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SOUTHERN TRIBUNE.
riILISHID WEEKLY, 11
XV Jl . B . Kl AISItI SO X .
~~WM B. HARRISON, 1
asu > Editors.
WM. S. LAWTON, S
A D D K E S9 ,
Oflhr 0«1r gates to the Sontlirru ronrrntlou
To the People of Maryland, l ii ginia, .Yorth Car
olina, South Carolina, Georgia, Floridu, .11a
bama, Tennessee, Kentaky, Louisiana, Texas,
Missouri and .Irkansas .*
Fellow Citizen* In obedience to the com
mauds of those who wo reprccsent, we have
assembled together to confer with each other
concerning your relation with the General Gov
ernment and the non-slavcholding States of the
Union, on the subject of the institution ol
Slavery. We deem it proper to lay before jeu
a* briefly as the subject will permit, the result
of our deliberations and counsels.
In order that your condition may be tinder
■toood, and the conclusions at w Inch we have
arrived be justly appreciated, it is necessary
bricflly to refer to a few past transactions.
It is now sixteen vaers 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 reserved to
the Southern States by the Constitution, and to
have acted under the conviction, 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 Con
gress, the institution o' slavery, and to accomplish
their object of dragging it into the vortex of
congressional agitation, they claimed the right
of petitioning Congress upon all subjects what
soever. Asa petition is only the first step in
legi station, it was clear that a right to petition a
legislative body, must be limited by its powers
of legislation. No one can have a right to ask
of another to do which he has no moral or le
gal right to do. Nor can any tribunal have the
power to receive and consider any matter be
yond its jurisdiction. The claim therefore to
present petitions to Congress on the subject
of slavery, was considered by the Southern
Representatives generally, as an attempt indi
rectly, to assume jurisdiction over the subject
itself in all parts of the Union. The object,
without disguise, was the overthrow of slavery
rn the States; but our assailants framed the pe
titions presented, chiefly against Shivery in tho
District of Columbia and our Territories and
against what they call the internal Slave trade
—that is, the transmission of slaves from one
Southern State to another. Conscious of the
fatal tendency of the agitation of slavery in
Congress, to destroy the peace and stability of
the Union, an effort was made, supported by a
largo portion of tho Northern Representatives,
to suppress it by a rule in the House of Repre
sentatives, which provided, that all petitions on
the subject of slavery, should be neither consi
dered, printed nor referred. This rule was
assailed by tho people of the Northern States, as
violating that clause of the Constitution which
prohibits Congress from passing laws to prevent
the people from peaceably assembling and peti
tioning for a redress of grievances. In Decem
ber, 1644, this rule fell before the almost unani
mous voice of the North ; and thus the unlimited
power of introducing and considering the subject
of slavery ill Congress was asserted. In the mean
time, 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 institution throughout the Union.
Newspapers were set up ainongs them and lec
turers were liired to go abroad to excite them
against slavery in the Southern States. Organi
zations were formed to carry off slaves from the
South, and to protect them by violence from
recapture Although the Constitution require*
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 N (rtliern State, faithless to this treaty
stipulation between the States, passed laws de
signed and calculated entirely to defeat this pro
vision of the Constitution, without which the
Union would have never existed, and by these
laws virtually nullified the act of 171)4, passed
by Congress to aid its enforcement. Not content
with the agitation of slavery in political circles,
the Northern people forced it ulso into the re Ii •
gioos associasions extending over the Union,and
produced a separation of the Methodist and
Baptist churelies. The resultofali these various
methods of assailing slavery in the Southern
States, was, that it became the grand topic of
interest and discussion in Congress and out of
Congresß, and one. of the most important elements
of politics in (he Union. Thus an institution,
belonging to the Southern States exclusively,
was wrested from their exclusive control ; and
instead of that protection which is tho great ob
ject of all governments, and which the Constit
ution of the United States guarantees to all the
States and their institutions,the Northern States
and Congress under their control, combined to
gether, to assail and destroy slavery in the South.
