The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-09-19

before Congress, gives utterance to the follow
ing truths relative to the practices at the North
under the former laws on this subject
Heretofore, whilst the constitutional provision
on this subject has been as plain us language
could make it, the law passed, to carry this pro-
vision into effect, have unfortunately not been
so plain. Under them a number of vexatous
questions have been raised by legal subtlety
and criminal desperation. There is no coinage
of equivocation, no trick Of cunning, which has
not been made auxiliary to gross and wanton
outrage upon tie rights Of Southern property
With some slow show of legal argument, the
practical execution of the constitutional pro.
vision for the restoration of fugitive slaves has
been devolved not upon the State, but the
United States authorities and III this forced
and violent construction of the Constitution
State legislatures have so far virtually wrongcd
its spirit as absolutely to forbid State officer:
from assisting in the recovery of fugitive
slayes.-Partles seeking to arrest such fugitives
have been compelled to submit the legal process
of an unusually dilatory character; the fugi
! tives in the meantime having every facility fol-
escape-Where owners have been sufficiently
fortunate to arrest fugitive slaves and prove
! property in them, they have been dismissed the
Court of law to encounter, unaded and unpro-
tected, a furious mob at the door, through which
to carry slave were absolutely impossible.
Rarely, it ever, has the law indicated its Dig
nifty in the punishment of such mobs; and where
| such vindicaton has been attempted, it has only
failed, to give the triumph of success and the
boldness OF impunity to criminal outrage.
Here are the facts truthfully set forth by the
Eagle, and we consider them rather severe
commentary upon the course pursued by thai
paper for the last eighteen months. The truths
t,1 tol- xtrtth
er very serious and grave aggressions of the
North upon the South, have had the tendency
of arousng large portion of the Southern PEG.
pie to a proper and just sense of their wrongs
and their danger These, through their State
Legislatures, county, meetings, &c, have made
solemn expressions of their determination to
submit no longer to such abuses, and to resist
them by every means in their power. One eff
feet of this course has been to incur the denun-
Citations of the Eagle, and all other kindred prnts
as sire eaters, disunionists, Southern ultras,
and such other euphoneous appellations as their
fertile fancy might invent. Well, we have
borne our portion of such slang with what we
have conceived commendablc philosophy. Feel
! ing ourselves shielded by the sacred panoply
of truth and Justice we have felt no fears OF
their harmless missiles. But whether we of the
| South who have indicated her honor, her equal
ity and her rights, have merited the epthets thus
bestowed upon us by the submisslonists who
would lick the hand that smites them, we will
leave to that judgment which every one will
draw from the above statement of facts. When
we shall have reconciled ourselves to a tame
submission Of such insults from the fabricators
of wooden nut megs, axe handles and broom
sticks, we shall first be prepared to yield up al
claim to the position Of independent freemen.
| From the augusta (Ga) Republic.
The Columbus Enquirer has the followingir
relation to the Texas difficulty s---s
"Texas they say is about to be most outra-
geously wrongcd. Well let us look calmly al
the matter, and see how far Congress proposes
to wrong that young sister of the common fam.
lily. There is disputed boundary, and to
avoid all quarrels and prevent bloodshed, Con-
gress proposes that Texas shall cede portion
of her territory to the General Government, and
receive the sum of ten millions Of dollars II
Texas accepts the proposition, then the arrange
n,ent is complete; if she does not, it falls to the
ground It is her own business and she is free
to attend to it in her own way Where is the
fraud Of which men speak and write so hippant-
ly, in all this Where is the wrong attempted
to be perpetrated on a sovereign State Oh
what rights does Congress, in this arrangement
deprive or attempt to deprive Texas"
The Enquirer does not tell its readers in the
above that the President, in case Texas does
not accept the proposition threatens to force
her to relinquish her title BY THE SWORD. 1t
asks 'where is the fraudT Does it not see
that the fraud consists in the fact, that territory
claimed by Texas and acknowledged heretofore
by this government as belonging to her, is now
to be wrested from her grasp by force of arms,
unless she sees proper to submit to any terms
which the government may offer her! "Where
is the wrong 2" 1t asks again. Need we reply
to this question. "Of what right does Congress
attempt to deprive Texas" The Enquirer
knows in its heart, that every right held dear
by the sovereign States of this Union is in
volved in this MATERNITY seek to blind its
readers!