The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-11-28
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
EXECUTIVE OFFIcE.)
JACKSON, Miss, Nov. &c, 1860. {

JACKSON, Miss, Nov. &c, 1860.
! Gentlemen ot the Senate
and House Of Representatives.
1t is with deep regret that am constrained
| TO foreeo the usual congratulations for peace
prosperity, and bright hopes for the future
| which have formed so marked a feature Of
| Executive communications TO the Legislative
departments of the Sovereign States of this
| once happy Confederacy. In performance Of
what deemed an imperative duty, haveco
yened YOU in extraordinary session-to take
/ into consideratio.4 the gravest and most solemn
| question that ever engaged the attention of any
! Legislative body on this continent One invol-
wing more human happiness or human misery
than any political question of the age in which
we live.
On the solution q which hangs the destiny
for veal or woe not only Of this generation
and this age, but of all the generations which
come after us for an indefinite term of cen
turtles the end of which no Prophet can fore
| tell.
| The existence or abolition of African Save
nv in the Southern States is now up for final
settlement before that tribunal which has ex-
elusive iurisdiction--the people Of the South
ern States where it exists. 1t is true that
the forms of trial have been had, before the
people of the non slaveholding States. The in
stitutions Of the South have been dragged
before that tribunal, in violation of every piin-
ciple of the Constitution and of common sAnse
and tried before Court having no iurisdic-
ton, and a jury ignorant of the law and the
facts and the verdict thus obtained is, that
slavery is sinful and must be DESTROYED. We
are told that tbs verdict will be executed
that the Northern mind will never rest salts
fed until slavery is placed in such condition
as will insure its ultimate extinction, and that
all the power the Southern States now have
in the final settlement of this matter, is to
choose whether it shall be a peaceable and
gradual abolition or speedy and violent These
are the hard terms offered to fifteen States of
tais Confederacy-as if they were conquered
and not co equal States, asifthe superior num-
bers If the Northern States gave them the
Constitutional right to regulate the domestic
affairs Of the Southern States without consult
| ing their wishes and against their consent.
! Submission to such a rule establishes a des-
potism, under WHICH the dearest rights of the
Southern States are held at the sufferance of
people, ignorant OF their wants and hostile to
their rights. If they Were honest and lust,
they are SO utterly ignoraItoi the capacities and
| necessities OF the two races which inhabt the
| Southern section of this Confederaev. as TO
render it impossible for them to rule it with
success or manage it without ruin. 1t would
be as reasonable to expect the steamship to
make successful voyage across the Atlantic
with crazy men for engineers, as to hope for a
prosperous future for the South under Black
| Republican Rule Can the lives, liberty
and property of the people of Mississippi he
safely entrusted to the keeping of that section
al majority which must hereafter administer
| the Federal Government ?
| l think they cannot, for the following
| reasons They have exhibited low selfish
ness in Selling all the territories which are
the common property ofatl the States Thew
have deliberately attempted and have succeed
ed in educating a generation TO hate the
South. They have sworn to support the Fed
eral Constitutica and deliberately passed laws
with the palpabie intent to violate one of the
plainest provisions of that compact They
have sent large sums Of money to Congress
for the purposes of bribing the members of
that body to pass laws to advance their private
interests. They have attempted to degrade
us in the estimation of other nations, by de-
nouncins us as barbaranS, pirates and robbers,
unfit associates for christian or civilized
men. They have excited our slaves to insur-
rectl0n, advised them to burn our property.
murder our people. and have furnished them
with arms and ammunition to aid them in their
bloody work They have murdered Southern
men in the lawful pursuit Of their fugitive
slaves, and failed to punish their citizens for
these fragrant violations OF the laws of God |
and man. They lave furnished money and
arms for the invasion Of slaveholdng State, |
and when the punishment awarded to treason |
ara murder by all civilized nations overlook |
the invaders, they threatened the dastardly |
revenge of midnight incendiaries Tolled |
bells in honor of traitors and murderers, and |
rewarded the family of the Chief Traitor. as /
never was rewarded that of any soldier who |
fell in defence of the country, and held him |
up as an example OF. heroic devotion to a Just |
and glorious cause. Their press pulpit, lee I
ture-roon ind forum TEEN daily and nightly
with exhortations to their people to press for
ward this war on our institutions even to the
drenchingof Southern fields with the blood of
her citizens. In view of all this long catalo-
que oflnsuits and injuries in view of the fact
that this hostile section must continue to in
crease in power, | feel that am, warranted in
saying that the Northern people have forfeited
the confidence OF the people Of Mississippi,
and that the lives, liberty and property of
ourselves and our children after us, ought not
~
people. ! The Judgment of the people of all
the Southern States bears me out in this
conclusion; for the candidate recently cleo
tel to the Presidency gets not one electoral
vote IN all the fifteen slave States. While
our Northern assailants had only the power
81 the press, mobs, and State Governments to
nd them in these aggressions, it was the
opinion ofmany OF our wisest and best men that
al o.La I
BY the power of our State Governments with
he aid of the Federal Government
But when in a recent Presidential election I
! large majority have decreed that the Federal /
Government, with all its immense powers, ,
N which we relied for protection, shall here ,
ter be administered by the same class of men I
Who have been guilty of all these acts of VIC :
ence and bad faith, it is folly, it is q
MADNESS, to hope for safety in such a
government. TO remain longer tut
dds weight and power to the arm that .
trlkes us, and takes from US the power of
eturning the blows. Surveying the whole !
eld, IN view Of the past history, the present !,
ttitude and future probabilities of this great !,
ueshon, see but one path OF honor and safety :.
'r Mississippi Let her say to the Black =
epublican States as Abraham said to Lot +,
Let there be no strife, pray thee, between |?
10 and thee, and between my berlmen and :,
ly herdmen, for we be brethren Separate !.
lyself pray thee from me, if thou will take !.
ne left hand then l will go to the right if U
lou depart to the right hand then will 20 p p
the left" That Mississippi may be enabled y
speak on this grave subject in her sovereign :
opacity, | recommend that a Convention be !. !,
lllSd to meet at an early day. The State thus :.
'sembied will have a right to decide for =, a.
self the mode and measure OF redress. for "
violations of the rights of her citizens =
the rights of the State, either by the North. ~
n States the people of the Northern States. -,
The Federal Government. That this right .,
yes exist in the sovereign States of this Con- y
1eracy, is plainly deduceabe from the histo- N
of all the political bodies which originated ~ ~
ID organized this system Of American Gov ~ =.
nments. The first great leading idea that ~
s at the base of our whole system is ~
und in hat clause of the Declaration Of " -,
dependence which declares "
ave hold these truths to be selfevident on
at all men are created equal that they are ed
lowed by their Creator with certain inalien- in
lie rights that among these, are life, liberty air
d the pursuit of happiness. That to secure m
'se rights, Governments are instituted ri
ong men, deriving their just powers from n,
consent of the governed. Plat wherever onI
Y form OF Government becomes destructive 4,
these ends, it is the right of the people to Sin,
Or or abolish it, and to institute new IN,
eminent laying its foundation on such Ia.
nelpleS, and organizing its powers in such ran
n, as to them shall seem most likely to of
'ct their safety and happiness" nm,
his short sentence contains the parent prn- ern
Q oil our system of Governments, both State con
Federal and any party which attempts
gnore II IN the administration of these her
Iernments' must prepare to meet the feel
II OF 10. separate and independent tina