The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1861-01-02


q we take the former, then submission I
r negro equality il our fate Ifthe latter, thei
a secession is inevitable-each State for itSel
and by itself, but with view to the mmediat
4 formation of Southern Confederacy, unde
n our present Constitution, by such Of the slave
holding States as shall agree in their conven
+ tions to unite with us. :
+ Mississippi seeks no delay-the issue is moi
new to her people. They have long and anx
r iously watched its approach-they think il
\ too late, now, to negotiate more compromises
with bankrupts in political integrity Whose
f recreancy to justice, good faith and constitil-
tlonal obligations is the most cherished feature
, ofther political organization
She has exhausted her rights in sacrificial
offerings to save the Union, until nearly all is
lost but her honor and the. courage to defend
it. She has tried conventions until they have
= become the redicule Of both our friends and
our enemies-mere instruments of fraudulent
evasion and delay, to wear out the spirit of our
people and encourage the hopes of our COM
mon enemy. In short, she is sick and tired of
the North, and pants fer some respite from
eternal disturbance AMI disquiet.
She comes now to you-our glorious moth
er,-the land of Baldwin, who first defiantly
asserted and preserved your rights as to slave
ry, in the federal convention in opposition t.
Messrs. Madison Mason, and Randolph, and
the whole Union except the two Carolinas,-
the land of jackson, who immortalized him
self by his bold exposure and successful over
throw of legislative fraud and usurpation
Ilenpon the rights of the peopl$5-the land OF
lroup, the sternest Roman OF, them all, who,
singlc-handed and alone, without cooperation
without consultation, but witll truth and JUS
tice, and the courage of freemen at home on
his side, defied this National Government in
its usurpations on the rights III Georgia, and
executed your laws in spite Of the threats of
| Federal coercion. 1t is to you we come,-the
brightest exemplar among the advocates and
defenders of State rights and State remedies,
to take. Counsel and solicit. sympathy in this
hour of our common trial.
Task yOu, shall Mississippi .tollo10 in the
footsteps Of Georgia. iehen led rby her 0alIant
Ifonp2 Or, is it reserved for this generation
to repudiate and expunge the brightest page
IN the history of my native State ? Impossi-
BILE God forbid it Forbid it, ye people of
all Northern and Western Georgia, who to-
| day, owe your existence and-unparralleled
prosperity to the maintenance of your rights
at the risk ofcivl war.
see around me some gallant spirits who
bore their share in the dangers, and now wear
with honor, here to-day in this Hall the lau-
relS won on the side of their State, under the
banner, inscribed Group and tie treaty.. in
that memorable struggle. Need ! appeal to
them IN behalf of my adopted State, to know
| on what side they will range themselves III
this struggle of right, against usurpation of
brute force, against the Constitutional rights
of sister Of this confederacy of equal States?
make no such appeal; | kRow where you
stand. To doubt it would be to offer you the
grossest insult.
In this school Of old republican orthodoxy,
| drew my first breath. 1t was here | first |
studied, then embraced, and next feebIy, ad- |
vocated, the principles of State Rights and |
State remedies-of resistance TO tyranny-of
the supremacy and sovereignty of the people |
Of State, and the subserviency of govern
ments to their peace and happiness and |
safety These principles will descend |
with me to the grave, where this frail tene-
ment OF dust must PERISH but Mey will live |
on with time, and only perish when tyranny
shall be no more.
l need not remind your great State, that |
thousands and thousands of her sons and |
daughters, who have sought and isund happy
homes and prosperous fortunes in the distant |
forests of her old colonial domain, though now
adopted children of Mississippi still cling with !
the fond embrace Of flial love, to this old |
mother of States aud of statesmen, from
whom both they and their adopted State de-
rive their origin. 1t will be difficult for such
to conceive, that they are not still the objects |
of your kind so.icitude and maternal svmpa-
thy.
Mississippi indulges the most confident er-
Pectation and belief founded on sources of in |
formation she cannot doubt, as well as on the |
existence of causes, operating upon them, |
alike as upon her, that every other Gulf State |
viii stand by her side in defence Of the posi-
ton she Is about to assume; and she would |
re1 roach herself, and every Georgia son within |
her limits, would swell with ind, snation, if |
she hesitated to believe that Georgia too, |
would blend her fate with her natural friends |
her sons and daughters-her neighboring |
sisters, in the impending struggle.
Whatever may be the result Of your deib- |
erations, l beg to assure her from my init |
mate knowledge of the spirit and affections of |
our people, that no enemy to her constitution
al rights may consider his victory won, while /
a Mssissippian lives to prolong the contest
Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, |
the part Of Mississippi is chosen, she ,ciH neU-
er submit to the principles and policy of this |
Black Republican Administration.
She had rather see the last off her race,
men. women and children, inundated in one |
common funeral pile, than see them subject
ed to the degradation Of civil, political and So
cial equality with the negro race.
Mr.. Hartridge from the Joint Select Com |
mittee, to whom was referred the commuica-
ton of the Governor of Mississippi to the |
Governor of this State, asks leave 10 submit |
the following
REPORT
WHICH WAS UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED.
WHEREAS, A large portion Of the people of |
the -slayeholding States, have for many |
years past, shown in many ways a fanatical |
spirit bitterly hostile to the Southern States, |
and have through the instrumentality of in
cendiary publications, the pulpit and the news
paper press, finally organized apolitical party |
for the avowed purpose of destroying the in-
sttuton of slavery, and consequently spread |
ing ruin and desolation among the people in |
every portion of the States where it exists, i
and
Whereas, This spirit of fanaticiSm has al |
lied itself with design long entertained by |
leading politicians of the North, to WELD the |
taxing power of the government, for the pur- |
pose of protecting and fostering the interests |
of that section of the Union, and also, to APP
propriate the common territories of the United |
States to the exclusive use of northern emf
grafton, for the purpose Of extending, consoli- |
dating, and rendering that power irreversible. |
And whereas, These designs and move |
ments have attained such ascendancy, as to |
combine large majority of the Northern |
people in this sectional party, which has cleo
ted to the Presidency and vice. Presidency Of
the United States, candidates who are pledged |
in the most solemn form and the plainest, re-
peated declarations to weld all the influence
and power of the Federal Government to ac-
complish the objects and purposes of the party,
by which they have been elected
And whereas, Many Of the slayeholding
States are about to assemble in Convention
for the purpose of adopting measures for the
protection of their rights, and the security of
their institutions.
And, whereas, The State of Mississippi has.
in noble spirit OF fraternity sent Commis
sioner to communicate to this General Assem-
bly,, her desire in the emergency in our Federal
relations. Therefore be it,
Resolved lst. That the General Assembly
of Georgia. has listened with sentiments Of
profound sympathy and respect to the message
Of Mississippi, on the subject of the present
threatening relations of the Northern and
Southern sections Of the United States COM
municated by her distinguished Commissioner,
Hon. William L. Harris.
| RESOLVED Cd. That believing as we do, that
| the present crises in our National affairs, de.
mands resistance, this General Assembly, at
| is present session, hss, with great unanimity