slaveholding, may become non-slave
holding States. There then, will be no need
as now, openly to put aside the constitution
to reach their object. If they will deign to
do it, the non-slaveholding States will then
have the power by two thirds in Congress
and then three fourths of the States, to amend
the constitution, and then have its express
! sanction to consumate their policy. Your
condition is progressive.
If from the past transactions we have nar
rated, we learn our condition in the Union— \
they teach us also that our past policy of
non-action and submission to aggression can
! not bring us peace and safety. When the
doors of Congress were thrown open to agi
tation on the subject of slavery, if the South
ern States had moved with energy to avert a
state of things unconstitutional itself, and
surely tending to bring the slave-holing and
! non-slaveholding State in collision—altho’
. late, it might not have been too late to stop
| subsequent encroachments upon our rights.
But the Southern States were passive: and
j their forbearance has had the effect of inspir
ing the Northern people with the belief, eith
! ther that we value a union with them more
| than we value the institution of slavery or
that we dare not move from a conscious ina
bility to protect ourselves. You have ungen
-1 erously stood still, whilst your supporters and
i the defenders of the Constitution in the north
i ern States, in their efforts to protect you from
the agitations of slavery in Congress, have
been politically annihilated or have turned ;
foes. Y r on have tamely acquiesced—until,
to hate and persecute the South, has become ‘
a high passport to honor and power in the
Union. You have unwisely stood still, whilst
year after year the volume of anti-slavery pol
icy aud sympathy has swollen into unanimity
throughout all the non-slaveholding States,
and the sections of the Union now are in stern
collision. You have waited, until the Con
i stitution of the United States is in danger of I
: being abolished—or of becoming what the j
; majority in Congress think proper to make it.
; That great principle on which” our system of
; free government rests —of so dividing the pow
ers of Government —that to a common Gov
; eminent, only those powers should be grant
ed, which must affect all the people compos
ing it, equally in their operation—whilst all
: powers over all interests local or sectional,
I should be reserved to local or sectional gov
ernments—is in danger of being uprooted
from their Constitution. Local and sectional
interests absorb the time and business of
Congress, and thus, a sectional despotism, to
taHy irresponsible to the people of the South
| —constituted of the Representatives in Con
gress from the non-slaveholding States—ig
j norant of our feelings, condition and institu
j tions—resigns at Washington. These are the
: fruits of y#ur past. forbearance and submis
| sion.
If we look into the nature of things, such
results will not seem to be cither new or
strange. There is but one condition, in which
one people can be safe under the dominion of
another people; and that is when their inter
ests are entirely identical. Then, the domin
ant, cannot oppress the subject people, with- j
out oppressing'themselves. The identity of
interest between them, is the security for right |
government. But as this identity can scarce
ly ever exist between any two people, histo
ry bears but one testimony as to the-fate of a
subject people, They have always been
compelled to minister to the prosperity and
aggrandizement of their masters. If this has
always been the case under the ordinary dif
ference, of interests and feelings which exist
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 27, 1850.
between States, how much more certainly
must the experience of history be realized, be
tween the people of the Northern and South
ern States. Here is a difference of climate
and productions throughout a territory stretch
ing along the whole belt of the temperate
zone, affecting the pursuits and characters of
the people inhabiting it. But the great dif
ference—the one great difference—the great
est which can exist among the people, is the
institution of Slavery. This alone sets apart
the Southern States as a peculiar people—
with whom independence as to their internal
policy, is the condition of the existence. They
must rule themselves, or perish. Every col
ony in the world where African slavery ex
isted, with one exception, has been destroyed;
and if this has been the case under the old
and affete governments of Europe, will it not
prevail under the deminion of the restless peo
ple of the Northern States? They do not
practically recognise the inferiority of the Af
rican to the Caucasian races. They do not
realize, because the circumstances of their
condition do not compel them to realize, the
impossibility of an amalgamatiion between
the races. Exempt from the institution of
slavery, it is not surprising that their sympa
thies should be against us, whilst the dogma
on which they profess to build their system
of Free government— the absolute rule is the
majority — leaves no barrier to their power in
the affairs of the General Government, and
leads them to is consolidation. Religion too,
false or real—fires their enthusiasm against
an institution, which many of its professors
believe to be inconsistent with its principles
and precepts. To expect forbearance from
such a people, under such circumstances, to
wards the institution of slavery, is manifestly
vain. If they have been false to the compact
made with us in the constitution, and have
allowed passion and prejudice to master rea
son, they have only exemplified that frailty
and fallibility of our nature, which has pro
duced the necessity of all governments, and
which, if unchecked, ever produces wrong.
