The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-28
Message of Gov. Seabrook Of South Caro-
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lima.
We received late last evening, in an extra of
the Charleston EUeaing Neaos, the message of
room only for the part on Federal relations, and
shall recur to it again.
At my recommendation, and in pursuance of
your own conceptions Of duty, it was resolved,
at your last session, that the Governor be re-
quested to convene the legislature, if not in
session, should the Wilmot Proviso or any kin
dred measure, be passed by Congress. As the
contingency to which the resolution had refer
ence occurred in September, profound respect
for the Executive Department of the Govern
ment, and the honorable body by whose man.
date ! was called to fill It, induce me TO say, in
general terms, that public considerations of
grave and weighty character forbade me from
acceding to the wish of tho legislature. indie
pendent of the semi-offcial reasons for this re-
fusa which have been communicated to our fell
low citizens, there were others that, could they
have been generally known, would in my judy
ment, have entirely appeased the public feeling.
| am gratitied in being enabled TO assure you
that the correctness of my decision has been al
most unanimously sustained by the people,
The last meeting Of tho Congress of the Uni
that has been held since the establishment of
the Federal Government After many years OF
unwarrantable Legislation by that body, a crisis
has at length arisen in our federal relations af-
fecting deeply and essentially the rights and in
terests of one half the Union. Whether the
endangered should longer hold an equality Of
rank with their co-partners, and their citizens be
prohibited from enjoying all the advantages
and privileges constitutionally guaranteed to
| both, were virtually the momentous, and to us
humiatng issues, which the legislative branch
of the central authority was engaged in consd-
ering for about nine of the ten months in which
it was in session. The Compromises" ulti-
mately adopted, Iconsider another triumph over
the South by the fell spirit of aboltionism
The aggressive course of our Federal rulers,
and the States and people of the North, had at
an earlier period, assumed so alarming an as
pect, that by invitation of Mississippi to the
slaveholding States, nine of their number assem-
bled at Nashville, in May last, for consultation
concerning the means of saving the Union by
preserving inviolate the principles and guaran-
tees of the Constitution. Over the deliberations
talent and patriotism of the land, the spirit of
harmony presided. In demanding the protec-
ton of rights, jeopardized by the unfraternal
acts of their own countrymen they applied to
their sense Of justice and the endearments of
family association, the plain terms of the bond
that united them, the ennobling and proud recol.
lections Of the pas, and the glorious anticipa-
tons of the future, The result has shown that
the authorities and the people whom they ad-
dressed are, in feeling and sentiment, alien to us,
their political allies, and that the North have
resolved on possessing the unlimited and per-
manent control of our civil institutions.
TO operate on the fears of the minority sec.
ton, and expose the supposed hopcessnoss of
its condition, the President had voluntarily pro-
mulgatcd, in advance, his fixed determination to
settle by the sword disputed question between
the General Government and n sovereign mem
Der of the Union. In following the inglorous
precedent established by one of his predecessors
the principle was maintained, that State resist
ance to Congressional cdict would by him be
classed among the unrefecting acts of mob,
or the more deliberate opposition of II band of
organized individuals to admitted lawful au-
| thority.
1t is foreign to my purpose to speake laborate-
" of the matters that have of late been so pain
| fully brought to your notice. California, created
State by Congress, was admitted into the Con-
federacy against all precedent, and in violation
of the laws and Constitution of the country. 1t
was premcdtat insult and injury to the slave
holding States, and n wanton assault upon their
honor In the act abolishing the slave trade in
the District of Columbia the right of punshing
the owner by manumitting his slave is prominent
among its provisions. BY this bold and success
full attempt to engraft abolitionism on the prin-
ciples of our political system, power has been
assumed, which, by expansion, may yet clothe
the entire federal community in the habments
of mourning. These and other wful pcrver-
sions of high trust have virtually abrogated
the power necessary to the safety Of the sovcr-
| eighty of the States. The whole authority of
the Federal Government, granted and usurped
which Is now concentrated in the will Of an alb
solute and interested majority, is hereafter to
be welded for the exclusive benefit of the North
ern or strongest interest. To its ambition and
cupidity, fifteen members of the constitutional
compact by whose wealth the Government is
supported and our confedcrates enriched, are to
be compelled ANONYMOUSLY to minister. In n
word, the Congress of the United States is no
longer to be the executor of the will of co-sover
] eirn States. but of the party banded together by
| the twofold incentive Of sectonal aggrand;ze-
mcnt and public plumber
If the fundamental object Of our federative
system has been designedIy perverted, there is
no remedy In the ordinary checks OH power
The ballot-box Is Intellectual, and the press pow
crless in its appeal to an oppressor, deaf to en-
treety, to argument, and the admonitons of hu.
nanty and patriotism. In Federal council, il
is certain that the voice of the minority will
never again be needed. BY a slow, cautious
but regular process, the rights Of the people and
the sovereignty of the Southern States will be
curtailed until their total extlnguishment Is eff
fected BY multiplying the number of free
Suites, resisting al! attempts to enlarge the area
of the slavehoIding community, and discriminat
ing between the rights of the Northern and
Southern persons and property, another decade
will not have passed before the General Govern.
ment will enforce edicts greater in their results
on human liberty and the progress of political
enlightenment, than ever emanated from the
worst forms of despotsm. Before that period
arrives, the existence Of South Carolina as a CO.
partner In a great commonwealth, will have
ceased. Merged in the limits of contiguous
provinces, the truthful memorials of her history
will lie scattered over her hills and valleys. Or
the printed page the tale of her origin and pro
gress may be found, but the real causes and man
ner of her political extinction will never there
no read