The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent., 1850-11-08
From the Macon (Ga.) Journal 8 Messenger.
UNION PLATFORM.
Adopted by the citizens fBibbco'y Sept. 2s. 80.
Declaration of Principles.

Declaration of Principles.
The last Legislature passed law making
the dnty OF the Governor, in certain contingen
cles, to call Convention of the people Of Geof
gla. One OF these contingencies has happen
ed. California has been admitted into the Tn
ion, and his Excellency has issued his Procla
nation, accordingly.
The object for which said convention shall
| assemble has not been distinctly defined in tht
Act; still, from the Proclamation of the Gov
ernor, and the sentiments boldly announced bj
certain newspapers and certain speakers, we
are forced to the conclusion that the real pur
pose of its friends is, to bring about dissoIu
tion Of the Union.
The citizens, here assembled, profess an ar
dent devotion to this Union. Ii was The crea
ture of compromise and is rendered sacred b,
the memory of patriotic ancestry. Under il
we have rapidly advanced to national power
and distinction. Individually, and as nation
we have never been SO prosperous as at the
present moment. Our country has become
the proud refuge of the oppressed of every
cline, and the "stars and stripes" wave in tri.
umph upon every sea-
We hold that such Union, fraught with
such blessings, ought not to be endangered
except for grave and important considerations.
If it should be dissolved, the last hope of the
friends of republican liberty, win be swept
away: and this last, great effort at self-govern-
ment will become bye-word and reproacn a.
mong the tyrants and despots of the old world.
As patriots, we can see no good cause for en-
-countering such consequences on account of
anything which has yet transpired.
The measures which have recently received
the sanction of Congress, though not such as
to meet ourentire appreciation, areneyertheless
such as "the South can honorably acquiesce in
organizing the Territorial governments
for Utah and New Mexico, Congress repudia-
ted the hateful Wilmot Proviso.
2-In arranging the Texas and New Mexico
Boundary Bill, the North conceded such terms
as was satisfactory to the Senators and Repre-
sentatives of Texas.
3-In passing the Fugitive Slave Bill they
yielded to Southern men their own terms, and
authorized them to frame its provisions to suit
themselves.
4-Even the Bill regulating the Slave Trade
in the District, is believed to meet the appro-
baton of the people who are mainly interested
therein.
All these measures with the exception of the
last, were violently opposed by the free soiers
and abolitionists in Congress, as well as by
every aboltionist and every abolition press in
the North. The whole of the measures, taken
together, are regarded by the free soil papers
as a triumph of the South. The Albany Even
ing Journal holds the following language in
announcing the final result:
"Another Triumph for Slauerg freedoms
banner trails in the dust at Washington! Sla-
very has achieved another triumph! Twenty
five thousand square miles of Free Soil has, in
the last half Of the 10Th century, by an act Of
the American Congress, been surrendered to
slavery! And amid the clanking ofnewly- -forg-
ed fetters, we hear the craven voice of exulta-
ton! Yes, Northern throats are 'hoarse with re-
joicings at the victory obtained by Slavery
over Freedom! Oh, that some avenging an
gel would blot out this disgraseful record, that
our posterity might be spared the modification
Of blushing atthe degeneracy Of their Fathers"
The only issue then is in regard to Califor-
MIA, and the simple questions for the people of
Georgia TO decide are: Will they leave the
Union because California has been allowed to
come into it! viii the people of our State,
with all their professions of strict construction
and Of reverence for the constitution, raise the
standard of revolt against a constitutional act
Of Congress?
Whatever may be the Irregularities in the
proceedings which led to the formation Of the
State Government in California, it does not
become the South to forget that she approach
ed Congress with republican Constitution,
framed at the suggestion Of Presidents Polk
and Taylor-both Southern Presidents, and
both enjoying the confidence of the Southern
people. The people of California, in eonfor-
nifty with the principles of Congressional nom
Intervention, always recognized at the South,
settled the question Of slavery for themselves.
In convention, composed of more than one
third Southern men, slavery was excluded by
unanimous vote. 1t is useless for US to specu-
late upon the reasons which prompted South
ern men thus to give up cherished institu-
tion. 1t is hardly probable that if they had
been convinced that the soil and climate of
California were adapted to slave labor, they
would have permitted the institution to be ex-
cluded without struggle. While, therefore,
we may regret that the people of California
have settled this question adversely to the
South-yet as good citizens, we feel bound to
acquiesce, provided we can do so, consistently
with our interests and our honor.
If slavery can be introduced into California
at all, it can be done just as well under State
as under Territorial Government. If slave
labor can be made profitable in the mines, the
people there, whether Northern or Southern
men, will find but little difficulty in changing
the fundamental law. II the climate and soil,
however, should prove unfriendly to the exis-
tence of slavery, then it is better for the South
that California should have been admitted just
as she is.
The convention which framed her consti-
tuition canyassed this question carefully, and
arrived unanimously at the conclusion that a
division of the country by the line of 36 deg
30 min. would not enure to the benefit of the
South. In the Report of the proceedings of
the Convention, we find the following:
DR.. GWIN, a delegate from San Francisco,
said
"If any portion of our population are OPP
posed to slavery, per Sc, tits that portion south
Of SO deg. 80 min. 1t is utterly unified to
slave labor, being grazing and grape country,
with few rich valleys, and extensive arid
plains" See Report, page 445.
Dir. GARLIC, a delegate from the South,
said:
"Some gentlemen have said that the South
prefers territorial organization. This is a
great mistake might almost say, falsity.
It has, likewise, been asserted, that the people
of the Southern part are in favorzof slavery.
This is entirely false They have equally as
strong desire as any portion of the people of
California to avoid slavery. - See Report, page