The institution of slavery having once enter
ed the popular mind of the non-slaveholding
States, for action and contol, the rest is in
evitable. If unrestrained by us, they will go
on, until African slavery will be swept from
the broad and fertile South. The nature of
things therefore, independent of experience,
teaches us that there can be no safety in sub
mission.
To submit to evils, however great, whilst
they are endurable, is the disposition of every
people—especiall y of an agricultural People
living apart, and having no association in
their pursuits. But the responsibility of pre
serving a free government rests with all its
members, whatever may be their pursuits, and
not alone with those who have the power or
the will to destroy it. A minority, by sub
mission, may as much betray the constitution,
as a majority by aggression. The constitu
tion does not protect a majority; for they
have all the powers of the government in their
hands and can protect themselves. The lim
itation ofa constitution are designed to pro
tect the minority—those who have no power,
against those who have it. Hence, the great
motive and duty of self-protection is peculiar
to a minority, independent of that faith to the
constitution which they owe in common with
the majority. They must protect themselves,
and protect the conititution: and if they fail
in this double duty, they are at least as cul
pable as those who, in aggression upon their
rights, overthrow the constitution. And the
public opinion of the world is in conformity
with these views. The oppressor is hated—
but the unresistingly oppressed is despised.
More respect follows the tyrant, than the
slave who submits to his power. The south
ern States, therefore, although a majority, are
not exempt from the responsibliity of pre
serving the constitution, and, in preserving it,
to protect themselves.
In what way will they preserve the consti
tution and protect themselves ?
Asa general rule, it is undoubtedly true,
that when, in a government like ours a con
stitution is violated by a majority, who alone
can violated it in matters of legislation, it can
not be restored to its integrity through the
ordinary means of the government; for these
means, being under the control of the majori
ty, are not available to the minority. It is for
this reason, that frequent elections of our ru
lers take place in our system of free govern
ment, in order that the people, by their direct
intervention, may change the majority. But
this resource cannot avail us in the violations
of the constitution, which now press and har
ass the South. By changing their represen
tatives, how can the people of South-affect the
majority in C Dngress aud restore the consti
tution? Their Representatives are true; and
have done all that men can do, to preserve the
constitution from the aggressions of the ma
jority. Removing them, and putting other
Representatives in Congress, could have no
effect in restoring the constitution. It has
been broken by the representatives of the peo
ple of the northern States, who sustain them
in their violations of the constitution. It is
clear that the ballot-box in the South is pow
erless for its protection. And the same caus
es which induced the violations of the consti
tution by the northern majority, prevents its
restoration to its integrity. Throughout the
northern States, there has been no indication
of any change in their policy. On the con
trary, the majority against the South is great
er in the present Congress than in the last,
following the usual course of every success
ive election for years past. Nor have we
seen in the action of the States, with few ex
ceptions, any proof of a returning sense of
justice to us, or of reverence for the constitu
tion. Several of them, lest false inferences
might be drawn as to their position, have ta
ken care lately to reiterate in the most offen
sive forms their former declarations against
our rights; and when a great Sepator, re
presenting one of them, anxious for the per
petuation of the Union, has ventured to ad
vocate something of justice to the South, he
has been rebuked by the Legislature of the
State he represents, and virtually denounced
for his fidelity to the constitution. This re
source then, under the ordinary operations of
the constitution, is of no avail. And how is it
with the present Congress,the only other source
ofredress in the usual administration of the con
stitution ? For six months it has been in ses
sion, and during this whole period of time
slavery has been the absorbing topic of dis
cussion and agitation. Yet nothing has been
done to heal the discontents which so justly
exists in the South, or restore a bleeding con
stitution. All we have received has been bit
ter dencunciaticnis of our institutions by many
members of Congress, and threats to coerce
us into submission. Although nothing has
been done, a report has been made in the
Senate by a committee of thirteen members,
which is now pending in that body; and as
the measures it proposes have been passed up
on the South as worthy of her acceptance,
we deem it proper to lay before you a brief
consideration of the matters it contains.
