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3flisaflggg ;
JUDGE BERRIEN'S REMARKS.
On the present condition of the country, pub
lished at the request of a number o* citizens
of Burke. ,1
The peculiar crises at which we have arriv- j
<lil in our public affairs; the deep and strong j
feeling which animates our people ; the vital j
interests with which that feeling is connected, j
and the magnitude and importance of the
consequences, which may follow in the train
of those events which arc now passing before
us, all conspire to admonish us, that this is
a moment, when Georgia “expects every
man to do his duty.” The oppression of
which we complain, has only been rendered
more palpable on the recurrence of that very
event, which ought to have been the guaran
tee of entire relief from its burthens. Our
remonstrances have been disregarded, and
appeals to the Constitution have been answer
ed by an exhibition of those numerical ma
jorities in both houses of Congress, which
constitute tne strength of the adversary aigu
ijjcnt. At such a moment, we are divided
(Jpjioag ourselves. Local tciuls distract us
£vvithin the limits ot our own State, and as
an integral part of the Southern United States,
our conduct -hitherto has been cold and re
pulsive, if not directly and actively hostile,
towards a portion of this confederacy, which'
has a common interests with us in this great
a absorbing question. It is very manifest
tnat such a slate of things, cannot inspire any
reasonable hopes of relief. That will he the
reward of united counsels. We are ad sen
site a of the oppressions under which we labor.
JWe aro‘ all anxious to escape from them.
On" pecuniary interests, and that pride of
feeling, which is the distinguising character
istic o' freemen, alike prompt us to seek relief
from those oppressions. Can we mistake
our position, or the means by which that re
lief may be obtained ? We shall, 1 think,
erriveata knowledge of both, by a brief con
sideration of the following propositions :
Any system of taxation, which transends
the limits of revenue, is a plain violation of
the Federal Constitution.
Such a system applied to imports, and ar
ranged for the protection of domestic manu
factures, must operate unequally and oppres
sively on the south.
The tariff of 1832 affords no substantial
relief from the burthens imposed by that of
1328.
The crisis is favorable to the recovery of
our violated rights. We may yet reclaim
them without endangering the Union. If
We suffer the present moment to pass away,
without a decisive effort to restore them, the
“American System” will be riverted upon us,
and thereafter we shall be enabled to escape
from it, only by a severance of those bonds
which unite us as one people.
The people of the Southern States, assem
bled in separate. State conventions, but acting
in concert, will be most competent to devise
the means of redress, and most efficient to
execute them.
Let us briefly retrace these ideas. For j
what was the Federal Government instituted !
The State Governments were entirely compe
tent to the management of our internal con
cerns; but our external relatons, especially
those of war and commerce, required united
exertions, and a federal head. The Revolu
tionary struggles through which we had passed
and the multiplied embarrassments which
attended our commercial operations, during
the cxistaure of the confederacy, afforded
ample evidence of tins truth. I'he federal
constitution owes its existence to that con
viction ; and they who would be entrusted
witn its administration, would not be able to
Use the powers coferred upon them, for any
other purposes than those which originally
induced tho grant. The Federal Govern
ment was then instituted for certain defined
and specified purposes. For the accomplish-
rnent of those, it required a revenue, one not
dependent upon the tardy contributions of the
different States, but which it would levy in
the legitimate exercise of its own expressly
granted pow ers.—The right of taxation was
therefore given to the Federal Government,
not to be ext raised arbitrarily, but merely for
the purpose of revenue. Any exertion of the
taxing power, beyond these limits, is simple
usurpation. It may be so disguised as to e
lude the scrutiny of the Judicial department,
but it is still (and for that very reason more]
•emphatically) an usurpation, which ought to
be met, resisted and restrained.
