must take decided action upon the continued attacks of the North against
their domestic institutions, or submit in silence to that humiliating
position in the opinions of mankind, that longer acquiescence must
inevitably reduce them to.... The agitation of the subject of slavery
commenced in the fanatical murmurings of a few scattered abolitionists,
to whom it was a long time confined; but now it has swelled into a
torrent of popular opinion at the North; it has invaded the fireside and
the church, the press and the halls of legislation; it has seized upon
the deliberations of Congress, and at this moment is sapping the
foundations, and about to overthrow the fairest political structure that
the ingenuity of man has ever devised.
"The overt efforts of abolitionism were confined for a long period to
annoying applications to Congress, under color of the pretended right of
petition; it has since directed the whole weight of its malign influence
against the annexation of Texas, and had wellnigh cost to the country
the loss of that important province; but emboldened by success and the
inaction of the South, in an unjust and selfish spirit of national
agrarianism it would now appropriate the whole public domain. It might
well have been supposed that the undisturbed possession of the whole of
Oregon Territory would have satisfied the non-slaveholding States. This
they now hold, by the incorporation of the ordinance of 1787 into the
bill of the last session for establishing a territorial government for
Oregon. That provision, however, was not sustained by them from any
apprehension that the territory could ever be settled from the States of
the South, but it was intended as a gratuitous insult to the southern
people, and a malignant and unjustifiable attack upon the institution of
slavery.
"We are called upon to give up the whole public domain to the fanatical
cravings of abolitionism, and the unholy lust of political power. A
territory, acquired by the whole country for the use of all, where
treasure has been squandered like chaff, and southern blood poured out
like water, is sought to be appropriated by one section, because the
other chooses to adhere to an institution held not only under the
guaranties that brought this confederacy into existence, but under the
highest sanction of Heaven. Should we quietly fold our hands under this
assumption on the part of the non-slaveholding States, the fate of the
South is sealed, the institution of slavery is gone, and its existence
is but a question of time.... Your committee are unwilling to anticipate
what will be the result of the combined wisdom and joint action of the
southern portion of the confederacy on this question; but as an
initiatory step to a concert of action on the part of the people of
South Carolina, they respectfully recommend, for the adoption of this
meeting, the following resolutions:--
"_Resolved_, That the continued agitation of the question of slavery, by
the people of the non-slaveholding States, by their legislatures, and by
their representatives in Congress, exhibits not only a want of national
courtesy, which should always exist between kindred States, but is a
palpable violation of good faith towards the slaveholding States, who
adopted the present Constitution 'in order to form a more perfect
union.'
"_Resolved_, That while we acquiesce in adopting the boundary between
the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States, known as the Missouri
Compromise line, we will not submit to any further restriction upon the
rights of any southern man to carry his property and his institutions
into territory acquired by southern treasure and by southern blood.
"_Resolved_, That should the Wilmot Proviso, or any other restriction,
be applied by Congress to the territories of the United States, south of
36 deg. 30 min. north latitude, we recommend to our representative in
Congress, as the decided opinion of this portion of his district, to
leave his seat in that body, and return home.
"_Resolved_, That we respectfully suggest to both houses of the
legislature of South Carolina, to adopt a similar recommendation as to
our senators in Congress from this State.
"_Resolved_, That upon the return home of our senators and
representatives in Congress, the legislature of South Carolina should be
forthwith assembled to adopt such measures as the exigency may demand.
"The resolutions were then submitted, _seriatim_, and, together with the
report, were unanimously adopted."