This Report embraces four distinct meas
ures —Ist the admission of California as a
State, with the exclusion of slavery in her
constitution. 2d. Territorial Governments to
| be erected over the territories of Utah and
New Mexico, with nearly one half of Texas
: to be added to the latter. 3d. The prohibi
| tion of the slave trade in the District of Co
lumbia ; and 4th., provisions for the recapture
i of fugitive slaves in the non-slaveholding
States. To understand whether these meas
ures are consistent with our rights and wor
thy of our acceptance, each of them must be
; considered separately.
The South is excluded by the bill from the
whole of that part of Californir lying on the
Pacific, including one hundred and fifty thou
sand square miles of territory; and in this is
done bv the legislation of Concress, the mode
in which it is done, is of no importance. Cal
ifornia belongs to the United States, and all
action by the individuals in that territory,
whether from the United States or from the
rest of the world, approaching the soil to
themselves or erecting a government over it,
is of no validity. They constitute a people
in no proper sense of the term ; but are citi
zens of the States or countries from which
they have come, and to which they still owe
their allegiance. When therefore Congress
attempts to carry out and confirm the acts of
these individuals, erecting California into a
a state and excluding slavery therefrom, it is
the same thing as if Congress had originally
passed a law to this effect, without the inter
vention of these individuals. The exclusion
of slavery from California is done by the act
of Congress, and by no other authority.
The constitution of California becomes
the act of Congress, and the Wilmot
Proviso it contains, is the Wilmot Pro
viso passed and enforced by the legislation
of Congress. Here then, is that exclusion
from this territory by the act of Congress,
which almost every southern State in the Un
ion has declared she would not submit to,
plainly and practically enforced by this bill.
A free people cannot be satisfied with the
mode in which they are deprived of their
rights. A sovereign State will disdain to en
quire in what manner she is stripped of her
property, and degraded from an equality with
her sister states. It is enough, that the out
rage is done. The mode is of little conse
quence. There is therefore in the mode of
extending the Wilmot Proviso over the terri
tory of California presented by the bill, noth
ing to mitigate the indignation of the south
ern States, or to battle their determination to
redress the wrong, if afflicted. They are ex
cluded from the whole Territory of Califor
nia, a Territory extensive enough to contain
four large States.
If the Constitution proposed by California
contained nothing about slavery, would the
North allow her to enter the Union l Such
were the territorial bills proposed for Califor
nia at the last Congress, but they rejected
them, because the South was not excluded
from this territory, in express terms. The
inhabitants of this territory, have been left
without any civil government, solely because
the South would not consent to be legislated
out of them with her institutions; and now
this object is accomplished by the Constitu
tion presented by California, these conserva
tives—these advocates of law and order—are
eager to admit her, without right or precedent,
into the Union. We are aware of the incon
veniencies the inhabitants of California may
have suffered for want of a civil government
established by Congress; and therefore, are
prepared to yield much on account of the cir
cumstances in which they have been plac
ed.
The next measure *is in perfect keeping
with the first feature of “the report.” It takes
from Texas, territory sufficient for two large
States, and adds them to New Mexico. —
What the bill contains with respect to slave
ry will be of little consequence; for it is de
signed that next winter New Mexico thus
constituted, shall follow the example of Cali
fornia, and to be admitted as a State wdth a
Constitution excluing slavery from its limits
—for without such exclusion she cannot hope
to be admitted by the non-slaveholding States
into the Union. The effect will he that ter
ritory, over which slavery notv exists, equal
to two states, will be wrested from the South,
and will be given up to non-slaveholding
States. The pretext is, that there is some
doubt as to the boundaries of Texas. Texas
by her laws, when she was admitted into the
Union, had but one boundary towards the
West, and that boundary was the Rio Grande.
