The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-14
THE SOUTHERN PRESS.
Important Letter from Senator jeff. Davis
BRRRFnD, Warren county,

Nopeubeo lOlh, 1850.
GESTLEMEN In the Free Trader, CT the
I'd October, find the proceedings OF public
meeting. held Mt Natchez, on the 23d Septem-
TENDER, 1850, to which my attention is directed,
by a resolution which instructs the President OF
the meeting to forward a copy of the proceed
ings .to the Hon. Fl. s. Foote and, also, to our
(your) other Senator" ETC., etc.
As my name was not mentioned, and as
have not received copy ofthe proceedings, as
ordered, it is admissible to conclude that my ad-
dress was not known; therefore, avail myself
of the information in the form in which it is
presented, to show my respect for the meeting,
by replying to the resolutions through the same
channel which has conveyed them to me. BY
implication, it appears that my constituents as
sembled, as above, disapprove of my course on
the measures of the last session Of Congress, in
relation to the controversy between the North
and the South" l can not, gentlemen, adopt
your views on those measures; and the in
equality between US consists of the Importance
attach to the opinions of any portion of my
constituents and the want of value which my
conclusions will, probably, have in your estima-
ton. Believing, however, that you have fallen
into grave errors, which a reference to the re.
cords will correct, and that those errors are
likely to injure, rather than promote, the inter-
ests and rights in which we have common for
tune, plead even If il be to unwilling ears, for
the cause in which have unsuccessfully labor
ed, but which Is Us dear to me in this hour of
defeat as it could have been If, happily, it had
triumphed.
That cause is the equality of the Southern
States, as members of the Union, and the main
tenance of their constitutional rights, rs such
It has been painful to me to perceive in any
however few, Of the Southern people a dispos'.
ton to consider those who have steadily main
tained the rights and interests of the South, as
the promoters Of agitation, whose influence
should be destroyed by attaching to them the
is compact, its terms, the Federal Constitution,
form the bond of its connection, and breathcd
into II the breath Of its existence. ~
Who, then, are the disunionists! Are they
those who sternly insist on rigid adherence to
the Constitution, or those who disregard its
principles? But one answer can be given by
any who, when they speak of the Union, mean
the COnfederacy of the Constitution, the inher.
tence which our revolutionary fathers left us.
The question has been frequently asked of those
who used the term ultra Southern men," in
what any Southern man had claimed for his Sec
tion more than its constitutional right. That
question has never been so answered as to fix
upon men of the South even the wish to violate
to their sons. Who then, are truly the dsu-
nionists! Surely those who agrees or encour-
age aggression on those rights and principles
which the Union was formed to secure, and on
which, as a foundation, it was erected. The
trainers Of the Constitution were those who pre-
ferred revolution and separation from the mother
country to submission-tO taxation by Others
than their own representatives; they never
would have consented to found a new Govern
ment, in which the minority should be subject
to the discretionary legislation of a majority.
The Government they instituted was one of
specific grants and enumerated objects; all else
was reserved to the States and the people. To
allow one department of this Government, or
common agent, to usurp undelegated powers,
subject only to the restraint which another de-
partment OF the Federal Government may i'm
pose, would be, to render the reservation not alb
solute, but conditional in the end probably, to
become nugatory.
II the rights of the States are held subordin-
ate to the decision of the coordinate branches
of the Federal Government, the principal has
changed places with his agent, the creator with
the creature. If tho Constitution can be war
ned and wrung until its nature is altered, and
the States still be coerced to adhere to the
Union thew have lost the sovereignty they wor
by the battles of the revolution, and the posses
sion of which enabled them to enter into con
federation.
The Union was the result Of the liberty ant
independence Of the STATES, not the converse
and such being my opinion, cannot agree to the
proposition of your first resolution. that the lib
erty we inherit from the heroes and patriots Of
our revolution is one and inseparable from the
Union. The institutions Of the States were es
tablished, their independence was achieved be
fore the Union was formed, and, if the sons b.
worthy Of their sires, might be maintained
though the Union should perish. That thei
prosperity has been promoted, their usefulnes
deve loped, by Union, is not to be questioned
md as little is it to be doubted, that by dissolu
t;on. all sections would be injurously affected
hut do not think the institutions of the Soutl
would be DESTROYED by that event, or our Stat'
Governments materially altered Not only do
believe our liberty would be preserved, but tina
our form of Government would remain, and on
commercial interests, if not promoted, woul'
be far less impaired than those Of any other sec
ton of the Union.
The second resolution approves the series o
measures adopted by Congress in relation to tn
controversy between the North and the South
rs founded on the principles maintained and re
lied on by the South in the assertion Of her right
OF property and the protection of her interests
and Is a settlement which rejects and puts t.
rest the "Wilmot Provso," and leaves the terri
tories equally open to all citizens, with thei
property of every species guaranteed by tn
Constitution and rs a recognition of the RICH
of the people of territory, In organizing them
selves into State, to settle the question o.
slavery for themselves in tHeir organic law. Il
could see all this in those measures, would
certainly agree that there was much to approve
and should not have returned to Mississippi with
the depression which attached to the feeling that
] came as messenger who returned with none
other than evil tidings to relate. Yourconstruc
ton is certainly not that which l placed upor
them when opposed their enactment, and, wha
is important, is not that given by the Congress
which passed them. To secure the rights Of
property, and protection for interests which had
been asserted by the South, offered two amend.
ments The first, referring to the territorial
governments proposed to be established for Utah
and New Mexico, was in these words provided
that nothing herein contained, shall be construed
toPrevent said territorial Legislature from passing
such laws as may be necessary for the protec-