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KEOWEE COURIER. I " -TO.T1IINB OWN SELF 1)E TRUE, AND IT MUST FOLLOAV, AS THE NIGHT THE DAY, THOU CAN 8T NOT THEN BE FALSE TO ANY MAN." VOIi. 2. PICKENS COURT HOUSE, S. C., FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1850. NO 6 ? *??? - i i ?imrwrc?nw?? ! tmm msmmMLnvmmnmnawmxmBDammrjtmmnmcmmc* ?n iiwnnn^o?aw??p?r? ?? the KIIOWKE COUIUKlt, TUINTKO AND PUDLISIIKD WEEKLY UV TRIMMIER it LEWIS. W. K. Easley, Editor. rTUIMIS. One Dollar and Fifty Cents for one year's nubscription when paid within three months, Two dollars if payment is delayed to the close of tho subscription year. All subscriptions not clearly limited, will bo considered as made for an indefiuito time, and continued till a di ^continuance is ordered and all arrearages pai.l. Advertisements inserted at 75 cents per square for the first insertion, and 37 1-2 cts. for each continued insertion. Liberal deductions "o made to those advertising by the year. All Communications should bo address rwl (n IliA Pn1?li?1iors nnqf nnid I ADDRESS OF THE SOUTHERN" CONVENTION". To the people of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, youtli Carolina, Ocoigia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, Mi.-souri and Arkansas: Fkllow C1TIEEN8': In obedicnce to tho commands of thoso wo renresnit. we have assembled together to con I for with each other concerning your relations with the General Government and (ho nonej&vcholding States of the Union, on tho subject of tho institution of slavery. We <locm it proper to lay before you as brifly as the subject will permit, the result of our deliberations and councils. In order that your condition may bo under stood, and the conclusion at which wo have arrived justly appreciated, it is necessary briefly to refer to a few past transactions. _ It is now eixtecu yeans since the institution ofabtvery in the south began to be agitated in CoiiL'roBS and assailed bv our sisterKtntos. I Up to that time, tlie people of the Northern States seemed to have ro&poctcd the rights reserved to tho southern (States l>y the Constitution, and have acted under the conviction, that 'the subject of slavery beyond the legislation ofCongross, all agitations with rcspcct to it on tho part of Congress, was equally forbidden by the Constitution, but at tills iinio, n portion of the people of tho North began to assail, in Congress, tho institution of slavery, and to aCcompliph their object of dragging it into tho vortex of congressional agitation, they claimed tho right of petitioning Congress lUX'U all subjects whatsoever. A? v petition is only tho first step in legislate ?,was'clear that a right to notit 1011 a legislative bodv. must be limited I by its jjowcra of logu>.',\tion. No ono can have a right to ask of nnothcrto do that which ho has no moral or legal right to ilo. Nor can any tribunal lmvo the power to rcccivc and consider any matter boyond its jurisdiction. The claim therefor*! to present. petitions to 'Congress on tho subject of slavery, was considered, by the southern Hepreaentatives gendral lv nu tin nttomnt iiirlirnr.tlv in iia$nmo inrisdir1 Hon over ilie auly?ot itsolf in all parte of (ho Union. They object, without disguise, was the 'overthrow of slavery in tho Statoa; butour assailants framed the petitions presented chiefly agai it slavery in tho District of Columbia and our '1 erritories, and against whnt they call tliu internal slave trade?that is, the transmission 'of slaves from ono southern (State to another, tfrinscious of tho fatal tendency <lf tho njjitation I oi slavery m i;ongrew, to oesiroy the penru and stability of the Union, nn effort wat* mndo, supported by ft large portion of tho Nortlicrn Representatives, which providod, thnt nil petitions on tno subject of slavery, should be cither considered, printed or referred. This rule was assailed by the JSotthcrn States, as violating Clause of tho Constitution which prohibits Congress from passing laws to prevent tho people from penccably. assembling nnd petitioning for a redress of grievances. In December, 1844, this rule fell before tho almost unanimous voice of the North; and thus the unlimited power of introducing and considering tho subject of slftvcry la Coii'/ross. was asserted I 111 the mean time, tho course of the Northern people showed clcarly, that tlio the agitation of slavery in Congress was only 0110 of the they relied on to overthrow this institution throughout tho Union. Newspapers were set up amongst thorn, and lecturers wa hired to go abroad to excito them agaiest slavery in teo southern States. Organisations wore formed to carry off slaves from tho (South, and io protcct thim by violence from recapture. .Although tho Constitution requires that ail fu Igmro slaves Iiko lng tvTes Iroin justice, should bo