The protective system assumes for the
Federal Government, the power to. reghjtoc
the labor and industry of the people oflKe
different States which compose this union;.
to raise by indirect taxation, a fund which |
js cot required for the purposes of revenue,in
order that it may be enabled to give a bounty!
to the manufacturer ; to take from the avails
of labor in one port ion of the Union, whatev
er it shall deem necess ry to its profl'ts in an
other Such is the plain, manifest, palpable
operation of the tarifi' laws. The Southern
planter is not permitted to exchange the
products of his labor, where lie can obtain
most cheaply the articles which he requires
in return, without the payment of a duty,
which will enable the northern tsamifaeturcr
fo sell at an enormous profit, articles of a
similar kind, on which no similar duty is
imposed. Such a power belongs not to a
confederated, but to a consolidated govern
ment. It belongs to no free, and can be
exorcised by flo just government. It is the
distinguishing characteristic of despotism.
Rut this power of taxation when applied
1o imports, and arranged for the protection
of manufacture: 3 , must operate unequally
and oppressively on the South. I will not
take up your time in proving this. It would
carry us into details, which are to be avoided
when they arc wholly unnecessary. The
question has been well referred by one of oui
representative in Congress, to the indications
of the “ pocket nerve.” The universal
y •clings on this side of the Potomac, the fed
j'thg of those who*bear the burthen, affords a
satisfactory, an irrefutable proof. There are
moments of excitement, when the public mind
may be misled ; but no demagogue has pow
er to delude -a whole people for a series of
fiiqtwpnn them conviction like
that which for the last eight years has been ■
steadily felt by every southern freeman. In
addressing myself therefore to any portion of
the people of Georgia, I am authorized to as
sume the unconstitutionally anil injustice of
the tariff, and its unequal pressure on this
portion of the confederacy. I speak hefe
oft he system establishing by the act of 1824, j
and confirmed and extended by that of 1328, \
and t am now to prove that the net of IS ;3, j
affords no substantial relief from the hurtli- 1
ens imposed by that which preceded it.
By some persons we are told that this lat
ter act was tendered and accepted in the j
spirit of compromise, not indeed that it is
satisfactory as such, but that it indicates on
the part of our Northern & Eastern brethren,
a disposition to concision, in which we may
safely confide for ultimate and complete reliet.
By others it is accepted a3 less burthensome
tnan that of 1832, and therefore as the least j
of (wo evils. Both classes have appealed to
our love of Union and constitutional liberty,
and depicting in glowing coiors the dangers
of public excitement, advise us quietly to
i wait the further manifestations of the return- j
ing good sense and brotherly feeling of those
who profit by the system. Such are the sug- j
gestions which are held out to us, by a portion
of the public press in Georgia. 1 have no!
means of information on this subject, which!
are not accessible to all, but neither are my f
feelings likely to mislead ine, since I have
no interest in the question, which is not
common to every citizen of Georgia; and
yet 1 am thoroughly convinced that these
representations are fallacious in their refer
ence to the past, and deceptive in their
anticipation of the future; that they misrep
resent our present condition, and delude
us by the exhibition of a prospect which can
never be realized. In relation to the tariff
act of 1832, I think these propositions may
be distinctly affirmed.
That act contains the protective principle
in its worst form, by which i mean, the sub
stantive protection of manufactures, by the
imposition of duties very far exceeding the
purposes of revenue.
The amount of reduction for which it pro
vides, has been greatly overrated. When
truly stated, it is rendered in a great degree
unimportant, as a concession to us, by the re
quisition of cash payments, and the diminish
ed credits allowed at the custom house,by the
change in the rate of the pound sterling, and
especially from the fact that the duties redu
ced or taken oil - , have been for the most part
so reduced or taken off from articles winch
the manufacturer has no interest to protect,
from those which are necessary to the manu
facturing process, or from those of mere luxu
ry which do not enter largely into the con
sumption of the South, and none of which
come into competition with the domestic ma
nufacturer, while the great bulk of the reve
nue,is raised on articles of Southern consump
tion, on the products of southern labor, or
what is to a certain extent trie same thing,on
the articles received in exchange for southern
products ; and that this system is designed to
be permanent.
