The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-29

whsn The ENORMOUS evils Of which We oomplain,
and which hive specified. can b. ssdressed by
the secesaion Of South Carolina alone, ] an
without hesitation and instantly In favor Of Il,
whatever other States may d., and whatever
consequences may follow.
Let us, then, see il our complaints, or any Of
them, would be removed or redressed by the se-
cession of South Carolina alone, the other slave
holding States remaining in the Union. Would
tie prospect Of recovering fugitive slaves be
better! They may now be, and now are re-
covered, summarly and certainly, when they are
found, in fifteen States. The difficulty Of re-
claiming them in Georgia, or any other slave
holding State, 10 no greater than it is in the diff
ferent districts of our own Slate. Each OF
these States afford to US all the facilities that are
enjoyed by it, own citizens. They are appro-
pirate and ample. Our only complaint is that
the non-slaveholdng States not only refuse to
aid US, but actually obstruct us in our endeav-
ors to reclaim our property, when accident or
crime places it within their limits. They only
violate the stipulation of the Constitution on
this subject. I hese States do not now, and will
not ever. deliver up fugitive slaves. 1t will not
be c0ntroverted that secession would place the
State seeding 10 the relation OF foreign State
towards all the other States Of the Union, 1t
would be at once the REIMBURSEMENT OF all the
rights, Us well as the duties, that now exist be-
tween them They would be, TO all intents and
purposes, as independent Of each other a. are
France and Great Britain. In the absence OF
treaty on the subject, one foreign State has no
right to require another to deliver up fugitive
slaves, or fugitive feIons. The law of nations
does not enjoin it, and it is in no instance done
without the requirements Of a treaty Why il 1t
that of the twenty-five thousand fugitive slaves
now in Canada--a country bordering on the
United States-0ne has never been recovered
by his owner! Why 10 Canada place OF ref
uge for slaves who flee from their owners In the
South 1t is because it is foreign country,
and the treaties between Great Britain and the
United States are silent on the subject. Would
not, then, secession be the voluntary abandonment
on our part of the right 10 reclaim fugitive Slaves
wnhin The limits Of all The Southern States and
of all other countries We could not even cross
the line of Georgia, Tennessee, or North Caro-
lima, in pursuit of them, by virtue of any right
which we should acquire by secession.
We know. as do the enemies of that institu-
ton we'll understand, that the most absolutely
fatal policy that can be pursued in reference to
slavery is to confine it within prescribed limits.
Thus localized and hemmed in, it must inevitably
languish and die A given area of country will
afford lucrative employment to a much more
numerous white hancolored population whether
it be slave or free population. Slaves are not
fitted for many of the avocations OF the white
man. The slave population of South Carolina
Increases more rapidly than the white race, and
at this time considerably exceeds it. What
would be our means of diffusing over new AMI
less populous countries our rapidly Increasing
slave population, if South Carolina makes her.
self foreign State By secession! Our slaves
may now be carried into any State Of the Union
which has not made the introduction of them
unlawful They may be sold to the citizens Of
such States. or removed with their owners. The
vast and fertile lands of Mississippi and Texcs
offer tempting fields for the slave labor OF the
old Southern States Congress has no power
to interpose any prohibition or restraint But
Congress has long since, under the special pro-
vision of the Constitution, made the introduce
ton of slaves from foreign country into
Stats of the Union highly penal offence. The
moment therefore, South Carolina shall secede
from the Union-the other Southern States re-
manning in it-that moment it would be high
crime to carry slave from this State to Georo ia,
or 10 any other State. Such State would have
no power to authorize it, the power being in
Congress. The boundaries of our own State
could never be passed by slave 80 long as it
should be foreign State. We have already
been excluded from California, and Utah, and
New Mexico, by the unconstitutional and un-
just legislation of Congress, and shall we now
permit our own infatuation to exclude us from
the rest of the world? Heaven save US from
such insanity!
If secession would not place US in a better
position for the recovery of fugitive slaves, or
for spreading our slave population over other
countries, but would interpose insurmountable
obstacles to both, would itinvest us with more
effectual means of REFRESHING the fanaticism of
the Northern States! ! am incapable Of per-
ccving any such effect No, gentlemen, no; it
will require the resources and energies of more
than one of the slaveholding States to quiet this
wicked agitation, or to resist its fatal influence.
The strongest governments in christendom.
France, and Sweden, and Great Britain, have
been made to yield up their beautiful islands in
the West Indies to utter desolation. to appease
the fury of this demon. The Spanish West
India islands and Brazil are now the only civil
lied countries on the earth, besides these South
ern States, in which slavery exists, and the
fourth of century will not leave vestige Of it
IN either OF tnem Anu we Hlnst Oe Wist W
escape their doom at no distant day. With
these consequences before us, would it be wise
to resort to secession, against the views and
wishes of all those States. that are bound in a
common destiny with us?
Iconfess, with profound regret, that ] can
perceive NJ reason to think that any Of our sister
States of the South regard the peril to slavery
| as immediate and imminent as We do. cannot
however, believe that they are less resolved to
protect and preserve the domestic institution OF
the South than ourselves But whilst they
underestimate the danger to it from the action
of Congress, they hugely magnify the difficulties
and the dangers of disunion. Yet they have
made issues and conditions connected with il
which we must take for granted they will exact
from the North Their demands will not be
conceded, and soon, very soon, their "final hope
will be flat despair" As God is the judge of
my sincerity, believe this Union and slavery
cannot stand together. Ard, unless we greatly
Al