rendered up by v*io States to which they may havo fled, tho Legislature of almost ev,ory Northern ?tr.tc, faithless to this treaty oiijj iillation between tho States, pasied laws designed and calculated entirely to defeat thin .provision of tho Constitution, without which tho Union would have never existed, and by ,thesolaws virtually nullified tin act of 1794, passed by Congress to aid its enforcement. Not content with tho agitation of slavery in po- ! litlcal circles, the Northern people forced it al- ! eo into the religious associations extending icvcr tho Union, and produced ft separation of jthc Methodist and Baptist churches. The result of nil these various methods of cssailing .slavery in the southern States, was, thntlt be[came the grand topic of intercut and discussion Iin uongrosft niut oui ot uongresx, nnu ono ot thai moat important chmenta of politics in tliu Union. Q'li us nn institution, belonging to flie , m uthorn State* exclusively, \v?h wrested from ' their exelmivo control; mid hmtetid ofth&tpro- I tection which is the great object of nil govern- i inont*. and which tho Constitution of the United , Htates guaranties to nil the State* and their : institution*, the Nortiiern ytate*, mid Oonjef-esj ' under their control, combined together to a.v ! ail and destroy fdnvoiy in the nonth. Tho Southern States did nothing to vindicate their j rights tad nireit this conrso of thing*. The , Mexican war brok out; h..<l instead ot that pat-1 piotic cooperation of all sectione of tho Union, I which woiild have taken place in tho better I elixys of tho Republic, to bring it to a just and honorable conclusion, in tho very first appriation bill to carry it on, the North endeavored to thrust in the subject of slavery. Throughout tho war, they kept up the agitation; thus clear- j ly manifesting; their determination that the General Government in none of its operations, internal or external, shall ho exempted from tho introduction of this dangerous subject. Tho , war closed with honor; and an immense territory was added to the United States. Their previoiiB threats were realised; and tho non-slaveholding States immediately claimed the right to exclude the people of tho southern States from all tho territory acquired, and to appro pnato it to tnemseiuos. n tins pretension arose from a mere lust of power, it would be hard to bear (ho superiority and nmsterv it implies, It would degrade tlio southern States from being the equals of the Northern States, to a position of colonial inferiority. Hut, when your exclusion is not from a mere lust of power, I but is only a further step in tho progress of i things, aiming at the abolition of slavery in tho States, by tho extension and multiplication of non-slnveholding States in tho Union, the pretension is seen to be as alarming as it is insul| ti'-.g. Tho southern State^in their Legislatures, set forth with great unanimity, tho rights in our territories belonging to them in common with tho Northern States, and declared their determination to maintain mom; and muling in the Northern (States 110 disposition to abate their demands, the convention in which we are assembled, has been brought together to take counsel ns to the courso of the southern States shoald pursue, for the uiaiutainnuce of their rights, liberty and honor. Such is a brief, but imperfect statement of past transactions; and tlioy force upon us tho question, in what condition do they place tho j southern States? And first, what is their condition in Congress? The time was when your Representatives in Congress, were neither offered, nor would they endure reproach in your behalf. 15ut formally years past, they 1 nave heard you in Congress habitually reviled by the most opprobrious epithets on account of uiu 111.S111U11D11 ui wuvtTy. ii uiuir ppiriva nre yet unbroken, they must bo chilled l>y a sense I of humiliation at the insults they daily receive I as your representatives. You are arraigned as criminals. Slavery is dragged into every debate, and Congress has bccomc little else, than a grand instrument in the hands of abolitionists to degrade and ruin tho South. Insiead of peace and protection, aggression and insult on the south characterize its procedings and councils. Ami what is your condition, with respect to your sister States? Where is ; that respect and comity, which (due from all nations towards each other) is more especially due 1'r. m ?Statcs lxmnd together in a confedcra- j cy, and which was once displayed in all their j intercourse; instead of roepcct and sympathy t ?denunciation and hostdity, on account of | your institut ion of slavery,have 'have for years past churnctcmcd the communications address od to you by the Northern /States. And what is your condition in the Union? The non-slave- | holding (States stand combined, not only