The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-08-10
From the Mobile Tribune.
The Duties of Southern Citizen.

ernment are attacked, or any other schemes
ruinous to the general interest Of a nation are
pursued, the best service that can be done to
such a nation il to commence an early and viSo-
rous opposition to them for the event will al
ways show that those who form an opposition
in this manner are its truest friends, however
they may be stigmatized at first with odious
names, which belong more properly tofthose
who throw dirt ut them. If the opposition be-
gin late, or be carried on more fhintly than tho
exigency requires, evil will grow; nay,ntwill
grow the more by such an opposition, till it'be-
comes at length too inveterate for the ordinary
methods OF cure and whenever that happens,
whenever ,isurpations@ on riatunl liberty are
grown too strong 70 be checked by these ordi-
nary methods the people are reduced to this al
tentative: they must submit to slavery and beg
cary, the worst of all political evils; or they
must endeavor to prevent the impending mis-
chief by open force and resistance, which is an
evil but one degree less eligible than the other
The most plausible objection to this opposition,
begun early and carried on vigorously, arises
from false notion of moderation. True politi-
cal moderation consists in not opposing the
measures of government except when great and
national interests are at strike and when that Is
the case, in opposing them with such degree
OF warmth, as is adequate to the nature of the
il, to the circumstances of danger attending il,
and evento those Of opportunity. ~ To oppose
upon any other footing; TO oppose things which
are not blameworthy, or which are of no 1nate-
rial consequence to the national interest," with
such violence as may disorder the harmony of
the government, Is certainly faction; but tits
likewise faction, and faction of the worst Kind,
either not to oppose at oil, or not to oppose in
earnest when points of the greatest Importance
to the nation are concerned. 3t& bilp7Jc4
We have made the foregoing extract from
'srer1arks ON the history Of England by onesof
the most accomplished statesmen, eloquent ora
tors and brilliant writer's Of Great Britain during
the last century. They seem to us to define
with such exactness the duties of every patriot
in the South that no apology is necessary for the
quotation. 1t is the fashion of the papers inthe
interest Of parties-thos whowould reduce the
country under servile party rile--to denounce
as ultras,e factonists and whatever names an in
vention fertile in the production of foul epithets
can furnish AL those in the South who will not
capituiate on the terms which presidentialaspi-
rants and their lieutenants may devise. The men
who submit with coinplnisance to such TERMS,
they descrbeas wise, conciatory, national states
men. Moderation with these papers consists in
the abandonment Of high principles and the ex-
posure fthe dearest rights of freemen in jeop-
ardy The moderation which refuses to dis
place an innocent office-holder for entertaining
anropinion honestly, or which refuses to support
an incapable party candidate is a moderation of
which they have no conception or understand
ing. We have in the foregoing, extract tests by
which to ascertain whether we are in the line of
our duty. r7f ~ n3oT - IKE
All sober-minded and rejecting men must see
that the couiitryi is in state of distraction, if
not of danger. The direction which our gov-
eminent is now to receive must determine its
fate. From what we have never ceased to Der
lieve was capital error, an empire has been
added to the Union. 70 the propriety of its
introduction scarcely an intelligent inquiry has
been directed. So innamcd and maddened has
the country been by the slavery agitation that
hardly 4 citizen has ever thought to ask what
need has the United States of these domains,
three thousand miles distant, which form the
subject of quarrel On the subject of slavery,
however, in its relation to these dominions,
there is hardly man in the country SO indf-
ferent as not to be enlisted in a party OH the
subject. The States South have insisted that
no determinations could constitutionally'sb
made between their property and the property
held il, the other half Of the Union They con-
tend for eq,tality of right in the territories.
| They show that for the conquest Of those ter
rtories their blood and treasure was expended.
They insist their Institutions, and themselves as
connected with them, shall not be disparaged by
d government which WIS created by them and
for them as for the remainder OF the States. ~
These claims are repadiatcd, derided md set
at naught. The Southern States show That
they have been excluded BY net Of Congress
from above one million Of square miles OF the
territories now belonging to the United States.
That the whole extent of their present demand
is for an ingress into less than one-foufth of
i
are willing to yield the gelden deposites in The
mountains Of California and the harbors Of Sur
francisco and Monterey to Northern avarice
and ambition--in fine, everything save open,
public, acknowledged dIshonor Hitherto we
have had nothing better proffered, except that
Free-soil shall remain free-the status gtso. The
laws of Mexico are employed to repel the con-
querors of the armies of Mexico from settle
ment in the conquest. E'is
No patriot is allowed to despair ofiris country
No citizen Is authorized to suspend his efforts,
in oppositionto bad measures because success
appears doubtful or uncertain Oiithe'cortrary,
the very magnitude of the difficulty should in
cite to new exertions. this is t.ue Of ordinary
measures, Of much greater consequence Is this
principle, when athe fundamentals Of the Con-
stitution are attacked" We commit treason
TO the Constitution when we reposc upon its
violations. fd 'l@A t % y ~ ft1
What right has any citizen in the South to
assert that Congress will not yield to Il firm,
strenuous, urgent mperiousdemand ofour claims
if made by the united action'of these States?
What right has any citizen to ground his arms,
at the very first demand Of the ehemy! what
justification is there for that abrrfl.nt spirit Of
obsequiousness that rol,tntecrs It's pusilaninr5us
offerings Of submission TO injustices When
the wrong sipfictcd when the injustice il done,
these offers will be III time. There seems to Be
an indecorum in making parade ofthe patience
with which ignominious treatment viii be re-
ceived On principle, we have and shall abstain
from those discussions which, in anticipation of
wrong or Injustice, threaten retaliation or spe-
cifc modes Of resistance. Willie this Covert
ment remains constituted as it is there are forms
of resistance that are adequate to the removal
Of the largest number Of grievances we may be
ca led to endure There are preventive RENE
dies which, in skilifu hands, will avert the
laroroof c)aoa az ipinriors measures Tn the et-