The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-10-18

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nortion Of the citizens of Henry county, without
5;st;nct;on of marty pursuant to previous notice,
-, ,,,h,cat;op In the Abbeville Banner, assem-
~ ~ tho courthouse in Abbeville, for the
,,,.nosa of discussing the measures recently
psi.J nv Congress-, touching the slavery ques-
Ton and to call upon his Excellency, Governor
Caller to convene the Legislature, and author
ize him to call an election Of delegates to Con-
vention as early rs practicable
On motion Of Gen. A. C. Gordon, Maj. Geo.
w. Williams was called to the Chair, and Benz.
H. Kieser requested to act as Secretary:
The meeting being organized, the Chairman
explained its object by brief but very eloquent
address.
On motion of Gen. A. G. Gordon, committee
of twelve were appointed to draft and report
resolutions, expressive of the sense and feelings
of this meeting In pursuance Of said resolu-
ton, the Chair appointed the following gentle
men to compose said committee: Gen. A. c.
Gordon, H. E. Gritty, A. ]. McAllister James
Murphy, Il. T. Smith, Mathew Perryman, G. F.
Spann, B. G. Lansdae, William A. McAllister,
r. Kennedy, Benjamin II. Kieser and James A.
Clendinen, who were allowed until after supper
to make the report of the following resolutions,
which were unanimously concurred in.
RESOLUTIONS:
We the people of Henry County in Conven-
ton assembled at Abbeville in pursuance of pre-
vious notice to consider the condition of the
Country under the late aggressive action of the
Federal Congress upon the rights and institu-
tons of the Southern States, do publish and de-
clare,
lst That the Constitution of California was
formed without any authority of Law, in violation
of precedent and the former action of the Gov
eminent; was stimulated by executive interfer-
ence, and the secret agents and emissaries Of
Northern fanatics, who had denied to the people
of that region a territorial government upon
terms of non-interference, and. urged upon them
the exclusion of slavery as a condition of their
admission into the Union. That such Constitu-
ton, formed as it was by an illega! body of men
quartered upon the common territories of the
Union, and excluding one half of the States and
their property from their common inheritance,
was absolutely and Internationally fraudulent
and void and that the recent action of the Federal
Congress in admitting California into the Union,
upon the equal footing with the other states of
the Confederacy, thereby endorsing and making
valid the Constitution established by her in de-
spite of the protests, repeated remonstrances,
and solemn resolves of the slaveholding States,
have virtually applied the seal of the Government
to the Wimot Proviso and forever excluded
seven millions of freemen and their slave pro,
perty of sirteen hundred miLlions of dollars IN
oaue, from all the territory of the Union stretch
ing one thousand miles along the coast of the Pa
cifc Ocean.
I'd. That the bill passed by Congress to abol
ish the slave trade in the District Of Columbis
and freeing the stares, as penalty on the owne
for offering.to sell them as property, is a direc
stab at the institution of slavery itself, and de
signed rs one additional step forward in til
work of emancipation by the North, and will il
brief period operate to the destruction o
slavery in the District of Columbia
Sd. That the proposition to dismember Texas
and turn over her territory, efficient to form
two States, to the Free-sOiers and mixed popu
lation of Mexico, originated with the North
and that of the ten millions Of dollars of the
Government money to buy up the claim O
Texas, the South will be compelled to pay owe
one-half; that We are impressed with profount
establishment at the support given such bill
by Southern members in Congress, and d.
hereby avow that such action on their part shoult
receive the indignant rebuke of all true-hearte,
Southern men.
4th. That the bill organizing territorial gov
ernments for Utah and New Mexico, contains n
concessions to the South whatever, unless tn
failure of Congress to annex the Wilmot Pro
viso thereto, a palpaby unconstitutional act
should be deemed aconccssion; but the univers
al determination on the part of the North
manifested through their Representatives in
Congress, to continue and enforce the Mexican
laws in those territories, and the cot tinued agi.
tation of fanatics, in and out of Congress, upon
the slavery question, will operate as -effectualy
to prevent Southern men from emigrating to
those territories with their property, the adop
ton Of the Wilmot Provso itself by Congr ess
9TH That upon u calm and deliberate review
of the action of Congress upon these questions
and their effect upon the Southern States, we are
constrained to believe that the Federal Constitu
ton has been grossly violated-that the funda-
mental principle of State equality has been
broken down, and that we now present to the
world the spectacle of a free people united I'M
der the forms Of a wise just, and glorious Con-
stitution-but controlled, governed, and dictated
to by an irresponsible and despotic majority, who
have set that Constitution at Defiance made their
own will the law, driven us from the protection
of the Union, and attempted to fasten the brand
of degradation upon US and our posterity.
We do therefore resolve,
lst. That as we have cntreated the North to
stop in their march of aggression, and warned
them against the consequences of their wild ia.
naticism, and as all our entreaties and warnings
have been disregarded and despised by them
that the time has arrived when the Southern
States should cease to reverence the union with
the North, should at once adopt measures of re-
sistance, and provide new safeguards for their
future security" And that it is the firm convic-
ton of this meeting, that a secession by the
Southern States from the Confederaey, is the
rightful and efficient remedy, unless our Const-
tutional rights of equality in the Union are re-
stored, and in future properly respected.
I'd. That we heartily unite in the call made
upon the Governor to convene the Legislature
of Alabama, to determine the measures proper
to be adopted by the State for the maintenance
of her honor and the rights of her people.
3. That we look with pride and satisfaction
to the re-assembling of the Southern Convention
at Nashville during the next month, and earnest
ly hope that they may in their wisdom recon-
mend such means as shall be effectual in restor-
ing the Government to the sphere of the Con-
stltutlon' on securing to the Southern States a
withdrawal Of their delegated authority and rights
from Union which has ceased to answer the
ends for which it was established, and become
an engine Of robbery and oppression.