The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-09-11
From the fredericksburg .NeiUs.

meeting OF the cltlZeHS OF opOIsylVaiila, VIZ
GINA, held at the Courthouse, on Monday, the
] st inst, without respect to parties, Capt. GA
briel Long presided, and S. G. Daniel acted as
Secretary. &e~ - ~
Eustace Conway, esq opened the meeting with
a few PREDATORY remarks. He was succeeded by
Mr.. III. Lacy, who in speech of some length set
forth the objects Of the meeting, and concluded
with presenting the following preamble and reso-
lutions. Mr.. John l.. Marye replied, and ut great
length and with ingenuity opposed the resolu-
tons, and the whole proceedings. Late in the
evening the vote was taken, and the following
preamble and resolutions were adopted, with
only nine dissenting voices:
At time like this, when dangers surround us,
when peace and Union are in peril, and when
rights which involve the safety, prosperity and
the very existence Of the South are threatened;
when some Of those who have heretofore been
first and loudest in pedgng :" life and fortune
and sacred honor ia defence OF those rights are
seen to f:ilter; when some are ready to barter
them away for the honors and cmoluments Of
office; and othcvs for base brides in the shape of
fraudulent contracts; when in the midst of this
wide spread detection the faith of brave men
is shaken and the "hearts of true men fail them
for fear" if ut such time there be any who
stand faithful among the faithess, and fearless
fort and encourage is due from those on whose
behalf they act it is the part not more of duty
than Of interest for the people to speak cheer
ingly and approvingly to such. We lave no
right to expect men to lead when none will fol-
low When Virginia by the almost unanimous
vote of her Legislature declared her resolution to
resist Eat all hazards and to the last extremity"
insults and wrongs aimed at her equal rights as
Il member of the Union; and ut an institution
with her whole political and soci'l
being, not to be assaulted without danger to her
her safety, and her very existence;
when she proclaimed this resolution to the
world, and called on her servants in the coun-
ellis of the Union to take notice Of it, she maze
it their duty to oppose this mischief in whatever
form it might assume. In doing this they de-
serve well of her, and thou, n we do not vehe-
menty applaud men for the bare performance
of inevitable duty, yet when in discharging it
they encounter obloquy and menace, it is due to
them that they should have her voice cheering
them in the contest. It is our duty and it is the
duty ofall men everywhere in Virginia to make
this voice heard crying to them "well done good
and faithful servants" That We may not be
wanting to this duty, we the people of the
county of Spotsylvania, assembled for the pur-
pose put forth in the following resolutions:
CHINA declared their resolution to resist the Will
mot Provis6 or any kindred measure at all
hazards they acted as became the representatives
of free and sovereign State, and entitled them
selves to the appreciation aud support Of the
people.
g That in this they avowed their determine
ton to assent and insist on the equal rights Of
the South to n fair share of the benefits to he
derived from all territories obtained from Mexico,
by conquest or by purchase, by the blood or by
the treasures of the South, from which the price
WAS chiefly paid
g. That to substitute for the Wilmot Proviso
different measure, intended to accomplish the
same wrong by different means, was patry
evasion, Ivy which no man who understands the
subject would be, and no honest man would
pretend to be, deceived
t. That the miscaled constitution Of Cafor-
MA was an unprecedented, unauthorized and
unlawful act, intended to exclude all Southern
men from any share in the advantages of that
region, and entirely without any binding force,
unless it be ratified and adopted, and made law
by act Of Congress.
5. That the adventures in California who oc-
cupy themselves in tearing open the bowels,
and riling the treasures OF the End arc there in
direct violation Of a law, which it is made the
ordering them away, and causing them to be re-
moved if they do not obey.
6. That by such unlawful intrusion those per-
sons could not acquire any rights of any kind
whatever; and that although when thus scpar-
ated from the munich pal jurisdiction of the
United States, they were RENTED to Il natural
right to regulate themselves, their property, and
their affairs, after their own pleasure as long us
they are permitted to remain there, it wi not
follow that they can have u right to fix forever
the constitution and destiny of country, the
will and sovereignty which belongs to Others
and not to them.
7. That the alleged necessity for ratifying the
pretended cons: tuition of California as neces.
sary to the present peace and order of that coun-
try, is but u shallow and false pretcxt, inasmuch
us these will be the best secured by an act Of
Congress recognizing the existing laws and Off.
GERS of that country rs the laws and officers of
territory of the United st ties, without admit
ting the sovereignty of number Of adventu-
rcrs, whose homes, for the most part, arc else
where or nowhere, over region, the soil of
which is not theirs, the sovereignty of which is
the United States and in which their chief oc-
cupatioy is to take what d cs not belong to
them, and to carry away to other countries the
hidden wealth Of the disembowelled land.
3. 1 nat TO exclude the COull IRON any snare
in the wealth OF California by an act of Con-
grcss, which, under circumstances from the
South, or under Il returning sense of justice,
Congress might repeal, is a far less mischief
than to perpetuate the same wrong by the con-
stitution of State over which Congress would
hasc no power.
8. That the wrong thus done, and the out
rage thus committed by the adventures So
journing in California, is in principle the same
us if all the United States to which that coun-
try belongs, had been saveholding States, and
if the intrudcrs had thus presumptuously de-
clarcd that the rightful and only owners of the
country should not carry their property with
them there, on pain of forfciting it,
TO- That the net of the Senate of the United
States in thus establishing II body of mere tram
silent adventures in full sovereignty over Cali
tornn, is unmstAkoabIe evidence of deter
nination, under any or no prrteNt, ard ut any
sacrifice Of the Constitution, aud Of the lawful
authority of Congress, to Perpetuate, and to
render irrcparable the very wrong which Nir-
giAia had pledged herself "to resist at every
hazard and 10 The last eXtrcmitv.'