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of Fredericksburg, objected to the form of an address for that purpose submitted by Mr. Memminger because it did not set forth the causes of the secession of South Carolina correctly.
He said:
In the declaration not one word is said about the tariff, which for so many years caused a contest in this State against the Federal Government.
Not one word is said about the violations of the Constitution in expenditures not authorized by that instrument, but the main stress is laid upon an incomparably unimportant point relative to fugitive slaves and the laws passed by Northern States obstructing the recovery of fugitive slaves * * * * Many of the acts of the non-slave-holding States obstructing the recovery of fugitive slaves have been passed since 1852, I think the majority of them, but I do not regard it as a matter of any importance.
In reply to
General Gregg,
Mr. Keitt made a statement which illustrates what I have said with reference to the
Southern representatives in Congress being responsible for the
Federal laws as they stood at the time the cotton States seceded.
He said:
We have instructed the committee to draw up a statement of the reasons which influenced us in the present case in our withdrawal.
My friend suggests that sufficient notice has not been paid to the tariff.
Your late senators and every one of your members of the House of Representatives voted for the present tariff.
If the gentleman had been there he would also have voted for it.
We are told that this reply of
Mr. Keitt was greeted with laughter.
