The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1850-04-23

they had their rights, and which it is clear they
are fully alive to now, and which ifnot accorded
them, will sever the, Union sooner or later
When the convention is held, there will be no
longer any doubt about the true sentiments OF
the South, and measures will be taken at once
which will END the controversy and save the
Union.
have no doubt that when the convention
meet at Nashville it will take high but just
ground 1t will insist that the Southern portion
OF the Union shall not be deprived of their full
and equal rights in the territory acquired from
Mexico, or any other belonging to the Union; |;
and that if the North pass any act by their ma
jority in Congress to do so, that THEY violate
the constitution, perpetrate an act OF gross In
Justice, and destroy the equality of the South
ern States as members of the Union, by retard-
ing their growth and accelerating that OF the
States composing the Northern portion OF the
Union, and destroying the equilibrium OF gov.
ernment The Nashville Convention will fur
ther insist that the assertion that the inhabitants
of the territories have right to form State
when and how they please, without the consent
of Congress previously given, sutterly destitute
of foundation; that it is derogatory to the soy
ereignty of the States comprising the Union, to
which the territories are declared by the consti-
tuition to belong, and in whom the sovereignty
over them resides; is revolutionary aud anarchi-
cal in its character, reasonable i'll its tendency,
and wholly unsustaiped by the practice OF the
government; that to make constitution and
form State involve the highest powers OF SOY.
ereignty, and that it cannot of course be right
fully performed by inhabitants residing in the
territories, without the permission OF Congress,
as the representatives of the United States to
whom the territories belong, or in whom the
sovereignty over them resides; that the attempt
of the inhabitants of California to make con.
stitution and form State, without the permis-
sion of Congress, is an offence against the joint
sovereignty of the States of the Union, and that
the instrument purporting to be the constitution
of California is utterly void and of no binding
force on the Inhabitants of California, nor on
this government, nor on the States it represents,
and the SO called State, hut a name without any
reality whatever-that all acts on the part OF
any department OF this government, or OF the CIT,
zens Of the United States, intended to epcour-
age or aid the inhabitants of California to make
constitution and form State, if, without the
permission of Congress, there have been such
acts,) are utterly unauthorized by the coustitu-
ton, and inconsistent with the allegiance due
to the joint sovereignty of the States of the
Union-that it is not within the constitutional
competency of Congress to 1--WE validity to the
instrument purporting to be the constitution OF
California, and to admit the inhabitants OF Cal
ifornia into the Union as State under it, be-
cause, according to the fundamental principles
of our system OF government, constitutions de.
rive their validity from the people by whom, and
for whom, it they are made, and because it
would be inconsistent with, and subversive Of,
this principle, to act on the assumption that Con.
gress could give validity to the instrument, and
make it constitution, by the act of admitting
its inhabitants into the Union-that the States
of the Southern portion of the Union are not
opposed to the proviso, which usually bears the
name of its author, because it bears it, but be.
cause its aim is to deprive the Southern States
of their due share in the territories OF the Union,
by palpable violation of the constitution-by
total disregard of every principle Of justice and
equality, to be followed if adopted, by subver-
sion of their equality as members of the Union !;
and that any attempt to admit the inhabitants OF
California with the intention to evade the oppo.
siton to the proviso, ought to excite still more
stern and indignant opposition, because it would
accomplish the same thing i'll manner more
Objectionable, and involve other constitutional
objections, peculiar to itself, and of deeper and
graver character, if possible, than what has been
set forth above; that they are more obJectlona-
BILE, because it would effect, indirectly and sur
reptitiously, what the proviso proposes to effect
openly and directly; because it would exclude
the Southern States more efectually from said
territory, by being inserted i'll the instrument
purporting to be constitution, and what would
be claimed to be a constitution if Congress
should endorse it, than it would be if inserted in
the provisions OF a territorial government while
it would be equally unjust and unfalrlf excluded
by an insertion of the proviso by act OF Con-
gress, inasmuch as the citizens of said Southern
States have been prccluded from emigrating to
said territory by the action of this government,
and thereby of being a void in the formation OF
said instrument The Nashville Convention
will probably resolve also, that the time has ar
rived when the States of the Southern section
owe it to themselves, and to the other States
composing the Union, to settle, fully and forev.
er, all the questions at issue between them and
the Northern section, and they would not ad.
journ until they had done SO.
That the Nashville Convention will take this
ground do not doubt. know such to have