to : wrost from you your common property, but to place upon your front, the brand of inferiority. V ou nre not to extend, on account of your in-) Btitutions, but they arc to increase and multiply i (hot the shame and Bin of shivery, may by their philanthropic agency, ho extinguished from i amongsf you. But tho worst feature of your ; condition is, that it is progressive. As low and humiliatiiiL' as it now mav br.it is destined, if not ai rested, to "u lower deep." Every eftbet j is a cause; and tho spirit of fanaticism I nooks ; no delny in the progress it creates. If you were to yield everything tlio North now rc- : quires?hbolish slavery in the District of Co- i lumbia?subhlit to bo legislated pirates for conveying slaves from one State, to another, lot trial by jury and the writ of Habeas corpus, wrest from you iu tho Northern States every fugitive slave; givo up all your territories to | swell Northern arrogance and predominance, I would things stop there? These are all means I ! aiming-at <tno grout odd?the abolition of slavery in the Stutcs. (Surrendering ono of those hienna you will but inflame tlio power by which another will bo exacted?nnd when nil mo conquered, will the evil be afrostcd? In fifty years, t wenty new non-slaveholding States may bo added to tbo Union, whilst hoiiio which nro no\v slaVohohling, may become nonslaveholding /States. There then, will be no need nanow, onunly to put aside the Constitution to roach their object. If they will deign to do it, the non-slaveholding (States will then | have the power by two thirds in 0<>ngi,o?"? ?nd three fourths of tho States, to amend tho Conttitut ion, nnd then lift to its express sanction to oonsnmmato tho policy. Your condition is progressive. Iffrom tho past trans lotions we havo narrated, wo lc.it n our condition in the Union, thoy ! tench us also that our past past policy of nonI action and submission to aggression cannot II bring us peaco and safety. When tho doors of ; Congress wcro thrown open to agitation 011 the j subject of slavery, if tho southern <State? had moved with energy to avert a state of things | unconstitutional itself, and surely tending to bring the SlavehoVJing and n6n-#1aveholding ' States into collission, although Into, it. might not have been too li te to stop subsequent on i croacnineius upon our rignts. tint t?io southern States wero passive; and thoir forbearance lias had the effect of inspiring the Northern people with the belief cithor that wovuluen union with them more than wo value tho institution of slavery, or that wo dare not move | from n conscious inability to protect themselves. Yon havo ungenerously stood still whilst your 1 supporters and tho defenders of the Ooimtitu1 (ion in the.Northcrn Btotos, in their eflocts to protect yon from the figitutjona of slavory in Congress, have been politically annihilated, or lmve turned yonr foes. You have tamely ac quicken until trthate and persecute the South, i lui3 becoino a high passport to honor and power iu tho Union. Yon have unwisely B.tood blill, whilst year after your tho volume of nnti* dlavery policy und sympathy has awoll^*n into unanimity throughout all the non-sluveholdiug State*, and tho coctiotm of tho Union now face oach other in stc.m collision. You hnvo -waited until the Constitution of tho United Hlutea is in danger of being virtually Abolished, ?>r of | becoming what tho majority in Ooujjrtsi think I proper to make it. 'lhnt great principle on ' 0 " - which our system office govornmcnt rests, o so dividing (he powers uf Government, that to ft common Government only those powers should ho granted which must nffect nil the peoplo composing it c<pially in their operation, whilst all powers over all interests, local or scctioual, (Jmuld be reserved to local or sectional Governments, it is in danger of being uprooted from their constitution. Local and sectional interests absorb tho timo and business of Congress, and thus a scctional despotism, totally irresponsible to the people of the south, constituted of tho Representatives in Congress from tho nou-slaveholding States, ignorant of our feelings, condition and institutions reigns in Washington. These arc the fruits of your past forbearance and submission. If we look into the nature of things, such re milU5 \N 111 IIU|> MJUIIl IV UU I'lUU'i IIUW VI Biuillgu. There is butone condition, in wliicli one people ean be safe under the dominion of another people, and that id when theii interests aro entirely identical. Then the dominant cannot oppress the subject people without oppro ting themselves. Tho identity of interests between them id the security for right government But As this identity can scarcely ever exist between any two people, history boors but one testimony as to the fate of subject people. They have always been compelled to minister to tho prosperity and aggrandizement of their masters. If this has always been j the case under tho ordinary iiffcroncc of inter- I ..cla .....I r,,..li...ru nvie I n-^? 