The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-11
Washington, Thurday, July III, 1850

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of California to form State government, and
come into the Union as State. He must have
known-f he knew anything-and the people
of California knew, from the action of this
House, that they could not come into the Union,
except as an Abolition State Its admission, rs
such, will be the triumph of Congressional in
teryention, and Executive usurpation. II is al
ready claimed rs an Abolition and Free-Soi
victory Sir, shall we go home and tell the
Taylor Democrats and Southern Wings, that
General Taylor has surrendered, and lent his aid
to the Free-Soilers and Northern Wings in their
efforts to bring California into the Union rs an
Abolition State, and to divest his own Southern
brethren of their equal rights! Shall we 90
home and tell Southern Democrats, who voted
for General CAss as u Neutrality-suspicious. and
strict constructionist, that he has sanctioned
General Taylors uuauthrised intervention, and
joined the majority in Congress in doing indi-
rectly that which, with transcendant ability, he
has demonstrated they have no right to do d.
reetly! Sir if we must go home with this
startling tale, our people will begin to realize
the solemn truth, that ave are in the midst of
a revolution"
Verify, sir, a revolution has been in progress
for some years past. 1t has already jostled this
Government from its constitutional sphere. We
see one after another of our public men, who
had for years struggled against the strides Of
Aboltionism, deluded or awed into its schemes
until now we hardly dare claim any Northern
man as the thorough advocate of the equal con-
stitutional rights OF the South. True, sir, there
are Northern members, both on this floor and
in the Senate, who ut heart are opposed to the
Abolitionists and Free-Soilers, but who unwit-
tingly, and perhaps unconsciously, are carried
along i'll the current which has swept every
thing before it, in the non saveholding States
They assure us that they harbor not u single
feeling congenial with those of the Abolitionists,
and denounce the Free-Soilers proper as loudly
as we do. But let them not mistake their own
position; let there be no misunderstanding
about mere names, and party associations How
many can we now number, who are not seeking
to;parry the assaults of the Free-Soilers and Abo-
litionists, by adopting and pleading the danger
GUS heresy that shareholders are already exclu-
ded from our Mexican territory by Mexican
laws, and therefore that the Wilmot Proviso is
mere abstraction-a bald humbug! How many
are there who dare to oppose the Free
Sellers in their stereotyped catch-words that
"terrtory now free, shall remain free %
See Note A. Now, sir, the people of
the South will be constrained to analyze
these doctrines, and are not so blind as moi to
perceive that their ultimate results are one and
the same with Free-Soiism. Those results are,
the confinement of slavery within the limits of
the present slaveholding States, and denial to
the shareholders of the South of any right to
participate in the enjoyment Of the territory of
the United States, except upon condition that
they submit to Il contscation of their property
Sir, this is the result of a fair analysis Of the
prevalent doctrines of the North, and furnishes
proof conclusive that we are indeed in the midst
l of revolution. | repeat let there be no mis-
understanding of the true state of facts The
admission of California ut this time, under pres
, ent circumstances, in full view of the manner il
which we have been brought to the present cri
sis, will be the triumph of the Abolitonsts-the
triumph of II series Of revolutionary schemes
subversive Of the Constitution, and destructive
of the rights of one half Of the Union
beg my Northern Democratic friends to BIT
assured that have thus alluded to them in nc
unkind spirit. 1t is due to thcm-to truth ant
) justce-to say that by their votes they hav,
shown disposition to discard all mere sectiona
consideration, and that, if their votes could have
prevailed, this vexed question would long sine,
have been settled, with justice and fair play to al
, sections Of the Union. But their votes wer
overruled by an undivided Northern Wing vote
aided by dissenting Northern Democrats. an,
: upon one occasion, by a few Southern Wings
by northern storm, which menaces the wreck O
the ship of State, has already blown many O.
our crew over board and so bewildered the north.
ern portion of our crew, that they are for seek.
ing any port, at whatever sacrifice, rather than
longer weathert it. 1t is not my purpose to "read
them out Of the church :" still have hopes that
they will yet rally with renewed courage, deter
mined to stand by the flag to which they owe
allegience--the flag of the Constitution and
equal rights. But, sir is it not fact that such
is the hostility of the North to the institutions
and people Of the South, that any praise from a
true-hearted SOutherner, to Northern politician
brings down Northern vengence upon him? And
have we not in this fact startling manifestation
OF prevalent revolutionary spirit in the North
And how, sir, has this revolution been engen
E dered and fomented? answer, by series OF
impOstures, "conceived in sin and brought forth
in iniquity." There can be no peace-therc car
be no security-for the perpetuty of our insti.
tutions or for the continuance of the blessings
which we have enjoyed, until patriots North and
I South shall acquire moral courage enough to
march up square to the front, to beard the i'm
posters in their strongholds, to proclaim the
truth fearlessy and awaken deuded masses to
a proper sense of the vile system of political
cheatry by which their minds have been poison
ed. The time allowed me, under the rules of
this House, is too limited to admit of my enter
ing into complete exposition and analysis of
the impostures which have been played off upon
the voting community. must content myself
with Il brief retrospect Of the stealthy devices
by which we have been brought to our present
condition. And here, sir, trust that / shall
not lay myself liable to the charge of sowing
the seeds of discord among those who ought to
be united as one man, in resisting Northern ag-
I gression upon Southern rights, when allude to
certain points in the history of past party con-
licts Truth demands that matters of fact,
bearing upon the grave questions now under
consideration, shall be frankly and fearlessly
stated Be it remembered, then, that in the
year 1882, when Mr.. Van Buren, was first brought
forward as a candidate for the Vice Presidency,
he was denounced at the North as "a trucker
to the South" while some of our Southern
friends vehemently opposed him, upon the
ground that he was in sentiment hostile to the
South, and that his silent acquiescence in the
resolutions of the New York Legislature in IA
vor of the Missouri restriction, and his vote in