The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-09-16
From the Savannah Georgian.


IT is now agreed by ALL that our land is the thea
tire Of the deep discontents, and that the angry
elements of strife and division are every day
gathering and deepening in evil portent. But
a lew months ago there We're mon of distinguish
ed authority in Congress who were always ready
to answer arguments predicated upon danger
to the Union with silent sneers. These men
sneer no longer An oyerweening confidence
in the moral and physical force of majorities
has need of being treasured, and men who have
forced us to think by their conduct that they re-
garded might as right, now seem to fear that might
is possibly not quite strong enough for the ter
rble wear and tear that it is likely to be SUBJ
jccted to in these evils days. When all agree
there Is danger ahead, the next thing that the
good and wise should be concernedabout, is how
are we to recover lost ground? If liberty-if
security and peace in the limits of the thirty
States have been brought into jeopardy, then
are we as people grossly at fault, and have no
right to excaim against any thing but our per
verse folly for the consequences whatever they
may be- We have grown wanton in the very
excess of Heavens bounties, and we tempt the
arm to strike us down that has been so signally
barred in our defence and in our aid. There is
incxcusable wrong some where. And first we
frankly declare that in our opinion, that system
OF Legislation that is ever the source of bitter
ordinations on the part OF the minority is Of
most equivocal wisdom and advantage.
We wouldnot be misunderstood We would
be far from installing the outbursts of selfish
passion-the carping of factious opposition for
opposition sake, for that honest remonstrance
from men patient under fair and proportionate
burdens. They are too clearly distinguishable
to mislead any one. Has then the past history
of our government, based as that government
is upon the equal sovereignties and the equal
rights of the States, been as tolerant and
respectful to the honest opp Jsition of min
critics as it should have been? We think
not, and we do most confidently believe we see
in this disregard Of the feelings of the weaker
parties the feint germ of that wide spread dis
favor into which the Federal Legislature has late
ly been brought. 1t was sad miscalculation
when il was thought that sound legislation con-
sisted in undoubted majorities simply; and when
it was argued that all opposition was inadmis-
sible when measures of government had upon
their side the naked constitutional formalities
For thirty years a respectable body of States
in this Union has contended that even the legiti-
mate powers of the Federal Government have
been overstrained and that the spirit of the COM
pact has been habitually disregarded, even
though its letter may have been preserved
This then was unwise and we fear fatal, when
we reflect for one instant upon the nature of this
Union. When we remember that its strength
is not in numbers or in bayonets, but in moral
power and in fraternal unity, how much better
had the hand of the General Government hung
idle and powerless so far as its cooperation was
concerned in advancing the interests of States
than that such discords and jealousies as now
vex the land should have been excited by the
opposite course. What splendors in association
with our national character can compensate fol
the loss of internal harmony, and that silent anC
unobtrusive power which inheres to the life of {
contented and confding people. We may unite
great seas by the mastery gained over an inter
yening c0ntinent-we may Danish bcggary from
this land, make a starving a curiosity by hoard
ing oceans of wealth--thc government may
school every man, woman and child--it may
make its every square acre garden, but after
all this what would this Union be but better
sort Of purgatory in which the spirit of liberty
was imprisoned, without union of the hearts
Of this people. That u,iion no longer erists.--
AS honest men and faithful chronclers we are
bound TO say, that never in the history of this
people, have men---yea whole States Of men,
been more miserably divided--more hopelessly
sundered by bitter heart hatred than now divides
members of this Union. We really doubt if the
patriots of 1888 ever felt towards the Hessans
a more intense and unreenting enmity than has
now become the general temper of whole COM
munitics North and South.
In this state of things what hope is there for
people SO distracted Can we in the remis-
sons of this feeling do anything to advance the
good of the country! Alas this rage has nc
remissons, but grows daily more aggravated
1t would be madness to stay together for pur-
poses Of selftorment, and the friends of Union
for
uniting The minds and hearts of this people to
entitle their counses to the least respect. Would
it not be better before the adjournment of the
present Congress for the Southern States to UNI
derstand explicitly the Northern States, TO drop
the plummet into the troubled waters and take
their souudings. Could we know the reasona-
BILE hopes that men had Of restoring the sort OF
Union we have been speaking of we might then
begin to project measures of Cancellation. But
in the present temper of Congress the Union
cannot last long. Upon this prediction we are
willing to stake our lives. We 90 farther and
say that neither would the Union be worth pre-
serving Why deal with papable things right
in our path, so gingerly that we make nothing
but moonshine. out of them? Dangers encom-
pass us on every side--the Union is danger IL
selE-the peace of the country is gone--the fra
ternal respect and comfy of the people changed
to- hate--tlie deliberations of Congress turned
into raving denuncations and libelings of two
sections Of the Union, and the General Govern
ment is no longer regarded as common defence
or common friend What is to be done, OF
let us ask all good men in the country who have
anything TO loose, sohat can be DONE There is
a volume of history in the answer TO this ques.
ton. A
r-sy VALUABLE LUMP OF GoLp.--Messrs
Willie a. CO., of Boston, the Post of that city
says, hive received by the Cherokee, from their
California house, large box of specimens OF
gold ore and cinnabar; also, single lump OF
agold quartz" weighing twenty-four pounds,
worth about five thousand dollars. Phis extra
ordinary lump has beenpurchased by returned
| Californian, who intends TO exhibit it in this
country. II is said to be the richest mass OF It's
size that has yet been discovered.
a s-Sy- Hon. DAVID WLMoT has been again
nominated for Congress in Bradford by his
friends, who say he viii be reelected in spite OF
all opposition. Phil Ledger.