Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1839-04-25
From tho Columbia Telescope

we ask the people OF The State 10 conslde
J. calmly and without prejudice, the position i
which they now stand, and TO which they hav
been carried by their present leaders
No State in the Union with the exceptio
perhaps, OF Virginia, in the days Of her old re
nown) has ever occupied as high position Il
THAT of South Carolina, two years ago, lie
courageous opposition TO the destructive usurp
tons Of The Tarif-The undauned front will
which she defed the threatened force oc tn,
Federal government, led on by the lerociou
ltyrant whose fury had awed all others into sub
missive iear-The gaIantry and frmness will
which she persevered iu the Notification con
test, through years of gloom and terror, from
It's beginning in 1898 until lis purposes were
accomplished in l833-IIer Sead(as devotion
to her principles, regardless of the paItry OBJ
ects Of emolumeut and spoils for which other
States were squabbling-The genins of her
statesmen, and the contempt with which they
rejected all temptations Of Federal Offices and
distinctions, as interfering with their supreme
fidelity TO her-All these caused her to be look
ed upon as State that could be neither terrified
nor seduced-as the guardian Of the constitu-
tion--the foremost in every contest where lib
erty and honour were to be either preserved
or won-and covered her with reputation
which we fondIy hoped would be as lasting as
liz was glorious.
OF all public men on the theatre Of the Uni
on, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren,
we're the two whom South Carolina had most
cause 20 abhor; and she accordingly bestowed
upon them the full measure Of her deestaton
! The first, however much she might hate, she
could not despise; for he possessed qualities
which at least forbid contempt. But Van Bu-
rem, without single one Of the traits which lent
fierce dignity to Jackson's character, was The
owner Of his vices merely.-Iiis litleness, his
Ihypocricy, his fraud, his mcanness, his readi-
ness TO make or to violate any pledge as his in
Iterest might seem 10 enquire rendered him,
in the opinion of South Carolina, an object Of
'unmitigated scorn.
That South Carolina, therefore, would ever
support Martin Van Buren,, two years ago
would have been regarded as moral impossi-
blitY That she should embrace the Missouri
restrctionist, the Tarilfite, the minion Of Jack
son, the head Of the ruliian kitchen and spoiIs
dynasty, the enemy of her and of all she ever
ioved-was a revolution too shocking to bel
thought Of 1t would be passing, at a singiet
step, from honor to shame, from grandeur 10
litIeness, from glory to humiliation.
Nevertheless, the leaders Of the Sub-rreasu-
ry party undertook in 1897 to carry the State
10 Van Buren-hayc accomplished that purpose
10 a considerable degree, and there is too much
reason to fear may completely succeed. The
bill pHh tie specie clause, served
Is the prctcxt. 1t was said that that was
Southern measure, which demanded that the
State should support the Administration which
proposed it. The antl-subtre; sury party, we
mong them, in our humble sphere, warned the
,eople that this was mere devce--that the
cal object was to commit the State to Van Bu-
en- inthe Presidential contest The sub-Trcas-
lrers denied this charge declared that they
upported Van Buren, because he supported
southern measures--and that they would be a.
gainst him if he dropped the hard money sub
Treasury.
Such were their pledges. How have they
been kept? Why at the meeting of Congress
asst December, the sub-TreaSury bill was
brought forward in each House, by the Admin
stration, 'cith0M the specie .ciause. 1t was to-
ally changed from the shape in which South
Carolina approved it. 1t was rendered ia
nockery," as Mr.. Calhoun expressed ia
hing worse than the United States Bank; sol
hat Mr. Calhoun himself voted against it.
Tho Northern man with Southern principles
dropped his Southern principles, as he would
an old garment that had answered its purpose.
Has single man abandoned Mr.. Van Buren,,
now that be has abandoned the South Carolina
measure! No not one. The leaders ofthc sub,
Treasury party, in Congress and at homo, IRE
the most loyal of his adhprcntS