1 havb said that the act of 1932 contains
tlio protective principle in its worst form. Let
us endeavor to understand this matter. By an
abuse ol the constitutional power to lay taxes,
protection may be afforded to the manufactu
rer, to an extent which might be extremely
oppressive to the South, without transcending
the limits of revenue in tiie imposition of those
taxes. This would be effected by levying
the entire revenue of the Government upon
articles which come into competition with the
American manufacturer, leaving the whole)
residue of our imports free from duty; for
tins would be to admit free of duty those arti
cles of luxury which do not enter into gene
ral consumption at the South, and to throw'
the whole weight of taxation ori t-ose of first
necessity, which every man must have. When
we speak of the relief afforded by the act of
1832, it is not of so much importance then to
enquire what is the amount of reduction, as
what is the nature of that reduction. Two
things arc necessary to render taxation equi
table in a Government like ours. It should
bear equally upon the mass of our imports—
and should be limited by the wants of the
government. Au ad valorem duty of twelve
and a half, or at most fifteen per cent, on ail
tiie imports of the United States, together
with the income from the sales of the public
lands, would furnish a revenuo adequate to all
the wants ot the Goverement. The average
duty imposed by the act of 1832 has been es
timated and probably correctly estimated, at
from forty-five to fifty percent. The bulk of
the reveuue is to be raised train articles of
necessity; while those of luxury are cither
i greatly reduced, or admitted duty free, thus
j warring with both tbe principles for which
! we contend ; and yet we are told that this act
is a concession, the commencement of a series
of benefactions, which in process of time,
will render us justice, for wc have asked no
thing more. Not only however has the amount
of reductions been overrated, but there has
been a corresponding misrepresentation of
the quantum of revenue, which will be raised
under this act. Let us look at both these
things a little more in detail. 1 have not at
this momeift access to the public documents,
but the references which 1 find it necessary
to make are few, and I believe they are cor
rect.
Since the adjournment of Congress, I have
seen it repeatedly stated in the Gazettes,
that the amount of reduction which would be
effected by the act of 1832, would be from
ten to twelve tnilllions of dollars. When it
became necessary to scrutinize this assertion
it was found to be utterly fallacious. In a
number of the Recorder, which I hold in my
hand, the various statements made by the
Treasury Department, are exhibited in oue
view.
The proposed reduction under
Mr. Me Lane’s bill, is stated at 810,076,907
That under Mr. Adams’bill
as reported 84,117,038
That under Mr. Adam’s bill
as passed, 7,740,219
When that statement was
made at the Treasury,on which
01. Drayton founded his- arj.
mw&®S3t
di'css, this last reduction was
itself reduced to (see the Globe
of the 15fA August.) 5,187,078,
And yet it lias been repeatedly represented,
and in many papers is still asserted to amount
to ten or twelve millions of dollars. But this
is not all, there is but little more than one mil
lion of this reduction, from those protecred ar
i tides in which the South is chiefly intcrest
| ed.* Who does not sec in this, a manifest
; detected attempt to delude the public mind
thro igh the medium of the press? Who
does not see, that a deduction of 5,000,000
| duties (with 4,000,000 of which we have lit
tle or no c < icern,) from a revenue of $30,-
451,373, is, when presented in t.be light of
concession to tiie South, a nierp delusion ?
This amount of the nett revenue for the
year ending on the 31st December, 1831, was
the sum just stated, $30,451,373 (See Sen.
i Doc. No. 155.) It comes then to this— ■ After
the payment the national debt, and when
the legitimate wants of the Government do
not exceed $12,000,000 from the nett revc
vue of 1831 amounting to upwards of $30,-
j 000,000, we have a deduction somewhat ex
; deeding $5,000,000, of which $4,000,000 are
j from articles in which the manufacturers take
j no interest, or are interested to have the du
! ties takon off, leaving the reduction on the ar
! tides in which we are concerned, at little
■ more than $1,000,000; and this we are told is
concession to the South, one with which we
ought to be satisfied, trusting to the return
ing good sense of our Northern and Eastern
brethren, for further relief.
