The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1850-05-07
NUMBER Sc.

manifest usurpation, disregarded your Just au-
thority, ard taken from Congress the right to
exercise exclusive jurisdiction over California;
If they be remanded to the territorial condition,
may they not declare their independence of this
Government, and form political connection with
any other power they may elect9 If the doc
trne Of the. absolute sovereignty of the inhabi.
tants of a territory, previous to p grant of pow
er to them!by the General Government to form
Il State, which is the basis Of this movement,
be true do not these results clearly follow?--
And is it rot equally clear that If it be true,
Congress has no jurisdiction over them, and all
acts heretofore passed by Congress for their
government, have been but SO many acts of
usurpation? The error of all this doctrine is this:
The fact is overlooked, that there is period,
during which the inhabitants of a territory do.
mol possess the attributes Of sovereignty. Will
it be asserted that the conquered inhabitants of
California were vested with absolute sovereignty
the day after the execution of the late treaty
with Mexico, by which that territory was ac-
quircd? If so, is it not clear that the United
States purchased only under the rule of caceat
empior, and, therefore, took nothing by the
treaty! At what time, then, since the execu.
ton of the treaty, did the inhabitants of Cali
forna acquire the attribute of sovereignty
The true doctrine upon this subject was laid
down bv Mr.. Lowndes, while acting as chair
man Of the committee, to whom was referred
the constitution of Missouri. II his report TO-.
the House of Representatives, he said:
"iI this view the committee are confirmed,
by consideration of the embarGassments and
disasters which different course of proceed.
ing might sometimes produce When peo.
pie are authorized to form State, and do so, j.,
the trammels oil their territorial condition fall
off. They have performed the act which makes
them sovereign and independent"
This single paragraph, from the records of
past Legislation, explodes the political solecism,
which has lately received too much attention, in
both ends of this Capitol, and to which the
gentleman near me, from Ohio, (Ir. Disney)
on late occasion, brought much ability to lit.
tie effect, by trying to prove proposition which
has no foundation, either in reason or truth.
The doctrine of absolute sovereignty in the
inhabitants of territory, in every petty pro:
vince of mother country, is repugnant to all
past history. Were these States, as colonies,
invested with it, while subject to, the British
crown? Are the existing provinces of that
empire invested with it now! If so, the same
sovereignty resides in every bandit in the noun
tains, without the limits of a State; and, indeed,
condition of dependence cannot exist
Thare mast be an act, by which the condition
OF political dependence is thrown off, and indie.
pcndence assumed. In our system, this act is
performed by the permission, and under the di.
rection of the mother country, according to
certain rules and l.iaxims In other countries
it is done by revolution
return to the inquiry, why this haste of the
inhabitants of California, to take upon them.
selves the burdens OF selfgoyernment Why
not enter into the territorial transition state, and
let this Government extend its protection over
them, until they become owners by purchase Of
the lands they inhabit, and able to protect them.
selves, and bear the burdens of self.govern-
ment! Why not wait until the anarchy which
prevails there now, subsidies into organic order,.
and their pretensions to the dignity and rights
of iii independent State, be founded upon rea.
sonablc grounds! The answer to all these
questions is plain. The movement is that Of
the Abolition party. 1t is another step towards
the ultimate abolition Of slavery in the States.
California comes here with the Wilmot proviso.
in her so called constitution and this is the rea.
son this act Of usurpation is tolerated Strike
the Wilmot pTovso from her constitution, and
her application for admission will be rejected
i'll torty-eight hours. California comes here,
too, cIaimins territory OF l5s,OOO square
mcs-nearly equal in extent to four Of the
largest States in the Union, with nearly thou
sand miles of sca-coast all Of which it is in.
tended to erect into one Stale, and the majority,
i'll their zeal for non-extension, are in haste to
sanction this monstrous absurdity.
Sir, when dominant majority intoxicated
with the lust Of power, are thus hurried on, by
4 mad ilnatlcism to the commission of acts
like these, marked, as they are, by want Of
all political forecast, all prudent and wise states,
manshlp, to an extent never surpassed i'll any
age or country, upon what grounds can the
South hope for an honorable and safe adjust
ment of this great question by this Government
And yet, with all these facts before us, it is
one OF the darkest omens of the times. that
southern statesmen are rendering compromises,
in all OF which the propositions are, to surren.
der everything il dispute to the North, and put
the rest in jeopardy. This is, in fact but the
ceremony of holding out the white flag of un.
conditional surrender to the couquerer. These
compromises, il adopted, would be, to give tho
enemy time to collect his forces, and extent