Congress in the resolutions admitting her in
to the Union recognized this boundary, by
laying down a line of limitation between the
slaveholding and non-slaveholding States—
(being the Missouri Compromise line of 36
deg. 30 min. parallel of North latitude) —
through that very part of her territory, her
right to which is now questioned. Her boun
dary of the Rio Grande to its source along
gave her this country; and was thus recog
nised and ratified by the resolutions of annex
ation. To vindicate this boundary for Tex
as, a member of the Union, the Mexican war
took place; and in the treaty of Guadaloupe
Hidalgo, it w T as finally vindicated and settled,
by a clause in treaty, designating the Rio
Grande as the bohndarv between Mexico and
the .United States. Thus by the laws of
Texas, by the legislation of Congress, and by
a solemn treaty of the United States, the Rio
Grande is the western boundary of Texas.—
Y et the pretension is set up, that her territo
ry does not extend to within three hundred
miles of the Missouri Compromise line, where
Congress in receiving her into the Union, de
termined that her territory should be divided
between the slaveholding and non-slavehold
ing States. Texas is the only State in the
Union which has the solemn guarantee of
the Government of the United States in eve
ry possible form to her boundaries. et this
is the Government which disputes them ; and
under the pretext that they are very doubtful,
proposes to take from her nearly one half of
her territory. It is by virtue of such preten
sions, that by the bill two States are to be ta
ken from the southern and given to the north
ern States; and this wrong is aggravated ;
by compeUing us to pay for it, through the
Treasury of the United States.
It is undoubtedly proper, that Texasshould
be quieted by a law ot Congress, plainly ac
knowledging them. If after her boundaries
are settled, she General Goversftieut, to carrv
out the purposes of the constitution, or in
good faith to fulfill all the obligations, the
annexation of Texas to the Union requires,
should think proper to purchase any territo
ry from Texas, the arrangement may be un
objectionable. But any arrangement con
cerning her territories, which leaves a shade
ofdoubtastotheright of the people of the south
to enter any portion of the territory, which
according to the terms of annexation are now
free to them, neither Texas nor the General
Govern met have any right to make. The
terms of annexation constitute the compact
of Union, between Texas and the other States
ot the confederacy—and this compact secures
irrevocably to the people ot the slaveholding
States (he right ot entering with their proper
ty all her territory lying south of tit) deg 30
min. north latitude—whilst from all her terri
tory lying north of that line, they are exclu
ded. The bill in the Senate makes no pro
vision for carrying out these terms of the com
pact, but leaves in doubt the right of the
southern people, throughout all the territory
proposed to be purchased ; whilst many who
support the bill declare that in effect it excludes
entirely the people of the Southern States
from all the territory purchased, The least
evil therefore the bill can bring to the people
ol the Southern States on entering it, will be
contention, harassment and litigation.
But you will have a very inadequate con
ception of the importance of the territory ta
ken by the bill, it you confine your views to
Texas. If you will look at the map of the
United States, you will perceive the territory
proposed to be surrendered by Texas lies
throughout its whole extent along the wes
tern frontier of the Indian territory. This is
now a slaveholding country ; and must be
considered as a part of the South. Place
along their whole western boundary two non
slaveholding States, and how long will the
Indians be able to maintain the institution of
slavery ? It the agency of Congress is not
used, to abolish directly slavery in the Indian
territory, this end can be easily accomplished
by the very means now in operation against
slavery in the southern States, which the In
dian will have but little power to resist. The
effect will be, that the Indian territory, large
enough for two more States, will be controlled
by the non-slaveholding States. Thus by
these two points in the report, the South will
lose four large States in California—two in
Texas and two in the Indian territory. Nor
is this all. The non-slaveholding State will
be brought to the western boundary of Missou
ri and Arkansas, along their whole extent, and
will bound Texas on her whole northern and
western frontier. Thus the southern States
will be hemmed in by the non-slaveholding
States on their whole western border—a pol
icy which they have declared essential to the
end of abolishing slavery in the southern
States. What can compensate the South, for
such enormous wrong and spoliation ?