Look at this in another view. The legiti
mate and proper expenses of the Govern
ment may be stated at $12,000,00
The nett revenue of the year
1831 was ' 30,451,373
Deduct the reduction accor
ding to the last Treasury state
ment, 5,187,078
And you have 25,264,295
Deduct from this last, the
annual expenses of Govern
ment, 12,000,006
And you have in the Treas
ry, beyond its wants, 13,264,295
The annual Treasury report
for 1832 estimates ‘.he pro
bable receipts of tiiat year at $30,100,000
Take the estimated reduc
tion under the act of 1832,
from this, 5,197,079
And you have 24,912,922
Deduct from tins the annual
expenses of Government, 12,000.000
And’*you have beyond its
wants, 12,912,922
T;ike the annual avrrajre re
ceipts at Treasury frorntbecus
toms for the last six years. $22,310,312
Add for tho receipts from
sales of Public l ands 3,500,900
And you have 26,010,312
Deduct the estimated reduc
tion under the act of 1832, 5,187,078
A nd you have 20,829,234
Deduct the annual expenses
of Government, 12,909,000
And you have beyond its
wants, ‘ $8,829,234
Now for what is this immense surplm to be
taken train the pockets of the people, and
drawn into the public treasury ? For what,
but to give a bounty to tho manufacturers,
and to furnish a fund to be wasted in pen
sions, and in visionary schemes of Internal
Improvement, of which one thing at least is
true, that you w ill derive no benefit from
them— and this is concession.
With such evidence before him, does any
man doubt that the act of 1632, carries out j
the protective principle in its very worst form?
that the manufacturing interest, whose nu
merical superioty in Congress enables them
to give the law, have thus proclaimed it as the
fixed and permanent policy of the Govern
ment ? Listen to the declaration of Mr.
Clay, the great champion of the protective sys- i
tern. lie hos told us on the floor of the Sen
ate, that he advocated the bill, because it!
contained “a clear, distinct, and indisputable j
admission of the principle of protection.”—!
Would he have dared thus publicly to misrep
resent the interests which ho advocated?—!
Look td the report of the Secietary of the
Treasury, which accompanied his bill. The
opinion thick he had expressed in favor of a
prospectite and gradual reduction of the duty
on article! embraced by the protective sys
tem,he tells us, has been departed from, in de
ference to Opinions from respectable quarters,
but principilly because it has been under
stood “to bd the wish of the manufacturers
themselves, who prefer a permanent system,
to one which\is liable to change.” Mark the
declaration ol Gen. Haync, than whom there
is not in citing house of Congress, a purer pa
triot, or a morfc upright innn—He says, “ No
promises of further reductions, as'far as I
know or believ?, were held out by the Tariff
party in Washington, or elsewhere ; nor do 1
ever remember (o have heard a single sup
porter of the system in Congress or out of it,
utter one word tdencourage tin hope, that at
any future day, however distant, the protect-!
| ing system was tab© abandoned,*Ur a further 1
reduction made the protected articles.”—
Who now can dou\>t that the act ol 1832 is
lobe considered as expressing the permanent
principles of federfl jHilicy ? and what indi
vidual is there, \v|o is familiar with the
occurrences from 1524 down to the present
period, who can ingenuously declare his
belief that our Northern and Eastern ! r th
ren wul ever release us from the burthens
of the Tariff, so long as we are willing to
submit to them, or what is the same thing,
content ourselves with merely repeating our
remonstrances ag dust them ?
* Col. Drayton states the nett reduction on
* to be 61,109,107<
The amount of reductions under the afctol
1832, is then entirely unsatisfactory. It is
more manifestly so, when we consider the
equivalents for these reductions, which have
been given to the manufacturers. These are!
the cash duties, which mercantile men esti
mate as equal to ten percent —the change in
the rate of the £ sterling, which every man
may estimate—tiie diminished credits at the!
Custom-house, and especially the considera
tion, that the revenues of the government un
der the bill, are levied upon the necessaries
ot life, while articles of luxury are wholly or
comparatively free. If the whole amount of
duties were taken of! from unprotected arti
cles, would the South be benetitted by it ?
