The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-20
Let the south Prepare.

Let the South Prepare aaa-a Cd.
We congratulate the South on the position
assumed by the Nashville Convention. The
recent acts of spoliation by Congress are repu-
dated, the right of Secession is asserted, a Con-
gress of the Southern States is proposed, and
the rights of the South proclaimed-in the
Union if possible--if not--they must be pre-
served. '". '.."
The Convention has acted wisely, faithfully
and firmly It. has refused to submit to the
late stupendous attempt of Congress to sacrifice
one section of the country to the power Of the
other The Convention has treated with the
contempt they merit the pretenees and excuses
assigned for the deed, and have called on the
States of the South to take council together In
a Congress of delegates representing their sover-
eign character. .a"s $751;. .... g.. a.....
The South will now profoundly investigate
all the elements of her condition and destiny
She will examine the principles of her domestic
safety, her social prosperity and her political
greatness. She will choose between the alter
natives of waiting to defend her firesides, or
acting now for the advance of mighty system
to empire She looks from her farms and plan.
tations on the Atlantic and Mississippi to the
] golden land of California, the dominion of the
Pacific and the commerce of the East, and will
determine whether she will assert her right to
wealth and power, or whether she will bow
down to the aggressor for brief and uncertain
respite from the fate of Jamaica and Saint
Domingo before her. These questions will
awaken the thoughts and quicken the pulses, OF
the people in every dwelling, from the Delaware
to the Rio Grande, from the shores Of the Gulf
of Mexico ever blooming with summer, to where
the Missouri pours his icy flood from the track
less plains and mountains Of the West The
Sout! will tread the westward path OF empire
hand in hand with the North to the Pacific, or
she will tread it alone. The elements OF a great
continental epic are in action, which none but a
Milton could sing, and greater than ever inspired
the muse Of history. The fate of sections, OF
institutions, Of races, Of continents, Of seas and
of islands, of civilization and Of liberty, Is In
volved Let us hope that the struggle will be
a moral one, worthy of the age, worthy of the
parties, worthy of the principles, worthy of the
consequences. Let us employ in the conflict
the reason and the virtues of our race, and the
telegraph, the post, the press and the ballot box
not the arguments of cannon and OF charging
squadrons on fields Of smoke and slaughter.
But the argument must be made, and every
State and son of the South are called on to do
their duty.
1t is great era-greater if possible than that
of the Revolution-greater in its causes and in
its consequences. The South summons her
rising sons to greatness and to fame: summons
them by the voices of her sages. TAzEwELL and
CaEvEs, and TRouP and LUMPKIN, the men who
have transmitted to this generation from the
last the electric fire of liberty and of genius.
Let them gather to her council-let there be a
council where wisdom shall preside over the
deliberations, and destiny attest its decisions.
But let no faltering or treacherous spirit be
found there. 1t will not be place or time
for the weak, the serve or the timd the tricks
of party or the low ambition of spoilers Let
the talent, the energy and the principle of the
South alone be eligible to seats in that great
political sanctuary of her States.