The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-12-31
p.o,n ths .asherille .M,r,.
HEspERsosyILLE, N. ca, u
November IL, 1850.


| e November IL, 1850.
Hon. T. L. Clingman-Dear Sir: We the an
dersigped were constituted a committee by high
ly respectable meeting of the citizens OF this coun
ty, held in this place on the 9th inst for the pur
pose of addressing you and rendering you IN theii
behalf public barbecue, tosbe given at such limt
and place as may suit your convenience! we
would earnestly solicit your acceptance OF the
proffered tribute We have certainly reached d
great and solemn crisis in our political afiairs-one
which is calculated 10 enlist the strongest sympa'
! thies and sensibiIIlies of our people, and NIL the
heart of the patriot with serious apprehension and
alarm. At such juncture II Is matter or Pc
cuar satisfaction and qualification to the people to
confer with their public servants and hear their
views and opinions and as large number OF
your fellow-citizens have expressed sincere and
anxious desire to meet you and hear your senti-
ments upon the great questlons which are now De,
ing agftated which threaten so much evil and
seem fraught with such disastrous consequences
to the country, we fervently hope you will be able
to comply with this invitation.
We subscribe ourselves, with sentiments of the
highest regard your friends and obedient servants,
Z. p. JONES,
w. ID. WHiTTEp,
GEO. ALLEN,
JAS. BRITTAIN,
JoHN DAVIS.
RuTHERFoRpToN, Nov. IA, 1850.
Gentemen-Your favor has just been received,
in which, on behalf of the citizens OF Henderson
county, you have been pleased to tender me a
public barbecue. For this mark Of appreciation,
coming from such source, am deeply grateful
Agreeing with you fully in the opinion that the in
siiutions Of our country are in jeopardy, and our
rights in eminent peril, | should be much gratifed
meet the citizens of your county on such an oc-
caslon.
Believing as | do that the movements Of the
Northern States if not successfully resisted, will
al, - riuhio under tho Gop-
sttution, bat will end in the total overthrow of
our liberty, and in the destruction of our system
of society," regard it as Of prime importance that
the real nature of the controversy should be thor
oughly understood by every citizen of our coun-
try. Were this now the case, the people of the
South might at once take such position and
manifest such state of feeling as to induce the
North to pause in its career Of attack. While
they intend to impose on US as much as they be-
lieve will submit to, 1t is not their intention to
drive us to the point Of forclble resistance. The
danger, however, most to be apprehended, Is that
our divisions may stimulate them to advance to
point which will render collision inevitable.
Should such an event occur, it will he justly
chargeable, not 10 those Southern men who have,
by standing up boldly in defence of the lights of
their section, and by procaming the truth, en-
deayored to avert the evil but the world will fix
the responsibility on those men among us, who,
by their language and conduct, have induced the
submit to whatever they may choose TO impose,
even though the loss Of liberty, and political and
social degradation should be the consequences Of
such submission. Had not the government Of
Great Britain been deceived by the declarations of
the tories in this country, who said that the peo
ple Of the colonies were much attached to the
mother country, and in such fear of It's power
that they would submit to all that the parliament
might impose, had it not been for this shy, the
British ministry would never have gone to the
point Of driving our ancestors to resistance.
With this lesson before US, and more similar
ones, in the history Of the world, it seems extra
ordinary that any man who really wishes to pre-
serve the Constitution and the quiet Of the coun-
try, should persist in such a course OF conduct as
Is merely calculated to stimulate the Northern
spirit of aggression to fresh attacks.-Are such
persons laboring under gross deus:on of some
sort, or are they secret friends of the Northern
movement, and willing to see it carried out, even
at the expense of revolution and the degrade
ton and destruction Of the section in which they
live?
While, gentlemen, it would give me great plea
sure to meet the patriotic citizens Of Henderson in
the manner suggested, other pressing engagements
put it out Of my power to accept The invitation.
must beg you, therefore, to express to your fell
ow-citizens my deep sense Of the honor they have
done me, and the regret feel on account of my
being compelled to decline the proflered compli-
mcnt. Accept, in conclusion, my thanks for the
An,tering manner in which you have seen fit to
communicate their wishes, and believe me, with
sentiments Of high regard, very faithfully your
obedient servant,
I'll. CLINGMAN.
Messrs z. r. Jones, w. D. Whitted, George
Allen, James Britain John Davis.