The Madisonian. (Canton, Miss.) 1850-1855, 1850-04-18
APRIL Bib, 1850.


meetlng nelu az CamueD5 IesldIiS a. "
in the vicinity, and not having been presenf
at the meeting, | deem it eDcumbent upor
myself 10 state that in my humble jndg.
ment the resolutions reflect the views Of q
very limited portion of the inhabitants OIL
the upper end Of the county, and should
regretto learn that they mel with a response
from any considerable portion ofthe county
or State.
They seem to me to be sui generis, en-
ansting as they do from a body Of highly
respectable citizens whose interests are
strongly identified with the section in
which they live, AMI with The whole south,
seeing and feeling as they must the cppres.
sions which the north has been hesping
upon US for a number Of years, aiming GER
tainly 10 destroy an institution, b~equeathed
to US by our revolutionary ancestors, its
protection guaranteed to US BY our consti-
tuition, and one SO intimately blended with
our interest, our happiness, our prosperity
and safety, that to destroy il or weaken the
ties BY which il is held, is to infict a most
vital wound upon US il NOT 10 deal US our
death blow.
Feeling and believing asl do that the
hostility Of the north TO slavery is settled,
active and growing prejudice, one likely to
spread over the whole NOrth, leaving here
and there one more liberal and patriotic
than the rest untainted, | am unwilling 10
encourage by feeble resolutions their ag.
gressions; and on the other hand think that
we canDo: express our sentiments too de.
cidedly, and should not suffer ourselves to
be- deceived by her indirect policy of ac-
complishing her object,
In the first place these resolutions seem
to be designed as the answer to the cali of
our representatives in Congress, request
ing an expression Of opinion by their con-
siituents, which is 10 be their chart or in
suuCtions for acting should Congress pass
the "Wilmot Proviso."
Now by the first resolution we are told
that 1--WE are attached 10 the Union as il is,
and that its dissolution would be a great
calamity, and would be speedily followed
by a destruction of our liberty, and every
thing else that we hold dear as ffeemen."
Ihope and trust sir that there lives not
the solitary being among US who has ever
desired or dared to hope that our glorious
Union might be dissolved, and who would
not be wiling TO lay his hopes, his aspiTa-
lions, his life upon the altar Tor its preser-
walton if the sacrifice were r quired; but
having observed faithfully the provisions Of
the cUa~ssitGtiOp, which Is the cemsutufIne
Union, and the palladium Of our liberty, We
should require equal good faith from our
bretbern Of the north, and should they re-
fuse US justice, we must assert our rights
and maintain them let the consequences
be what they may; and in asserting and
maintaing them should a dissolution occur
we will still preserve our liberty and de-
rend "aIl that we hold dear as freemen."
Could the north appropriate all Of the SEN
rment Of liberty to herself No sir. Lib
erty is our common inheritance, and though
she may by a majority deprive US Of our
bIOOd-bOught territory, our birth-righ. she
cannot take, II has here found soil congo
NAL TO its growth, has taken deep root, and
can never be e~radicated.
The second resolution | freely respond
to, aud believe is fully responded to by eve
ry patriotic man south.
The third resolution finds but a feeble
response here as we'll as elsewhere south.
as California has applied for admission into
the Union under Unprecedented circuin.
Stances Tier convention whether legally
authotized or not is a mooted question.
was composed Of persons OF members of al
most every hue, nation and character, with
but one section Of our country represented
10 il, for ifthere were members there oriei-
nally from The south, their sympathies were
mol with US, and they all sustained a pro-
vision in her constitution forever dtbarrins
the privilege Ofremoving there with our
property. Now admitting that the north
NO share in tbs !
stItution which, however, ! am not pFepa- I
red to admit with the evidence before me
10 the contrary is not the Wilmot Proviso
here embodied, and does not the north by
Ter anxiety for her admission show plainly
she has a Feason7 Why was not the
,ame anxiety manifested BY the north when
Texas was proposed for annexation9 Is IL
hat she has more sympathy Tor a foreign
md motley population than for those who
we're former citizens and natives Of the
United States2 No sir; her anxiety to