The Southern States did nothing to vin
dicate their rights and arrest this course
of things. The Mexican war broke out; and
instead of that patriotic co-opcration of all
soctions of the Union, which would have taken
place in the better days of 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 subject of
slavery. Throughout the war, they kept up
the agitation ; thus clearly manifesting their
determination that the General Government
in none of its operations, internal or external,
shall be exempted from the introduction ot this
dangerous subject. The warclosed with honor;
and an immense territory was added to the Uni
ted States. Their previous threats were realised;
and the non-slavchoholding 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 pre
te ision arose from a mere fust of power, it would
be hard to bear the superiority and mastery it
rmplius It would degrade the Southern States
from being the equals of the Northern States,
to a position of colonial inferiority. But when
your exclusion is not from a mere lust of power,
but is only a further si ep in the progress of
things, aiming at the abolition of slavery in
the States, by the extension and multiplica
tion of non-slaveholding States in the Union,
the pretension is seen to be as alarming as it is
insulting. The Southern States, in their Legis
tures, set forth with great unanimity, the rights
in our territories belonging to them in common
with the Northern States, and declared their de
termination 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 comse \he Southern States
should pursue for tire maintenance of their rights,
liberty and honor.
Such is a brief, hut imperfect sta'ement of past
t ansactions : and they force upon us the ques
tion, ill what condition do they place the South
ern Stalest And first, what is their condition
in Congress? The time was when your Rep
resentatives in Congress, were neither offered,
nor would they endure, reproach in your behalf
But for many years past, they have heard you
in Congress habitually reviled by the mod op
probrious epithets on account of the institution
of slavery, ll thair spirits aro vet unbroken,
they must be chilled by a sense of humilation
at the insult* 'bey daily receive as jour repre
sentatives. You me urrisgned as criminals
Slavery is dragged into every debate, and Con
gress lias become little else, than a grand instru
ment in the bands of abolitionists to degrade
and ruin tbe South. Instead of peare and pro.,
lection, aggression and insult on tlie South char
acterize its proceedings and councils. And
what is your condition, with respect to your
sister States ? Where 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
respect and sympathy—denunciation ard hos
tility, on account of your institution of slaverv,
have for years past characterized the comunica.
tions addressed to you by the Northern States.
And what is your condition in the L T nion ?
The non-slaveholding States stand combined,
not only to wrest from you your common pro
perty, hut to place upon your front, the brand
of inferiority. You are not to extend,on account
of your institutions, but they are to increase and
multiply, that the shame and sin of slavery,
may by their pinlautbropic agency, be extin
guished from amongst you. But the worst fea
ture of your condition is, that it is progressive.
As low and humilating as it now may he, it is
destined, if not arrested, to “a lower deep.”—
Every effect is a cause ; and the spirit of fanati
cism brooks no delay in the progress it creates.
If you were to yield every tiling the North now
requires—abolish slavery in the District of Co
lumbia--submit to be legislated pirates for con
veying slaves from one State to another, let tri
al by jury and the writ of Habeas Corpus, wrest
from you in the Northern Stales every fugitive
slave—give up all your territories to swell North
ern 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 hut
inflame the power by which another will be ex
acted—and when all are conquered, will the
evil be arrested ? In fitly years, twenty new
non-slaveholding States may be added to the
Union, whilst many which are now slaveholding
may become non-slaveholding States. There
then, will he no need as now, openly to put
aside the constitution to reach their object. If
tbev will deign to do it, tbe non.slaveholding
States will then have the power by two thirds
in Congress and three fourths of the States, to
amend tbe constitution, and then have its ex
press sanction to consummate their policy. Your
condition is progressive.
If from the past transactions we have narra
ted, we learn our condition in tbe Union—they
teach us also that our past policy of non-action
and submission to aggression cannot bring us
peace and safety. When the doors of Congress
were thrown open to agitation on the subject of
slavery, if the Southern States had moved wiih
energy to avert a state of things unconstitution
al itself, and surely lending to bring the slave
holding and nnn-slaveholding States into colli
sion—altlio’ late, it might not have been too
late to stop subsequent encroachments upon our
rights. But the Southern States were passive :
and their forbearance lias bad the effect of in
spiring the Northern people with the belief ei
ther that wo value a union with them more
than wo valuo the institution of slavery, or that
we dare not move from a conscious inability to
protect ourselves. You have ungenerously
stood still whilst your supporters and the de
fenders of the Constitution in the Northern
States, in their efforts to protect you from the
agitations of slavery in Congress, have been po
litically annihilated or have turned your foes.
