The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-07-23
e.s CHARLES ]. MCDONALD.
MARIETTA, June IS, 1850.


CHARLES ]. MCDONALD. 7.
MAnIErrA, June IS, 1850.
The Southern Question in Arkansas.
The senior editor Of the Appeal has Just re-
turned from two weeks visit to some of his
friends in Mississippi county He went mainly in
search Of health, and was SO fortunate as to find
It, The feeling in this county appears to be unan-
imous among all parties that the South has sub
mitted long enough TO the aggessions of the North
and that further submission would produce in
creased oppression which could only serve to
widen the breach between the two sections and
diminish the hope Of friendly compromise of
difficulties. They therefore highly approve the
proceedings Of the late Southern Convention at
Nashville, as well as the address issued by its
members, and the proposition to hold another
similar convention at the same place after the adj
journment of Congress.
During the late County Court at Oseola, some
forty or fifty delegates were appointed to attend
this convention, and we have reason to believe
that many Of them will attend and participate in
its deliberations. Whilst there are one or two
fshy counties in this State which have declared,
through small committees, their unwillingness to
attend the proposed convention, we confidently
anticipate that all will follow the example Of Mis-
sissippi county so soon as they are brought fully
to comprehend the nature Of the question, their
own position with reference to it, and the amount
Of danger to the perpetuity of the Union which
it involves. 4z lg@.. ..e ANS
We feel assured that the masses Of all parties,
and every where in the South, are loyal to her
peculiar institutions, the Constitution and the
Union, but they want information which fshy
presses and unpatriotic and demagoguica leaders
have withheld from them there are several presses
Of this character to be found in Arkansas as well
as in Tennessee, and several other Southern
States. They tell the people that the late and
l1o
produce evaporation and ultimate disunion-than
which nothing can be more untrue one has only
to examine the proceedings and read the address
of the late convention to be convinced that thew
are eminently conservative. They tell them to
wait for an overt act on the. part of the North be-
fore they take any action--than which nothing
can be more ridiculous and mschievous The
North has already perpetrated many overt acts
against the repose, interests and constitutional
rights of the South, yet still these blind guides
would have 1t go further, to perpetrate more, and
more unbearable ones. Do they not see that the
overt act of which they are fond Of prating,
and with which they would delude the people,
would have the inevitable effect of widening the
breach between the North and the South, and
producing disunion, perhaps intestine war;
The true policy of the South is to prevent this
overt act, and the only way to do so is to present
a firm, unanimous front to the North. Let the
fifteen slaveholding States become united as
unit this question, and we feel an abiding con-
fdence that all will yet go well, that our interests
will be secured, our rights respected, and the cloud
of civil dscord which now hangs so darky and
portentously over the country be rolled back to
the dark source from which it emanated, or dissi-
pated by the sunshine of renewed and increa sed
friendly general relations. Yes, the South has her
own, as well as the destinies Of this great repub
lie in her hands, provided she will only be true to
herself The North will not, cannot dare not push
haze E,r fac ~ Ioto.
opposition Of fifteen sovereign States. She cannot
exist without the products and commerce of these
States, and she knows it !; how rediculously idle
then il it to suppose that she would be guilty of
the suicidal policy of sacrificing the very means
of her prosperity, almost existence, to the hypoc-
risy or sicky sentimentality Of few incendiary
fanatics. Again we say, let the South be united;
let all party distinctions be merged in the great
question Of Southern Rights and national union.
In such contest are all Democrats and all
Wings, and those who go furthest in healing
the breaches, and strengthening the bonds Of
Union upon terms honorable to both, will best
deserve the gratitude Of the present, and the un-
dying fame Of the future.
The Missouri LNE.-Nothing is better calcu-
lated to make Southern men serious than mo-
men's consideration of the position, past and pre-
sent Of the South upon the Missouri Compro-
mise line. What Southern men said year ago
upon this subject, ana what they say now, marks
the rapidity with which the North advances,
and with which the South recedes. A year
since, the most decided and vigilant friends Of
the South-those disposed to contend for her full
rights-looked unfavoraby upon the Missouri
line. They thought she was entitled, in common
with the North, to colonize all the new territory.
For this they were denounced ultraists by those
claiming the character Of the peculiar friends OF
the Union. The latter insisted that the Missouri
Compromise line was just and proper-was all
that we should demand.
How do things now standi The Nashville
Convention, made up of warm-hearted Southern
men, desparing of obtaining for the South her full
rights with view Of uniting all Southern men on
common ground, has taken stand on the old line
of compromise. What do we now hesrl Why
this Those who year ago were in favor Of this