The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-10-15
Position on v.reinia.

Z The submission papers ere distressed nm
distracted with what they call the treason tn.
assails them from all quarters of the South
One OF the most fragrant cases of this kind, /
the editor of the Piedmont (Warrenton) Whie
He says . ,..,s ...u
i If the Wilmot Provso has actually been sane
toned by the Legislative authority of Congress
why not set on foot the resistance contemplate
by the TREAsoSABLE resolutions of the Virpini,
Legislature Of At, and destroy the Union a
once! Some of our Democratic friends herea
bouts are involved in a dilemma. They wer,
clamorous,tor the passage of the resolutions o
Al II they now believe that Congress has re
Gently adopted the Proviso in its most detestec
shape they stand committed TO resist its enforce
ment at all hazards" and by erery means
When the State of Georgia placed upon hel
statute book the declaration that the admission
of California as free State would be cause for
resistance, on the Fart of the South, none could
be found, in lhis quarter, bold enough to defenc
40 heretical doctrine. Now that Caforni,
has been admitted these same gentlemen with
patriotic .teruor and in spirit which evinces d
factious opposition to all settlements and com
promises of the slavery question, denounce the
passage of that measure us unjust and degrading
to the South, worse even, than the Wilmot
PrOviso itself What do the "unterriied" mean!
Are they for resistance or submission! Are
they willing to make the humiliating confession
that the resolutions of their legislature which
received such sycophantic adulation in certain
quarters were intended as nothing more than
the bragg and buster Of the bully to deter the
timld and the weak; or ara they prepared to
break up the Union because of the admission OF
California, and, as these Southern hotspurs
would have us believe, the adoption, by such
admission, of the ordinary and insulting Provso!
We pause tor IN answer.
Now the resolutions Of the Virginia Legisla-
ture in lS47, which a Virginia editor has the
audacity to pronounce reasonable, were us fol-
lows:
tion by The Congress Of The United States, of
slarery in any territory 10 be acquired by con-
quest or treaty. (Adppted, March 8. ls47)
Whereas, a bill appropriatin1 money to prose-
cute war or negotiate peace with the republic Of
Mexico has pissed the House of Representa-
tlves of the United States, with the following
provisO attached thereto:
Pr"u'ded. That IL IN express and funda-
mental condition to the acquisition Of any terri
tory from the republic Of Mexico by the United
States, by virtue of any -trenty which may b.
negotiated between them, and to the use by the
Executive Of the monies herein appropriated,
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall
ever exist in any part Of sid territory, except
for crime, whereof the party shall be first duly
And this General Assembly dceming this pro-
viso to be destructive of the compromised of the
Constitution of the United Stat, $, and an attack
on the dearest rights of the South, as we'll AZ n
dangerous and alarming usurpation by the Fed.
eral Government, therefore,
LIST. Be IL resolred unanimously by the General
Assembly of Virginia, That the Government of
the United States has no control, directly or
indirectly, mediaieiy or Immediately, over the in
stilution of slavery, and in taking any such con-
troll, it transcends the limits Of its Legitimate
fuDctions by destroying The Internal organiza-
/ion Of The s0rerei9ntie Who created Il.
2. Resolved, unanimously That all territory
which may be acquired by the arms of the United
States, or yielded by treaty with any foreign
power, belongs 10 the sereral States ofttis Unio"
as their JoiM uni comn,0n property, IN Dhich each
and all haze equal RI ghts, and that the enactment
by the Federal Government OF any law which
should directly by lis effects, prevent the citi
zens Of any State from emgrating with their
property, Of whatever description, into such ter.
ritory, would make discrimination unwarranted
by, and in violation Of the ConstuutDn, anil the
rights Of The States from which such citizens
emigrated, and in derogation Of that perfect
equality that belongs to the several States rs
members of this Union, and woud icni directly
10 subren the Union nsezC
3. Resolped, That If in disregard Of the spirit
and principles Of the act of Congress on the ad
mission Of the State Of Missouri into the Union,
generally known as the Missouri Compromise
and of every consideration Of justice, of consti-
tutional ght, and of traternal feeling, the fear
ful issue shall be forced upon the country, which,
must result, from the adoption and attempted
enforcement Of the Prcviso aforesaid, MS an act
of the General Government, the people of Vir
gnia can have no difficulty in choosing between
the only alternatives That ,oiH then remain Of alb
ject submission 10 a!ggressi0n and outrage on hf
one hand determined resistance on The other, al
all hazards and In The last extremity.
4. Resolred unanimously, That the General
Assembly holds it to be the du of erery man
in every section of this Confedcracy, fthe Union
is dear 10 him, 10 oppose The passage If any Inc
FIR whntercr purpose. by which territory to b.
acquired may be subject to such u restriction.
5. Resolred unanimously, That the passage
Of the above mentioned provso makes The
duty Of erery slarehoLding 81 tie, aud of all the
citizens thereof, as they value their dearest priv
'cScH it''T sovereignty, li'e'i hiaCpehheHcp, IcH
rights Of property, to take firm, united, and con
ccrtcd action in tliis emergency.
g. ResolDcd unanimously, That the Governor
Of this Commonwealth be. ard he is hereby re
quested 10 transmit copies OF the foregoing pre-
ambie and resolutions to the Executive Depart
nelts of the States of this Union.
Afterwards these resolutions were affirmed by
the Virginia Legislature, As follows, with others
announcing the determination Of the State to
resist al crcry hazard any law aboIishing slavery
n, the Stare trade in the District Of Columbia:
RESOLUTIONS on the subject Of the Wilmot Pro
v<o mud other kindcd subjects, and in regard
to slavery in the District ofColumbia hdop-
ted January Goth, lS49.
Omitting the preamble, the rcso' utions ere
/. BE IL therefore resolved by ihe General As
senbty Of The STATE Of Virginia, That after the
fullest examination and reconsideration Of the
resolutions adopted on the eighth of March cigh
teen hundred and fory.seven, by this body, We
do consider said resolutions us founded in truth,