Weekly national intelligencer., 1850-03-16
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.
THE AGITAToRs SOUTH.

The Washington " Union is, in the matter of
the Nashville Convention, and its supporters and
opponents, in the very unenviabe predicament
which is understood by the phrase between hawk
and buzzard''-that is, neither one thing nor the
other. We have from it one day chapter on one
side, the next day lecture the other and so on.
The latest of alternatons in its number Of yester-
day, is on the side of the Disunionists, or, what
amounts to the same thing, the Macontent Conven-
tionists. I'VE shall not" say the Editors depart
from the general course which we have prescribed
to ourseves"-that is to say, being on both sides
in relation to the present exciting controversy be-
tween the North and the South; but, at the re-
quest of an eminent gentleman from the South,
whom we believe to be as warm and devoted a
patriot as there is in the whole Union, publish
the following articles from the New Orleans Delta,
which he assures us represent truly the state of
feeling in the great Southern emporium. We
copy them merely as evidence of public senti-
ment in Louisiana. without expressing an opinion
with regard to the sentiments which the articles
express"
Fie for shame! Frigid indifference, and cold
and unfeeling neutrality, upon question involving
the existence of the Union! Does such a course
become, we will not say the junior but the venera-
bic senior editor of the +" Union -
But to those articles from the New Orleans
:. Delta,'' which are paraded in the " Union" as
rebutting testimony against the numerous extracts
from Southern papers which we have copied into
our columns the venerable Editor of the Union"
knows perfectly well that the paragraphs of the
" Delta weigh absolutely nothing against the op.
posile testimony which we have placed before our
readers, and, glad to learn from this notice
of them, before the readers of the Union also. We
have no time to spare to-day, intending tomorrow,
with Gods will, to endeavor to show that there are
two sides to this Convention question, and that the
" Union newspaper will find itself under the ne
cessty of coming out, later, either TOR the
Union or against it. Meantime, conclusive
answer to what the /" Union and the eminent
gentleman from the South have to say against the
evidence which we have copied from the press OF
the South we insert the following extract from one
of the leading prints of the West, which has just
caught our eye:
FROM THE WEEKLY cIScIsyATI GAZETTE OF MARCH 7.
:. It is in the line of our daily business to look
over the leading papers of all the Southern States,
. and we have other means Of being well posted
: up as to the prevailing Southern opinion and
sentiment; and we are quite certain that the popu
/. lar feeling and sentiment Of the South is mode
rate in comparison with that of their Representa-
/. tives.' With the exception Of the charleston
: Mercury and few other prints, the Southern
papers hare pery little to say about dissolution,
and that little is either in ridicule denu,acia-
tion of the REASONABLE agitation and its authors.
Southern editors talk about railroads, the foreign
news, the crops, steamboat explosions, the price
.of cotton and other staples, and the thousand other
topics of newspaper discussion, just as if the
Union was in no present or prospective danger.
And it is also quite apparent that the usual every
day business Of life goes on at the South with the
same average attention before the Union was
SO seriously threatened with imminent danger of
dissolution. Judging from the papers and other
sources of information, buying and selling goes
usual houses built, ships 60 to sea, hotels
visited by merchants and strangers, dinners
are cooked and eaten there is marrying and CIV
ing in marriage; and, in short, all the ordinary
functions of an organized society who
conscious and fearless of danger, are daily going
: on among the Southern people, whom we are
told their Representatives in Congress cannot
control
g We do not, therefore, believe there is any real
danger of dissolution of the Union. We believe
the danger has been exaggerated, and that panic
:. has been desgnedy created by demagogues and
reckless politicians"