Far from it. Their consumption of these ar
id les is comparatively small; hut in addition
to tliis, the revenues of the government would
then he levied exclusively on articles of ne
cessity, for the most part, precisely upon
articles which are obtained in exchange for
Southern products, and which enter most
largely into Southern consumption.
But it must stiH* further be noted, that
there are cases in which the nominal reduc
tion under the act of 1832, is an actual in-
crease —and others in which that reduction is
nominal, and not real. Take the case of iron
an article of prime necessity and of universal
us'-. Rolled iron paid a duty of $37 a ton
under the act of 1828; under that of 1832,the
duty is fixed at S3O a ton. Here is a nomi
nal reduction ofs7 per ton. Butin 182S,this
article cost upwards of S3O a ton. It can now
be bought at $22. Thus you pay S3O upon
$22, instead of $37 upon S3O; and this is
called reduction. So upon Flannels, the duty
has been nominally reduced from 22 cents to
16 cents—but on coarse flannels even the lat
ter duty amounts to 100 percent, and is there
fore prohibitory. Upon negra cloths there
has been a reduction of the duty, but unless
such as are fit for a Southern market can he
obtained for a price, which, including cost
and charges, shall not exceed 32.\- cents,
which it is believed cannot be done, this
reduction is also illusory. The reduction in
all these cases, is therefore nominal, not real:
in the first, because of the fall of price in
the aniele ; in the second, because tin duty
is still prohibitory; in the third, because art
article suited to our necessities cannot be
purchased at the price, to which the reduced
rate of duty alone applies. It is then, I think,
sufficiently obvious, that the act of 1832 af
tonlano substantial relief from thebuthensi'C
posed by the act of 1828. I proceed tnerr
ior to discus3 the rmaining propositions
which 1 have stated.
The crisis is favorable to the recovery of
our violated rights. We may yet reclaim
them without endangering the Union. If we
suffer the present moment to pass away with
out a decisive effort to restore them, the bur-!
f hens of the protective system will be rivetted 1
upon us, and thereafter we shall be enabled
to escape from them, only by a severance of I
those bonds, which unite us as one people.—
1 entreat those who hear me, carefully to
weigh these suggestions. A deep devoted i
attachment to the Union, is a feeling of which j
I cannot and would not divest myself. The
conviction that its holiest purposes have been
violated to minister to the cupidity of the
manufacturing interest is one, which so far
as I am concerned, has been forced upon a
reluctant mine. I accord to those who may
differ from me on this occasion, the same un
affocted attachment to the bond of our com
mon union ; but since we agree that we are
oppressed by the exercise of an usurped pow
er by the Federal Government, I adjure them
to consider, whether in relaxing our efforts to
remove it, for one moment after the extinc
tion of the national debt has taken away the
only plausible pretext for its continuance, or
what is the same thing, repeating the same
dull round remonstrance,which we have been
running for years, we are not really abandon
ing our strongest ground of resistance.—
There is “ a tide in the affairs” of communi
ties, as well as of individuals. Once acqui
esce, if it be only for a short period, in the
levy often or twelve millions of taxes annu
ally, beyond the wants ol the Government,
and further resistance will be vain. The
surplus will be distributed in very different
proportions from those in which it is raised,
and the distributees will thereafter unite
with the manufacturers to assert the claim!
annually, and forever. You may now say to j
trie Government, “ whatever amount of money j
is necessary to the purposes of revenue, we j
will cheerfully pay.il you will distribute your
duties fairly upon all the imports of the Uni
ted States, hut we cannot consent to be taxed
for the protection of manufactures, nor to
have or hard earnings drawn into the vaults
of the treasury, when they are no longer re- 1
quired for any purpose of legitimate ex pend i
ture. Hitherto we < have submitted totlns ex
cessive taxation, to" enable you to pay off the !
public debt; but that being discharged, wc i
claim to be relieved from all taxation beyond I
that which is necessary to the support of Gov- j
eminent.” Such language uttered at this
moment, w ill not be uttered in vain, if it is
accornpaincd by authentic evidence, that it
expresses the universal feeling of the South.