You 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 ofanti slavery policy and sympathy has
swollen into unanimity throughout all the non
slaveholding Slates, and the sections of the
Union now are each other in stern collision.—
You have waited until the Constitution of the
United Slates is in danger of being abolished
or of becoming what the majority in Congress
thinks proper to make it. That great principle
on which our system of free government
rests —of so dividing the powers of Government
—that to a common Government, only those
powers should lie granted, which must affect all
tho people composing it,equally in their opera
tion—w hilst nil powers over all interests local
or sectional, should lie reserved to local or sec
tional governments ; is in dangerofbeing uproot
ed from their Constitution. Local and sectional
interests absorb the time and business of Cor.
gress, and thus, a sectional despotism, totally ir
responsible to the people of the South—consti
tuted of the Reprrstntives in Congress from the
non-slave holding States—ignorant ofour feelings
condition and institutions—reigns at Washing
ton. These are the fruits of your past forbear
ance and submission.
If we look into the nature of things, such re
sults will not seem to be either new or strange.
There is but one condition, in which one people
can be safe under the dominion of another people;
mid that is when their interests are entirely
identical. Then, the dominant, cannot oppress
tbeit subject people, without oppressing them
selves. Tbe identity of interest between them,
is the security for right government. But as
this identity* can scarcely ever exist between any
two people, history bears but one testimony as
to tbe fate of a subject people. They have al
wavsbeen compelled to minister to tho prosperity
and agrandizement of their masters. If tbi's
has always been the case under the ordinary
difference, of interests and feelings which exists
between States, how much more certainly must
the experience of history be realized, between
tlie people of the Northern and Southern States.
Here is a difference of climate and productions
throughout a Territory stretching along the
whole belt of the temperate zone, affecting the
pursuits andchart'O-rs of the people inhabiting
:t But the grcii rence—the one greatdit
ference—th g.ea.. r ‘ which can exist among a
people, is the mstitui on 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 their existence. They
must rule themselves cr perish. Every colony in
the world where African slavery existed with
one exception has been destroyed ; and if this
hasbeen the case under tlio old and effete gov
ernments of Europe, will it not prevail under
tbe dominion ofthe restless people ofthe North
ern States I They do not practically recognize
the inferiority oi the African to the Caucassian
races. They do not realize, because the circum
stances of their condition do not compel them to
realize,the impossibility of an amalgamation be
tween the races. Exempt from tlie institution
of slavery, it is not surprising that their sympa
thies should bo against us whilst the dogma on
which they profess to build their system of Free
government —the absolute rule oj the majority—
leaves no barrier to their power in the affairs of
the General Government, and leads them to
itsconsolidation. Religion too, false or real
tires their enthusiasm against an institution,
which many of its professors believe to be in
consistent with its principles and precepts To
expect forbearance from such a people, under
such circumstances, towards the institution of
slavery, is manifestly vain. If they have been
false to the compact made with us in the consti
tution, and have allowed passion and prejudice
to rnas’er reason, they have only exemplified
that frailty and fallibility of our nature, which
has produced the necessity of all governments,
and which, if unchecked, ever produces wrong.
The institution of slavery having once entered
the popular mind ofthe non-slaveholding States
or at tion and control, the rest ts inevitable.
If underslrained by us, they will go on, until
African slavery wiii iie swept from the broad
and fertile South. The nature of things there
fore, independent of experience, teaches us that
there can be no safety in submission.
To submit to evils, however great, whilst they
are endurable, is the disposition of every people ;
especially of an agricultural people, living apart,
and having no association in their pursuits.—
But the responsibity of preserving a free govern
ment rests with alt its membens, whatever may
be their pursuits, and not alone with those who
have the power or jhe w ill to destroy- it. A mi
nority, by submission, may as much betray the
constitution, as a a majositv by aggression.—
The constitution does not protect a majority;
for they have all the powers of a government in
their hands and can protect themselves. The
limitations of a 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 constitution; and if they 'fail in
this duty, they are at least as culpable ns those
who, in aggressing 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 oppress
ed is despised. More respect follows the tyrant,
than the slave who submits to his power. The
Southern States, therefore, although a minority,
are not exempt from tbe responsibility of preserv
ing the constitution, and, in preserving it, to
protect themselves.
In vvbat way shall they preserve the consti
tution and protect themselves ?