1 how much moro certainly must tlio experience ' of history be realized between tlio people of! the Northern ami southern States. Hero is a i difference of climate and productions throughout a territory strctchiug along tlio whole belt of tho temperate zone, affecting the pursuits and characters of the people inhabiting it. 13ut the great difference?tlio one great difference?the greatest which can exist among a people is tho institution of slavery. This . alone sets apart tho southern States as a peculiar people?with whom independence as to1 their internal policy is tho condition of their ] existence. They must rule themselves or per- i ish. Every colony in tlio world where African ; slavery existed with one exception has been | destroyed; and if this has been the case, under j tho old nndefftte Governments of Europe, will ! it not prevail under the dominion of the rest- i less neonle of the Northern .States? Thev do 1 not practically recognise the inferiority of the , African to the Caucassion racc. They do not realise, because the circumstances uftheir condition do not compel them to realise the impos- j sibility of an amalgamation between the races, i Exempt from the institution of slavery, it is | not surprising that tlieir sympathies should bo against us, whilst the dogma on which they j profess to build their ay stem of free government?the absolute rule of the majority? ' leaves no barrier to their power in the affairs j of the General Govcrnmct, and leads them to its consolidation. Religion, too, false or real, fires their enthusiasm ogaiugt oti'r institution which many of its professors believe to be inconsistent with its principles and nrccepts. To expect forbearance from such a people, under | such circumstances, towards the institution of shivery, is numifestlv -vain. Ft" tliev li.ivc ti.?en ! false to the compact made with us in the Constitution, and hayo allowed passion anil prejudice to muster reason, tliey hiivo only exemplified that l'railty and fahhility of our nature which hns pro<luced the necessity of all government?, and which, if unchecked, over produces wrong. The institution of slavery having once entered the popular mind of the nonplaveholding States,for action and control, tho rest is inevitable. If unrestrained by us, they will go on until African slavery will he swept from the broad and fertile (South. The naturo of things, therefore, independent of experience, 1 teaches us that there can be no safety in submission. To submit to ovita, however .threat, whilst they arc endurable, is the disposition of every people?especially of an agricultural people, apart and association in their pursuits. But the responsibility of preserving n freo government rests with nil its members, who have the pow er or th& will to destroy it. A minority, by submission, may as much betray the constitution, as a majority by aggression. The constitution does not protect a majority; for they have all the powers of tho government in their hands and can protect themselves. The limitations of a constituting are designed to protect tlio minority?those who havo no power, against those who have it. 7/ence, the great motive and duty of self-protection is peculiar to a minority, independent of that faith to the constitution which thoy owe in common with the majority. They must protect themselves nnd protect the constitution; and if they fail in this double duty, they are at least as culpable.as those who, in aggressing upon their rights, UVU1UUOW 111*5 COII3UU1.ID!]. />UU Hie public opinion of the world is in conformity with these views, f ho oppressor is luited?but the unresistingly oppressed is despised. More respect follows tho tyrant, than tho slave who submits to his power. The Southern States, therefore, although a minority, are not exempt from tho responsibility of preserving the constitution, and, in preserving it, to protect themselves. In what way shall they preserve tho constitution and protcct themselves? Aa a general rule, it is undoubtedly ; true, that when, in a government like j ours, a constitution is violated by a major- j ity, who fdone can violate it in matters of i legislation, it cnnnot bo restored to its in tcgrity through tho ordinary means of the government; for these- means, being under the control of tho majority, are not nvnilnblo to the minority. It is for this rcuson ihntfrctjuent elections of our rulers take jjlfuie in our system of free gov eminent, jn order that the people, by tin if 1 direct intervention, may change the ma- ; jority. But this resource cannot avail us i in the violation of (bp constitution, which ] now press and b the ?South. By 1 1 changing their repi .. '.atives, how can ' the people of I he south effect the majori- ' ty in Congress and restore the constitu- < tion? Their representatives arc true; and \ 1 have done nil that men can do, to pre- | serve tlie constitution from the aggression j i of tho majority. Removing them, and ' putting other rcpe--.