Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1850-08-23
Protest


OF portion Of the Southern Senator'S against the al
mission Of CatJorni presented hug An, 1901.
We, the undersigned Senators, deeply impressed
with the Importance of the occasion and with a So
emn sense of the responsibility under which are
acting respectfully submit the following protest a.
gains the bill admitting California as State into
the Union, and request that it may be entered upon
the Journal of the Senate We feel that it is not
enough to have resisted in debate alone bill so
fraught with mischief to the Union and the States
which represent, with all the resources of argu
ment which possessed, but that it is also due to
ourselves. the people whose interests have been en-
trusted to care and to posterity which even in
its most distant generations may feel its consequent
to leave. in whatever form may be most solemn
and enduring, memorial of the opposition which
we have made to this measure and of the by
which we have been governed. Upon the pages of
Journal which the Constitution requires to be kept
solong the Senate may have an existence we desire
to place the reasons upon which We are willing to
be Judged by generations living and yet to come for
our opposition to bill whose consequences may be
so durable and portentious to make it an object
OF deep interest to all who may come after u.s.
We have dissented from this bill because it gives
the sanction OF the law, and thus imparts validity to
the unauthorized action Of portion Of the inhab-
tants of California; by which an odious discrimina
ton is made against the property of the fifteen slave
holding States of the Union, who are thus deprived
of that position of equality which the Constitution
so manifestly designs and which constitutes the on
ly sure and stable foundation on which this Union
can repOse.
Because the right of the slayeholding States to
common and equal enjoyment of the territory of the
Union has been defeated by system of measures
which, without the authority of precedent, Of law,
OF the Constitution. manifestly contrived for
that purpose, and which Congress must sanction and
adopt should this bill become law In sanctioning
this system of measures this government will admit,
that the inhabitants of its territories whether per-
manent or transient, whether lawfully unlawfully
occupying the same, may form State without the
previous authority of law without even the partial
security of territorial organization formed by Con-
gress, without any legal other efficient evi
dence of their possessing the number of citizens
cessary to authorize the representation which they
may claim. and without any fthose safeguards about
the ballot box which only be provided by law
and which necessary to ascertain the true sense
of people. 1t will admit, too that Congress having
| refused to provide a government, except upon the
condition of excluding slavery by law the Executive
branch of this Government may, at its own discre-
ton, invite such inhabitants to meet in convention
under such it its agents may prescribe. and to
form constitution affecting not only their own
rights but those also OF fifteen States of the Confed
eracy, by including territory with the purpose of
GLIDING those States from its enjoyment, and without
regard to the natural fitness of boundary, any of
the considerations which should properly determine
| the limits Of State. 1t viii also admit that the
convention, thus called into existence by the Execu-
tive, may be paid by him of the funds Of the L.
States without the sanction Of Congress, in violation
not only of the plain provisions of the Constitution.
would forbid any act calculated to make that con-
yention dependent upon it and last but not least in
the series Of measures which this Government must
adopt and sanction in passing this bill Is the release
of the authority Of the I. S By the Executive alone
to q government thus formed. and not presenting
even sufficient evidence Of its having the assent Of
aority Of the people for whom it was designed
With a view Of all these considerations, the under
signed are constrained TO beeTe that this Govern
ment could never be brought to admit State pre-
co,11
for the purpose Of excluding the people Of the slave
holding States from all opportunity Of settling with
their property in that Territory.
Because to vote for bill passed under such cir
cumstances would be to agree to 4 principle whic3
may exclude forever hereafter as II does the
States we represent from all enjoyment Of the com
mon territory of the Union; principle which de
stroys the equal rights of their constituents, the
quality of their States in the cOnfederacy. the equa
! dignity of those whom they represent and a
citizens in the eye Of the law and their equal titlt
to the protection of the Government and the ConSti
tuition
i Because all the propositions have been rejected
which have been made TO obtain either recognition
of the right Of the slayehoding States 10 4 common
enjoyment of all the territory of the United States
to fair division of that territory between tht
e siaveholding and non-slaveholding States Of the
: Union: every effort having failed which has beer
made to obtain fair division of the territory propo
: sed to be brought in as the State of California;
Bat, lastly. dissent from this bill and solernnly
protest against Its paSSa~ because. SancOnIn-
measures contrary TO former precedent, obvious
policy to the spirit and intent of the Constitution
the United States, for the purpose of excluding til,
slayeholding States from the territory thus to be
rected into State this government in effect declares
that the exclusion Of slavery from the territory
the United States Is object 50 high and important
as to Justify disregard not only Of all the princi
pies of sound policy, but also of the Constitution il
n self Against this conclusion we must now and for
protest 1t Is destructive Of the safety and lib
critics of those whose rights have been committed t
care-fa TO the peace and equality of the State
: which reprcscntand must lead, if persisted in
to the dissolution Of that confedeTacy in which b
equality and in which they will not be content Il
e remain with less.
= J. NJ NAsoN.
: r. Nj. T. HUNTER, Virginia.
t a. P. BUTLER
1 r. B. BARNwELI~ South Carolina
II. L. TURNEY, Tennessee.
y PIERRE SoULE, Louisiana.
r JEFFERSON DAVIS Mississippi.
DAVID R. ATCHIsoN. Missouri.
JACKSON MORTON
D. L. YULEE, Florida.
- Senate Chamber, 18th Aug, 1850.
e The Danish War.
/ A correspondent desires us to explain the origin O
the Danish war; declaring that neither himself no
any of his acquaintance understand it. If our cor
respondent had been in the habit of reading the Bull
letn regularly, he would have recollected that abou
IS year ago. we made full statement of the cause
of this war. To oblige him. however, as we'll as
refresh our readers minds we will briefly explain
again the origin of these hostilites