The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-29
NORTH CAROLINA.

The following resolutions were adopted by
the Council of State of North Carolina, at
meeting held in Raleigh, Dec. 6, 1859:
ResolUed, by the Council of State of North
Carolina
i. That the prompt, vigorous, and effective
measures adopted by the Governor of Virginia
for suppressing the reasonable invasion of that
State at Harper's Ferry have our warm and un-
qualified approval. That our felow-citizens of
the State of Virginia are hereby assured of our
entire sympathy in their present disturbed con-
dition that the cause ofVirgnia is the cause of
North Carolina, and her destiny is our destiny.
That we will be prepared at all times to sustain
her in her efforts to maintain and uphold the
rights and vital interests of the slaveholding
States that those rights and interests .5can
never be surrendered without dishonor and dis
grace, and without causing state of confusion
and anarchy which will mark the destruction of
the liberties and happiness of the people of both
States.
2. That our thanks are due and are hereby
rendered to the President of the United States
for the promptness with which he has sustained
the Governor of Virginia in upholding the laws
and in restoring tranquility to the people of
that Commonwealth T; and that our confidence
in the devotion of the President to the Consti-
| tuition and the rights of the States is undimin-
ished.
3. That the union of the States can only be
perpetuated so long as it continues to be a
Union of equals We are still devoted to it,
and would behold its dissolution with profound
regret yet, if we cannot hold our slave proper
ty, and at the same time enjoy repose and tran
guilty in the Union, we will be constrained, in
Justice to ourselves and to our posterity, to es-
tablish new forms and provide new guards for
our security and we'll being relying for success
in so doing on the righteousness of our cause,
and on the support of that Providence who so
signally guided and succored our ancestors in
| times of danger.
4. That while declaring our sincere devotion
to the Union, according to the Constitution as
it was established by our forefathers, and while
we are ready to uphold and maintain it as a
common Union of equals, we are not unmind-
full of the fact that the disturbers of our peace
have received and are receiving the active SYM
pathies and the substantial support of large
portions of the people of the nonslaveholding
States and that it behooves the people of the
non slaveholding States, if they would restore
domestic tranquility" and Perpetuate the
Union, to rouse themselves from the condition
of indifference and lethargy which seems to pre-
vail among them, and to adopt such measures
and take such action as may be necessary to
prevent continuance of assaults upon the
South, and as may assure our people that they
are still faithful as confederate States to the
common Constitution which still unites US.
s. That the sense Of insecurity eristin9
among our people, in consequence of a want OF
competent military organization and effective
weapons with which to arm the militia, In view
of the threatened disturbance Of our peace, i'm
peratively demands prompt action on the part
of our State authorities. That we advise his
Excellency the Governor to cause the militia
of the State to be efficiently organized, by en-
couraging the formation of volunteer compa-
MES, and by such other measures as he may
deem proper and that be apply at once to the
President of the United States for sufficient
number of effective weapons to arm thoroughly
the militia of the State.
6. That inasmuch as certain papers and books
of an incendiary character, calculated and hav-
ing tendency to excite slaves to acts of insub-
ordination, are being circulated in this State,
through the post Office of the Government, by
fanatical clubs and societies in the Northern
States we advise his Excellency the Governor
to take all needful action to prevent the same
and that all postmasters in this State be forbid
den, under the penalty Of the law, to deliver
any such newspaper, book, or other publication
! whether written or printed, from his Office, to