Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-08-30


ment, and without regard to the nat
ural fitness of boundary, or any of
the considerations which should bro.
perly determine the limits of a State.
1t will also admit that the convention.
thus called into existence by the Ex-
ecutive may be paid by him, out of
the funds Of the United States, with
out the sanction of Congress, in vio-
lation not only of the plain provision
OF the Constitution, but of those
principles of obvious propriety which
would forbid any act calculated to
make that convention dependant up
on it; and last but not least, in the
series of measures which this Gov
ernment must adopt and sanction in
passing this bill, is the release of the
authority of the United States by the
Executive alone to a Government
thus formed, and not presenting even
sufficient credence of its having the
assent of a majority of the people
Tor whom it was designed. With a
view OF all these considerations the
undersigned are constrs ined to be-
lleve that this Government could new
er be brought to admit a State pre-
senting itself under such circulnstan-
ces, 1T it were not fC.' the purpose of
excluding the people of the slave
holding Statesf from Ill opportunity of
settling with their property in that
territory.
Because, to vote for bill passed
under such circumstances would he
to agree to d principle which may ex-
clude forever hereafter, as it does
now, the States which we represent.
from all enjoyment of the Unions a
principle which destroys the equal
rights of thcir constituents, the equal
OF their States in the confederacy,
the equal dignity of those whom they
represent as men and citizens in the
eye of the law, and their equal title
to the protection of the Government
and the Constitution.
Because all the propositions have
been rejected, which have been made
TO attain either a recognition of the
rights of the slaveholding States to a
common enjoyment of all the Terri
tory of the United States, or to a fair
dis:sionof that territory, between the
slayeholding and non-slaveholding
States Of the Union: every effort
having failed which has been made
to obtain a fair division of the terri
tory proposed to be brought in as the
State of California.
But lastly, we dissent from this
bill, and solemnly protest against it's
passage, because in sanct )nmg mea-
sures SO contrary TO former prece-
dent, to obvious policy, to the spirit
and interest of the Constitution of
the United States, for the purpose of
excluding the slaveholding States
from the territory thus to be erected
into a State, this Government in eff
feet declares that the exclusion of
slavery from the territory of the Uni
ted States, is an object SO high and
important as to justify a disregard,
not only OF all the principles of sound
policy, but also of the Constitution
itself. Against this conclusion we
must now ard forever protest, as it
is destructive of the safety and liber-
ties OF those whose rights have been
cornmitted to our care, fatal to the
peace and equality of the States
Which we represent, and must lead,
if persisted in, to the dissolution of
that confederacy in which the slave
holding States have never sought
more than equality, and in which
they will not be content to remain
with less. ~
j. M. Mason,
r. M. Z. HuNrER, virginia.
A. =. BuTLER,
r. w. BARNwELn, 90 ga
III l.. TURNEY, Tennessee.
PIERRE SoULE, Louisiana.
JEFFERSON DAVIS, Mississippi.
DAVID Il. ATcHIsoN, Missouri,
Jackson MoRToN, E,o,,.,
ID. l.. YULEE, floriua'
Seqdte Chamber, Aug. Ia, 1850.
Mr. Hunter in presenting the pro.