The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-11-27

L~st Days Proceedings Of the Nashville
Convention.
From The NashuiHs Banner.
MONDAY, Nov. 1919 A. NJ
MIR. Gordon, Of Va, gave his opinion that il
would be much the best plan TO recommit the re-
port Of the committee before the Convention, when
he hoped they would be able to present series that
would meet the appreciation of the entire Conven-
ton This was agreed TO, and the committee with
drew.
MIR. Daniel, of Ca, offered series OF resolutions
invoking the people OF the South TO call upon the
saveholding States for that protection in person
and property which the federal authority had de-
MED them, as follows:
Whereas combinations OF citizens in many of the
non slaveholding States have assailed the rights
and plundered the property OF the citizens OF the
sayeholding States, and most Of the slave
holding States of this Union have by penal enact
ments interdcted within their limits the enjoyment
and exercise Of liberties and rights guaranteed to
the citizens OF the saveholding States by the Con-
stitution of the United States. .l,
And whereas the Federal Government has con-
hscatcd the rights OF the citizens Of the slavehodng
States in the territories acquired from Mexico, and
Withdrawn Its protection from US; and, instead OF
being shield for our rights, has become sword
for our destruction ila t5e Ias aau
emily invokes the sovereign States of which they
citizens, to whom they owe allegiance, and
have right to claim protection, to supply, by
means deemed by them wisest and best, that pro-
lection for their rights Of person and property de-
MED and subverted by the federal authority and the
non slaveh0lding States. lo
Be ii further rssoIued That this Convention re-
spectfully recommend to the slaveholding States
" assemble In Congress or Convention, at such
time and place as may be agreed upon among them
Selves in order to concert and adopt measures ad
equate and ample to secure to their citizens the full
exercise and enjoyment Of all their rights and lib
critics. rs
The Convention took recess of half an hour.
At the expiration of that time the chairman of the
committee said be had been instructed by the COM
mittee, unanimously, to report the preamble as be-
fore reported with the exception of single verbal
correction, striking out all the resolutions and sab
shutting the following:
WE, the delegates assembled from portion Of
the States OF this Confcderacy, make this expos
ton Of the causes which have brought together,
and Of the rights which the States represent
entitled to under the compact of union
We have amongst US two races, marked by such
distinctions OF color, and physical and moral quail
ties forever forbid their living together on terms
of social and political quality
The black race have been slaves from the earliest
settlement OF our country, and our relations of
master and slave have grown up from that time.
change in those relations must end in convul-
sion, and the entire ruin of one or both races.
When the Constitution adopted, this rela-
ton of master and slave, it exists expressly
recognised and guarded in that instrument. It
was great and vital interest, involving our very
existence as separate people then as well as
now.
The States of this Confederacy acccded to that
compact each for ITSELF and ratified States
If the non -slav eholding States, who are parties
that compact, disregard its provisions and endan-
ger our peace and existence by united and deliber
ate action, we have right as States, there being
no common arbiter, to secedc.
The object OF those who are urging on the Fcde
raj Government in its aggressive policy upon our
domestic institutions is beyond all doubt finally
To thrnu fhAro ~kDl,. H.
ton between master and slave. We feel author
lied TO assert this from their own declarations, and
from the history OF events in this country for the
last few years.
To abolish slavery or the slave trade in the Dis
trict OF Columbiato regulate the sale and transfer
of slaves between the Statcs-to exclude slavchold-
ers with their property from the Territories-to ad
init California, under the Giro usances of the case;
we hold to be all parts Of the same system of mea
sures, and subordinate to the end they have in view
which is openly avowed TO be the total overthrow
of the institution.
We make no aggressive move. We stand upon
the defensive. We invoke the spirit of the Consti
tuition, and claim its guarantees. Our rights--our
independence-the peace and existence Of our fam
ilies depend upon the issue. T
The Federal Government has within few years
acquired, by treaty and by triumphant war, vast
territories This has been done by the counscls
and the arms Of all, and the benefits and rights be-
long alike and equally to all the States. The Fede
raj Government is but the common agent Of the
States united, and represents their conioined SOW
ereignty over subject matter granted and defined
in the compact
Theauthority it exercises all acquired terri
tory must IN good faith be exercised for the equal
benefit Of all the parties. To prohibit citizens
from settling there with the most valuable part of
our property is not only degrading to US equals,
bat violates our highest constitutional rights.
Restrictions and prohibitions against the slave
holding States, 1t would appear, to be the fixed
and settled policy of the Government; and those
States that are hereafter TO be admitted into the
EAA~ r,,Ox tLa,-
will but confirm and increase the power of the ma
jority; and he knows little of history who cannot
read our destiny in the future if TAIL TO do our
duty now free people.
We have been harassed and insulted by those
who ought TO have been our brethren in their con-
slant agitation Of subject vital TO US and the
peace of our families. We have been outraged by
their gross interpretations of our moral and
social habits, and by the in which they
have denounced us before the world. We have
had our property enticed off, and the means of re-
covery denied US by our co-States in the Confede-
| racy. We have been denied our rights in the Ter
ritories of the Union, which entitled To as
political equals under the Constitution. Our peace
has been endangered by inccndiary appeals. The
Union, instead Of being considered fratcrnal
bond, has been used the means of striking at our
vital interests.
The admission of California, under the circum
stances OF the case, confirms an unauthorized and
revolutionary seizure Of the public domain, and the
exclusion of half the States of the Confecera-
cy from equal rights thercn-destroys the line of
800 3o', which was originally acquiesccd in as a
matter OF compromise and peace, and appropriatcs
| to the Northern States 10000 square miles below
that line, and is so gross and palpabe violation
Of the principles Of justice and equality TO shake
our entire confidence in any security to be given
| by that majority, who now clothed with power
| TO govern the future destiny of this Confcderncy
The recent purchase Of territory by Congress
| from Texas as low down go on the Rio Crsnde
also indicates that the boundaries Of the slavehold
| ing States are fixed, and doom prescribed. 30
| far as 1t depends upon the will Of dominant
Jority, and nothing now from de-
graded destiny but the spirit of frecmcn who know
their rights and resolved 10 maintain them, be
the consequences what they may.
We have no powers that binding upon the
States we represent. But in order to produce sys-
tenn and concerted action, recommend the iol-
lowing resolutions, viz:
Resoived, That we have ever cherished and do
now cherish n cordial attachment TO the constitu-
tional union of the States and that TO preserve and
perpetuate that Union unimpaired, this Convention
originated and has now reassembled.
Rssoiusd, That the union of the States ia a union
OF equal and independent sovorcignties and that the
powers delegated 70 the Federal Government can
be resumed by the several States whenever il may
seem To them proper and necessary.
Rssoicsd, That all the evils anticipated by the