Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1832-03-22

must govern; from which there is or can
be no appeal but to the sword. That
majority ought to govern wisely, equita-
bly,, moderately, and consttutionally but
govern ii must, subject only to that terri
Bile appeal. If ever one, or several
States, being a minority, can, by menac-
ing dissolution of the Union, succeed
in forming an abandonment of great
measures, deemed essential to the inter-
ests and prosperity of the whole, the I'm
ion, from that moments practically gone.
1t may lnger on, in form and name, but
its vital spirit has fled forever! Enter-
tanning these deliberate opinions, | would
entreat the patriotic People Of South Car
oIina-the land of Marion, SumPter, and
Pickens; ;of Rutledge, Laurens, the Pinck-
neys, and Lowndes-of living and pre-
sent names, which | would mention if
they were not living or present-to pause,
solemnly pause and contemplate the
frightiul precipce which lies directly be-
fore them. To retreat may be painful
and Notifying to their gallantry & pride,
but it is to retreat to the Union, to safe
ty, and to those brethren, with whom, or
with whose ancestors, they, or their an
cestors, have won, on fields of glory, i'm
pcrishable renown. To advance, is to
rush on certain and inevitable disgrace
and destruction.
We have been told of deserted castles,
of uninhabited halls, and of mansions,
once the seats of opuence and hospital
ty, now abandoned and mouldering in
ruins never had the honor of being in
South Carolina; but have heard and
read Of the stories of its chiyalry, and OF
its generous and open hearted liberality.
| have heard, too, of the struggles for
power between the lower and upper coun
try. The same causes which existed in
Virginia, with which | have been ac-
quainted. | presume, have had their in
! fluence in Carolina. In whose hands
now are the once proud seats of Westo-
yer, Curl, May Shirley" and others
on James River, and in lower Virginia
Under the operation of laws, abolishing
the principle of primogeniture, and pro-
vding the equitable rule of an equal dis
tribulion of estates among those in equal
degree of consanguinity, they have pas
scd into other and stranger hands. Some
Of the descendants of illustrious families
have gone to the far West, whilst others,
lingering behind, have contrasted their
present condition with that of their vene-
rated ancestors. They behold them
selves excluded from their fathers hou-
ses, now in the hands of those who were
once their fathers overseers, or sinking
into decay; their imaginations paint an
cient renown, the fading honors of their
names, glores gone by; too poor to live,
too proud to work, too high-minded and
honorable to resort to ignoble means of
acquisition, brave, daring, ,chiv alrous, ,,ohat
can be the cause of their present unhap-
py state' The "accursed" taritfpresents
itself to their excited imaginations, and
they blndly rush into the ranks Of those
who, uniuring the banner of nullificatio
would place State upon its sovereign
ity!
The danger to our Union does not lie
on the side of persistence in the Ameri-
can System, but on that of its abandon
ment. II, as have supposed and be-
lieve, the inhabitants of all North and
East of James River, and all West of the
mountains including Louisiana, are deep
y interested in the preservation Of that
System, would they be reconciled to its
overthrow? Can it be expected that two
thirds, if not three lourhs, of the People
of the United States would consent to
the destruction of a policy, believed to
be lndlspensably necessary to their pros
perityi When, too, this sacrifice is made,
at the instance Of a single interest, which
they verify believe will not be promoted
by it, In estimating the degree Of peril
which may be incident to two opposite
courses of human policy. the statesman
would be short-sghted who should con-
tent himself with viewing only the evils,
real or imaginary, which belong to that
course which is in practical operation.-
fle should lift himself up to the contem-
plation of those greater and more certain
dangers which might inevitably attend
the adoption of the alternative course
" hat would be the condition of this I'm
ion, if Pennsylvania, and New-York,
those mammoth members Of our confede-
racy, were firmly persuaded that their
industry was paralysed, and their pros
perity blighted, by the enforcement ofthe
British Colonial System, under the delu-
sive name of free trade' They are now
tranquil, and happy, contented, conscious
OF their welfare, and feeling a salutary
and rapid circulation Of the products of
home manufactures and home industry
throughout all their great arteries. But
let that be checked, let them feel that
foreign system Is to predominate, and the
sources Of their subsistence and comfort
dried up; let ew-Eng land and the West,
and the Middle States, all feel that they