But this is not the end of your concessions
by this report. We must not only yield to
the interests, but the prejudices of the north
ern people. Slavery existed in the District
of Columbia when Congress accepted the
cession of the territory composing it from the
State of Maryland and Virginia. No one
can suppose that Maryland and Virginia slave
holding States now, could have designed to
give Congress any power over the institution
of slavery in this territory. Independently of
the wrong to the people of the District, to
emancipate their slaves, it would be an intol
erable evil to have a District between them,
where the emancipation prevails by the au
thority of Congress. Congress, in the bill
reported as a part of the so-called comprom
ise, now begins the work of emancipation by
declaring that if any slave is brought into the
District for sale, he shall be “liberated and
free.” If a slave is liberated because he is
brought into the District, the next step, to lib
erate him because he is in the District, is not
difficult. The power to emancipate the slaves
in the District of Columbia is thus claimed
and exercised by Congress. Many of the
ablest men of the South have denied that Con
gress possesses, any such power, whilst all
agreed, until lately, that for Congress to in
terfere with this institution, whilst slavery ex
isted in Maryland and Virginia, would be a
gross breach of faith towards those States,
and an outrage upon the whole South. How
long will that facility which yields to the pre
judice against the buying and selling of slaves
be able to resist the greater prejudice which
exists against the holding of slaves at all in
the District of Columbia ?
For all these sacrifices to the interests and
prejudices of the people of the north the south
is extended the last measure of the comprom
ise—the fugitive slave bill as they propose
to amend it. To understand the extent of
the concession of the South receives on this
point, we must look to the rights the consti
tution confers.
The framers of the Constitution were per
fectly aware that the general government
could have hut little power to secure to them
their fugitive slaves in the non-slaveholding
States. The whole internal police of a State
must be under the control of the State, and
by this chiefly could slaves be recaptured.—
The Constitution therefore, not relying on
the legislation of Congress alone, requires
that a fugitive slave, escaping into a non
slaveholding State, shall be “delivered upon
claim of the party” to whom he belongs. Fu
gitive slaves are put on the footing of fugitive
criminals, and are to be delivered up by the
State authorities. If these authorities do not
enforce the requirements of the Constitution,
and aid in the recapture and recovery of fu
gitive slaves, Congress can do but little to
enforce them. The bill providing for the co
operation of the few officers of the I nited
States Government in a Sttite, is practically
quiet insufficient to accomplish its aim. V\ hat
can they do in such a State as Pennsylvania,
to recover fugitive slaves ? Yet if Congress
does all that it can do by legislation, to en
force the Constitution, it only does its duty
to the south. There can be no concession
or favor to the south, in giving her only what
she has a right to have under the Constitu
tion—unless, indeed, the Constitution for her
has no existence. The bill then, is, in the
first place, quite inadequate to restore to us
oUr fugitive slaves, and in the second place,
gives the south nothing but what she is enti
tled to. If this was all, there would be noth
ing in the bill which we should concede
anything to the North But it is not all.—
tender the pretext of*bc'.to ,v irg on us a ben
efit, it perpetrates a usurptkm on the reserved
rights of the States. It provides that a slave
may arreign his master, by the authority of
laws made by Congress, before the courts of
the States and of the •Uilited States, to try
his right to his freedom. If Congress can
legislate at all between the master and slave
in a State, where can its power be stayed ? It
can abolish slavery in the States. *' r hus a
power is assumed in the bill, which virtualty
extends the jurisdiction of Congress over
slavery in the States. And this is a benefit
;to the Boufh! Under a guise of a benefit,
the bill is useless as a remedy—and worse
than useless hi its usurpations. Such are the
various measures which constitute tliis com
promise.
We do not believe that many of those in
the Sooth, who at an early day, expressed a
willingness to support it, had well considered
its import, or ever contemplated supporting
it witouf material amendments. We fully
appreciate, and duly honor the motives of
those who would restore tranquility to the
j country, nor shall we impugn m any form
i those who have assisted to frame or who have
! yielded a support to the measures. Why the
non-slaveholding States do not support these
measures, we are unable to understand, un
less it be, that a haughty fanaticism, hi
. Hated with success, disdains accomplishing
its objects by indirection. If these measures,
however, were really a compromise in which
the South had equal gains with the North, it
would be of doubtful expediency for the south
to propose it-. Three times in Congress, dur
ing this controversy, the South has proposed
the Missouri compromise, which has been
three times rejected by the North. Twice
she has proposed a compromise by which she
consented to leave it to the courts of the Unit
ed States to determine her rights. Instead of
| requiring sternly their recognition by Con->
| gress, fifteen sovereign States have consented
j to be carried into the courts of the country,
I and there to submit their sovereign rights in
1 a territory belonging to them, to their final
! arbitrament. Their humiliation did not win
I the respect or confidence of the North and
the proposition was twice rejected,
j ‘The South, in our opinion, might accept
| one other compromise, not because it is co-
I extensive with our rights, but because it has
| been twice sanctioned by those who have
j gone before us. If the North offers the Mis
! souri Compromise, to extend to the Pacific
Ocean, the South cannot reject it, provided,*
distinct recognition of onr right to enter the
territory south of 35 deg. 30 min. north lati
tude, is expressed in the compromise. We
j should take this line, as a partition line be
j tween the two sections of the Union; and be
| side this, nothing hut what the Constitution
; bestows. Although the Northern States
would acquire by this compromise, three
fourths of our vacant territory, they will have
renounced the insufferable pretension of re
! stricting and preventing the extension of the
South, whilst thev should extend indefinite
ly.
