The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-11-15
a. We commend the following article to


e& We commend the following article to
the people Of the South. The signature Of the
writer wi e recognized by our readers as that
of one, than whom neither the South nor the
Union has a truer or wiser friend. lilo speaks
the sentiment Of class in the North, now bat
few, that have remained faithful to the Constitu-
ton, and that behold the submission of the South
with even more establishment than the aggres-
sion Of the North. ...
If this Union must fall, if the South is laid
low, it must not be forgotten that submission
will be responsible rs well as aggression. The
rights of no people can live on paper The char
aeter of people is the only guarantee of right,
or evidence of right. Without capacity to under
stand and spirit to assert them, no people have
rights. The great magma eharta of human rights,
not extorted from despots but granted by God
himself, is to be found in the moral qualities of
u race. Without them, liberty is impossible,
constitutions are but foolscap, and forms of gov
eminent only forms.
For the Southern Press.
New YORK, Nov. l3, 1850.
Every passing day dawns forth with new in
dicatous TO show that this Union cannot exist
either in harmony or in discord, unless tho abo-
lition excitement is speedily quelled by COM
bination of the good SENSE and patriotism OF the
people of the North or by II firm, united stand
among those Of the South. Tho tornado of ia
naticism is sweeping over the land, instigated
and directed by ambitious, hypocritical politi.
clans, and thus two Of the most potent impulses
of the human mind are cooperating and playing
into the hands Of each other. Conscientious
scruples are mixed up with the stimulants OF
ambition and avarice, and the meanest motives
of seltishness, have become identified with the
most exalted pretensions to philanthropy. The
laws of the land are openly defied +; in New Eng
land and New York the Constitution has be-
come an object Of contempt or reproach and
tho Scriptures are either perverted or trodden
under foot, both by learned and ignorant BIAS
pheIners, who are striving to substitute in their
place, a code of faith and morals, which In its
practical application will undermine the social
state, and PROSTATE all human obligations at the
shrine OF a strange, incompie hensbe phantom,
for which | can find no other name than that OF
the demon of discord, disunion, corruption and
anarchy. Not only the union of the States, but
the entire structure of civil society, seems
trembling on the brink of dissolution, and old us
| am, | may yet survive the ruin of my country.
The principles set forth in the sermons of the
pulpits, the lectures of Abolitionists, public
meetings of citizens and re.echoed manitestoes
of conventions of all parties here in the North.
will it attempted TO be carried out render it i'm
pos ible for the Southern States to remain in the
Union without q sacrifice of their peace their
prosperity and their happiness. They may tatter
themselves that the whl lwind is sted and that
a long calm will succeed They may soothe
themselves under the infections Of the past, by
looking to the imaginary rcpose Of the future;
and persuade themselves that no more sacrifices
will be required of them. But thew will be
reused before the dream is half over to meet
new demands, to be followed by new compro-
misses, until at length the North will have nothing
more to ask, because the South has nothing more
to give. Aggression will be graduated by the
measure Of resistance alone, and submission be
tho siglal for new assaults.
The South will merit its fate, by its blindness
TO consequences, or its want Of spirit and energy
to arrest thom. The absence Of unanimity now,
will be the signal of perpetual disunion in future
| If, after Virginia has twice pledged herself by
cgisia i've declarations, to resist to the last
tr.mity," acts that have since been consuH,-
mated; and Georgia, Allah una, and Mississippi
after having done the same, should all, or any Of
them take she ter under miserable bubble and
swallow the dose they had pledged themselves
TO re,ect-can they ever trust each other again!
| Will any single State venture, after such base
and ignonlinious desertiUn, to resist any wrong
| however CALLING, in the expectation that those
who have before violated their pledges, will keep
faith il future! Assuredly not The bond OF
Southern union will be severed forever, and their
only security against future aggression be sacr-
feed to petty local divisions and political rivalry.
"Old Virginia" was always a great favorite Of
mine. considered her rs the buIwark Of the
Constitution and the rights of the States and
history had taught me that she, and not Massa-
chusetts was the real file leader in the revou-
| tion 1t was from one of her representatives
| that the proposition Of eternal separation from
the mother-country first came and it was from
another emanated that immortal Declaration.
which Is now perverted to the purposes of abo-
lition, as if the delegates Of the South would
have sanctioned principle which Invested them
of their most important rights. In the progress
of events, we see Virginia presenting one after
another series of Chief Magistrates, from Wash
ington to Nadison-the last of the Heralcidae
whose names are now venerated by all, even
those who differ with them in political principles
So too we have seen her always in the van,
maintaining the old primitive doctrines of the
fathers Of the Revolution, and opposing every ex-
tension Of the central power through latitude
Of construction, which if not sternly resisted
will sweep away every vestige Of the reserved
rights of the States. Such was OLD Nirginia--
but what is New Virginia, as she now presents
herself to orr contemplation? She is moulting
her feathers, and will come out an entire new
bird. She is smittcn with the yellow leprosy Of
gold, and infected with the mania Of public i'm
provements. She aspires to be governed by
Il
longs to see individual rights and interests sac.
rihced to stupondous system OF monopoly.
The good old lady is " tired at last and wants
to ride in a gllded fretted car at the rate OF
thirty miles an hour. She cannot be content
without following the fashion Of running in debt
for more than she can pay. Her ancient spirit
has cXllaled from 4 steam boiler, and her soul
escaped through tunnel under the Blue Ridge
Brutus has become a Spectator in fancy stocks,
and Cato pedlar Of Yankee notions. Sic
transit.