The Mississippi Creole. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1841-1851, 1849-02-02
Prohibition of Slaves rs Merchandise
Extra Session of the Legislature.

Extra session of the Legislature.
meeting of the citizens of Vernon and
vicinity was held Mt the Masonic Hall this day
Dr.. VIM. l.. BaIlour was called to the chair
and Geo. Stokes appointed Secretary
The object of the meeting was stated b,
the Chairman, viz to take into consideration
the expediency of Immediately calling tho
the Legislature of our State together for the
purpose of enacting laws prohibiting the fur
thor ingress OF slaves into our State.
| On motion, the following petitien TO thu
Governor Offered by Mr., W. J. Denson,,
was read and Unanimously adopted, as expires
sve of the views of this meeting. The pet
ton is signed by forty citizens of Madison
county.
TO his ErceltcncyJ. ". Matthews,
Gorer,or Of The State If .ViSsi,sipp,
The undersigned petitioners, your fellow
citizens, residing in the State, aud feeling a
deep interest in our institutions, and abiding
confidence in the wisdom and integrity Of the
functionares selected by the sovereign peo-
Pile to guard their interests, beg leave most res
pectfully 10 represent, that they view with
alarm, the efforts now being made by the abo-
litionlsts of the North, to interfere, by legis-
lation, with the rights Of the South. They
have seen with feelings of deep modification
an effort to dissolve our glorious Union, by
abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia
and applying the Wilmot Proviso to our terri.
toral organization OF New Mexico and Cali
ornia
As the result Of such action on the part of
our brotheren at the North, we have seen ef-
forts made by the border States of the South
to call conventions and manunit their slaves by
constitutional laws, and preparatory thereto,
holding out encouragement to their citizens
to send their slaves to the South, in order that
there may be as few negroes among them at
the period of their legal emancipation as pos
sible.
The States of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky
and Missouri, where slavery has ceased to be
profitable, from the uncertain tenure by which
they are held, are now throwing an immense
black population on the extreme southern
States, which is destined to incresae with i'm
mense rapidity, until our State will be oyerrun
with population that will constitute the most
dangerous of all enemies we will have to en-
Is Gnter. ,SpIne
,,"'sipated their slaves, they will N ls..as
join the Northern Confederacy, until the day
will come when we or our children shall have
TO meet this question as citizens Of a border
State, and when, too, the black population in
our midst will present the most appalling 0 bsta-
Gle TO our success.
If we are destined to be overwhelmed by
our enemies, we do not desire to BIO driven
from our homes and the graves of our dead,
which will be the inevitable consequence Of an
issue to be met with the abolitionists in our
rear, and a crowd of fclon slaves, which they
have forced upon us, in our midst.
To avoid this evil we hold il to be our duty
tn keep these slaves in the States north of as,
in order to force those States to stand between
US and those desperate fanatics who seem re-
solved to crush us.
By forcing those States to retain their slaves
within their own borders, they will never con-
sent TO manumit them, as they cannot permit
them to remain amongst them as free negroes
and thus their interest will remain identified
with ours, and they will be forced TO stand by
our side in the struggle for the constitutional
rights of the south
Impressed as we are with these views, and
the importance of some immediate action
We respectfully request of your excellency
to convene the Legislature at as early day
as possible, in order that..this important matter
may be submitted to them for the purpose of
cliciting such action as their wisdom will die.
tate.
Dr's. J. w. Phillips and g. Stokes, by invi
iation, addressed the meeting, and called the
good people Of our State to meet the crisis
calmly and firmly.
DR.. Il. G. Blackman offered the following:
Resoired, That should the Governor refuse
20 call the Legislature together Immediately
he good people of this State be, and are here
BY requested to hold primary meetings, and
express their views on this all important sub
ect.
Re,olred, That the thanks Of the meeting
DC rendered to the gentlemen who have favor
ID us with addresses to-day.
Resoired, That the Missssipisn and South
on of Jackson. and all the newspapers Of the
State who feel willing, be requested to pub
ish the above.
W. L. BALFoUR, Chin.
Csc. SToKrs, Sec'y.
Vernon, jan. 10th, 1919.