Having thus, fellow citizens, laid before you
a statement of your condition—your rights—
and the remedy which, under present, circum
j stances, you should accept, we leave you for
j a brief space of time. It is proper to state
to you, that while we are unanimous in ap
proving the resolutions accompanying this
address, the Delegates to this Convention aio
not entirely unanimous in approving all the
arguments contained in it, particularly euch
as relate to the compromise bill pending in
the United States Senate, though none
are in favor of that bill, unless it be amend
ed in conformity with our resolutions, or in
such manner as shall substantially secure to
the South the right asserted in them. Until
Congress adjourns, we cannot know what it
will d0,,0r will fail to do. We must there
fore meet again after its adjournment, to con
sider the final condition in which it will leave
you. We recommend to you, and extort you
to send Delegates from every count}’ and dis
trict in the Southern States to meet us-when
we again assemble. It is no ordinary occa
sion which has assembled us together. The
Constitution, and the Union it created, bo
long dear to your hearts, are to be preserved,
and your liberties and your institutions main
tain?d.
Fidelity. —Never forsake a friend. When
enemies gather round—when sickness falls on
the heart—when the world is dark and chper
: less—it is the time to try true friendship.—
The heart that has been touched with the
true gold will redouble its efforts when the
friend is sad and iu trouble. Adversity tries
real friendship.* They who turn from the
i scene of distress, betray their hypocrisy, and
! prdve that interest only moves them. If you
| have a friend who loves you—who has stu
! died your interest and happiness—be sure to
i sustain him in adversity. Let him feel that
: his former kindness is appreciated and that
! his love was not throwm away. Real fidelity
may be rare, but it exists in the heart. Who
has not seen and felt its pow er? They only
deny its w orth and power who have never
loved a friend, or labored to make a friend
happy. The good and kind, the affectionate
and virtuous, sec and feel the heavenly prin
i ciple. They would sacrifice wealth and hon
| or to promote the happiness of others, and in
I return they receive the reward of their lovo
I by sympathizing hearts and countless favors,
1 when they have been brought low by disease
| and adversity.
Abhor in Betting. —Two gentlemen, at
a tavern, having summoned up the waiter, the
! poor fellow had scarcely entered, when he fell
dowui in a fit of apoplexy. “He’s dead!” ex
claimed one. “He’ll come to’” replied the
other. “Dead, for five hundred!” “Done!”
retorted the second. The noise of the fall,
and confusion which followed, brought
up the landlord, who called out to fetch a doc
tor. “No! no! we must have no interference;
there’s a bet depending!” “But, sir, I shall
lose a valuable servant!” “Never mind! you
can put him down in the bill!”
A man once come to see his friends, and a
little boy inquired of him, “What's the name
j of y our next door neighbor?”
“Mr. ,” was the reply.
“Well, is he a bruit?”
“Why no,” said the visitor, “why do you
ask such a question?”
“Because,” said the child, ‘Ma said you
were next door to a brute.”
An Indian complained to a rumseller that
the price of liquor was too high. The latter
in justification said tliat it cost as much to
keep a hogshead of brandy as to keep a cow.
The Indian replied, “May be he drink as
much water, but he no eat so much hay.”
‘There are some men too selfish to deny
themselves, even to give pleasure to their chil
dren. Such a man was old David F .
One day he sat dow r n to roast a turkey, w’hieh
he attacked vigorously, without leaving a
morsel to his family. When he was picking
the last bone, the hungry children began to
cry for it; upon which he threw it at them
exclaiming in the tone of a martyr:
“Go, take it! and let your poor father
starve!”
NO. 26.