The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1836-1851, 1850-05-24
THE SOUTH AND THE NORTH.

take a position OF hOSthlty I'd the si'seh".un'S
States shall make it matter OF triumph TO
cheat and defraud them, to insult their feelings,
to weaken their power, and deprive them OF
all reliance on its Justice and its protections
When the Union was formed it consisted on
" of the States on the Atlantic border-a fee
HE mart of that grand dominion which stretch
es from ocean to ocean, and holds IN us hands
the destinies Of new world. But there was
even then vast territory belonging to Virginia
the Carolinas, and Georgia. 1t was given by
them to the Union, and one half of it allowed to
be appropriated to the North. Louisiana was
subsequently acquired; it was slave territory,
the whole Of it. The South yielded up SO dis.
appropriate part to the North, that even the thl.e,
subsequent annexation of Texas, giving her all
the extent she claims, was very far from equal.
isinr the acquisition of the two sections. thus
far. all the increase of the domain Of the Con-
federacy, had been by the acquisition OF slave
territory and the gift Of Southern States. And
vet at the end, the North is found in possession
of immensely the largest share. The South
had surrendered her advantages, had given up
her superiority of possession, and for the sake
of harmony, had beggared herself to enrich the
rival section. She expected, doubtless, that
this generous selfsacri6ce would be gratefully
remembered, and that she would be repaid IN
love for the free bestowal of an empire. King
Lear had the same visions, and woke from them
to the same reality, to find that those to whom
he had given all, returned his benefits with ha'
tired, persecution and outlawry.
It is not, then. because the South has here
tofore been greedy gilmore than her share, than
she is now required to relinquish to the North
the whole of the latest acquisitions of the whole
Confederacy. Is there anything in the clrcum-
stances of that gives color of fairness to the at.
tempt to deprive her of all participation in it!
The territory was the prize of war-the reward
oflaborious campaigns and many bloody battles.
For this war, the Southern States contributed
not only more men, in proportion their PoPula.
ton, but absolutely more men, than the North.
ern. And that State which which now stands
pre.emiuent in the violence with which she de.
mands that all the acquisitions of the war shall
be appropriated to the North, refused by her
public authorities, to encourage the raising of a
single regiment within her borders, and when it
was raised, refused to appropriate dollar for
the subsistence and comfort of the soldiers on
their march to Join the armies of their country.
Such is the title of Massachusetts, to the lions
share in the new territories. 1t is the title, not
of the soldier who faces danger and death for
the glory of his flag, but of the vulture that
hovers in the rear of battle and fattens on its
blood. But the whole Free Soil party of the
North, which now claim as their own the re.
wards of all our Mexican achievements, acted
the same patriotic part during the war; and a
conspicuous leader eff their traitorous faction in
the Senate, spoke the spirit of the whole, when
he invoked for our heroic soldiers in Mexico, a
welcome from their enemies with bloody hands
to hospitable graves"
But there is another view of this natter
The war involved the country in heavy debt;
atleast sixty millions of dollars. Fifteen mil,
lions more were stipulated to be paid to Mexico
in the treaty of peace. The revenues of the
United States are derived almost wholly from
taxes on commerce. OF this commerce the
South furnishes one hundred millions to forty
millions from the North. Five seventbs of the
revenue Of the United States is derived from
Southern products, and that is the proportion
they have to pay of the expenses of the Mexican
war and the price of the ceded territory. 1t is
idle, and worse than idle, it is dishonest, to call
this inquestion. So far are the Northern States
from feeling the burdens of federal taxation,
and it has been with the EXTREMIST difficulty
that they have been prevented from fixing upon
us.a rate of taxation so high as to threaten the
existence of the commerce that thus supported
the Government. This was not from any love
of taxation. These people are anything but
lavish of their own means, and are easily disturb.
ed by heavy taxes which they have to pay
And so well do they understand the matter, that
the citizens of that town in Massachusetts who
strenuously refused to be assessed to defray the
small expenses of covering with earth the bones
oe their Ex.President, have always been with
great unanin,ity in favor of the heaviest burdens
on commerce. They know well that the purses
of the people Of Quincy are not lightened by
the process.
The South, has fought for this territory, fur.
nishing far more than her proportion of the
soldiery who carried the flag of their couu-
try over victorious battle.felds, till they
planted it on the walls of the Mexican Cap.
ital The South has paid in money, as in
blood, far more than her share of the cost of the
acquisition. By what right then, is she denied
the benefits of an achievement which has been
so largely her work! The reasons given for
excluding her from the participation in these
acquisitions, are as insulting to her feelings as
the ac. itself is aggressive upon her rights and
injurious to her interests They rob her of her