Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1848-01-06


icator, is in favor of taking The whole
of Mexico, and Of the operation of this
infamous Proviso over that entire ter
ritor,! This is the current rumor in
he papers.
And what is the grand policy of ab-
,ltionism as connected with this ques-
ton? We who live on the frontier
counties of Virginia, said Mr. r., know
VIVA, is the policy eighboring States
IN regard to our slaves. How many
have been lost during the past year,
Lost by the efforts of negro steaIers
upon our whole line. The same course
is pursued along the whole line to the
Mississippi liver; and all this for the
object of destroying i, by pieeemeol.
Now establish in Mexico your free
States under the lead of J. Q. Adams
and David Wilmot. We are between
two fires, step by step is the area of
safety for slave property narrowed, and
the final result auiN be the abolition OF
slauery, without any compensation to
slarc holders for the loss Of their prop
erty md acithout their consent.
Such is the policy they will pursue.
What shall ace do? Compromise
again? What shall we gain by it?-
Shall we surrender our rights to the
exac,ions of the north in order 20 buy
peace? The history Of the abolition
movement which has been alluded to,
said Mr.. r., shows that nothing is to
be gained by that policy. lie went fur
ther. The experience Of mankind, &
of this country especially, teaches US,
that the liberties and rights of people
can only be maintained by stern and
uncompromising assertion and defence
ofthem, and never was the doctrine so
true as in regard to this question. Each
step we have yielded, has been follow
ed by the advance of the foe upon us.
We car, we must yield no further, no,
not one hairs breadth,
And in this connection, it was urg-
| ed, that we owed to ourselves as men,
holding the rights of men, and as mem
bers Of the sovereign State of Virgin
ia, to uphold these rights against the
exac'ions of the north, and not to sur.
render them tanely, and yielding in
gloriously, to sink into the degraded
condition of an inferior order Of men.
This is solemn question, said Mr..
T., and it was only because he was
urged to its discussion by deep sense
of its importance, that he had trespass-
ed upon the meeting. 1t was ques-
ton in which the Union was involved.
If we yield, the Union would become
consolidated, a vast unwieldy empire,
unwieldy except BY the force of greatly
increased federal and executive power,
against which the Republican party
had urged SO long as an imposition. If
we did no, yield, Mr.. Il. had no fears
of the Union. We are in Ike right,
and he solemnly believed that the on
ly salvation for our liberties and Of the
Union, was the stern and uneomp'omi-
sing opposition of tie south TO north
ern oppression and exaction.
From what had been SAID, the reso-
Iutions would naturally follow.
The 1s,. announced the gross inlus-
tiee and inequality of the Proviso, is
danger to the Union, and to he princi-
pies upon which its was based.
The End, announced the fact tina,
Congress had nothing to do with the
question. /, is a question for each
State, and for the people of the new
States alone to determine the matter
for themselves. They had the same
rights that we had orr ginal|y. How
can they be restricted?
The Bird and 4,h, disclain'ed all con-
nection and affiliation with those Who
maintain this Proviso and its principle,
Can any man maintaining them be Re-
publicans of the old Jef1ersonian school
of $3.50? What republican could
lisclaim the sentiment of those reso-
lutions.
Resolved, as rlle uaaniaacas opinion
Of tits meeting.
1. That the Wilmot psoyiso, which
was attached to the bill, commonly
called the three million bill by the
House of Representatives, at the last
session of Congress, in its terms and
in its principles, is grossly partial and
UNJUST: that il IS opposed to the equali-
ty of the States ofshe eonfederaey, hos
tile TO its permanent existence, and
destructive of the doctrine of State SOW
ereign'y, upon which the Union rests.
2. That it belongs to the people Of
the new territory which may be ac'
CURED as an indemnity or BY conquest,
when they are formed into separate
States, with all of the sovereignty and
independence of the old States, before
this Union was established, and to
them alone, to allow or disallow, to m
troduee or exclude slavery within ihei If
limits, irrespective entirely of the wish :
es orlegislas'on of Congress, or of any
<>f IL TIo;On