The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-08-16

Ex-Governor q les Mcdonald of Georgia,
the .Southern ,nts" candidate for governor
against Howell Jbb the Union candidate, was
recently invited TO attend the meeting of the
friends Of cooperation, or opponents OF separate
secession, at Charleston, South Carolina lie
replied in letter which is the topic of general
comment in Georgia, and is in some respects
worthy OF attention elsewhere After saying
that he could not accept the invitation, he des-
cants on the public questions now agitated 10
South Carolina and Georgia as follows;
"Much will depend on the result of your de-
alterations, and allow me to say that the course
your State may pursue is destined to have tre-
mendous influence, for good or for evil, on the
confederacy That the great principles Of
equality and justice which lie at the foundation
of the Constitution have been hagrantly violated
by the admission OF California with her nsurped
constitution in TIE Union, and the organization
of territorial governments in Utah and New
Mexico with the understanding by those who
enacted the law for that purpose, that the Mexi-
can law prohibiting slavery prevails there over
our own political regulations TO exclude II there
from. is UNREASONABLE. II is equally clear
that this utter disregard Of Southern rights has
its foundation on a fixed purpose to abolish the
| institution of slavery in the States. The pur-
pose is avowed over the whole North that an
other State tolerating the institution of slavery
shall never be admitted into the Union, except
such as the government is bound by its compact
with Texas, to admit. 1t will soon be insistf d,
apprehend, that that contract has been abro-
gated by the compromise, Notwithstanding these
stipulations in the bribery act, and State erect
| ed on Texas territory will be refused admission,
unless it prohibit slavery.
| 1.-THE Constitution is then to be changed, and
| ~ 10, IA autboritv N infarfnra
with and take away the property of the people
of the States The Constitution of our fathers,
| by the change, is to be despoiled of its excel
| lence, and the rights which the States now have
to manage and regulate in their own way, their
own affairs, is to be prohibited to them. The
system of government left by our ancestors,
beautiful, because if rightly administered it is
lust and equal, is to be transferred into hide
GUS system capable of wrong and Injustice even
when consttutioHally administered. If the pow
ers now held by the people of the States and
the States, as independent communities, are to
be consolidated aud placed in the hands of the
general government, the States CT the North
and Northwest, being most powerful in nnm-
bers, will have absolute control and dominion
upon the rights and interests of the people in
other sections.
"Time will develop these things. They are
| IN progress ana Will De accomplished. Inc
people are to determine what is best TO be done
for their own protection, and the people of each
State must determine for themselves. The right
of a State to secede from the Union, is unques-
tonable The secession of a State from the
| Union, being the exercise of right reserved by
the people in the Constitution, it being the ex-
ercise of power not prohibited to the States,
it follows that the government has no power to
subjugate her. II being no offence against the
Constitution, against the law of nations, nor
against the rights of the general government, it
will be no cause Of war. If the State secedes she
will be foreign State to all intents and purpos-
es, and the general government can no more en-
force its laws on her territory, than it can the
territory of any other foreign government.
There positions are, | believe, undeniable
| IL your State were to secede from the Union, the
| general government could not interfere to force
her into the Union, nor could it enforce her laws
over her. If the government were to attempt
it, il would light up blaze of civil war; which
could never be extinguisbed, but in the life's
blood Of the lovers of constitutional freedom
But | sincerely hope that You will not take the
assertion of these unquestonable propositions
as encouragement to proceed to extreme meas
ures, TO secession from the Union. There are
Southern States which are in the same predca-
ment with South Carolina, which have been as
much wronged and much injured by the I'M
equal measures of Congress- Their people,
however, do not see the danger to them so i'm
mnent as do the people of your gallant State y
-Southern Argus.