The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-03-18
WASHINGTON:
MONDAY MORNING, MARCH Is. 1850.
The north and the south.

debates IN Congress Tor the last three
months, we should, in speaking of the
United States under the general designa-
ton of the North and South, instead of
employing the copulative conjunction, say
rather the North v9Sus the South, and
conversely. The North and the South
are no longer terms denoting geographical
position, or parallels of latitude they
pertain to the domestic and social institu-
tons of the several States, and they are
used in a sense so exclusive as to divide
the great West into North and South, as
the States belonging to that denomination
assmilate one or other extreme in their in
ternal structure And the same confusion
of speech in regard TO geographical posi-
ton obtains in respect 10 representative
character. The same state OF things
which has absorbed the East and the West
into the South and the North, has expand
ed the constituencies of every member to
the entire area of one or other Of these di-
visions; and they all speak, with here and
there bright exception, as though in en-
larging their responsibilities 10 one-half Of
the Union they owed no allegiance out of
the denomination of States in which their
particular districts are restricted. Nay
more, they too often assume it as fact
that there was popular hatred and natural
antagonism between the two sections of
the Union, for and against which they
speak.
If representative in Congress, in as
Stunning TO speak for other constituencies
than his own, would only embrace the
whole Union in his expanded representa-
tive character-if he would speak for the
Union, as man of the Union, for all sec
tons and all geographical and social divi-
sions, it would be an improvement. But
when this application of responsibility is
restricted to one division of States, it
serves only to consolidate sectional discon-
tents, and infuse into geographical con-
tests the bitterness and acrimony Of
neighborhood collisions. According to
the theory of our Constitution, a rep
resentatve from Georgia is as much the
representative of Maine as he is of
Louisiana; and representative from
Massachusetts should guard the rights
Of Virginia with the same zeal he evinces
for the rights of Ohio. There is no
other allegiance than a purely local
and purely national one. There is no
sectional, or, so TO speak, no Northern nor
Southern allegiance. When not speaking
for people, or the State 10 whom he is d.
rectly responsible, the representative
should bear in mind that he is a member
of the Congress OF the United States, and
speak for all.
The first fruits of such policy would
be that, instead of hearing Northern gem
tlemen inveiglng against Southern institu-
tons, and Southern members exaggerating
instances Of wrong committed by North
ern madmen or professional marauders,
they would both approach the difficulties
which mar the peace of the country in a
/
They would not only enlarge upon the
shortening Of others, but examine them
selves to ascertain for how much of the
excitement they are accountable them
selves.
/ When friendly States find themselves
upon the verge of hostile collision, il
should not be taken for granted that the
fault is all on one side. We apprehend
that in the present case neither party
would come unscathed from a severe scru-
tiny of the past. There have been de-
nunciations on either side more aggrava-
ting than blows. Southern representa-
tives have denounced the whole North as
a nation of lreebooters and fanatics, whilst
Northern assailants have returned the com
pliment with compound interest In these
miserable ordinations and determinations
the Halls of Congress have been made the
arena where the illusions of the stump
and the petty appeals of the hastings have
been reproduced in an improved dress,
and the defamation designed for local
effect is embellished for national consump-
ton.
: In the North, the great error has been
committed of coquetting with factions
which should have been despised and
crushed. In the South, the Democratic
party have swept State after State by de-
nouncing Northern Wings, of whatever
opinion, as Abolitionists. From the North,
we find men Of conservative views com
mitted 10 constituencies in which fanatics
hold the balance Of power; from the
South, we have representatives pledged
to the resistance at all hazards and the
last extreme" fragment Of voters. Hence,
it is that nine-tenths Of the speeches made
in Congress do not represent the opinions
Of the masses. For one which breathes
the opinions Of the body of the people, we