The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1851-01-17
NEW YORK.


Governor Hunt, Of New York. has sent his
first message to the Legislature. The follow
! ing abstract of tint portion of it most impor.
tant to tie South is from the Washington Re.
public:
Passing over several matters Of more local
interest we come at last to that part OF the
message which treats of national questions
After referring TO the various adjustment mea-
srres, and to the disposition which is evinccd to
regard them as Il final settlement of the slavery
controversy. Gov. Hunt says:
"Thc people of this State continue toindulge
4 strnng desire that harmony and mutual good
will may prevail between all portions OF
widely extended Republic They are law.
abiding people; they cherish the most friendly
sentiment toward their brethren OF the South;
and have always conceded to the slaYe States
the entire right to maintain and regulate slave.
~ within their own limits, and to eyercis. all
those rights without ab~idgmcnt or hindrance
which the Constitution corfers,y More than
this ought not to be claimed or expected
He considers it Il source of profound surprise
and regret that any portion of the SonIhern
people should find insthe terms Of the adjust.
NEST an occasion for nnltnring the spirit of dis
union; and thinks that their feelings of aena.
ton proceed from nisconception OF the views
entertained by the people Of the North. Great
injustice is done in assuming that eneioach-
meuts are mcditated by the latter upon the
rights OF any portion of The Confederacy:
1T should not have been regarded as an en-.
ciiroachment upon the rights of any State that
we objected to the extension OF slavery over Il
country acquired by our common efforts, and
which had been made free by tine action of its
own Legitimate authorities. No wrong was in.
flicted upon any State by the effort to give TO
the people OF the conquered territories n gov.
crnncnt best adapted TO their sentiments and
their future happiness.
"Bv the ordinance of 1857 large portion
of the American people had declared their con-
viciion that slavery ought not to be extended
over free territory; but the exclusion of that
institution from the States Of the northwest was
not Il ndeemed sufficient to prevent The forma-
ton of the Federal Union. The same senti-
mrut still exists in the Northern mind to be
manifested whenever and only when lis exer.
else is provoked by new aggressions; and
cannot concedc that it affords any ground for
complaint on The part of any ofthe States, still
less that it can justify secession, revolution, or
any effort to overthrow the Constitution estab.
lisird hv our fathers"
The Governor declares that the great body
of the people of New York are aware that the
constitution of the United States was framed
and adopted in a spirit of compromise, and that
it must be faithfully maintained in the same
spirit. aud that they cherish an ardent devotion
to the Union. Although New York might
80. otol( ott ttIn haf fhn
and would not fail to preserve her Liabilities as
an independent State, she would regard disso-
luton of the Uuion from any cause as the
greatest calamity that could bcfall mankind.
With regard to the fugitive sAve law, the
Governor audes to the dissatisfaction which it
has excited in many portions of the country,
and adds:
"Apprehensions have been entertained that
under the hastily considered provisions of the
act, passed during period of unusual agita.
tion. persons OF color, claiming to be free, and
really free, are not allowed those reasonable
opportunities, and those customary legal safe
guards, necessary to enable them to establish
by adequate proof the fact of their freedom.
GA recent case has shown this belief to be
not merely speculative, and that the danger that
4 free man, under the summary mode in which
that law can be executed, may he hurried into
captivity, is not wholly Imaginary. We can.
not, and we do not believe, that the South, any
more than the North, aims at or desires such i
result, or will insistson retaining provisions
leading to such exciting consequences. We
shall rely not only on their sense of propriety
and reciprocal justice, but their calm convic-
ton, that the law itself, to be permanent, must
be reasonable, for their uniting, after due re.
Election, with their brethren of the North, in n
kind and dispassionate spirit, in reviewing such
clauses as maybe found defective and objec-
tionable, and in consenting to such judicious
notifications asssmay command general ap-
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