Asa general rule, it is undoubtedly true, that
when, in a government like ours a constitution
is violated by a majority, who alone can violate
it in matters of legislation, it cannot he restored
to its integrity through the ordinary means of
the government; for these means, being under
the control of the majority, arc not available to
the minority. It is for this reason that frequent
elections of our rulers take place in our system
of free government, in order that the people,
by their direct intervention, may change the ma
jority. But this resource cannot avail us in the
violations of the constitution, which now press
and harass the South. By changing their repre-
sentatives, how can the people of the South af.
feet the majority in Congress and restore the
constitution? 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 es.
feet in restoring the constitution. It has been
broken by the representatives of the people of
the Northern Sutes, who susiain them in their
violations of the constitution. It is clear that
the ballot-box in the South is powerless for its
protection. And ibe same causes w hicli induced
the violations of the constitution by the north
ern majority, prevent its restoration to its integ
rity. Throughout the Northern Stales, there
hasbeen no indication of any change in their
policy. On the contrary, the majority against
the South is greater in the present Congress
than the Inst, following the usual course of eve
ry successive election for years past. Nor have
we seen in the action of the States, with few
exceptions, any proof of a returning sense of
justice to us, or of reverence for the constitution.
Several of them, lest false inferences might
be drawn as to tlietr position, have taken
cure lately to reiterate in the most offensive
forms their former declarations against our
rights ; qud when a great Senator, representing
one of them, anxious for the perpetuation of the
Union, lias ventured to advocate something ol
justice to the South, lie lias been rebuked by the
Legislature of the State lie represents, ami vir.
tually denounced for his fide iiy to tile constitu
tion. 1 his resource then, under tile ordinary
operations of the constitution, is of no avail.—
And how* is it with the present Congress, the
only other source of redress in the usual admin
istration ol the constitution? For six months
it has been in session, and during this whole pe
riod of time slavery has been the absorbing to
pic of discussion and agitation. Yet nothing
has been done to heal the discontents which so
justly exists in the South, or restore a bleeding
constitution. All we have received lias been
bitter denunciations ofour institutions by many
members of Congress, and threats to coerce us
into submission. Although nothing has been
done, a report hasbeen made in the Senate, by
a committee ot thirteen members, which is now
pending in that body ; and as the measures it
proposes have been pressed upon the South as
worthy of her acceptance, we dccin it proper to
lay before you a brief consideration of tbe mat
ters it contains.
This Report embraces four distinct measures:
It*.. I he admission ol California as a State, witii
the exclusion of slavery in her constitution. 2d.
Territorial Governments to be erected over the
I erritories of Utah and New Mexico, with near
ly one halt ot Texas to lie added to the latter
3d. Ihe prohibition ot the slave trade in the
District of Columbia. And 4th. Provisions for
the recapture of fugitive slaves in the non-slave
holding States. To understand whether these
measures are consistent with our rights and
worthy ofour acceptance, each of them must be
considered separately.
Tbe South is excluded by the bill from the
whole of that part of California lying on the
Pacific, includingone hundred and fifty thousand
square miles of territory ; and if this is done by
the legislation ofCongress, the mode in which
it is done, is of no importance. California be
longs to tlie United States, and all action by the
individuals in that territory, whether from the
L'nited States or from the rest ofthe world, ap
propriating the soil to themselves or erecting a
government over tt, is of no validity. They
constitu e a people in no praper sense ofthe term;
but me citizens of the States or countries from
which they have come,and to which they still
owe their allegiance. YY hen therefore Congress
attempts to carry out and confirm the acts ol
these individuals, erecting California into a State
and excluding slavery therefrom, it is the game
thing as it Congress lind originally passed a law
to this effect, without the intervention of these
individuals. The exclusion ofslavery from Cal
ifornia is done hy the act ofCongress, and by no
other authority. The constitution of California
becomes tho act of Congress ; and tbe YY'ilmot
1 roviso it contains, is tbe YVilniot Proviso pass
ed and enforced by the legislation of Congress.
Here then, is that exclusion from ibis Territory
by the aet of Congress, which almost every
Southern State in the. Union lias declared she
would not submit to, plainly and practically en
forced by this bill. A free people cannot be sa
tisfied with the mode in which they are deprived
of their rights ; a sovereign Slate will disdain
to inquire in what manner she is stripped of her
property, and degraded from an equality with
her sister States. It is enough, that the outrage
is done. Ihe mode is of little consequence.—
I here is therefore in the mode of extending the
YVilmol Proviso over the territory ot California
presented by the bill, nothing to mitigate the in
dignation oi the Southern Slates, or to baffle
their determination to redress the wrong, if in
flicted. T hey are excluded from the whole
Territory of California, a Territory extensive
enough to contain four large States.
