North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1852, 1850-12-11
THE sRoeKJNcHaM MEETING.

II pIdco
ing held in Wentworth on the 27th nltlmo' comPos'
y ed Of the 6 friends Of our national Union. =
4 The Resolutions adopted express the most ardent
a.ta.h,ent Cor the IInion-approve and land the so
called compromise wand declare in substance that
ia any epenL the members Of the Meeting will . adj
bsra n the IIn;on with their lives, their fortunes.
,la n sa,,sd bonor" North Carolina is attached
"a =, .ha I1n;o,>,d she has shown this attachment at
" 4, .;,as i; tald and in council. Her citizens would
= 90, ,ha treasure like water, and their blood as
: and defend the Union, accordsng
~ r...,;t,;ou but the Union, without the Con-
.,;,,,;on or with that Constitution nuli6ed and
under foot. is stranger to her and an enemy
We will 90 as far any one in praising the Union
i 40 !, ought to be, and we would sacrifice much in
opnion or in feeling, as any man living, TO uphold
and perpetuate it but sacrifices thus far have only
emboldened our assailants, and andations of the
Union in this quarter have only served to render the
i Abolition appetite more ravenous and unappeasable.
We yield-they take, and then demand more! We
ask them for justice-they reply by referring us to
the injustice and the {" sir" of Slavery! We give
them the whole of California the abolition of the
save-ade in the District of Columbia and over six
ty millions of Texan territory for consideration; and
they promise in reurn enforce plain provision
of the Constitution in relation our escaped slaves
and permit US, mainly by our own votes, to pass a
law for this purpose through Congress. We stand
to part of the contract-they break theirs They
violate the law and the Constitution; and when we
ask them for rights, or talk of dissoving the
partnership and taking of ourselves as best we
may, they denounce as agita.ors and as traitors
These are plain, unvarnished facts. Will any one
dispute them!
We cannot save the Union by praising it. That
is work to be performed by the Northern people.
They the assailants. and we the assailed. They
began this war upon US, and it unprovoked. We
had not injured them in person, property or reputa
ton. We have lauded the Union, and in its name
we have implored them pause and let alone, I'M
til patience has ceased to be virtue. We must now
stand up as one man for rights, and say to them
thus far, and farther" They say it is " gfo-
rious'' Union, and respond again and again that
but with these professions still warm upon their
lips, they march deliberately forward violate and
nulify the very Constitution which created it and
holds it together! What, under such circumstances,
mustwe do Must we still praise the Union, and beg
We invite the particular attention of the people of
Rockingham to the 4th Resolution, in the following
words:
/" Reso!ued, That any attempt the part of the
Northern people, to repeal the law commonly known
the fugitive-slave law, will be regarded by
demonstration OF impacable hostility to the South
ern institution of domestic Slavery; and patriots
and Southerners soemnly pledge ourselves to adj
here most steadfastly TO the Union-he fugitveslave
law. and all other measures of adjustment, with our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor"
Whatever may be said of the other Resolutions, we
have idea that this Resolution will receive the
endorsement Of citizen in fifty of that patriotic
County. 1t surrenders every thing. 1t says to the
free States, you attempt to repeal what the Cons'i-
tuition gives in many words, we willregard you
as implacaby hostile'' towards domestic Slave
ry''; but nevertheless "pedge ourselves to adj
here most steadfasty to the Union, &c.. with our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor!'
These Resolutions were drawn up by Mr.. John
Kerr. They just like him. He is an unsafe
leader in ordinary times, but in crisis like this
he is totally unreliable. He is handsome but rath
er rambling declaimer-a respectable lawyer and a
clever man personally; but he lacks the nerve and
the sagacity for these porentous and stormy times
If ever stern language and jealous regard for reserv
ed rights were demanded of the people of this State,
they are demanded nosc. Sentimentality and nicely
turned phrases will only invite the blow against the
Union and against ourselves, which we are all so
anxious to avert. Timidity, in the midst of such
crisis, s. betrays like treason"
As the Raleigh Register and Star affect not to I'M
derstand our position the Slavery question, we
take this occasion to define it again, in the painest
language we can use We cannot approve the recent
6 compromise +" as whole We believe it has in
ficted grea: wrong upon the South and upon the
principles which hold this Union together; but as
is law of the land, and love and cherish the
Union in its spirit and desire its continuance we
are prepared acquiesce in this compromise pro-
vided the fugitive-slave law be enforced. All we
now ask of the free States is, Y to cease the agta-
ton of the Slavery question in Congress, and to carry
out the ugitive-slave law in its letter and spirit 81
Let them do this, and march together let them
refuse and we DISSOLVE! This is strong Ian
guage but we have weighed it, and we have given
utterance to it with deberation and solemnity: Here
we stand. If this Confederation of States must per-
ish-if their common flag. radiant.with achievements
as immortal as the stars that cluster it, must be
torn and trampled in the confict-and if brothers
must be converted into deadly foes over the very
graves of their fathers, who won these liberes-the
Ruler of Nations, who judges justly, and all poster-
ty apon this Continent, will hold the sayehoidlhg
States guiltless of the awful and incapable crime
We learn that esteemed fellow-citizen, Duncan
X. McRae, Esq. has determined to remove from this
place and take up his residence permanently in Will
mington This is rendered indispensable by his health
1.-The climate of Wilmington being mder and better
suited to his physical condition than that of this re-