Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-05-22

Now You VIII perceiyc,- that it was as late a
thci9th Of; September, before the very first o
these Bills was perfectedzinto an Act, and
was not9until the 20th of the same month, tha
the whole of them received the highest sane
). tom of law. Allow then, at least, ten day
for their PRONUNCIATION, and you will see that w
could not have come properly into possession o
them until the first of October. The election fo
Members to the Legislature took place on th'
second Monday in October. What opportunit.
then, did your Members have to advise with you
relative to these recent inAictons Of Federal ane
Legislative tyranny None in the world. Thei
sentiments were not even called for, through th:
papers. You would, at that time, have deemed
it an act of supererogation. Your feelings ane
sentiments were so clearly made known, by every
word you uttered, and by every look and ges'
ture, that your Delegates must have been blind
men not to have interpreted your wishes Cen
tlemen, they did read you correctly, and they
did give in the Legislature, true expression Of
your honest impulses, and of the determined
resolution of your minds. All this stuff ABOUT
vour not being consulted, is an after-thought OF
men who seek to warp your judgments, and TO
distort the real issues presented for your con-
sideraton. One of your Members to the llouse,
refused to vote for the Convention Bill, at one OF
its readings, because, in his estimation, it was
not measure of sufficient strength, and his
purpose being misunderstood, he was met by the
consuming indignation Of his constituents, until
he could explain the motive that governed his
conduct
1t would be paltry in you, at this late date, to
affect not to have virtually counselled your Dele
gates to the Legislature to adopt some efteetual
mode of resistance to the usurpations of the
General Government You did this even before
the consummaton of these last acts of tyranny,
by which you and your children have been re-
duced to the most absolute siavery-to vassa-
ace viler than that of the sers Of despot, or OF
the slaves of the Sultan Of Turkey.
1 had the honor of being an invited Iguest at
more than cue Of your dinners and public as
scmbliesos ase hst year, and if the excitement
Of the occasions did not overpower my senses,
every candidate IN the field deliberately denoun-
ced the Union of these States as curse, and
when he would express his determination to de-
vote himself to its dissolution the sentiment was
hailed with shouts Of enthusiasm. The cry rang
+brourb the vast mzltitudes-
g Peace is dcspair'd,
For who can think submission? War then, war,
Open or understood, must be resolved"
The manner Of conducting this war could not
then be determined upon, because the bitter cup
Of our wrongs had not yet been filed, and Con-
gpess had not yet completed the full measure of
its most moesrous and wicked tyranny. The
candidates were not, and could not be advised as
to the precise mode of redress, because the
Nashville Convention, and the Georgia Conven-
ton and the Mississippi Legislature were stillto
assemble. and no human foresight could predict
their ultimate action, with any degree of certain
ty- Bat it is necessary that all Legislatures
shall be clothed with some trust, otherwise they
would be perfectly Insignificant and just as inetti-
eient, as weuld be the unwieldly democratic as
sembies that essse met i, GFeeoe. Il is impos-
sible fcs tsp people, in unorganized cohgregasiens
fescribe The precise manner sof making and
administering the laws, unless you could suppose
every rsan alegislator, and every voter scholar.
How then. did your Metnbefs and Jour Legis-
.ature discharge the trust reposcd in tse.n
When they met in solemn deliberatioh, Under
all the sanctions Of law and religion, they knew
that your watch-wotd was resistafee-tbat their
honor, and the hoace es the State, and the Safety
and the istes-sss Of posterity demahded Of them
to resist. They felt, that if they tan,e's sue
cumbed to the greedy spirit Of avarice and ia
naticism, and eabu,issiveiy pTostrated themselves
under the wheels Of the car Of tile American
Juggernaut, they and their children would be
doomed to perpetual nfatny. They could al
most see in their minds, the diserhbodicd forms
OF their fathers rebuking their feul degeneracy:
Under such circumstances, unless they were the
basest Of men, they we're bound to act. There
fore, since they had not been able to learn the
express wishes of their constituents touching
the extent of their action, they considered it both
bold and prudent to put the State in defensive
attitude, and to call d Convention Of the people
which meaus to call the people themselves to-
geti1es-.tat they nigh. determine in their ca:
pacity of sovereigns; the course of policy which
duty, honor. and the safety Of themselves and
ob;1dren raot,ired t1ieYh to adopt
What else could the Legislature have donc'
What other path could they have trodden which
would have led to honor. 1t was truly wrong
either to fall short Of, OF, to transcend their in
structions in matter of so great delicacy, and
Of such fearful moment: Virginia toe, had passed
the following resolutions in her General Assem-
bly,, which she had not yet repudiated, whereby
she had become pledged to resistance.
Resolued, That we regard the passage Of
law by the Congress Of the United States, abol-
ishing Slavery or the Slave Trade in the District
of Columbia, as a direct attack upon the insttu-
tons of the Southern States, to be resisted at
every hazard.
. .Resolucd, That in the event of the passage
by Congress of the 'Wilmot Proviso,' or any
law abolishing slavery or the slarc trade in the
District of Columbia, the Governor OF this Com
monwealth is requested Immediately to convene
the Legislature Of this State f it shall have ad-