If the constitution proposed by California con
tained nothing about slavery, would the North
allow her to enter the Union ? Such were the
Territorial bills proposed for California at the
last Congress, but she rejected them,because the
South was not excluded from this 'Territory, in
express terms The inhabitants of this Territo-
I rv have been left without any civil government,
| solely because the South would not consent to
be legislated out of it with her institutions ; and
i now that this object is accomplished by the ron
i solution presented by California, tltese conserv
atives— these advocates of law and order—are
| eager to admit her, without right or precedent,
into the Uuion. We are aware of the inconve
i niences the inhabitants of California may have
| suffered for want of a civil government estab
lished by Congress; and thei eforc, are prepared
1 to yield much on account of the circumstances
‘ in which they have been placed.
The next measure is in perfect keeping with
; this first feature of “the report.” It takes from
Texas, territory sufficient for two large States,
| and adds them to New Mexico. What the bill
j contains with respect to slavery will be of little
| consequence ; for it is designed that next win
! t'T New Mexico thus constituted, shall follow
the example of California, and be admitted as a
I Stale with a constitution excluding slavery from
its limits—for without such exclusion she cannot
hope to be admitted by the non-slaveholding
Slates into the Union. The effect will be, that
territory over which slavery- now exists, equal
to two States, will be wrested from the South,
and will be given up to the 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 Kio Grande. Congress
in the Resolutions admitting her into the Union
recognized this boundary, by laying down a line
of limitation between the slaveholding and non
slaveholditig States—(being the Missouri Com
promise 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
boundary of the Rio Grande to its source alone
gave her this country ; and was thus recognized
and ratified by* the Resolutions of annexation.
To vindicate tli is boundary for Texas, as a mem
ber of tlie Union, the Mexican war look place ;
and in the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, it
was finally vindicated and settled, by a clause
in the 1 reaty, designating the Rio Grande as
the boundary between Mexico and the United
States. Thus by the laws of Texas, by the legis
lation of Congress, and by a solemn Treaty of
the United Slates, the Rio Grande is the YVest
ern boundary ot 1 exas. Yet the pretension is
set up, that her territory does not extend to
within three hundred miles of the Missouri
Compromise line, where Congress in receiving
her into the Union determined that her territory
should be divided between the slaveholding and
nnn-slaveholding States. Texas is the only
State i n t he Union vvhich has the solemn guar
anty of the Government of the United States in
every possible form to ber boundaries. Yet 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 pretensions,
that by* the bill two Slates are to be taken from
tbe Southern and given to tbe Northern States ;
And this wrong is aggravated by compelling us
to pay for it, through the Treasury of the United
Stales.
It is undoubtedly proper, that Texas should
be quieted as to her boundaries ; but she should
bequiutedbj alavvoi Congress,plainly acknnwl
e,ig'"g them. It alter her boundaries are settled
the General Government, to carry out the pur
poses of the constitution, or in good faith to fulfil
.ill the obligations, the annexation of Texas to
the Union requires, should think proper to pur
chase any territory from Texas, the arrangement
may be unobjectionable. But any arrangement
concernsng ber territories, which leaves a shade
of doubt as to the right ofthe people oftlie South
to enter any portion of the Territory, which
according to thetermsofannexation are now free
to them,neither Texas nor the General Govern
merit have any right to make. The terms of an
nexation constitute the compact of Union, be
tween Texas and tlie other States of the confede
racy —and this compact secures irevocahly to
the peoplo of the slaveholding States the right
of entering w ith their property all her territory
lying South of ;6 deg , 30 min., north latitude—
whilst from all her territory lying north of that
line, they are excluded. The bill in the Senate
makes no provision for carrying out these terms
of the compact,but leaves in doubt the right of
the Southern people, thrghout all the trrritory
propoped to be purchased; whilst many who
support the bill declare that in effect it excludes
entirely tbe people of tbe Southern States from
all the territory purchased. The least evil,
therefore, the bill can bring to the people ofthe
Southern States on entering it, will be conten
tion, liarrassment and litigation.
