The Woodville Republican. [volume] (Woodville, Miss.) 1847-1853, 1851-05-13

ascertain, any evidence to support il. Pr
Voking and oppressive as was this prosec,
tion towards me, personally, it would nc
e have deserved public consideration, but e
the manner-contempiuous, insulting an
disrespectful to the State-in which il wa
carried on.
: In urging the arrest and immediate reno
I val of the Governor, there was deliberatiol
ami design; and il is fair to infer that design
was to humble the State OF Mississippi, an,
/. TO PROSTATE her before the federal power
The spirit that could dictate fiatrering apo
iogy TO the abolition city of Boston, for the
: most scandalons outrage upon law, as wei
as the principles OF common honesty, is fit
for the service of perverting the power OF
executing the laws, TO insult a Southern
State
In the acts of the administration. the Co
vernment and the anti-sIavery States. we
may readlhe signs of the times. We won d
be blind not to see them, and infatuated not
toprepare for them They thicken around
us so that we cannot longer avoid them
| We must determine TO meet them face to
face We have been swindled out of Tie
public domain. Even a portion of Texas,
supposed to be secured as slave holding, has
been cut off. Every outlet TO the extension
of our institution has been firmly closed
The golden shores of the Pacific, open to the
adventurers Of the wide world, are denied to
Southern labor, though acquired, in part.
with our blood, and purchased with our
treasure. We are now hemmed in ON the
West as well as the North. The time once
fixed to save the Union has been contempt.
uously disregarded The area for the en-
ployment of our labor has been circumscri-
bed by the stern fiat "thus far shalt thou 90.
and no farther;" and while the anti.slavery
States may be indefinitely increased, the
number of slave holding States and their po-
ltical power must remain stationary. or d.
minish. An effective step to the entire alb.
oition of slavery in the Federal District al
though surrounded by slave. holding States,
has been adopted. The provision of the
constitution Tor the reclamation of fugitive
slaves has not only been disregarded, but
number of the leading anti-slavery States
have passed laws 10 prevent its execution
in their limits, and since the passage of the
fugitive slave bill, its operation has general.
y been defeated by cunning legal devices,
vexatious interventions, and sometimes by
open violence
Asprit hostile TO slavery pervades most,
ii not all, the non-savehoIding States, and,
in my judgment, this hostility is becoming
daily more active, more practical, and con-
sequently more dangerous. The so-called
Compromise, instead ofaIlaying il, by yield
ing up all the public territory, appears 10
have stimulated this fell spirit to more eff.
cient action.
In the great States Of New York and
Ohio, the recentseontests for Senators have
resulted i'll the election of men prominent
for their extreme arti-slavery principles
and in Massachusetts, the contest lies be.
tween a free soier and all avowed abolition
ist.
Not one Of the States whose statute books
contain laws to prevent the delivery up of
fugitiyes from labor, have even formally ac.
ceded TO the Clay and Foote compromise,
by repeating their obnoxious laws, aud COM
plying with their constitutional duty and
the most influential non-slaveholding States
in spite Of the exertions of those politicians
whose fate hangs OIL the success of the so.
called Compromise, show fixed determin,
alton to repeal, or essentially change the fu-
gitive slave law. In fine, hostility to slavery
has never, IN my opinion. assumed so orga-
nized and dangerous character as it has
done since the Wllmot Proviso was settled
by excluding slavery from the territories, by
the new and more effective means of Cali.
fornia and Mexican law provlsos
II there have have heretofore teen any
grounds for action Oh the part the South.
ern States, to avert the impending evil, or to
prepare for selfprotecton, if the evil could
not be arrested, they exist now, in a much
greater degree than when the people Of Mis-
ssslppi, under the advice of distinguished
citizens of both parties, assembled in Con
vention declared that the time had come
when the Southern States should take coun-
sci together, and devise and adopt some
mode of resistance to these aggressions, and
resolved that they, representing the feelings
and opinions of the people of Mississippi,
would not submit TO an exclusion from the
public domain, nor to any act which would
impair the equality of the States To the
substance of these resolutions, which APP
peared at the time to meet with generala APP
probation, | trust and hope the people sof
Mississippi will adhere. regardless of the
senseless cry of " Disunion."
The political equality of the States is the
vital principle ofthe constitution. Upon its
strict maintenance depends our llberties.-
We are not permitted to surrenderit, even
to purchase temporary peace for ourselves.
1t is sacred inheritance bequeathed by our
sires, which il is our dnty to transmit, ua-
impaired, to our children. II assaied, we
must defend il, even though the Union per-
ish in the contest. But firmly and iiihexi-
bly, to insist upon all of our constitutional
rights, and maintain them at all hazards, is
the only mode Of preserving the Union of