The southern press., 1851-08-13

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and to which they could not give the sanction
Of their approval, but was wiling to bear their
evils, sooner than dissolve the Union, should ag-
gression cease with them, and he Fugitive slave
bill be neither repealed or materially modified
Texas was dismembered to ettend the bounds
Of freesoilism, and the most bomin able means
resorted to by government and government
agents, with its sanction, tdexcltide the South
from the whole Of California, and the Mexican
laws of Utah and New MsGico remaining un-
repealed, as effectnally exclld the South from
all particpatoni In those territories, as the direct
interdict of the Wilmot Proviso would have
done.
The bill which confscates the masters pro-
perty in his slave, in casehe is offered for sale
in the District ,of COLUMBIA, is invidious in its
character, and may be Justly regarded as the
entering wedge to the emancipation OF the slaves
of that District. 1t comedies the question of ju-
risdiction to Congress, and their discretion, and
4 not the Constitution, becomes the rule by which
they will be governed and that coming event is
fere -Aedowed in the recent eiecticss IN Ohio.
New York, Massacn1setta and otissr non-slaye-
holding States, In a boldness OF projection which
leaves no room for doubt and prophecy. repeat
il, it is concession of jurisdiction, for if Con-
gress can free my negro because offer him for
sale in the District it has equal power to say that
| if work him more than two days in the week,
or if / work him at all, the same consequences
shall follow. And yet we are assured by some
who are candidates for public favor, that those
measures are Southern triumphs and victories,
more than blessings in disguise, yea, the har-
bingers Of peace, which should command the
homage and challenge the admiration of every
Southern patriot. The State of Georgia has an
nounced to the world, through her convention,
that should Congress abolish slavery in the Dis.
trct of Columbia, she would disrupt the ties
which unite her to the Union. Deny the right
of State, thus acting in her sovereign capacity,
to secede, and to say that she has only the right
of revolution, in what lamentable predieament
do you place her citizens? If they obey the com.
mands of the State, (the State not having the
right to secede,) they are guilty of rebellion, and
are punished for treason, and their property
confscated by the federal government; and
should they disobey the behest of the State, the
same pains and penalties are inflicted or imposed
on them by the tate.
Can the intelligent people of Green counte-
nance federal heresy, which would involve
them in such a catastro phe? If the State has
no right to seceGe, the federal government, as
necessary consequence, has the power to coerce
her to obedence.-But the republican doctrine
which claims the right, relieves the citizen from
this dilemma. The right on the part of the
State TO secede, negatives all pretence OF right
on the part of the federal government to eoerce,
and her citizens shielded and protected by the
broad panoply of her sovereignty, stand in the
attitude Of freemen, dsenthraled from the mana
cles and chains. which our Union loving federal
leaders would forge for them. But they glory In
the right of revolution, and present il as rem
edy-yea, they effect to contemn and despise the
coercive power of the federal government when
their honor is insulted, or their Southern blood
is excited to indignation at coming events-sueh
as the modification of the Fugitive slave bill;
bnt they Will be the first servilely to cringe to
the exactions and IMPRESSIONS of the govern.
ment. In a state of rebellion, they would feel
as selfc onyicted traitors. Concious rectitude of
motive and position, and deep and settled con-
yiction of right and duties, are principles and
feelin that make voluntary ma~tyrs He who
believes in the sovereign right Of State to Sc
cede, is fortified and supported by these copvic-
tons. and "thrice armed is he who hath his
quarrel just"
do not intend to insinuate tina, She Union
men are, personally, pusilanmous or cowases-
il is only their position that would make them
so. Considering themselves as rebels against
their government, they would be appalled,, as
others, under like circumstances, would be, by
traitors DOOM and would suffer the most cruel
exactions and grinding expressions of govern
ment. before they would strike the first blow for
freedom. Slaves can rebel against their masters,
and the dowu-trodden serfs of Europe against
their tyrants. The right of revolution is only
the right of the inferior to rebel against the au'
thoritv Of the superior. In our government, the
State rights party hold that tie people OF the
several States are the sovereigns or masSers-
the oficeholders their servants, and the govern
ment their agent. But it belongs to the federal
code Of politics TO teach, and the leaders OF the
Union party are avaiing themselves OF the ap-
preparation of it, that the federal government IS
either supreme. and the great depository of the
sovereignty of this nation, or that the people can
rebel against themselves. A gentleman who
voted for the Union party last fall, in speaking
lately of the right Of secession, remarked that
if the right Of revolution was all that our ances-
tors achieved for US, he thought that there was
some necessity for second revolution-that the
first only effected change Of masters-the Sc
cond should establish, on more enduring basis,
the rights and liberties Of the people. This is
the growing sentiment, and must increase as the
positions of the respective parties shall be devel-
oped The Southern rights party recognises,
to the fullest extent, the sovereignty and inde-
pcndence of the States. Let the guarantees OF
the Constitution be faithfully regarded by them,
and a strict construction Of that instrument in
sisted on, and we shall have no reason to doubt
the result The people will be true to them
selves, and will assert and establish the rcpub-
lican State right principles which shall preserve
the government, and increase their happiness
and prosperity to such an extent and height, that
other nations and coming generations will see,
admire and emulate. Respectfully, yours.
RI. G. LAMAR.
Messrs. Dr. T. p. James, DIR. b. h. Randle, B.
E. Spear, and w. G. Wellborn.