The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-09-26
Southern Reception Of the Adjustment.


From the Columbus (Ga.) Sentinel.
WHAT WILL GEORGIA Do We publish, in
another column, the act Of the last General AS
sembly, authorizing the Governor of Georgia to
call Convention of her people, upon the hap
pening of certain contingencies. One of those
contingencies, the admi. sion of California as n
State, has already TRANSFERRED, and Governor
Towns will, therefore, feel it his duty to sum-
mon the Convention. 1t is a duty which our
Governor will not hesitate to perform, sympa-
thizing fully, as he does, with the majority of
the Legislature, which imposed it upon him. 1t
may not be altogether uninstructive or uninter-
esting to glance briefly at the history of the bill
which authorizes this Convention. Shortly after
! the Legislature assembled the joint committee
on the state of the Republic, introduced into
! both Houses series of resolutions on the sub
ject OF slavery the eighth OF which provided
that, in the event of the passage of the Wmot
Proviso by Congress, the abolition of slavery in
the District of Columbia, the admission of Cali
fornla rs State or the refusal Of the non-slve-
holding States to deliver up our fugitive slaves,
it will become the immediate duty of the people
of the State to meet in Convention, to take into
consideration the mode and measure of redress"
TO this resolution, MIR. Wofford, in the lower
| House, offered an amendment, proposing to APP
! ply the Missouri Compromise line to California,
so as to authorize the Convention only upon the
| admission of that State with limits extending
south Of the line of SO. 3d. This amen lment
was rejected. 1t seems, then, that all parties in
the Legislature agreed that the admission of
California would be sufficient reason for calling
a Convention, the only difference being, that a
portion were opposed to her admission alto
gether, and the others only opposed to her adj
mission with boundaries south Of the line Of
So. 80 The leaders of what was then known
as the moderate party, were u tied upon SO. 80
as their fighting line, and one gentleman, who
was perhaps more interchangeable in his labors
than any other in that party, declared his deter
mination to stand up to that line, though Eng
land, Austria, Russia, and all the ministers of
the world should oppose it, and if it was neces.
sary, he was prepared 10 fight for It.! As we
have seen, however, the amendment proposing
the Missouri line, was rejected, and the bill
passed, authorizing the Governor to call Con
vention upon the admission of California either
north or south Of that line
The Legislature adjourned, and the Nashville
Convention met That body agreed to make
stand for the South upon the line of &C. 80, and
acquie, cling in this suggestion for the purpose OF
securing harmony at the South, we fell back from
our Ultra position, and adopted the very course
which the minority, in our last Legislature adj
vised Ir other words, we agreed that California
might come in, if she would restrict her south
ern boundary to the line of &c. 80 but that we
would resist her admission South of that line
What has Teen the consequence Instead of
securing union among Southern men, the moder-
ates fell back from their position, abandoned
their old fighting line, and we are left as much in
advance of them as we were before our retreat
We now stand where they stood, and we are
now denounced for entertaining the very sent
ments for which they were eager to fghL -
What shall we do now? Shall we endeavor to
affiliate with them by another retreat? What
guarantee have we that if we fall back, they will
stand fast! We have already driven them too
far In the lurch, and there is danger, that if we
once more attempt to conciliate them, we may
drive them into open abolition. No. We can
retreat no farther with honor or safety If we
seriously intend ever to make a stand now is the
time, and we must plant our colors firmly here
or trail them ignominiousy in the dust Georgiq
must take her position, and maintain it,
Governor Towns will call the convention, and
what will that convention do? BY the action of
our Legislature, it is agreed that the admission
OF California is a grierance. We stand COM
mitted to that, before the world, and we must
now either make the Illuminating confession that
we dare not demand redress, or we must like
men, stand by our rights The bill, which au-
thorizes the call, declares its objects to be- to
take into consideration the mode and measures
of redress" The first thing to be determined
upon, therefore, is, that we will have redress
the second is, the mode and measure of il
We are not disposed to ramnel the action of
that Convention. We wish to see the men who
will compose it, left free in determining what
that redress shall be, and we shall acquiesce in
its decision. We have our preferences, and they
have already been make known. We see no
remedy for our grievances short of secession
We have no hope that our rights can be secured
in the Union, and we are ready to 90 out of it,
Had we the power therefore, to dictate the
action of this Convention, our first step would
be DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, and the
next, an invitation to our sister States of the
South to unite with us in the formation of a
Southern Republic. While these are our pref
erences, we repeat our readiness to acquesce in
the action Of the convention. III those who
compose it shall be able TO devise any other mode
equally as efectual, which shall preserve the
Union, by restoring it to its original purity,
Heaven knows, we shall gladly adopt it, for our
great aim is to save the South, not to destroy
the Union,