Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1850-08-27
MISCELLANEOUS.
Admission OF California.

TIE PROTEST OF SOUTHERN SENATORS.
The following is the protest Of the
Southern Senators, Whose names are at
tached,) against the bill admitting Calfor-
MIA into the Union.
We, the undersigned Senators, deeply
impressed with the importance ofthe oc-
casion and with a solemn sense Of the res
possibility under which we are acting res
pectfulIy submit the following protest "a
gainst the bill admitting California is a
State into this Union, and request that ii
may be entered upon the Journal of the
Senate. We feel that il is not enough to
have resisted i'll debate alone bill so
fraught with mischief to the Union and
the States which we represent, with all
the resources of argument which we pos
sessed, but that it is also due, to ourselves,
the people whose interests have been en-
trusted to our care, and to poserity,
which even IN its most distant generations
may feel its consequences, To leave, IN
whatever form may be most solemn and
enduring, a memorial of the opposition
which we have made to this measure, and
of the reasons by which we have been
governed. Upon the pages of journal
which the Constitution requires 10 be
kept so long as the Senate may have an
existence, we desire to place the reasons,
upon which we are willing TO be Judged
bv generations living and yet to come,
for our opposition 10 bill whose Conse-
queuces may be so durable and portentious
as to make it an object of deep interest to
all who may come after US.
We have diSsentCd from this bill be-
cause it gives the sanction of law, and
thus impartS validity to the unauthorized
acUon of portion Of the Inhabitants Of
California, by which al odious discriml-
nation is made against the property of the
fifteen saveholdng States of the Union,
who are thus deprived of that position of
equality which the Constitution so mani
festly designs, and which constitutes the
only sure and stable foundation on which
this Union can reposc.
Because the right Of The slayeholding
States to a common and equal enjoyment
of the territory OF the Union has been de-
tcated by a system of measures which,
without the authority of precedent, of law,
or Of the Constitution, were manltes,ly
conulyed for that purpose, and which
Congress must sanction and adopt Should
this bill become a law. In sanctICnm9
This system Clmcasurcs, this Governments
Will admit, that tie inhabitants Of It's ter,
Hiolies, whether permanent or transient,
whether lawfully or unlawIully occupy
Ing The same, may form State without
ue previous authority Of law, without
even the partial security ola territorial or
ganlzaion formed By Congress, without
any legal census or other efficient evil
oence OF their possessing the number Of
cIuZenS necessary 10 authorize the rep
TcSeniauon which they may claim, and
without any Of those safeguards about the
'a.Ioi-boX which can only be provided by
law and which are necessary to ascertain
The true sense Of a people. twill admit,
"o' '""t congress having refused to pro-
,"e government. except upon the con-
o."on OF excluding slavery by law, the
INcruiiyc branch of thi, Goyernmenl
may al lis own discretion, invite such IN
h1','aHlS 10 meet in convention. under
S"'n rules as 1t or i,> agents may pre-
<'''"'' a.' To torm constitution affect
'''- "o' oaiH lAo'i o"n rights but ihose
"So 'i hiiocu States ui hy ConCeJ,racy,
including 'cTIorv with the purpose
e. excluding t.,,, S....., rom lis eniny
If