The evils of disunion would be terrible, but
our Northern and Eastern brethren know and
feel them as we do. They know and feel
the benefits of this Union, great as they un
questionably are to all, are vastly greater in a
pecuniary view, to them than to us. While
we produce so large a proportion of the ex
ports of the United States, to fill by duties on
tin ir exchanges, the coffers of the Govern
! ment, and almost the whole of its revenues are
| expended among them, there can be no nhs
| take upon the quest ion, who enjoys the great
est pecuniary benefits from the Union. ?/
the question be fairly put tothem,by anurd'
people., they w ill not surrender those he refits
in the effort to preset ve a bounty on i?;aniifac
tures. Rut if we waste the moment which is
passing, by wrangling among ourselves; if
the period to which they, and wp j. avc J:erc _
tofore looked for the settlement 0 f this agita
tmg question, that of the payment of the na
tioiiul debt, be suffered to pass away, without
a satisfactory arrangement of it, depend upon
it, tne moment tor its peaceable adjustment
will be lost irrecoverably, and forever. If the
present system be continued beyond the next.
Congress, such an evidence of its pormunenci
will neci airily tempt to m w and large in
vestment* of capital in manufactures. Every
thing* will conduce to such a result. Then
will bo no government stocks to purchase.—
The charier of the Bank oftlie United States,
expiring without renewal, vril! set afloat mil
lions of domestic . upita!, of which a great
part will probably be invested in manufac
tures. W till this addition to their strength ;
with the confidence which will have been in
spired by successful resistance to our efforts
to reduce the duties; and the feeling of right
which springs from longcontinued enjoyment
of the profits of capital, origins,Hy invested
under the sanction cf the Government, think
you the manufacturer will quietly relax his
grasp? Caniou imagine to yourself avv ob
stacle to the accomplishment of our wit-bee,
against which we have now to contend, which
these circumstances will not increase? Cau
you designate any means of resistance which
we now possess, which these circumstances
will not weaken? Shall we then submit, for
ourselves and our children, to tVe perpetua
tion of this injustice ? The universal answer
ot the South is, NO, w 6 will not. But who
that will calmly consider the subject, will not
feel that the moment for amicable adjustment
will have gone by ; that the strong incentive
of interest on the one hand, a deep sense of
oppression on the other, and the- struggles
which these will beget, will result in the
alienation of every sentiment of affection be
tween the oppressor and the oppressed: and
that we may thus be driven to seek relief at a
price, at which even that would he dearly
purchased—at the price of disunion ?
I cannot threfore too strongly urge it upon
all those who love the Union,and who believe
with me, that the abuses of Federal powe r
must ultimately be restrained, carefully to
consider our pressent political condition, to
examine these suggestions in the spirit in
which they are offered, and then to determine
whether prompt, united, and temperate re
sistance bo not preferable to delay ? Whether
it is prudent to weaken our force by divisions
among ourselves ? Whether it is not among
the first of our duties, to conciliate all those
with whom we have a common interest ? and
resolutely determined for ourselves, to seek
relief by peaceable means, until every, the
faintest hope of relief by these means shall
have been extinguished, whether it becomes
us in our primary assemblies, to denounce
the measures of a sister state, struggling like
ourselves, to escape from a common oppres
sion by means which its judgment approves,
but which are not equally recommended to
our own ? Whether the depression of South
Carolina is necessary, or can contribute, to
the elevation of Georgia?
There is a remaining proposition, in rela
tion to which 1 would offer to you some brief
reflections.
