Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1840-03-06


it, and you prove to us that upon ourselves alone
depends protection.
The "sacred right of petition" is said to be
involved, and gentlemen cannot come up to our
proposition because their people will not sus-
tain them. No one wishes to invade the right
of petitions; but do not, under color ofthis right,
send memorials here of and about things in
which the petitioners have no interest. grant,
sir, that all and every citizen of this country
haye right TO be heard here, by petition, upon
such matters rs Immediately pertain to them
selves; but does it follow that they are othcious
y and Extensively TO thrust themselves into 9th
er peoples concerns, totally distinct and uncon-
nected with themi Are we to dc told, because
the right Of petition is guaranteed by the Con-
stituton, that citizens in the northern States are
authorized 10 petition Congress for the redress
ofimaginary grivances under which their sonth-
ern neighbers are laboring? Shall other por
lions of this Union impudently and arrogantly
assume to themselves the duty Of enlightening
us upon subjects in which we are alone interes-
ted Shall they become our Kind guardians,
and point to this Legislature the blindness, the
evils. and turpitude incident as they allege. to
our situation? If upon ordinary subjects, and
there was no other objection, the very impn-
dence of the thing would excite our indigna-
lion and contempt. But, sir, when we see
systematic and ceaseless attacks made upon our
institutions, our property, and our security,
from those who have no earthly interest i'll the
matter, we can but feel it as an outrange. Sup
pose the south was to intimate the norte in this
abolninable crusade, organize societies, send
ont missionaries, erect presses, and load your
table with petitions, to hang gallabolitionists, to
pass laws compelling the free white and free
black of the north to intermary, or to do any
thing else equally wrong and improper, and in
what did not Immediately affect us: would all
this be tolerated by northern gentlemen in their
zeal to support the constitutional and sacred
right ofpetition Would such petitions be re-
ceived, considered, referred to committees, and
treated as in ordinary cases! Iapprehend not;
circumstances would alter cases" with gentle.
men, and those who are now so vociferOus for
this right, would say 10 us, rs we now say 10
them, these petitions ought MOTTO be received.
The gentleman from Vermont Mr. Slade1 has
broadly admitted that Congress has the ri hit 10
reject petitions of mlschievons tendency
Well, sir this is conceding all l contend for
And is there ITO mischievous tendency in abo.
liton petitions? lfto break down the barriers
Unconstitutional rights, to produce discord and
division intlls natlon, and ultimately TO dissolve
the Union, can give them that character, so
they are to be regarded. That gentleman, as
well as every intelligent man, must see, from
the unanimous feeling of the south, thai such
is their inevitable tendency; and ifhe has any
regard for consistency, would ask him, abo-
lonist as lie is, to pause before he goes farther,
regret, sir, that gentlemen have thought it
necessary, in this discussion, 10 offer highly
wrought eulogiums upon abolitlonsls. II is n
melancholy proof TO me that their mad and fe-
rocons projects are more formidable than per-
SONS are willing to admit Their presses teen
with the grossestand fouest sanders upon south
ern shareholders: and they openly avow their
intention to be immediate and uncomprOmising
emancipation. Scarcely mail comes from The
north that does not hear me some of these vile
publications, filled with the most barelaccd and
reckless falsehoods. Pictorial representations,
of cruel and unhcard-of punishments, are pa
raded in their sheets with all the apparent sane
tity and semblance Of truth. The slavehol
eris dcnouncc !, both in body and soul, as the
cursed of God In fact, no lie is too enormous,
no falschuod too fragrant. for these publications
20 disseminate. Without descending to the dis.
gusti' .etails of these sinks Of pollution, false
Iiood, and SANDER, demand to know how it is,
that gentlemen can rise in their places, and in
the face of this nation, become the apologists
and panegyriss of such vile caumniators and
in that slariSh, local opinion and sectional preu-
dice, so uchdeprecated by gentlemen in theo-
ry, and SO little observed in practice.
The gentleman from Vermont Mr.. Sladc I
is the especial advocate of abotionisls, and, ]
suppose, is to be regarded as the exponent of
their views on this floor. He has taken great
pains to inform us that these people are the wi
sest and best Christians in all the land that
they are mild and harmless, and do not mean,
Just no,c, TO abolish slavery any where but in the
District Of Columbia. suppose we of the
south ought to be grateful for this extreme act
of mercy. But, sir, who am to believe, the
gentleman or his compeers, in this officious,
audacious, in,ermeddling in the affairs of other
peoples business Their newspapers and
other publications call for immediate and total
emancipation, and denounce any of their tribe
who do not 20 with them. That gentleman
himself fcontended that the inevitable tendency
ofthings was to this consumaton. Who does
not see through the himsy guise, which is Mt.
tempted to be thrown around theirreal designs?
They have been permitted to come into this
lldll, aIu nave Deei iiedlui dIlu us an entering
wedge to all their schemes, they first desire to
operate upon the institution of slavery in the
District of Columbia, under the belief that it
would be the prende of their grand entry into
the Territories and States of the Union. The
firstmay be attained, though do not believe
it; the latter never, so long as free white man
lives in the south. The gentleman from Yer
mont Mr.. Sadel manifested great sympathy
for his black brethren. Let me ask him if his
benevolence is so limited as to be confined to
this class alone' Has he any peculiar ties to
that race, that would make him forget the dire
full calamitcs which may and will grow out of
the movements Of abotionists, if not arrested
by the good sense of the country! While his
pity is so ardent for one race let me beg him 10
extend his kindness to another portion OF the hu.
man family, whose skins, although not black,
are nevertheless entitled to n portion of Phan-
thropy so comprehensive as his. If the gentle
man cannot find sufficient subjects for his tears
in this saveholding vicinity, would advise
him 10 make pilgrimage TO the northern cities.
and visit the haunts of the miserable, sql,alid.