The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-10-25

dsts would have been treated as felons, II az.
rested. The 0ffsnge was too notorious TO be
denied, and Gov Marcy, in his message to the
New York Legislature, in 1896, acknowledged
it to be one Of .sthe sacred obligations whichthe
States owe to each other, as members of the
Federal Union" ito punish residents within
their limits guilty of acts therein which are cal
culated and intended to excite instruction and
rebellion in sister State" Yet 80 callous has
the South grown to her wrongs by use, or so
far have later injuries surpassed it, that she ceases
to remember this fragrant and still subsisting
violation Of the spirit and intent OF our Union
! IL is now proposed to exclude the South from
the territory of California and New Mexico
446,63S square miles, large enough to make
more than eleven States equal to Ohio. The
South paid her share, and, as we shall see, far
more than her full share of the expenses OF the
Mexican war Of the gallant volunteers who
fought its battles, she furnished 45,640, and the
North 23,084--but little more than half as many.
4 The South sent one man out Of every twenty
six Of military age--thc North only one out of
every ia. How those battles were fought and
won, of which section the generals were natives,
whose regiments faltered, and whose left two of
the third planted the stars and stripes upon the
Mexican battlements, the South will leave to
history to say. And now it is proposed to ex-
clude the survivors and their fellow citizens
from the equal enjoyment of the conquest of
| the war! And why? Because, as the Vermont
resolutions Declare "Slarery is a crime against
humanity" ~. ..9' sss,.
The North next proposes to abolish slavery in
the District of Columbia, and 50 make harbor
for runaways, and centre of abolition agitation
in the very heart of Virginia and MARYLAND.
This is to be done in defiance alike of good faith
and constitutional obligation; and why because,
as the Colt resolution, passed by the House OF
Representatives, declares, SLAVERY IS infamous :"
| The Northern vote in Congress on these ques-
| tons is almost unanimous, without distinction
| of parties, against the South. The exceptions
are daily fewer, swept away by the overpower-
ing tide of fanatical public sentiment at the
North The State Legislature are equally agreed
They have all, and the majority morethan once,
adopted resolutions of the most offensive char
acter. The next threat il to abolish slavery in
the dock yards, forts, and arsenals, for there
Congress has the same jurisdiction and respon-
sibility as in, the District. 1t is asserted that
slavery cannot exist, without n special law to
establish it, in tho new Territories, because pro-
perty in negroes is, as they pretend, a creation
of municipal regulation alone, and therefore
ceases beyond the limits of the State which ALL
thorizes it. Not only does this argument fail in
its major proposition, for there is no law estab-
fishing slavery in any State where it exists, but
it fails also in its application, for the limits and
authority of each slave State do extend to the
new territory held by the common Federal agent.
But if true, by parity Of reasoning, slavery can
not exist OH the high seas, and so say our Abo-
| ..,I,-
mond on voyage to New OEea1s, are free as
soon as the vessel leaves the shore. The pro-
hbtion of what they call the slave trade Oh the
high seas, and then on the Mississippi, whose
waters they pretend are common property, and
then between the States, will quickly follow
each other What would be left the South in
such condition? With asylums for runaways
and stations for abolition agents in every State,
the mail converted into colporteur OF incen-
diary tracts, forbid to carry our slaves from State
to State, unable to cmgrate to new and more
fertile lands, and thus renovatc our fortunes and
give our sons q new theatre for their energies
without sacrificing all our habits, associations
and property and yet with all this, bound to
pay taxes and fight battles for cohquests, we are
to have no share in, and for a Government known
to us only by its tyranny, how miserable would
, be our thraldom! Can any Southern man bear
\
J, the loss of his rich conquests in California, but
E can he bear to be excluded, because his institu
tons are Infamous! because he is branded will
. inferority, and under the ban of the civilized
world ! If he can, then is he worthy of all, an(
, more than all, that is threatened hin.
But abolition will not stop, even when sla.
/ very is thus hemmcd in, "localised and discour-
aged" us Senator Chase proposes. Anti-savery
sentiment is to be made the indispensable con-
dition Of appointment to Federal office; and by
thus brbng Southern men to treachery, the
war is to be carried out to the last fell deed of
all-the abolition of slavery within the States
for to quote Randol phi once more, "Fanaticism,
political or religious has no stopping place short
of Heaven, or-of HE'LL"
The slave States have but thirty votes in the
Senate and two Of these (Deaware) can hardly
be counted upon in their defence. Nor is it
possible to increase her strength by new slave
State. Rufus King long since avowed that the
object of the North was political power, and she
will never permit Florida or Texas to be divided
A serious claim is already set up to all Teas,
west of the Nueces, as new territory, acquired
by treaty from Mexico, to which the Wilmot
Provso may and should be applied. The only
territory south of the Missouri Compromise
line and east of the Rocky Mountains, is the
district of 5S,346 square miles, ceded forever to
the Indians on the other hand, the North has
west of the Mississippi and east of the Rocky
Mountains exclusive Of Indian territory,
723,24s square miles.
Add the part of the old
Northwest Territory
added to Minnesota in
violation of the Vir-
ginia deed of cession, 22,336 )"
All of Oregon, 34l,463
In all of undisputed ter
ritory, l,0s7,O47
or enough to make twenty-eight such States as
Ohio, or twenty-one larger than Iowa. This
addition alone to the strength of the North
would give her nearly the three-fourths required
to amend the Constitution and abolish slavery
at her pleasure, if we can suppose that she
would take the trouble to enact an amendment
! Al L 4 Il Il 4