The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-28

! plances Of extensive patronage, Is necessary tc
the former b mild and equal system of legal re.
straints, is required by the latter The festric
ton on foreign commerce is the policy of the
one, free trade that of the other Tho North is
from necessity commercial and manufacturing
people, the South an agricultural community
While the former seeks an enlargement of the
powers of the Federal Government, in order to
enable it to profit by the wealth of the produc-
ing States, the latter impelled by the principle
of selfpreservation, strives to confine the com
mon agent within well defined and narrow
bounds.
In the one section, capital and labor are theo-
retically equal, but from influences, perhaps in
capable ofcontrolment they are practically an
tagonistic; in the other capital is superior to
labor, and the relation between them is moral
one. The character and interests of each en-
sure the harmonious action of both, in all their
operations. These discordant materials in our
federal structure are mainly, if not exclusively,
referab'e to the positions respectively assigned
the parties by nature. Such is the adverse ten
dency of that position in relation to one ofthem
the large section-that II seems to be an i'm
peratlve duty on its part to promote, under the
pretence of the general welfare, the success of
the measures purely sectional in their applica-
ton.
This obstinate perverse proclvity is, in reality
in strict obedience to n political law, the off
spring Of the moral obliquity of the human
heart The lesser, numerically, and richer in
terest has always been the subject of plumber by
the greater and poorer interest. 1t is histori-
cally true, moreover, that in every confederacy
where the principle of the concurrent majority
Is not practically recognized, the centripetal is
stronger than the centrifugal tendency of the
parti further, that in the Legislative branch of
the Government all usurpations generally COM
mence, and are ultimately acquiesced in by the
other departments. In relation to our Federal
institutions the Constitution, in its most i'm
portant provisions, has, in effect, been so essen
TALLY changed that the Union created by it no
longer exists. Its guarantees, from the revolu-
ton which has been practically accomplished
over us, have been overthrown, and a consoli-
dated Government, having It's discretion and will
us the measure Of its powers, is now the Gov
eminent of tho Union.
Every compromise too, into which the South
has entered, including the compromises incor-
porated in the great charter of the public liber-
ties, has utterly been disregarded. BY legisa-
tive devices, our people now, as heretofore arc
not only in effect despoiled of the profits of
their industry, but their contributions to the
public purse continue to be expended in unjust
proportions, to further the revilers and sappers
Of their domestic affairs. While by Congress
ional enactments, the North in the various
branches of industry, have been forced into
condition of unexampled wealth and power, the
advancement of the South, so prodigally fur
nished by nature with all the elements of pros
perity and greatness has occupied position far
below that it would have reached, had the
confederation been composed of one people in
interest and feeling The North and South in
the palmy days of the Republic, both reverenced
and loved the Union for tho Unreasonable bles-
sings it insured. unhappiy, it is now main
tanned by tho former to electuate its long
cherished design-the Acknowledgement and de-
gradation of the latter.
If asked for the evidence Of these grave accusa-
tons against the government and people, whose
support and friendship dearly valued
point with grief Of heart, to the often perpetrat-
ed, or attempted encroaohments by Congress on
| the reserved rights Of the States; the incendary
resolutions of State legislatures the sweeping de-
nunciations emanating from different associations,
formed for the special end of carrying throughout
our borders the torch OF instruction the bitter
and vindictve feelings Of the press, the bar, and
may add the pulpit: the inAammatory harangues
at popular meetings, the actual robbery of mil
lions of our slave property by emissaries, not on
ly without effort by the Northern State Gov
ernmens, to enforce the provisions of the Consti-
tuition concerning fugitives "held to labor but
by the authority of law and the force of public
opinion encouraging and sustaining these fanati
cal exhibitions of public sentiment; the annihila
ton at blow, of the principle Of State equality
by the exclusion Of one half Of the citizens of the
Confederacy from all partici patton in the newly
acquired domain; the.violation of great sectional
compromise by the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of Southern
member of the Union, in order, at a convenient
season, to carve from it's bosom a free and hostile
State in fine, the unceasng assaults upon the char
acter OF the STAKEHOLDER by all classes, in public
and in private, as enemy to God and man-as
unworthy Of a seat at the table Of the Lord, or to
enjoy as co-partners the noulest bequest ever in
herited by freemen. The ultimate object OF this
consentaneous movement, IN which governments
and people are the actors, is the emancipation Of
the negro throughout the region in which he is
constitutionally held as property, although its ex-
ecution may consign to the same grave the master
and the slave, and spread desolation over their
| common home.
While rejoice in the conviction that large
number of individuals at the North do entertain
conservative opinions on the matter Of slave prop
perry, and whose voice is occasionally heard in
the uproar of the waters Of strife, yet overawed
by the impeuosity Of the torrent which is perhaps
destined to overwhelm the land, they involuntari-
ly shrink from the task of attempting to stay its
progress. The instances rare, in which,
where the effort has been made, deprivation Of Of
fee or other mark Of displeasure and rebuke, did
not quickly follow. This OF itself, if proof were
needed, procams the deep-seatedncss and all per-
vadng character of the disease which affects the
body police of that extensive and populous region.
For about one-hrd Of her political existence,
South Carolina has presented almost uninter-
rupted scene of disquetude and excitement under
the provocation Of contunelies and threats poured
from thousand tongues and in forms the mos
offensive During that period, it may with truth
be affirmed, that the public mind has not for q
year been free from the most painful solicitude.-
Peace indeed has long fled from our borders, and
discomfort and alarm are every where present
Better, far better, would it have been, for the
South to engage in deadly conflict with the
North, than to have endured the torturing anxiety
Of an anomalous struggle, the consequences OF
which are beyond the pen of human prescience. =
An open war is limited by the causes which pro-
duce it, but the further continuance of such war
POLITICAL, religious and sociaI-as has been
waged by one party against the other, and in
which directly defensive attitude has unwaver-
ingIy been preserved by the weaker, would falsify
and dishonor the history Of the Anglo Saxon race.
Whatever may be said by the demaggogue and the
fanatic, it is our pride and high privilege to de-
clare that the uneyampled forbearanCe Of the