The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-06-21

! Whilst they We're progressing to this point,
there beat not for this Union truer heart than the
heart Of the South, When our brethren Of Maine :,
struggled for our rights to pitiful strip of coun-
try, at the imminent risk of war, who adhered to
them with warm hearts and willing hands, more
| firmly than the South If they were cast off il
was not by Southern administration.
When the question Of $40 4U was made, IL was
made by the South, knowing that il was all north
| Of 3Go 50, and must be free territory, and who
more firmly and devotedly adhered TO it than the
South? - = 1850 .s56a
Il But now we ask, who set on foot this sectional
spirit Let facts answer. , igsi Is gs.l l 8 b.
Z. Before the Southern people had held the first,
single, solitary public meeting upon the subject
Of slave property, ten Northern States, (two-thrds
Of the whole North in States, three-fourhs in pop
ulation,) had, in open legislation, passed upon,
and absolutely instructed their representatives to
vote for the Wilmot Proviso, and fix it down upon
the South, Yes sir, to establish for us, their
brethren and friends, by law, mcipient ruin and
degradation. Here then was Northern party
| already established. 4i.5. asf,
Its advance since that time has been such, that
it is scarcely possible for citizen of the South to
recover fugitive slave. Mobs have been raised,
and the blood of our people split when they have
attempted to claim, their own. Societies, under
cover Of religion, have been formed and missions
sent to the South to teach abolition. Churches
and religious communities have been div lded and
broken up; the most pious members or Southern
churches rejected from their communion table;
and the most meek, eloquent, and learned Of our
ministers are excluded by their brethren, from the
Northern pulpit. These facts argue our degreda-
ton as well as oppression. This looks very much
like Northern party, and pery baa Northern
party EYas -
But this is not all. There is but one State nthe
North that has not passed the Wilmot provlso,
and there is not one which is not represented IN
this House to be hostile to slave property. Is
this no sectional partyi And must we fold our
arms and Submit Or have We any other hope
than in united and firm resstance' Sir, we can
have no other reply to those men Of the South
who advise submission, and who decry sectional
parties, and who divide, distract, and desert us,
than that they betray their own constituents, and
the whole South.
| Speeches have been made in this Hall by South
ern members, openly taking the side of the North
and openly charging the South with the aggression
The speech Of the honorable gentleman from
North Carolina Mr., STANLEY was pre-eminent
in this respect. Indeed, such has been the tenor
Of his whole course in this Congress, upon this
subject, that we feel it to have been continued
defence of the North, and an implied assault upon
the South. 48S .
The gentleman from North Carolina attempted,
with abored argument and weary research, to es-
tabsh the impression that all this struggle for the
rights Of the South was mere party struggle,
! designed as a means to oppose this administration.
No impression could be more fatal to the South,
or more entirely uncalled for. No impression
| could be more false; in fact, no motive more
utterly misconceived and misrepresented
The primary cause of all our difficulty is, the
disposition to be made Of the Territory acquired
from Mexico two years ago. Yet he has trovers-
ed the Congressional records for the last ten or
fifteen years, and taken up the matter OF fugitive
slaves particularly, TO prove that our contention
for the rights Of the South is mere party move
ment Of the Democracy. party movement
Could anything be further from the truth Could
anything be more false 4 Thoroughout the whole
of this Congress-, and upon every proposition
| which affected the question OF slavery, either
directly coaterally, the vote has proved strictly
sectional We all feel that it is question entirely
| above party allegiance--we know, that it over
powers and masters all other considerations on
this floor, and we see it daily exemPlifed in the
solid phalanx of Northern votes to assail, and in
the cordial union of Southern members, Wings
and Democrats, to defend. A mere party move
ment, and for party purposes! Shame upon the
assertion so empty of all truth. How then does
it happen, that this administration is to be sup
ported i'm its California policy by the great body
Of Northern Democrats! How is 1t that Il IS to
be opposed by the great body Of Southern Whigs'
How is it, that in speeches of Southern Wigs,
in the House and Senate, and in their constant
conversation outside Of these Halls, they declare
their utter hostility to the idea of admitting Cali
foina until all other of these yexed questions are
forever settled? 5000 fsf ~ snss I'd. 4s5-
Sir, it il no party movement. 1t is sectional.
The North are united. They are sectional party,
| banded together by the solemn action of their
State authorities, whilst the South is divided up
The crime OF our ultimate overthrow must rest at
the door of those Southerners who refuse to unite
in fixed resolve to demand and have our rights.
We can have Justice if we declare it with one
voice. Sir, / will not tolerate the treacherous
counseIs Of every self-conceted wiseacre who may
seek, for what purpose God only knows, to dls-
can prevent me from breathing out the contempt
and adherence feel for all such in common with
the Southern delegation. sgs X. s.g. a.,.s.s 4,
Sir the wrecks Of parties are upon this floor,
but there is no party here. There is no Democ-
racy, no Whigery on this floor, when II comes to
territorial or slavery question:; and SO strong is
the repugnance existinga between the Northern
and Southern sections of each, that 1t affects all
the former party relations, and produces open
laughter by its absurdity when urged as motive
by poor, lost, and benighted partisans. | strike
no blow at the Southern Wing who is true to the
rights Of the South, nor will he strike the true
Southern Democrat. will stand by him as his
brother, and we will together reprobate, and to-
gether abandon to his fate the miserable and con-
tracted party hack There is no Democracy and
Whiggery upon the territorial bills; but there is
Northern and Southern party, and he who
represents it otherwise is guilty Of wilful falsehood
for some grovelling purpose.
/ will be allowed to say, Mr.. Chairman, that
the speech Of the honorable gentleman from North
Carolina is the most ingenious, hypocrltical, and
dangerous mass of misrepresentation that has
emanated from any Southern member of this
House during the present session of Congress. 1t
is ingenious, unfair, and dangerous IN tins, that
it falsely represents the present mighty struggle to
be the mere movement of party for party pur-
pose---ngenious in this that it locates. our dis
contents upon the fugitive slave question, pre-
senting that question in, bold relief, whilst it
keeps comparatively out ofyiew the territorial
question, which is the great question of political
bower. and to which all other questions are mere
matters auxiliary and incidental-it is ingenious in
this that those who stand out for the rights ofthe
South are represented as disunionists, and vener-
alton for the Union, with bitter maledicton, is
invoked against those who thus truly represent,
and would faithfully preserve the rights of the
South. As .t .'.'
1t is not true, that this Union was made to bepre-
served any other than in spirit ofjusce, equal
ity, and protection to all its parts. And IL is true
IL Al, -hn