The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-06-20
ed by some seventy names.
Reply cf Nh. Webster.

WASHINGTON, June IL, 1881. :
G;ENTLEMEN: Your friendly and acceptable lei
ter of April, was received.
1t is true, Gentlemen, that have made a,i effort
in the Senate to allay spirit Of sectional sriie
which has threatened the destruction of our
Unions and such efforts shall continue to make
earnestly, and with whatever ability possess
under deep conviction that that . spirit Of sec
tional strife, If not checked, will ere long drive
the country into lamentable and disastrous con-
dition. 1t is exceedingly to be regretted that any
part of the Public Press III the State in which YOU
reside, or elsewhere, should discourage, and, az
it often does, denounce all attempts at,rcconcilia
ton and peaee and should contribute, by ilsdaly
illusions TO promote iIl-wiIl, resentment, and an
cry contests, between The North and the South.
That nil this is done by portion of the Press,
both North and South, is but too true. The con-
ductors of these Presses would seem to have lost
all sense Of a common country, all sentiments of
| patriotism, unless there may be patriotism in those
local feelings, IN which the Great Father of his
Country so ailectionately admonished us never to
| indulge That the conductors of these Presses
mistake the opinions of the People, to very con-
siderable extent, doubt not but while they are
so active and so jealous who can tell how far, or
| how fast, their sentiments may spread?
| 1t is no longer to be doubted that there are per-
sons both in the North and in the South, who are
opposed to the existence of the present Collstu-
ton Of the United States, and would gladly see it
brought to an end. Some in both extremes OPEN
| ly ayow this wish, and others conceal it under
| very thin DISCUSSES. Nevertheless, the great body
Of the People, North and South, are firmly at
tached to the Unon their hearts for it, and with
it, and they will defend it against all open at
tempts for its overthrow. This is my decided
opinion. The Union, therefore, we may hope,
viii not be rudcy broken up; but this spirit Of
tional strife, il il be not efectualy rebuked, will
produce infinite nischiefs, by embarrassing the
Government, thwarting and defeating useful legis-
latiDn. and and fpeli,,ps n
discord and alienation. Who does not see, al
ready, the alarming consequences provoked and
prnduced by these discussions; We are now in
the seventh month Of the session of Congress, and
what has been done? Even the ordinary annual
appropriation bills have not been brought forward
or advanceda single stage They are at least four
months behind the proper time 1t has at last be-
indispensaby necessary, it to me, that
men of sense and intelligence who are really lovers
of their country and its Union, should open their
eyes 70 the state of,things There will be, there
must be, ii is in the nature of things that there
should be, some shock, some cessation in the
movement Of the Government, some disrcputable
lirregularity, now not far ahead, unless the good
men of the country, IN all its parts, viii rouse
themselves to the performance of the duties which
the exigency demands.
Whilst so many persons and so many presses
in the North maintain such loud and bitter COM
plants against the South and while so many per-
sons and so many presses in the South utter COM
plants equally loud and bitter against the North
neither the North nor the South states, definitely
and precisely any actual grievance, such as could
justify, in any reasonable mans opinions the most
distant idea of disunion. For the most part these
mutual complaints are general indeterminate, ut
tered in angry terms, but placed on no specific
ground. In The speech to which your letter refers,
| have mentioned what think to be real ground of
mutual or reciprocal complaints; but beyond all
these, there Is kept up general cry of one party
against the other, that its rights are invaded,
its honor nsulted, It's character assai!ed. and
its just participation in political power denied.
Sagacious men cannot but suspect from all this,
that more is intended than is avowed, and that
there hes at the bottom purpose of the separa-
ton Of the States for reasons avowed or disavow-
ed; or for grievances redressed or nredresscd
This purpose, be it remembered, | do not consider
as peryading large masses, but of its existence
among the Er tremists, on both sides, cannot en-
terrain doubt.
Inthe speech to which you refer, it was my
purpose, among other things, to show that peace
able secession of some States from the rest, or a
peaccabe separation of them all, was among the
most improbable ofin,aginable events; that Nature
the seas, the CULTS, the lakes and the rivers bound
MS together by ties nearly mlpossibla,o hc broken:
that no man could make any plan Of secession or
separation satisfactory to others; and, more than
all, that no could discern any thing as likely
to arise to any State, from secession or separation
not frnugh with political evil of every description
and every degree. And Notwithstanding the in
fuence and the opinions of which have spoken, |
believe that the sentiments of the great mass of
Southern men concur with my own. Many have
contemplated separation probable result: some
certainly have desired and do desire it, but so far
as have observed, when the question is put d.
rectly home to the people, notwithstanding what
ever certain presses and certain politicians say to
the contrary, the people of the South are still for
uNIoH, by immense maioritics. Wherever there
IL a truly American heart, the love of the UNION
is entwined in its iumost ibres. 1t is our duty
to encourage and applaud this popular feeling;
TO respect it ourselves, and TO take care that,
by no denial Of Justice, by no unnecessary
discussion of exciting but abstract questions,
by no threat or menace, 10 nierttu irHh ,rhaf
does moi belong 10 us, do not weaken that at
taclment 10 the Union which is so indispensable TO
the happiness of ALL And what is the duty of the
North, in this respect, is equally the duty of the
South. All sides are called on to exercise a far
greater degree of forbearance and moderaton if,
we mean to transmit to the next generation the
blessings enjoyed by this.
shall do all | can to warn the country against !
the dangers of this intestine strife; to call both the
South and the North back to sense of their true
duties and their true interests And If ] cannot !
allay the evil, shall at least do nothing TO pro-