<ntntives in Congress, 1 could have no effect in restoring the con- , t stitution. It has been broken by the j ' representatives of the people of the nor- j ' thorn States, who sustain thorn in their j violations of the constitution. 1 i is clear i that the ballot-box in the south is power- j i less fir its protection. And the same 1 causes which induced the violations of the j 1 constitution by tho northern majority, \ < prevents its restoration to its integrity. I Throughout the northern States there has i been no indication of any change in their , < policy. On the contrary, the majority : against the south is greater i t the present s Congress than in the last, following the < usual course of every successive election i for years past. Nor have \vc seen in the t action of the Slates, with fev exceptions. I nnv proof of a returning sense of of jus- 1 tice to us, or of revercncc for the constitution. Several of them, lest false infercn- i ces might be drawn.as to their position, have taken care lately to reiterate in the i most offensive forms their former declaration againts our rights; and when a great senator, representing one of them, anxious for the perpetuation of the Union, has ventured to advocate something of justice to the south, he has been rebuked by the Legislature of the state he represents, and virtually denounced for his fidelity to the constitution. This resource then, under tho ordinary operations of ; the constitution, is of no avail. And how , is it with the present Congress, the only other sonrcc of redress in the usnrl administration of the constitution? For six months it has been in session, and during this whole period of timo slavery has been the absorbing topic of discussion and agitation. Yet nothing has been done to heal the discontents which so justly exist in the south, or restore a blleeding constitution, vlll we have received has been bitter denunciations of our institutions by many members of Congress, and threats to coerce us '?to submission, i Although nothing has been done, a report has been made in the Senate by a committee of thirteen members,, which is now pending in thnt body; and as the measures it proposes have been pressed upon the /South as worthy of her acceptance, wo deem it proper to lay before you a brief consideration of the matters it contains. This report embraces four distinct measures? 1st the admission of California as a State, with the exclusion of slavery in her constitution. 2d, Territorial Governments to bo erected over the territories of Utiih and New Mexico, with nearly one half of Texas to be added to the latter. 3d. Tho prohibition of the slave trade in tho District of Columbia; and 4th., provisions for the recapture of fugitive slaves in tho non-slavcholding States. To under- 1 stand whether these measure are tionsis. i M * 1 i 1 i 1 P lent, witn our rignis aim wovr.-,y 0I our j acceptance, each of therr, must be consid- i orc<l separately. The South is excluded by tlio bill from the whole of tliat part of California lying or. the Pacific, including one hundred pnd fifty thousand squaro miles of 1 territory; nnd if this is done by thelegis latiori of Congress, the modo in which it is done is of no importance. California belongs to the United States, and all action by the individuals in that territory, whether from tho United States or from the rest of the world, appropriating the eoil to themselves or erecting a govern- 1 ment over it, is of no validity. They con- ' stitute a people in no proper sonso of tho term; but aro citizens ot tho Stales or 1 countries from which they have come, and < to which thoy still owe their allegiance. 1 WKcn thereforo Congress nttenipts to 1 carry out and confirm the acts ol these in- I diviauals, erecting California into a /STtate i and excluding slavery therefrom, it is the i same thing as if Congress had originally passed a law to this cfkcct, without tho I intervention of these individuals. The exclusion of slavery from California b < done hv the act of CoKorress. and bv no . ! otlior authority. 