The secession movement at the South.
The following is the latest intelligence gleaned from our mails of the secession movement at the South: A very large meeting was held in Essex county Va, on Monday last. It was addressed by Hon. M. R. H. Garnett, the Congressional Representative of that district. he urged upon the meeting prompt and decided action, and the expression of such sentiments as would furnish evidence of devotion to the Union of the States so long as that Union afforded ample security to the rights of the South, and to that end he advocated a Convention of the States, in order to obtain such additional guarantees as the change in the Constitution of the country since the adoption of the Federal Constitution required.-- He recommended such a policy on the part of Virginia as would enable her to mediate between the North and the South, should it be necessary, yet to assure the whole country that, in the event of a disruption of the Union, Virginia would be with the South. The following resolutions were reported and unanimously adopted: Resolved. That the people of the non-slaveholding States by their recent vote for a sectional President upon sectional principles, have manifested their deep hostility to the institutions of Virginia and the South, aid their fixed determinations to carry that hostility into every department of the Federal Government, and to exert all its patronage and influence, and the large powers they attribute to it, for the ultimate overthrow of our social organization. Resolved. That this hostile feeling and purpose in the non-slaveholding States has been growing for many years, and has been shown in the votes and speeches of their statesmen, in the teaching of their public and schools, in their literature and their state legislation. Resolved. That in view of their present sectional majority, and of the still larger majority which a successful exclusion of the South from the Territories most give, the safety and honor of Virginia and of the South require such additional guarantees as will give them an absolute security within the Union. Resolved. That we deem it proper that steps be taken at once to call a Convention of all the States, in order that such amendments of the Constitution may be adopted as will forever secure the debts of the South in the Union or in the event such security cannot be obtained, that the South may take steps to protect her own rights. Resolved. That in our opinion the use of force by the Federal Government to compel any State to remain within the Union, in the present condition of the country, must inevitably lead to a revolution in which Virginia will be constrained to take part with the South. Resolved. That we earnestly appeal to South Carolina, and the other Southern States, to unite with as in another effort to preserve the Union upon terms consistent with the safety and honor of the South. In Alexandria, Va, Friday night, a meeting was held, at which the following resolutions were unanimously adopted: 1, Resolved, That the Federal Union is founded in a mutual compact, between distinct, independent and sovereign States, and the powers granted under the Constitution, being derived from the people of the respective States, may be resumed by them, whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression. 2, Resolved. That it is one of the leading objects of government to secure to its citizens the rights of property, and it is therefore, the duty of Congress to pass such laws as may be necessary to secures such rights to the slaveholders of the several States of this Union, in the Territories, and where else the Federal Government has exclusive legislative control. 3 Resolved. That the willful and deliberate action of many of the Northern States, in defeating the provisions of the fugitive slave law by acts of legislation and by reckless mobs, cheered on by the mass of the people in their resistance to the execution of that law, presents a case of a "bargain" broken on one side, and therefore broken on all side and the Southern States of the Union, each and are there by absolved from its obligation if it by their will, or the will of either of them, to withdraw. 4 Resolved. That we regard the election of Abraham Lincoln end Hannibal Hamlin to the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States by suffrages of one part of the Union only to rule over the whole United States." and that part holding doctrines, and doing acts at war with the domestic social and political institutions of the other, as an emphatic affirmation of a purpose long since avowed, to destroy those institutions and, therefore, as leading inevitably to the destruction of this beautiful fabric reared by our forefathers cemented by their blood, and bequeathed to us as a priceless inheritance. 5. Resolved. That we recommend a Convention of the slaveholding States, to consider the most effective means of securing the rendition of fugitive slaves, and the rights of property as declared in the 2d resolution, if the same can be obtained in the Union; or if not to adopt such measures as will guard the rights and promote the welfare of the Southern States. The citizens of Fairfax Court-House, Va., and its vicinity, held a meeting on the 17th instant, when on motion of Thomas R. Love, Newman Burke was called to the Chair, and Thomas Moore appointed Secretary. Resolutions were adopted discountenancing the practice of ‘"standing masters for slaves"’ hired out, and of training with slaves. Also, in favor of breaking up the slave negro cabins in the neighborhood. Capt. Delany was requested to move the guns of his company to a room in the jail — and it was recommended that Capt. J. W. Jackson have a patrol of twenty-five men for the village and vicinity. The Democratic caucus of the North Carolina Legislature has nominated Senator Ollugman for re-election to the U. S. Senate. The Wilmington (N. C.) Minute Men resolutions have been laid before the State Legislature, and referred. Three series of resolutions have been offered in the North Carolina Legislature; one denying the right of secession, another affirming it, and a third declaring it inexpedient for North Carolina to join in a Southern Conference, or take any step at present. All were referred, without discussion. The Baptist Association of Charleston, S. C. has adopted resolutions denouncing the agitation of slavery from the pulpit. The following are the two last resolutions of the series. That in resisting the encroachments of the enemies of our domestic institutions, and opposing. ‘"The perverse dispatching of those men of corrupt mind and destitute of the truth,"’ on duty to God coincides with our duty to our country. I. Tinsley. Test we earnestly commend our beloved Commonwealth to the protection and guidance of Almighty God, beseeching him to enlighten the minds of our people, and strengthen their hearts and overrule all our affairs for the advancement of His Kingdom and the glory of His holy name. The Montgomery (Ala.) Mail has the following paragraph: ‘ One of our railroad companies has countermanded an order to a Northern factory for several hundred tons of rail. The reason is obvious; by next March we shall be out of an Union which imposes $15 or $20 a ton on railroad iron. How much will this save Southern railroads?’ Hon. Herschel V. Johnson has written a letter in reply to one signed by several members of the Georgia Legislature, in which he contends that Lincoln's election is not sufficient cause for dissolving the Union; but adds: But the South has grievances of which to complain far more galling than the bare election of a Republican to the Presidency. The surrender of fugitive slaves is a constitutional obligation upon every State in the Union.--Without such a guaranty the Union would never have been formed. It cannot long survive its continued and persistent disregard by the non-slaveholding States. The violation of it, by some, commenced almost simultaneously with the abolition agitation. It has ‘"grown with its growth and strengthened with its strength,"’ until now, in defiance of Federal enactments, a majority of those States have passed stringent laws to obstruct and hinder the recovery of fugitive slaves. True, the cotton States have not suffered very considerably, on this score; the evil necessarily falls mainly upon the border States. But all the slaveholding States have felt and do now keenly feel this infidelity of their Northern sisters to their plain constitutional obligation. They have said but little, however; they have submitted to it, almost without complaint.--Amidst the almost unmixed evil which I apprehend from the election of Lincoln, I see one good result, and that is the awakening of the South to these great grievances. They ought not to be permanently submitted to; but promptly redressed, upon the united demand of the South. Let the appeal be made to the delinquent State. Governor Johnson then refers to his previous opinions on the position of Georgia, and concedes as follows: These were my opinions as to the proper course for Georgia to adopt in 1850. As far as they are applicable to the present crisis. I would advise their adoption now. Then I would say: 1. Let this Legislature call a convention of the people, at such time as may be deemed most convenient, to consider and determine what the State should do; and also, in the meantime, put the State in a condition to meet any emergency. 2. Let that Convention reaffirm the Georgia Platform of 1850, and demand the repeal of all laws passed by any of the non-slaveholding States, which obstruct the execution, in good faith, of the act of Congress for the rendition of fugitive slaves. 3. Let that Convention appeal to the Northern States to suppress, by all legitimate measures, the slavery agitation, as of the peace and fraternity between the States of this Union. 4. Let that Convention . Congress for that purpose, or in such other manner as may be best calculated to secure concert of action. I repeat what I said in the letter alluded to: ‘"As to the means a Southern Congress ought to adopt to enforce these propositions, it would be presumption in me to venture a suggestion. I prefer rather to stand mute before the wisdom of its counsels and bow submissively to its decisions. I am willing to confide the interest, the honor and the rights of the South in the hands of such a body; and I feel sure that its moral influence, representing, as it would the patriotism, the intelligence and firm resolve of the South, would be potent to save the Union and awaken the Northern States to the danger with which their misguided fanaticism has imperiled it."’ I should hope that a firm and earnest appeal by the South to the Northern States would be needed; that they would, under a sense of constitutional obligation, repeal their ‘"personal liberty bills,"’ and cease to hinder the surrender of fugitive slaves. I repeat, a continued and persistent disregard of our rights in this particular, by the non-slaveholding States, cannot, and ought not, to be submitted to. It is time for the South to demand exemption from the agitation of slavery, from unjustifiable interference with our domestic peace and security, from further aggressions upon our rights, and the faithful observance by the Northern States of the requirements and guarantees of the Constitution. Let the business of redress be begun now and prosecuted to a final consummation. Let every effort be made and every means be exhausted to restore the Union back to what it was intended to be by its founders. It we fall in this, which I will not anticipate, then the interest, right, peace and honor of the South will require a dissolution of the Union. Hon. Sherrard Clemens, of Virginia, now in New Orleans, addresses a letter to his constituency in the Wheeling district, reiterating his determination to resign after his present term Speaking of the "question of the day," the writer says: ‘ As a border people, you have peculiar interest in the integrity of the Federal Government. The result of the recent Presidential election is made the pretext for an assault upon the Constitution, under the forms of which it has been decided. The hot and indecent haste of South Carolina meets with my unqualified condemnation. It perils whatever of merit there may have been hitherto in the cause of the South. It affords no remedy for alleged grievances, but will intensify every one of them. It may precipitate a revolution, which will end in a return to colonial dependence under the crown of England, or in making the cotton States mere stipendiaries upon the despotism of France. It is not necessary now to enlarge upon these considerations. I thank God ! I have lived to do you some service in this crisis. I shall resume my seat at the commencement of the session, and by my vote and by my voice, I shall resist the consummation of this great wrong against the Constitution and the laws. I shall obey no command except that which comes from you. If you should differ in opinion with me; if you should think that treason to the Confederacy should be dignified with the name of patriotism, let your instructions meet me at Washington, and I will at once resign into your hands all the official power you have so generously conferred upon me. ’ The following dispatches from Charleston and Columbus are published: Charleston, Nov. 23.--The Mercury in an editorial this morning ridicules the idea of blockading Charleston, and says a federal blockade would only hasten the consummation of a Southern Confederacy, and would fail to isolate South Carolina from the sister cotton States, as the British embargo failed in 1774 to isolate Massachusetts from her sister colonies. A ticket for the Convention appears in the morning papers, embracing the names which it is generally conceded will be elected from the Charleston district. The ticket is headed by ex-Senator Rhett and Judge McGrath, and is composed partly of old secessionists, partly of former co-operationists, but the present political views of all of them are announced by authority to be expressed in the following propositions: First.--That the Convention, when assembled, should withdraw South Carolina from the Confederacy of the United States as soon as the ordinance of secession can be framed. Second.--That after South Carolina withdraws from the Confederacy of the United States she should never be reunited with any of the non-slaveholding States of this Union, in any form of government whatever. A bill will be introduced in the Legislature, and will undoubtedly pass, providing that free negroes shall leave the State before the 1st of January, 1862, or then shall choose masters and be slaves. Cockades are in such demand that newsboys are selling them around the hotels.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.