The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-25

foePaUie VI peitg wei dlrected Dy SUCH govern
ment But now all is changed The territory
Is four times as large as il was then. OF what
we originally had, our cunning friends eajoled
us out OF large part: of our first acquisitions
they compromised us out of large part, and of
all the last they have recently robbed us. They
have now three-fourths of the whole. The
thousand changes which we have heard rung
upon the Union, the GLORIOUS Union" " the
eternal duration of the Union" are ludicrous
and would be amusing if they were not melan-
choIy. Men of sense and free of sinister motives
laugh at this vaporing No man who has any
pretence to the character of u statesman would
ever utter such inanites. They may do for
school boy exercises, or the tinsel of a dull
demagogue whose invention is at fault for a
better flourish A statesman would know that
the Interchangeable laws of the Modes and Per-
slams were not free constitutions that I'M
changeable governments will always become
despotic governments because the leading
character OF all controlling governments is en-
croachment, to amplify their jurisdiction He
would know this great historical truth that no
territory as large as that Of the present United
States was ever governed by any other govern
ment than despotism; that this must be an
eternal truth; that every free government must
feel the pulse of the heart at the extremities and
return its pulsations that there must be a
sympathetic and responsive public sentiment
between all its parts. This can never exist in
vast boundaries. The extremities under one
| political temperature, are an icy clod ;. under
another they become putrid and rotten What
ever name may be given to the regime under
which they may slumber or agonise it must be
II corrupt vice-consular system. Instead of
wishing the perpetuity of any government over
such vast boundaries, the rational lover Of liberty
should wish for its speedy dissolution, as dan
gerous to all just and free rule. Is not all this
| exemplified III our own case In nine months
in one session Of Congress by great coup detat
our Constitution has been completely and for
ever subvcrted. Instead of we'll balanced
government, all powerfs vested in one section
of the country which is in bitter hostility with
the other And this is the glorious Union which
we are to support, for whose eternal duration
we are to pray, and before which the once proud
Southron is to bow down. lie ought to perish
| rather!
But let us bring to this great issue brave
hearts and well strung nerves, and there will be
nothing to fear. If four or five adjoining States
shall unite do not think that our enemies will
venture to attack us.
hope the South will be immediately reused
from the deep sleep which has rendered it as
torpid as the winter swallow which has shut its
eyes and closed its ears to the alarming dangers
that threaten it. But such has been the delu-
sion wrought by the tactics of the fanatics and
their allies the low aspirants to political domin-
ion over you; such the absorbing influence of
the hostile Government Of the Union and its in
situations, and of the national parties growing
out of them, us to have neutralized all the funo-
tons of the State institutions which have been
looked to heretofore as the great guardians of
our rights liberties and character Such has
been the united power of these combined causes
that we may fear we shall not be unanim ous-
But be assured, and let the people be assured
that unless they themselves shall be nsonsible
| to honor and to shame, to the most imminent
danger and to the remorseless enmity of those
who now hold absolute power over them, they
must and will act under tie agonisng impulse
of sef-defenee, if not from higher motives, and
they will discover that nothing short Of seces-
sion and 4 reliance on their own strength will
save them from disgrace and ruin That we
will all unite finally in this effort, there can be
no doubt, though we may unfortunately not
Immediately agree. | have sanguine hopes,
however, of a better result. But should it be
otherwise, let no one therefore despair of this
united effort, for it must and will take place
though it may be delayed. Let the South con-
tinue to agitate the subject by all orderly means,
| Y,
ously, fearlessly, with a long pull and a strong
pull, and the country will be regenerated, dis
enthralled and saved. Let the people not be
beguiled, like the dog Cerberus with n sop, if it
should be offered. We 90 for our whole rights
or we are dastards. Let them beware Of every
thing that comes from the seat of the General
Government, where there is neither faith nor
truth to be found. Let them beware even of
those who represent them there; though there
are among them good and true men, who
deserve the highest praise Let them dismiss
with scorn those who have betrayed them
Let the people beware of the thousand untruths
that are daily rung in their cars to lull and de-
ceive them; SUCH as the following
hat the Constitution has not been violated ;
that what our aggressors have been pleased to
grant, was the best we could get that Califor-
mia was honestly and consttutionally admitted
into the Union ; that it was quite just, equitable
and modest for a few squatters, and few igno-
rant conquered people, to assume the sovereignty
of territory equal in extent to the aggregate of
many States, with all the ports and harbors with
in its bounds on the Pacific Ocean, and the most
valuable gold mines in the world that your
slave property is safe, while your tyrannioal
rulers are industriOusiy striving TO destroy it ;
That it was no outrage to hold forcible possession
of the territory of an independent State, which
expressly held in trust for that State, and to
threaten hor with arms If she attempted to enter
it that Texas will be benefited by the dismem-
berment Of her territory, and the destruction of
her fine, bold, uncfiaceable natural boundary
In fine, that a bribe may be rendered without
insult, and accepted without Disgrace, Above
all, let the people beware Of the insidious, je-
sutical cry of the Union, the " glorious Union"
What have we left in the Union but task masters?
Have we power to carry even influence
single measure in which the South is interested?
Carlyle says that the great right and blessing of
a slave is to be obliged to work. and that for n
kind master. The great right and blessing of
the Southern man under the GLORIOUS Union
is to be obliged to obey-and to obey whom
A kind master one protecting his rights and his
property, or respecting his feelings!
Let the people beware of the inipudent slang
about the benefits Of the South, of what has
been by gross abuse Of terms called the COM
promise. A compromise must be the act of
more parties than one, and must embrace the
consent Of both. In Il compromise there is Civ