'J"he constitution of Cal- i ifornift bocomcs tho net of Congress; nnd the Wilmot proviso it contains, is tho Wilmot proviso pnssod and enforced by the legislation of Congress. Hero thon i is that exclusion from this territory by i thrnct of Congress wh'ch almost every ? southern <Stato in tho Union has declared ] she would not submit to plainly nnd praotically cnforcctf by this bill. A free people cannot be satisfied with tho mode in which t! icy arc deprived of their rig! t . \ sovereign State will disdain to inquire, n what manner she is stripped of her property, and degraded from an equality nrith her sister States. It is enough that .lie outrage is done. The mode is of lit:1c consequence. There is therefore in .lie mode of extending the Wilmot proviso nvr>r the torritni'v nf f!nlifnrniii nrp. ion ted by the l>ill nothing to mitigate tho ndignation of the Southern States, or to audio their determination to redress tho wrong if inflicted. They are excluded iora the whole Territory of California, a Perritory extensive enough to contain 'our largo States. If tho constitution proposed by Caliornia contained nothing about slavery, ivould the North allow her to enter into he Union? (Such wore tho territorial jills proposed for California at the last Congress, but they rejected them becauso :ho south was not excluded from this tor ritory ? express terms. 1 ho inhabitants :>f this territory have been left without, my eivil government, solely because the south would not consent to be legislated sut of them with her institutions; and now that this object is accomplished by [he constitution presented by California, ihese conservatives?the advocates of law and order?arc eager to admit her, without right or precedent, into the Union. We ere aware of the incovcniences. the inhabitants ot California may havo suffered for want of a civil government established by Congress, and therefore nrc prepared to yield much on account of the circumstances in which they have? been placed. Y'iie next measure is in perfect keeping with this first feature of "the report:" It tiikes from Texas territory sufficient for two large Elates, and adds them to NewMexico. What the bill contains with respect to slavery will be of little conse quence; lor it js designed that. nest winter New Mexico, thus constituted, shall follow the example of California, and bo admitted as a .State with a constitution excluding slavery from its limits?for without such exclusion she cannot hope to 1)9 admitted by the non-slavcholding Stntes into the Union. The effect "will he that territory, ovei which slavery now exists, equal to two States, will be wrested from the south, and will be given up to the non-slaveholding States, fl^he protext is, that there is some doubt as to the boundaries of Texas. Texas, by her laws, when sho was admitted into the Union, had but one boundary towards the West, and that boundary was the llio (riande. Congress, in the resolutions admitting her into iho Union, recognised this boundary by'laying down a line of limitation between the slavcholding aitdnon-slaveholding States?(being the Missouri compromise line of 3G deg. 30 min. parallel of north latitude)?through that very pait of her territory her right to which is now questioned. Her boundary of the Rio Grande to its source alone gave her this country; and Avas thus recognised and ratified by "the resolutions of annexation. To vindicate this boundary for Texas, as a member'of the Union, the Mexican war took place; and in the treaty of Ouadaloupc //idalgo it was finally vindicated and settled, by a clause in the treaty designating the Rio Grande as the boundary between J/exico and the United State^ Thus, by the laws of Texas, by the legislation of Congress, and by a solemn treaty of the United States, the Rio Grande isllie western boundary of Texas. Yet the pretension is set up that her territory docs not extend to within three hundred miles of the Missouri compromise line, * Where Congress, in receiving her into the1 Union, determined that her territory should he divided between the sluvehold-ing awl non-slnvoholding States. Trxis is tho only State in the Union which ha* the solemn gunranteo of tho Government of the United States in every possible form of her bounu>uw?. a ot tliio i? t'i i Government which disputes them; nt d, wilder tho pretext that they are verydoubtful, proposes to take from her nearly one-halt of her territory. It is by virti:o of such pretensions, that by the bill tv. o States are to be taken from tho SoutlTe: n und given to the Nor.hurn States; nr d this wrong is aggravated by compelling us to pay for it through tho Treasury of tho United States. It Is undoubtedly proper that Tcxnd hould be quieted as to her boundaries; hut she should bo quiote 1 by a law of Congiess, plainly acknowledging tbem. ' ? i i/f.J ii jli, niwr nor oounuaneB arc seuicu, mo General Government, to carry out thrt purposes of the consti u ion, or in go id faith to fulfil alltho oblig ition3 tho annex-' ution of Texas to tho Union requires* should thinlc proper to purchase any territory from Texas, the arrangement may be unobjectionable. But. any arrange* mcnt concerning her territories, whtah leaver a shade of doubt as to tho righto? f i*% r/fr *