Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-05-08

3. !. VI, MAY 8, 1861.
last resort, of tho violation of the Constitutio
of the United States by the enactment of
i law? Who is the final arbiter? The Ger
eral Government or the States in their SOY
/ ereignty? Verify, sir, to yield that point
4 TO yield up all the rights of the States to pre-
4 tect their own citizens, and to consolidate th
Government into miserable despotism."
] The succeeding session of Congress th'
same distinguished gentleman saidin debate
4 g Southern gentlemen stand here and in al
most al! their speeches speak of the dissolu
/ ton of the Union" ~ am not of those who
\ would ask them to continue in the Union
1t would be doing violence to the platform
Bof the party to which 1 belong. We have
adopted the old Declaration cf independence
as the basis of our political movement, which
declares thatany people, when the Govern
ment ceases to protect their rights, when-it is
80 subverted from the true purposes of gov
eminent as to oppress them, have right tc
|.recur to fundamental principles, and if need
|be, to destroy the Government under which
|they live, and to erect on its ruins another
moro conducive to their welfare. l hold that
Iehey have this right. will not blame any
jPeople for exercising it whenever they think
the contingency has come. You cannot, for
|cibly, hold any men in this Union; for the
attempt to do so, it seems to me, would SUBJ
vert the first principles of the Government
under which we live"
II quote from the distinguished Senator from
Ohio, for his authority is of high influence
now; and the illustrious names. of Southern
men who have led. our united Country along
the bright pathway of glory and honor, and
who, with perfect unanimity, have ever held
these doctrines, would have but little weight
at this period of our history. There is scarce
y single State of the old thirteen, WHO
made the Constitution, but what at some
period of her history has asserted the same
principles. In the case of Georgia these
same doctrines were not only asserted, but
|sindicated practically and triumphantly. She
IGserted sovereignty. over her territory, aud
Maintained it to the exclusion of the United
States Government. In 1902 the State had
seded to the United States all her territory
Vest of the Chattahoochee River to the Mis-
Iissipp, embracing the now rich States of
klabama and Mississippi, and stipulated as
condition that the Indian tribes within her
State lines should be removed as soon as it
cauld be done by the United States Goyern-
innt. For twenty-five years Georgia urged
ik Federal Government to comply with this
corditiop upon which her lands were ccded
anf 10 her the most important condition, be:
caue it was vastly to her interest to have her
lanls settled up. When urged to do so, the
United States Government had replied that
the could not obtain the consent of the In
dias, but admitted the condition upon which
thismagnifcent domain had been cedcd.
IA last, in 1925 and 1896 the President of
TIE J nited States, Mr.. Adams, son of the au-
thor of the Alien and Sedition laws, John
Adams, took, for the first time, the ground
tbahhe Indians werP sovereign and indc=
pepent people, and could not be moved with.
ont heir free consent, and as such they were
;Hunter the guardianship and protection Of the
z. .s1itsd States dosern1iant. Georgia replied
aat this was not so, that they were transi
at migratory people in tribes, and had no
svereignty over the soil, but only use and
pssesson for temporary purposes, and that
tie ultimate sovereignty was in Georgia, to
th limits of her boundaries. She maintained
TIT they had even been treated as suoh by
Geat Britain, as is shown by her repeated
gLnts to her colonies and to eminent person
aes, of immense tracts Of land and territory |
fo settlement; these grants, after running I
bek from the ocean even to the Mississippi
ad to the great Lakes in the Northwest EN-.
blcing the most Of the Continent. These
grnts invariably treated the vast Indian ter
ri,ry and nations as migratory tribes only.
Gorgia claimed by the treaty Of peace with
Gsat Britain, which, acknowledged her indc'
nedence and sovereignty by name separate.
.iyshat oil The rights previously claimed and
asrted by Great Britain accrued to her by
til treaty of peace and independence, and
tn. she was then sovereign to the extent Of
he boundaries, except so far as she celed
lars to the United States Government. and
sh,then demandel the performance Of the
coltions upon which such cessiou was made.
Tconfrm this doctrine, she referred to the
tray of Hopewell, which was made with
thCherokee nation the, imprnved and
poerful of the Southern tribes, in lTS2, by
Ge Pickens, who had overrun and conquered
thsnation,; and then in the treaty Of peace
he rev the future lines ofthe nation, through
So,h Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee, ac.
coing to bis own wishes, without consplta-
tio or the consent previous, of lhe Indians,
anctrea,ed them as conquered people,
whh lines were never disputed, and the ma
tiowas ever afterwards the firm friends Of
thehites, and acquiesced in their condition
as dependent nation und " the care eof Geor- |.
gia1ennessee and South Carolina, as well as
thcUn Unted States. The contest between
Gecia aud the authorities at Washington
waM warmer and warmer until the Treaty
of nian Springs was made in 1920, and then
altgards annu'lad by another treaty, sup
post TO have been brought about by the m
trigs of designing men, and most especially
by lowell, the Indian agent: Then Mr.. Ad-
amshc President, sent down Gen. Gaines,
of t. United States Army, with about two
thound men, to enforce the new treaty and
profit the Indians in possession OF the soil,
asseEg the doctrine, that they were an in.
depdtnt people, and copld not be removed
whit their free consent The Governor Of
Geoia, George NJ. Troup, one of the noblest
and ,rest of her sons, then proclaimed "the
arguent is exhausted and we will stand to
our ms.p He notified the United States,
and authorities of Alabama, that he would
run line between the two States, which
was en- an open line, as QtipHated in.the
Act cesson in 1902, and requested them
to apnt Commissioners to act with him.
The United States Government declined TO
appa Commissioners, and the Alabama au.
,boris did appoint, but afterwards disagreed
to thine from NicoYack, end then Cover
nor 5up actually ran the line alone, sup.
port.by his Georgia military, from the point
lust low Columbus on the Chatahoochee