The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1862-11-01


WASHINGTON SOUTHERN c.NvENr1oN A
NASHVILLE soUTHKRS CONGRESS cALLk
FOR BY SOUTH CAROLINA AND MISSISSIPPI
i "When the future historian shall addres
himself to the task of portraying the rise
progress, and decline of the America,
Union. the year 1880 viii arrest his atten
'ion, as denotiug and presenting the frs
marshalling and arraying of those hostile
force, and opposing elements which result
ed in dissolution and the world will have
another illustration of the great truth, ths
forms and modes of government. howevel
correct in theory. are only valuable as they
conduce to the great ends Of all government
the peace, quiet, and Conscious security
Of the governed"
So wrote leading South Carolina paper
on the first day OF January, 1s5O-and not
without knowledge Of what it was saying.
: All that was said was attempted, and the
catastrophe alone was wanting to complete
the task assigned to the future hist orian.
! The manifesto Of the forty-two members
from the slave States, issued 10 lS49. was
not brutum fnlmen. nor intended to be SO.
It was intended for action, and was the
commencement Of action and regular steps
for the separation of the slave from the free
States Immediately began under it. An or
gan of disunion, entitled !" The Southern
Press" was set up at Washington. estab
lished upon a contribution of $50, 900 from
the siyners to the Southern manifesto, and
their ardent adherents-its daily occupation
to inculcate the advantages Of disuuion. to
promote it by infaming the South against
the North, and to prepare it by organizing
Southern concert of action. Southern cities
were to recover their colonial superiority in
state of sectional independence the ships
OF all nations were to crovd their ports TO
carry off their rich staples. and bring back
ample returns Great Britain was to he the
ally of the new " United States South )" all
the slave States were expected to join. but
the new confederacy to begin with the
South Atlantic States. or even part of
them; and military preparation was to be
made 10 paintain by force what Southern
convention should decree. That convention
was caled-the same which had been dcs-
iguated 10 the first manifesto. entitled TIE
Crisis. published in the Charleston Mercury
in 1885 and the same which had been re-
pulsed from Nashville in 1S4f Fifteen
years of assiduous labor produced what
could not be started in 1885, and what had
been repulsed in 1914. A disunion conven-
ton met at Nashville met at the home of
Jackson, but after the grave had become bis
home.
This convention (assuming to represent
seven ST ,tes) took the decisive step, so far
as it depended upon itself. towards sepa-
ration of the States. 1t invited the assem-
bling of "Southern Congress" Two
sta.es alone responded to that appeal
South Carolina and Mississippi and the
legislatures ST these two passed solemn acts
o carry it into Effects South Carolina sb-
oluteiy. by electing her quota of represen.
a,ives to the proposed congress; Mississippi
by subjecting her laws to the
approval of the people. Or course, each
state gave a reason. or motive for It's action.
south Carolina simply asserted the lag
,ressions'' of the slave holding States to be
he cause, without stating what these ag-
,ressions were; and, in fact, there were
lone to be stated. For even the repeal Of
he slave soiournme ent law in some OF them,
nd the refusal to permit the State prisons
o be used for the detention OF fugitives
rom service. or State officers 10 assist in
heir arrest, thoug gh acts OF unfriendly i'm
bort, AID a breach of the comfy due to
lister States, and inconsistent with the spirit
# the constitution. were still acts which the
States. as sovereign within their limits upon
be subjects to which they refer, bad right
o pass. Besides, Congress had readily
'assef the fugitive slave recovery bill. just
IS these Southern members wished it; and |
eft them without complaint against the ma |
ional legislature on that score All other
matters of complaint which had successive |
, appeared against the free States we're |
,one Wilmot Proviso, and all The act |
# Mississippi gave two reasons for its
Iction:
" FIRST, That the Legislation of Congress.
{ the last session. was controlled By .
dominant majority regardless OF the constr
utional rights of the slAveholding States
nd.
90 Secondly. That the legislation Of Con-
ress, such IS it was, affords alarming evil i
enee OF settled purpose on tie part Of I
aid MAJORITY TO destroy the institution Of
i.vesy, not only in the Sta.e Of Mississippi.
mt in her sister States, and 70 subvert the
oyereign po 'er Of that and other slave
olding States
Waving the Question whether these
easons. il true, would be sufficient to justi-
, this abrupt at,emp: to break up the