Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1846-02-02
FEELING.
Southern Men rah Northern Principles.

illiberal SECTIONAL feeling TO which politicians Of
a certain class make such frequent and impassion-
cd appeals. We can perceive its baneiul opera.
ton and mischievous results, even within the
comparatively narrow limits of our own Common.
wealth. No grand and comprehensive scheme Of
improvement, has ever been pushed to its com-
pletion in Virginia, for the simple reason that
pi,iful and contracted local interests have retard-
cd its progress, and sacrificed the general good
to the selfshness and jealousy Of cliqucs and fac
tons. Men will MT raise their eyes, and look
beyond the limited horizon which surrounds their
birth place and their home. So that their own
immediate Interests are subserved. the wants and
restitution of others appear to have no claim upon
their sympathies, and they can regard with an
unmoved gaze, a PROSTATE State, fettercd IN
every limb by the cords with which her Lillipu-
tan enemies have embarrassed her progress. The
Blue Ridge, which should be a bond of union, is
beginning to appear like a dangerous reef of
rocks upon which the integrity of the State may
be wrecked, and its people, f~orsaking the good
| old ship which has borne them so long upon one
deck, and beneath one honored flag, cast adriit,
never again to be assembled in their ancien. ia
| mily communion.
The same sectional feeling is making itself
C.lt upon the wider thsstre of the National Union,
and with 4 far more certain prospect of disss-
trous results. Has II not been the plain object
| If the doctrines advocated by a handful Of fanat.
les at the North, 10 hasten a dissolution of our
Confederacyl And on the other hand, is it not
evident that the direct tendency of the course for
a long time pursued by certain politicians of the
South, was precisely in the same d%irectionl
While they have not manfully preached up open
disunion, they have sedulously taught the men Of
the South To consider the men Of the North their
natural enemies. Sneers at the character OF our
Northern brethren, and exaggerated representa-
lions of their hostility to Southern Institutions,
have been scattered upon every breeze, and are
at last, we seriously fear, about to spring up in a
plentiful harvest of mutual aversion and distrust.
Such aspersions were but too well calculated TO
awaken suspicion in the South, 10 make men
pause and calculate the value Of a Union which
renders them but subservient Instruments for the
aggrandizement of a cunning and ayaricious race,
until at last the golden links which, from the
Northern Lakes to the Mexican Gulf, have united
thus Confederacy in bonds Of love and order, as
sumo TO their eyes the aspect of a ponderous
chain around a c%aptive's neck, which they must
break with the whole strength Of a freeman's arm,
or 60 down, vassals, 10 their graves. 1t is idle to
think that this Union is, or can be, upheld and
preserved by written laws, or by physical force.
The parchment upon which its organic law is
inscribed, could as easily resist the force Of a
bowling tempest, as the Constitution sustain itself
against the blast Of popular displeasure. Our
Union is a strong and beautiful fabric, but its
| E,,,J,t,,, ra.t. - Tho rn,,Ia. b.,-, 81 ,,b.Ia
its massive walls cOu'd bid defiance forever to
the assaults oil an open foe, the insidious worm Of
disaffcction may undermine its base, and reduce
the magnii cent structure to a heap Of ~crumbling
ruins. IT IL love alone that can ensure the perpe
tulty Of our government, and when the mutual
esteem, respect, and confidence, which unite its
various parts, are destroyed. we have cut away
the sheet.anchor which holds the Ship Of State TO
her moorngs, and she must plunge forth into a
iumuituous ocean Of anarchy, without chart or
compass TO guide her on her course.
We trust, however, that the signs Of the times
Indicate a more p~ropltious result; for the welfare
Of our nation, and the cause Of liberty ITSELF Is
it not singular, that we hear at this time so little
apprehension Of Northern aggrandizemont from
most Of the men, with whom in 1914, il was a
most prolific theme for tongue and penl Is il
not a marvel that the South has so suddenly reco
yored from her perilous state Of insecurity as to
be able to cheer on the North in that work of
territorial extension, which must increase 10 an
lndef nite extent Northern power in the councils
Of the nationl How suddenly have these fire
brands Of disunion been eItinguishedl How
soon has the croak or tho raven been changed into
the gentle cooling and billing Of the dovei Is
the possession u TEXAS the sweet morsol which
has transformed the hatred Of these peculiar guar.
dams Of the South into OVERLOOKING ai1ectionl
We know not, but 10 us II seems that they are
now going To an extreme Of intimacy, with
Northern politicians, as moons stcnt and improper
as their former excessive dislike. Glance but a
moment at the map, and Ict the Southern reader,
tracing thu parallel u So 80 minutes, and bear
ing IA mind that any adj lttion Of territory north
Of that Inc, - 10 be composed Of free States,
explain, IL he can, the lsryor and lmpotuosiry
with which Soutaefn gentlemen contend Tor an
accession Of territory IN that quarter, FAR EXCEED.
fNc ~ EXTENT THE WHOLE ~ rms SOUTHERN
STATES OP rms USGoNl Was ever such incoL-
sisteHcy-such madncs.l How Is i've call
upon thsm 10 explain TO The people how il is, that
they, the peculiar guardians Of the South, are
found fighting eide by side With the venerable
agitator from Massichus IT,, aud shoulder IA
shoulder with the monomaniac Giddings, who
ayows that his very object in the movement u
ruin TO tho SoIthl II may 10 magnanimry ia
provide Tor an enormous accession u FREQ States
to the Union, hut ~ il quite consistent with the
dictates Of prudence and sclC representation or, Il
Z -, - tho object 10 valuable as to warrant The
South IN obtaining il at the expense Of IT, most
valuable lives and dearest i~niereEtsl
But extremes sometimes meet, and wo nov