The people of the Southern States, assem
bled in seperate State conventions, but acting
in concert, will be most competent to devise
‘the rjoans of redress, and most efficient to ex
ecute them. Of the right of a State thus to
assemble, 1 did not suppose that a doubt could
be entertained by those who believe that the
fiower which is administered by Government !
is derived from tho people, arid that the a- J
gents who administer it, are but depositaries j
at their will. Still less did I imagine it could
have been apprehended, that such an assern-!
blagc of the people by their delegates could j
be deemed an usurpation of the powers en- i
trusted to theii ordinary agents, a violation of
that will by which it was convoked. And
even now, when these suggestions have been
made, there are considerations which prompt
me to pass them in respectful silence, con
tent with the answer which has been given
to them, by the very general acquiescence in
the call of a convention, which has been al
ready announced to us
1 was as little prepared for the objection
which has been made to the resolutions
adopted at Athens, on the ground of the ex
cess of power proposed to be granted to the
delegate 3 to the contemplated Convention;
but as it has received a different consideration
in some of the public meetings which have
been held, I will very briefly advert to the
view .itiieh I have taken of that part of the
resolution, to which this objection applies.—
So far as i understood the opinions and feel
ings of the meeting at Athens, it was not for
a moment contempleted by any one, that, the
delegates of the people, assembled in Conven
tion, could exercise the powers with which !
they were to bo entrusted, but under the sanc
tion of those by whom they were conferied.
Ar.d now that my attention has bjen called
to this subject, 1 am as much as ever at a loss
to conceive what possible inducement the
members of the contemplaeed Convention
could have, to array themselves in opposition
to the will of their constituents. It would be
so obvious to every man cf the plainest under
standing among them, that their acts would
be most impotent, unless cordially supported
by the people, and consequently that such an
attempt would be merely nugatory, that 1
thougi.t it was an act of simple justice to those
who would be delegated to that Convent*
to suppose that they would have PP', U r |,° j
mere common sense and comm'on ' ° .
prevent them from falling ir' t 0 ‘, , - V ’ lo
V. , . . , ® - lu such an error.
U seemed to me to be iD’.or , . • ,
. ~ TLrtant, with 1 view
to tile peaceful adpisff.ip- . ....
xt 1 <itol this controversy,
to exhibit to our N or*’ . , t , •’
„ , , , or .nern and Eastern breth
ren, a body of u*
dc.’w of them , •' P O3S3OS3IfI B the full ccnti
• constituents, and invested with
r '-'Serve, maintain and defend the
(2® ’ W "•* privileges of the free citizens of
, '° G but I thought it would be obvious
body, .nd especially to the members
: 0 *h at Convention, that any ex: rcisc of those
< powers, not strictly conformed to the wishes
ol their constituents, would be as impotent in
the result, as it would be merely idle in the
conception. It did not therefore occur to me
that it was important to limit those powers;
and wh.le in the spirit of harmony, and for the
purpose of conciliation, l forbear to press the
discussion of this part of the subject, I exer
cise the right of an individual citizen, when I
declare my conviction, that it is impolitic in
reference to our Northern and Eastern breth
ren, and merely useless in relation to our
-1 selves.
Having noticed these objections, I proceed
now to sustain the nroDiwit? ,
stated. Among those who
o denounce the protective sv? k i
--tittitional and unjust, wlmWmln' 1 '^ 1
Leheve that resistance is nccL ■ ‘ Pra
it must be ofsuch a character a m a "
ly obtain rcdrcss.a divS 2 W, . 11 “ 1 ‘
as to the manner i„ which'd^V*' 0 "
bo sought. In forming my own „ '
tl,s *u,ject, I have never lost
cardinal principle. Whetheri,, !,
the people, or in communication! S
viilu.ls, I into .li,i„c,i;SS”‘
merit to the Union, my deter,ninatfi
no means untried, which were !
reach of individual effort, top* ”?’J
the dangers which menace i-. i, 11
than once publicly declared that he?
utterly deceived,-who should calculi
me as an advocate of disunion i ,
declaration now. In the spirit „ f ,£
mgs, 1 have considered the various !
redress which have been suggested i
same spirit, I proceed to submit to?, i
suit ot my reflections. ' u
the following inodes of redress !- Sv
propose and : " * ,a ' e
1. Continued remonstrances bvt!i„
and by the constituted authorities 5
State. 01
2. An exoi-cise of the reserved rU. .
State, by the annulment, or nullified
the obnoxious law.