liut you will have a very inadequate concep
tion of the territory taken from Texas by the
bill, if you confine your views to Texas. If
you w ill look at tbe map oftlie United States,you
will percievo that the territory proposed to be sur
rendered by Texas lies throughout its wholeex
tent along the Western frontier of the Indian
Territory. This is now a slaveholding country;
and must be considered as a part ofthe South,
i’bice along their whole western boundary two
non slaveholding States, and bow long will the
Indians be able ito maintain the institution of
slavery ? It the agency ofCongress is not used,
to abolish directly slavery in the Indian teritory,
this end can be easily accomplished by the very
means now in operation against slavery in the
Southern States, which the Indian will have
but little power to resist. The effect will be,
that the Indian Terjitory, large enough for two
more States,will be controlled by the non slave
liolding 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 States will be brought to thewestern
boundary of Missouri and Arkansas, along their
whole extent, and will bound Texas on her
whole northern and western frontier. Tims the
Southern States will be hemmed in by the non
slavcholding States on their whole western bor
der—a policy 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. YVe must not only yield to the in
terests, but to the prejudices ofthe Northern
people. Slavery existed in the District of Co'-
Inmbiu when Congress accepted the cession of
the Territory composing it from the States of
Maryland and Y'irginia. No one call suppose that
Maryland,a slaveholding State then and a slave
holding State now, could have designed to give
Congress any power over tho institution ofslave
ry in this Territory. Independently ofthe wrong
to the people of the District, to emancipate their
slaves, it would be an intolerable evil to have a
District between them, where emancipation
prevails by the authority of Congress. Con
gress, in the bill reported as a part of the so
called compromise, now begins tho 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 ba is brought into the District, the next
step, to liberate liim because lie is in the District,
is not difficult. The power to emancipate tlie
slaves in the District of Columbia is thus claimed
and exercised by Congress. Many ofthe ablest
men of the South have denied that Congress
possesses any such power, whilst all agreed,
until lately, that for Congress to interfere with
this institution, xvhilst slavery existed in Mary
land and Y'irginia, would be a gross breach of
faith towards those States, and an outrage upon
the w hole South. How long will that facility
. which yields to the prejudice against the buy
ing and selling ofslaves be able to resist the grea
ter prejudice which exists against the holding
of slaves at all in the District of Columbia ?
For all these sacrifices to the interests and
prejudices ofthe people ofthe North the South
is tendered the last measure of the compromise
the fugitive slave hill us they propose to amend
it. To understand the extent of the concession
the South receives on this point, we must look
to the rights the constitution confers.
The farmers ofthe Constitution were perfectly
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 reraptured. Tlie Constitution there
fore, not relying on the legislation of Congress
alone, requires that a fugitive slave, escaping
into a non-slaveholding Stale, shall be “deliver
adupon claim oftlie party” to whom he belongs.
Fugitive slaves are put on the footing offugitive
criminals, and are to be delivered up by the
State authorities. If these authorities do not
enforce the requirements ofthe Constitution,and
aid in the recapture and recovery of fugitive
slaves, Congress can do but little to enforce them.
Ibe bill providing for the co-operation of the
few officers of the United States Government
in a State, is practically quite insufficient to ac
complish its aim. YY'liat can they do in such a
State as Pennsyl vanta, to recover fugitive
slaves ? Yet if Congress does all that it
can do, by legislation, to enforce the Constitu
tion, 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 un
dor the Constitution—unless,indeed, the Consti
tution 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 but what she is entitled to. If
this was all, there would be nothing in the bill
for which we should concede any thing to the
North. But it is not all. Under the pretext
of bestowing on us a benefit, it perpetrates a
usurpation on the reserved rights of the States.
It provides that a slave may arraign his master,
by tbe authority of laws made by Congress,
before the courts ofthe Slates and of tlieUnited
States, to try his right to his freedom. If
Congress can legislate at all between the mas
ter and slave in a Slate, where can its power be
stayed ? It can abolish slavery in the States.—
Thus a power is assumed in the bill, which vir
tually extends the jurisdiction ofCongress over
slavery in the States. And this is a benefit to
the South ! Under a guise of a benefit, the bill
is useless as a remedy—and worse than useless
in its usurpations. Such are the various
measures which constitute this compromise.
YY e do not believe that many of those in the
South, who at an early day, expressed a willing
ness to support it, had well considered its import,
or ever contemplated supporting it without ma
king material amendments. YVe fully appreciate
and duly honor the motives of those who would
restore tranquility to the country, nor shall we
impugn in any form those who have assisted
to frame or who have yielded a support to the
measures But if our view of its provisions are
correct, instead of a “compromise,” it is a com
prehensive scheme of emancipation; and if pass
ed by Congress will only heap new indguities
upon the South. So far from pacifying the peo
ple oftlie slaveholding States, it should arouse
them to renewed efforts to vindicate their rights
and institutions. YY hy the non-slavelionding
tMates do not support these measures, we are un
able to understand, unless if be, that a haughty
fanaticism inflatted with success, disdains accom
plishing its objects by indirection. If these
measures, however, were really a compromise
in which the South bud equal gains with the
North, it would be of doubtful expediency for
the South to propose it. Three times in Con.
