The southern press., 1850-09-07
ID A IL Y .

the tAteflt OF the lnlusuce anu INC hnPospohs III
ficted upon us, and that We are moi, as we are
falsely charged to he, agitators without cause ond
for the purpose Of dissolving the Union. III,
Having family and feebly glanced at the evils
which surround us, he proposed to look intodhe
remedies that have been suggested. Three, mainly,
have occupied the public attention-the plan ofthe
late administration, of which the lamented Taylor
was the head the report of the Committee of Thr-
teen, and the Missouri Compromise lie would
bestow a moments Is attention on each of these. In
doing this he arraigned no mans motives, much
less should he tread uBkindly upon the ashes Of
the dead-the illustrious dead. His business was
with measures, not men. The great point Of con-
troversey between the North and the South lies
within the compass of nut-shell 1t Is simply
whether the Southern people are to be alowed tn
go to the territory acquired from Mexico, and
carry their property with them. That is all that
is to say, shall the people who fought for it and
paid for it be equally protected upon 1t 1t is this
plain, simple proposition which now agi-
tates twenty millions Of people, has occupied Con-
gress, to the exclusion of every thing else, for
eight months, and actually endangers the exist
ence of our once free and glorious institutions {;
when, he ventured to say, there was not an intel
ligent boy in the counties Of Autauga and CoOsa,
fifteen years of age, who could not decide it in five
minutes, and decide it correctly; for it is, to use
homely expression, just as plain falling of Il
log. Let US proceed to inquire into the merits of
this celebrated compromise, and he thought he
should be able to demonstrate that so far as the
rights and interests of the South are concerned +,
there is not a W hole bone in it, and that, unless
ljumbing various matters together in the same bl,
entities it to the name of compromise, 1t is the most
inappropriate appellation that could have been ap
piled to it. 1t is proposed to admit California with
a perpetual prohibition in regard To slavery, with
territory large enough for an empire embracing
the entire front on the Pacific. Thus, by the
leading provision of the bill the but cut of all our
acquisitions in Mexico is wrested from the South
now and forever. Is this equal justice? Next
comes Utah and New Mexico. How are the
rights of the South proposed to be protected there
The committee proposes to establish govern
ments for these territories, saying nothing about
slavery. This is called non-intervention on the
part of Congress, and might be tolerated but for
the reason assigned for it by the chairman of the
committee. Governor Bagby did not charge Mr.
| Clay with speaking or intending to speak with
forked tongue. His venerable age, his gigantic
abilities, his public service, the vast space he oc-
cupes in the affection and estimation of portion
Of his countrymen, and the still larger space he is
destined to occupy in the history OF our country
all entitled him to be treated with respect, and
no one accords it to him more cheerfuly than Mr.
B. But Mr.. Bagby said thisi his argument in
isfactory to the North and the South. If slavery
is inhibited there by the operation Of the Mexican
law, the South wants that inhibition abolished. II
that inhibition does not exist, the North wants it
established. So matter which horn of the de-
lemma be selected, one party is deceived. What
has been the effect OF this argument in favor of
the existence of Mexican lawl 1t has been to
deter the Southern people from going into these
territories until the free soilers have taken posses
sion of it, and now laundering at the doors of
Congress for admission into the Union with con-
sttutions prohibiting slavery.s,1s this equal JUS
tce! But 1t is not only proposed toe exclude us
from all the Mexican territory, but encroach-
ment is to be made the State of Texas and ten
millions Of dollars to be appropriated from THE
public treasury for the purpose of converting a
portion of that State into free-soil territory. Is
| this equal justice to the South; He passed over
the provision Of the bill in regard to fugitive
slaves and slaves in the District Of Columbia,
with single remark, that they grant no favors to
I the South. We ask no favors: want the Con-
sution unaltered, untarnished, inviolate. The
plan Of the late administration and the plan of the
Committee of Thirteen, so far as the territory ac
quired from Mexico is concerned in effect sub
tantiay the same. They both virtually exclude
the Southern people from all the territory acquired
from Mexico.
| The remaing plan proposed for the adjustment
Of the difficulties which have so long hung like a
dark cloud over the destinies of the country, is
the Missouri Compromise. This, as before re-
marked, has been acquiesced In by the South for
the sake Of harmony and the Union and in order
to avoid greater evils, perhaps it is better to sub
NIT to it again.
This seems to have the opinion Of the Nashville
Convention, of whose proceedings we have been
furnished with lucid and interesting an account
by Governor Fitzpatrick, He considered that
measure however, a gross departure from the
Constitution, and surrender Of the rights of the
South; and if the question were now submitted
for the first time, he would not assent to it. As
matters now stand, it is better perhaps, to bear
the ills we have than to fly to those we know not
Of Let that line be to the Pacific, but let US
h.,,o Ind yhap he
considered the uses to which that term compro-
mise has been prostituted; if he had the power,
he would blot it out from the language and make it
felony to use 1t in the settlement OF constitutional
questions. He wanted no more compromises, by
which one party gets all and the other nothing;
but he did not believe we could get any compro-
mise. There is, in regard to the great question
now under consideration, fixed and decided ma
iority in both Houses of Congress against u.s.
And he would as soon expect the beautiful stream
now dashing and rolling among the rocks within
our hearing to stop its onward current to the ocean,
reverse its and run back to its fountain,
for that majority to stop in their mad career
Fanaticsm and ambition combined, and conscious
of their strength, not in the habit Of faltering
in their purposes. They " tread no step back
wards" That Gordon OF free States alluded to by
| a New York Senator some two years ago is grad
uay drawing its serpent coils around us, and my
solemn and deliberate opinion is, that unless some
effective stand is made by the South now, there
never will be another slave State admitted into this
Union.
There are those whose faith is stronger than
mine. Faith formed upon the proper foundation,
told will remove mountains but where Free
soIlers and Abolitionists and ambitious politcions
are concerned, he had much more confidence in
our own works than of faith in them.
He had no expectation of success from the CO.
operation Of our Northern friends, although he
knew we had many in the Northern States. But
they sustain themselves, it is folly, there
fore, to depend upon, for the preservation Of our
rights, those who cannot sustain themselves
They have become powerIess. Year after year
we see them going down amidst the roar of the
tempest created by bowling fanaticsm and un-
principled ambition. Union among ourselves,
firm, entire indissoluble union adherence to the
principles of the Constitution, with a firm reli-
nnce on the goodness of Divine Providence, are
the only foundations of hope for the deverance
from the difficulties that now surrounds US, Upon
this foundation, let us, one and all, plant ourselves
this day. and never falter until the Constitution is
restored and our rights secured. He did not say,
let stand upon our arms but he did say, let
| Al