3. A Southern Convention.
4. A Convention of the people of
State, by delegates invited withp TOm .
termine the mode of redress.
The first of these, continued remonstra
by the people, arid hv the ordinary a<r en
the Government, it Jeerns to me, ?]
useless. We have vainly attempted
mode of redress for the last eight y?,
I confess, 1 thniK no man who has w,t;c
the entire indifference with these ret,
strances are received in the Congress of
United Statesman hope for relief f, on .
a resort. In tiie character of petitionees
have drained the cup of humiliation.-
remonstrances have been disregarded;
the solemn protest of our Legislature , ?
tin- act of 1828, was consigned to tin I{ (
try of the Senate, little heeded at the mon
of its presentation, and forgotten in
which succeeded it.
An exercise of the reserved right of
State, by the annulment or nullification tf
obnoxious law, if such a power could
deduced from the Constitution of the In
States, or could be considered as fairly i
dent to State Sovereignty, during the i
tinuance of the confederacy, would u
consideration ; but with great respect for
intelligence, and the fullest confidnci
the patriotism cf many of those bv whom
advocated, I have been led to the conelu
that it is and that itstendc
will he to precipitate a result, which allw<
urn?r to deplore.
The project of a Southern Conven
teems to mo equally exceptionable. If
delegates who compose it, are considers
representing the sovereignty, and inve
with tiie powers of the States assemble!
that Convention, it seems tom-, that its
organization would be in violation of
Federal Constitution. The powers oft
eminent emanating from the people of
several United States, are invested in
classes of agents, State and Federal,
people of a particular State constitute
State, and are moreover a component pa
the Federal Union. So long as those ei
and especially tlie latter, they cannot be
ties to any other political association,bee;
such new association would be incompat
with their subsisting relations. On this!
ject, the emphatic injunction of the Fed
Constitution is in these words: “NoS
shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or <
federation.” And again. “No Slate s!
without the constat of Congress, enter
any compact or agreement with another?;
or w ith a forcigh power.” If the prop
convention is to be considered simply >
consultative council, the members of Hi
are to exercise a mere advisory pow
might be sheltered by its impotency fron
imputation of unconstitutionality; hut it
case we must end, us we might more prop
begin, by assembling in separate Com
t ioijs, the people of the several Statc-3 hi
compose it, to give effect within then
spective limits, to tho measures it may reel
mend.
It remains to consider the pr. posal i
separate Convention. The right of the |
pie thus to assemble, cannot be question
It has been repeatedly exercised in ■
States, and more than oucq in our own.
As little pretence is ‘,'nere for the suK
tions that such an assemblage would a
fere with the ordinary authorities oftlieS
The Constitution rJI tf ie United States in
mode of its Option, furnishes an **M*
tins objec*' oßt
* ta Advantages are obvious. The P c
;i£y ’.mblc(l in Convention within theirtes
tive States, are the real parties to the re*
compact. By them alone it was created,
they only should deal- with the high
solemn question o. its infraction and
remedy.
Sncli a body, composed of individuals
scssing the public confidence, and selects
the people for the express purpose ofvu*
ting their rights, will assemble without
pledged to any particular mode of wj
and free to consider tile’ whole subject,
object will be to give eflfeSt 10 the ! '
will, to announce it to the other incm ,tr
the conferacy. Holding commtliii calJC "
our Southern brethren, they will c’Ji.’ 1 '"
may be obtained, concert of action beta
all having common interest in the quest
and thus legitimately secure all the advt
ges of a Southern Convention.
If such a course is pursued, it 1
bo the good fortune of Georgia to
sent a central ground on which all
Southern States mav rally. It may he
higher privilege, by thus exhibiting the ’
ted determination of th w hole Southern ;
pie, to waken our Northern and I’-' 1
brethren, to a sense of their injustice,
cue the Union from the dangers wlttcb [ l
iiacp it, by tho pencsable adjustment