Newbern weekly progress., 1861-01-01
THE ADDREss
3ftze Eeo,,ze of sooatA Carolina to the Stare


formation Of the Union, its objects, ETC. AS
will he seen in the conclusion of this address
they ask the other slavcholdng States to join
them in the establishment OF a Southern con-
federacy
Experience has proved, that slaveholhng
States cannot be safe, in subJectlon to nom
slayehoIding States Indeed, no people can
ever expect to preserve its rights and liberties,
unless these be in its own custody. 10 plum
der and oppress where plunder and oppres-
sion can be lracticed with impunity, seems to
be the natural order of things, Ihe falrest
portions of the world elsewhere have been
turned into wildernesses and the most CIVIL
lied and prosperous communities, have been
IMPOVERISHED and ruined by anti-slavery fanat-
icism. The people of the North have not LETT |
lis in doubt as to their des gns and policy
United as a section in the late Presidential
election, they have elected as the exponent OF
their policy, one who has openly declared th;iI
all the States of the United States must be |
made tiIe .Stotes or slQUe Suites. 1t IS true, |
that amongst those who aided in his election,
there are various shades of nt-slavery hostill-
ty But if African slavery in the Southern |
States be the evil their political combination |
affirms it to be, the acquisitions OF an inexora-
bic logic, must lead them to emancipation.
If is right to preclude or aoolish slavery
| in n Territory, why should it be allowed to re-
main the States? The one is not at all more
unconstitutional than the other, according to
the decisions Of the Supreme Court of the Uni
| ted States. And when it IS considered, that
the Northern States will soon have the power
! 70 make that Court what they please, and that
the Constitution never has been any barrier
whatever to their exercise OF power-What
check can there be- in the unrestraned coun-
scls Of the North, to emancipation? There is
sv1npathy in association, which carries men
along Without principle; but when there Is
Lprincp!e-ind that principle IS fortified by long
! existing preu,ces and feelings, ASSOCIATION Is
emnipotent ia party influences. In spite OF all
| disclaimers and professions, there can DC put
one end by the submission Of the S0uth 10 the
rule of a sectional anti-Sl2Vcry government AT
| Washington and that end directly or int1rect,
| ", must bc--thc emancipation Of the slaves OF
| the South. The hypocrisy o. thirty years
the faithlcssnass Of theEr whole course from the
! commencement of our union With tRen show
that the people Of the -slaveholdH]G North
| ars1 not, and cannot be- safe associates OF the
slayehodng South, under = connl@h govern
ment Not only their tanat:eisln, 65ut their er-
roneous views of the principles Of fee govern
ments, render it doubtful whether if separated
from the South, they can inalntaAl tree gov
! ernment amongst themselves Numbers with
| them is the great clement Of free government
A majority, is infallible and omnipotent The
right divine to rule in Kings" is only trans
tcrred to their majority. The very object OF
all Constitutions, in free popular Government,
| is to rcsrsia the majority. Constitutions, there
! fore According 10 their theory, must be most
| unrighteouS inveR&iOns restricting liberty
| None ought to exist but the body polite ought
| simply to kavc political organization, to bring
out and enforce the will Of tke majority This
! theory may lie harmless in small community,
/ having an identity of interests and pursuits
but over a vast state-stiE more, over a vast
Confcderacy, having various and conflicting in
! terests and pursuits it is a remOrSeless deSpOt-
| ism. In resisting it, as applicable to ourselves,
| we are vindicating the great cause of tree gov
ernment, more important, perhaps, to tae world,
! than the existence Of all the United States
| Nor in resisting it do we intend to depart from
the safe inst3Mmentality, the system Of govern
ment we have established with them, requires.
! In separating from them, invade no rights
no interests of theirs. " violate no obiga-
ton or duty to them. AS separate, independ
ent States in Convention, we made the Consti
tuition of the United States with them; and as
separate independent States, each State acting
! for itself we adopted it.
! South Carolina, acting in her sovereign
! pacity, now thinks proper to secede from the
| Union. She did not part with her soverei gnty
| in adopting the Constitution. The last thing
| State can be presumed to have surrendered is
her sovereignty. Her sovereignty is her life.
| Nothing but a clear express grant can ALLEVIATE
| II. inference has no place 1cI IL Is IOL dC
| all surprising that those who have construed
away all the limitations of the Constitution,
| should ALSO be construction claim the annihi-
| ation of the sovereignty Of the States. Hav-
ing abolished all barriers to their Omnipotence,
| by their fathless constructions in the opera
| tons of the General Government, it is most
natural that they should endcavOr to do the
same towards us in the States. The truth is,
they have violated the express provisions of the
| Constitution, it is at an end as compact
1t is morally obligatory only on those who
choose to accept its perverted terms. South
Carolina, deeming the compact not only viola
| ted in particular features, but virtually abol-
ished by her Northern confederates, withdraws
herself as party from it's obligations. The
right to do so is denied by her Northern
fedcrates. They desire to establish sectional
despotism, not only omnipotent over the
| States and, as if to manifest the mperiouS ne
cessity Of our secession, they threaten us with
the sword, to coerce submission to their rule.
| Citizens Of the Slaveholding States of the
! United States Circumstances beyound our
| control have placed US in the van of the great
controversy between the Northern and South
ern States. We would have preferred that
other States should have assumed the position
we now occupy. Independent ourselves, we
discaim any design or desire to lead the coun-
sells of the other Southern States. Providence
has cast our lot together, by extending over
us identity of pursuits, interests and insti-
tutions South Carolina desires no destiny
separated from yours To be one of great
Slaveholding Confederacy, stretching its arms
over a territory larger than any power in Eu-
| rope possesses-with population four times
greater than that of the United States when
they achieved their independen ce of the British
Empire-with productions which make our ex-
istence more important to the world than that
of any other people inhabiting it-with COM
mon institutions to defend, and common dan
gers to encounter-we ask your sympathy and
confederation. Whilst constituting a portion
of the United States, it has been yOur states
manship which has guided it in its mighty
strides to power and expansion. In the field,
as in the cabinet, y0u have led the way to its
renown and grandeur. You have loved the
Union, in whose service your great statesmen
have labored, and your great soldiers have
fought and cenquered-not for the material
benefits it conferred, but with the faith of a
generous and devoted chivalry. You have
long fingered and hoped over the shattered re-
mains ofa broken Constitution. Compromise
! O. i