The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-07
SPEECH
EX-GOVERNOR AARON ". BROWN
In the second session Of ahe Southern Convention,
on the Resolutions Reported Saturday, l5d,
November, 1850.

o'i the Resolutions reported Sdtnrday, Ion,
November, 1850.
Mr.. PRESIDENT Since our adjournment in
June last, Congress Las acted on all the great
and exciting subjects which had called this Con-
vention together. Our business now is, to exa.
mine how far that action has been or ought to
be satisfactory to the South. have examined
the bills, with the strongest predisposition to be
pleased and satisfied with them. am proud of
my country-proud of her institutOns-proud of
her brilliant and triumphant career. i am, there
fore, painfully anxious that nothing should &C.
cur to erd her progress or to obscure her
bright and glorious future. But, sir, | have tried
in vain to be convinced that the South has re-
ceived any thing like justice at the hands of the
North. In every effort my mind stands baffied
and rebuked in the vain attempt.
begin, sir, with the admission Of California.
l waive all irregularity in her applicatiOn-all
imputed Executive dictation--all doubts about
the citizenship of those who participated in the
formation of her constitution. Still am COM
PEELED to demand, why was she permitted to
come in with all this boundless extent ofcountry!
1t was not necessary TO her people; on the con-
trary, we know that it was highly inconoenient
to them. Why, then, was it done! That man
must be blind who does not see, and know, and
feel that it was done for the sole purpose of ex
Guiding the South forever from the shores of
the Pacific. The North had said that she Should
be excluded. The Wilmot Proviso was the in
famous instrument selected for the purpose
The people Of California, forgetting for the
moment how much they stood indebted to
Southern labor and to Southern counsels for
their very existence, lent themselves to the in
glorious deed. Congress-, by rejecting every
proposition to curtail her enormous boundary,
ratified and confirmed it; and thus the great
work of our exclusion was accomplished. Re-
member, sir, | am not complaining that CalitOr-
MIA was admitted us State: nor am object
ing to any size and boundary which the wants
and necessities of her people might demand
My precise objection is, that she was let in with
an extent Of boundary which she did not need
and which she did not expect or desire to retain,
and which, in reality, she is only holding over
against the South, for the future benefit of the
free-soil States of the North. Congress ought
to have said, Take of the common territory
what you need-take largely and freely: but
you shall not take ALL" Now, sir, if Congress
refused to say this, with the view Of depriving
the South Of her fair and just proportion Of this
common fund, the device, though ingenious, was
nevertheless n fragrant violation of the Consttu-
ton.
So much as to the admission Of California
into the Union. What of Utah and New Mex
leo, embracing all the balance of the territory
They have been organized into territorial gov
ernments, but with no clause repeating any laws
or ordinances Of Mexico abolishing slavery which
may be in force in them. For the want of such
clause, maintain that they are as etfectuaIly
lost to the South us if they had been sunken by
an earthquake. If those laws and ordinances
are in force, then, Of course, they are lost. But
| maintain that if it be only doubtful whether
they are in force or not, that very doubt is as
fatal to the South us the Wilnot Proviso. No
Southern man will dare to take his property
there until that doubt is removed. Congress
onght to have removed it. Her own discussions
had started it, and the master minds of that
body had fixed and confirmed it. If her object
really was to open those countries equally and
fairly to all the citizens of all the States, she
should have added the following section: "Be
il enacted, that all laws and parts of laws passed
by Mexico, which may be in force in said terri
tories in relation to slavery, be- and the same are
hereby repealed
Mr.. President, this short but expressive SEN
tence would have at once Gained the fears and
Gscontcnts of the South. The clouds which
lowered so darkly over her horizon would have
been dispelled, and the rainbow Of hope and
confidence would have shown with renewed
brightness and glory. But, no: the amendment
was offered and voted down, and the South
doomed to submt-not to the constitution, but
to Mexican laws if they existed or to stay away,
from well grounded apprehension that they
might exist Sir, that was the fatal vote that
Frustrated the South in those territories She
was the equal of the other States. She had as
much right to enter there with her property as
they had with theirs. But Congress leaves an
old Mexican ordinance, or the we'll grounded
fear of it, to do that which Mexican bayouets
could never do: to drive Southern man away
from the country.
And what are the explanations and apologies
for this extraordinary vote when given by South
ern men? 1t is first alleged that these Mexican
laws are not in fact in force, and then it is
gravely insisted that you cannot repeal what is
not in foree-th you cannot repeal noncn-
tity! In passing n new law how often does
the legislator find himself in doubt as to how
many of the old laws may be in conflict with it {?
or, how often does he doubt of what the opin-
ions Of the judges might be on the subject? and
how sure is he in either case, to give certainty
and force to the new enactment, to declare 'that
all laws and parts of laws which may be incon-
sstent with it shall be repcaled?' No man can
give dignity or responsibility to such sophs-
try, and dismiss it, in order to notice another.
1t is said that such repeal of the Mexican laws
would be equivalent to the establishment of
slavery in those territories, which Congress can
not and ought not to have done. What to re-
peal call laws and parts of laws" in relation to
slavery equivalent to the establishment of it
Directly the rcverse-it leaves the whole coun-
try, raSa Mbu.a, a mere blank-with nothing for
or against slavery. What then! Why, it must
remain forever unestablishcd, unless Congress
shall interfere and establish it. This is forbid
den by the great doctrine of non-incrvention.
What then! 1t must remain so unestablished
until the territorial legislatures establish it. The
universal opinion has been Cat least until very
lately) that territorial legislatures had 10 such
power. What, then, becomes of slavery in
these territories, the common property Of tie
States during the interval of the repeal of the
Mexican laws and the time when they form a
State constitution, preparatory to admission into
the Union! During all this time the country is
a mere blank with nothing for or against its es-
adjustment 1t is subjec to the Constitution of
the United States alone. If that will protect
the Southern mans property there, he is con-
tent. If it will not, he is content. He invokes