gress, during this controversy, the South has pro
posed the Missouri compromise, which hasbeen
three times rejected by the North. Twice she
has proposed a compromise by w inch she consen
ted to leave it to the courts of the United States
to determine ber rights. Instead of requiring
sternly their recognition by Congress, fifteen
sovereign States have consented to be carried in
to the courts of the country, and there to sub.
mit their sovereign rights in a territory belong
ing to them, to their final arbitrament. Their
humiliation did not win the respect or confidence
ol the North and tho proposition was twice
rejected.
l be South, in our opinion, might accept one
other compromise, not because it isco-extensive
with our rights, but because it has been twice
sanctioned by those who have gone before us.—
It tlie North offers the Missouri Compromise, to
extend to the Pacific Ocean, the Sotnli cannot re
ject it, provided, a distinct recognition of our
right to enter the territory South of 36 deg. 30
min North latitude, is expressed in the compro
mise. YY e should take line, as a partition
line between the two sections of the Union ; and
besides this, nothing but 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 pertention of restricting and prevent
ing the extention of the South, w liilst they should
extend indefinitely.
Having thus, fellow citizens, laid before ynu .a
statement of your condition—your rights—and
the remedy which, under present circumstances
you should accept, we leave you fora brief space
of time. It is proper to state' to you, that while
v\e are unanimous in approving the resolutions
accompanying this address, the Delegates to this
Convention are not entirely unanimous in
approving all the arguments contained in it,
particularly such as relates to the compromise
bill pending in the United States Senate, though
none are in favor ot that hill,unless it be amend"
ed in conformity with our resolutions, or in such
manner as shall substantially secure to the South
the rights asserted in them. Until Congress
adjourns, we cannot know what it will do or
will tail to do. We must therefore meet again
after its adjournment, to consider the final con
dition in which it will leave you. We recom
mend to you, and exhort you to send Delegates
from every county and district in the Southern
States to meet us when we again assemble. It
is no ordinary occasion which has assembled us
together. The Constitution, and the Union it
created, so long dear to your hearts, are to be
preserved, and your liberties and your institu
tions maintained.
Resolutions Adopted by tlie Convention.
Nasavilte, June 8. 1850,
1. Resolved, That the Territories of the Uni
ted States belong to the people of the several
States of this Union as their common property ;
that the citizens of the several States have equal
ri hts to migrate with their property to thescTcr
. itories, and are equally entitled to tlie protec
tion of the Federal Government in the enjoy
ment of that property so long as the Territo
ries remain under the charge of that Govern
ment.
2. Resolved, That Congress has no power to
exclude from the Territory of the United States
any property lawfully held in the States of the
Union, and any acts which may be passed by
Congress to cfleet this result is a plain violation
of the Constitution of the United Stales.
3 Resolved, That it is the duty of Congress
to provide proper governments for Territories
since the spirit of American Institutions forbids
the mainlainance of military governments in
time of peace, and as all laws heretofore existing
in Territories once beonging to foreign powers
which interfere with the lull enjoyment of re
ligion ; the freedom of the press; the trial bv
jury and all other rights of persons and properly
as secured or recognized in the Constitution „f
the United States are necessarily void so socu,
as suchTeritories become American Territories
it is the duty of the Federal Government to'
make early provisions for the enactment of th oae
laws which may be expedient and necessary t 0
secure to the inhabitanst of and emigrant's to
such Territories,the full benefit of the consti tu .
tional rights we assert.
4. Resolved, That to protect properly exist,
ing in the several Slates of the Union the peo
-of these States invested the Federal Govern
ment with the powers of war and negotiation
and sustaining armies and navies and prohibited’
to State authorities the exercise ofthe same pow
ers. They made no discrimination in the pro
tection to be afforded or the discretion of the
property tube defended, nor was it allowed to
the Federal Government to determine what
should be held as properly. Whatever the States
deal with as property the Federal Government
is bound to recognise and defend as such.—
Therefore it is the sense of this Convention
thut all acts of the Federal Government which
tend to denationalize property or any descrip,
tion recognizeed in the Constitution and laws
of the States, or that discriminate in the degree
and efficiency ofthe protection to be aflorded to
it, or which weaken or destroy the title of any
citizen upon American Teri itojies, are plain and
palpable violations ofthe fundamental law under
which it exists.
