The southern press., 1850-10-31
From the Charleston Mercury.
Sketch of MI. Memminger's Remarl


Sketch of MI Memminger's Remarks
a,inde al The Mass Meeting in Pendleton, Oct l.
Mr. Memminger commenced by saying, that
as an humble citizen of South Carolina he most
cordially responded to tn, call of the people of
Pcndeton, to unite with them in couEcil in the
present emergency. All that he possessed,
whether of private right or public interest, he
owed to South Carolina, aud he was ready to
offer in her service whatsoever he could contri-
butte to her welfare or honor '... TO-
South Carolina, he said, had ever evinced her
sincere attachment to the Constitution and the
Union. She was among the foremost to resist
the invasons of right III her colonial state was
most Jealous in framing the Constitution of the
Union, and has made every sacrifice in short OF
her horor in the endeavor To preserve it. She
did not hesitate to sustain with all her energy
foreign war to protect the commerce and sailors
Of the North and even when high-handed and
unconstitutional tariff was stripping her of the
fruits of her labor, and she was goaded on to
resistance, she yielded her opposition to the
,r.acherous promises Of her antagonists.
The Union into which South Carolina entered,
and to which her revenue was yielded was
union of equal rights. A Government which
regarded with equal justice every leading inter
est in our country, and sought to violate the
rights of none A Union in which the institn-
ton of slavery and the rights of shareholders
We're recognized and secured, and which, but
Tor such security, could never have existed.
lie then went on To show that the Federal
Government had entirely perverted this Union;
that it had turned aside from the objects for
which it had been encreated, and had become mere
n,arhne Tor rarrying ont the fanatic spirit of
."o!ition, Its whole action tor the last ten
years has been lrvclcd ut the institutions and
property "T the south aud ali It's powers arH
now IN the hands "t ruthless sectional party,
in which the South has neither voice or consi
deration.
The object of this party. he said, Was twofold
ono fanatical the other political, but both tend
ing to one common end. The one aims at the
emancipation OF our slaves, the other at political
supremacy; and as the former cannot be oh.
tained without the latter, they have united to-
gether' and now make common cause; These
parties have sought in every direction for means
Of assang the South. They commenced the
war on the Missouri question, carried it on with
abolition petitions, and efforts to ,boish slavery
in the District Of Columbia and at last when
our war sprang up with Mexico united upon the
Wilmot Provso as the very thing which suited
the purposes of both Abolitonsts and advocates
OF Northern supremacy.
Fellow citizens, said Mr. Memminger, as pro
pose to address your understandings, instead o
seeking to influence your passions, | will en-
deavor to lay before you the action Of the Fed
eral Government in detail, 80 that every ma
present, whether he has examined the subject o
not, may be able to give reason for the faitI
that is in him.
You are all assembled here tod for consul
taticn, and such individuals may Justly say 81
am engaged at home quietly planting my crop
and reaping its fruits. feel no pressure from
without and while have msgivings that some
thing is wrong, desire to know what and how
it is" You may say further that you have been
told that the Wimot Proviso was dropped, and
that some of the Southern representatives have
been rejoicing over another Compromise, which
they affirm to be a cure for all our grievances.
will show you, tellow-citizens, that this is Il
sad mistake: that the WiImot Proviso, so fal
from being dead, has swept already from the
South all participation in the common property
of the Union, and that the institutions nf the
South are already doomed and merely await the
pleasure of tho North for execution of the sen
tence.
When our war with Mexico had 80 far ad
rancel That Congress could clearly see that W.
Mexican territory, it was moved in Congress,
that three millions of dollars should be place.
in the hands of the President for the purpose @
making peace. TO this motion an amendmer
was moved, providing that in any territory to b
obtained from Mexico, African slavery shoul
forever be prohibited. This prohibition is til
Wimot Proviso. A few moments reHectio
will show you how completely it carried out til
views of both of the Abol;tionsts and Of thos
who sought to make vassals of the South.
The Missouri Compromise had secured to tn
North the whole Of Oregon, and the remande
OF lhe Northwest territory, and If African SLAYER
could DC pr' hibited in all Of the territory whic
Mexico should surrender south of SO. 80, the
the Notlh would secure TO themselves all tn
spoils OF our common victories. They woul,
Drlng into tie Union some five or six additiona
States, and would thus not only secure TO them
selves the whole power of the Union. but woulc
have so decided n majority that they MIGHT ever
amend the Constitution of the United States
BY these means they would give scopc to aboli
ton frenzy to carry out any scheme which they
might devise.
Such project was too barefaced to dece;v.
the people Of the South, and their legislatures
took so decided stand against it that it had tt
be abandoned. But it offered too many advan
tages to the North to be absolutely given up
Having secured in the election of Gen. Taylor
Zone Of those curses to the South) a Souther
man with Northern principles, and having in hir
gained another means of carrying out their ent
they determined to do by the Executive whc
they had failed to accomplish by the Legislativ
department. Two days after Gen. Taylors in
auguraton, an agent is sent out to California 3
manufacture the adventurers there into State
and TO get them, as State, to do what Congress
dared not do of itself, that is, TO apply the VIII
mot Proviso to all it's territory. II was suppose,
that by this contrivsnce the people of the Soutl
could be deceived, and that when q formal in
strnment should be produced before Congress
esHng stssst the Constitution 9i tho people o.