5. Resolved, That the slaveholding States
cannot and will not submit to the enactment by
Congress, of any law imposing onerous condi
tions or restraints upon the rights of masters to
remove with their properly into the Territories
of the United States, or to any law discrimina.
tions in favor of the proprietors of other proper
ty against them.
6. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Feder
al Government plainly to rcognize and firmly
to maintain the equal rights of the several States
in the Territories of the United States, and to
repudiate the power to make a disertmintion be
tween the proprietors of different species of pro.
perty in Federal Cegislation. The fulfilment of
this duty by* the Federal Government, would
greatly tend to restore the peace of tbe country
and to allay the exasperation and excitement
which now exist between the different sections
of the Union. For it is the deliberate opinion
of this Convention that the tolerance Congress
has given to the notion that Federal authority
might be employed incidentally and indirectly to
subvert or weaken the institutions existing in
tbe States, confessedly beyond Federal jurisdic
tion and control, is a main cause of the discord
which menaces the existence of the Uuion, and
which has well nigh destroyed the efficient ac
tion oftlie Federal Government itself.
7. Resolved, That the performance of this
duty is required by the fundamental law of the
Union. The equality of the people of the sev
eral States composing the Union cannot be dis
turbed without disturbing the frame of the A
meriran institutions. This principle is violated
in the denial of the citizens of the slaveholding
States of the power to enter into the territories
with tlie property lawfully acquired in the
States. The warfare against this right, is ii war
upon the Constitution. The defenders of this
right are defenders of the Constitution. Tho e
who deny or impair its exercise, are unfaithful
to the Constitution, and if disunion follows the
destruction ofthe right, they are the disunion
ists.
8. Resolved, That the performance of the du
ties upon the principle we declare, would ena
ble Congress to remove the embarrassments in
which the country is now involved. The va
cant territories of the United States, no longer
regarded as prizes for sectional rapacity and am
bition, would be gradually occupied by inhabi
tants drawn to them by their interests and feel
ings. The institutions fitted to them would be
naturally applied by governments formed on A
merroan ideas and approved by the deliberate
choice of their constituents. The community
would be educated and disciplined under a re
publican administration in habits of self gov
ernment, and fitted for association as a State,
and to the enjoyment of a place in the confede
racy. A community so formed and organized,
might well claim admission to the Union and
none would dispute the validity of the claim.
9. Resolved, That a recognition of this prin
ciple, would deprive the questions between Tex
as and the United States of their sectional char
acter, and would leave them for adjustment
without disturbance from sectional prejudices
and passions, upon considerations, of magna
nimity and justice.
10. Resolved, That a recognition of this prin
ciple would infuse a spirit of conciliation in the
discussion and adjustment nfall the subjects of
sectional dispute, which would afford a guaran
ty of an early and satisfactory termination.
11. Resolved, That in tho event a dominant
majority shall refuse to recognize the great con
stitutional rights we assert, and shall continue
to deny the obligations of the Federal Govern
ment to maintain them, it is the sense of this
Convention that the Territories should be trea
ted as property, and divided between the sec
tions of the Union, so that the rights of both
sections he adequately secured in their respec
tive shares. That we are aware this course
is open to grave objections, but we are ready to
acquiesce in the adoption of the line of 3fi deg.
30 min. North latitude, extending to the Pacific
Ocean, as an extreme concession, upon consid
erations of what is due to the stability of our
institutions.
12. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this
Convention this controversy should be ended,
either by n recognition of the conststution*!
rights of the Southern people, or by an equitahis
partition of the Territories. That the spectacle
of a confederacy of Status, involved in quarrels
over the fruits of a war in which the American
arms were crowned with glory, is humiliating-
That the incorporation of tlie Wilmot Proviso
in the offer of settlement, a proposition which
fourteen States regard as disparaging and dis
honorable, is degrading to the country. A ter
mination to this controversy by the disruption of
the Confederacy, or by the abandonment of tho
territories to prevent such a result, would be »
climax to the shame which attaches to tho con
troversy,which it is the paramount duty of Con
gress to avoid.
13. Resolved, That this Convention will not
conclude that Congress will adjourn without
making an adjustment of this controversy, and
in the condition oftlie questions this Convention
does not feel at liberty to discuss the measures
suitable for a resistance of laws involving t*
dishonor of the Southern States.
