The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1850-08-10
From the Montgomery (.4la.) Atlas.
Mr.. Rhett and the South.

The Washington Union, Mr.. Clay and others,
are making great hubbub about a speech which
Mr.. Rhett delivered some time since at Charles
ton, in which the ardent Caroinan took occasion
to express very frankly his feelings of despon-
dency in reference to the government doing any
thing like Justice to the South in the adjustment
of the slavery question. In which case he con-
sidered it best for the slaveholding States to set
about taking the necessary steps for separate
government. Mr. Clay, at the close of his long,
rambling, and decamatory speech OF the 22d ut.,
pronounced him, assuming dsunion to be his OBJ
ject, "traitor,' and hoped he would meet with a
sstraitor's DOOM" &C. hah5,taT
Grant that Mr.. Rhett's intentions are as ultra as
they are pronounced to be, what then, Are not
thousands Of the Abotionists at the North, in
the lecture room, In the pulpit and in the forum,
denouncing the Constitution Of the United States
as an Infamous league with hell, that the Union
ought to be broken INTO thousand fragments, and
that it is sin against heaven to Take any part
whatever in sustaining such government? The
sentiments of these wretches, utterly causeless as
they are, and inspired by nothing holier than a
most diabolical spirit Of fanaticsm, meet with no
such severity of rebuke from the canting 'tUnion-
lists" at Washington.
Those only are denounced as s'rebels' and
straitors" who have cause to complain Of the
government-who are making the awkward dis
closures to aspiring demagogues that the ends
and purposes of the Union, by their treachery
and connivance, have been perverted and that to
the South, its blessings are being turned into
curses Those only are consigned to " traitors
DOOM by the superfne patriots at Washington,
who have the honesty, the patriotism, and the
frmness of purpose to insist on the governments
adherng TO the principles Of the Constitttion--who
are proclaiming the old fashioned doctrine that
the sovereign States Of the American Confederacy
entered into a compact, in the formation Of the
Union, to be governed by certain principles, that
when those principles are trampled upon and the
terms of the compact violated, the dissenting par
ties have right and a cause to complain and are
authorized to declares that unless their grievances
are redressed, and the government restored to its
true and original purposes, they are relieved
from further obligations to adhere TO the compact,
and that the duty Of self-defence, which is above
all law, requires them to take such measures for
their future safety as the exigencies of the case
may demand. o
Such ssrebels, as Mr.. Barnwell well remarked,
may turn out to be the s'true men," If the Gov
eminent has not been driven from the "republi-
can track and the principles of the Constitution
violated and made almost obsolete, what is the ne
cessity for /" compromised" Who asks for a
compromise, if all parties are, satisfied with the
Constitution The South wants nothing more
and nothing better. But the Freesoilers and Abo-
Itionists are not satisfied with the Constitution
therefore to crafty them in the pursuit of their
unhallowed purposes, compromise" must be
patched up, and the Constitution, to that extent,
e..
words, the majority of the States for certain local
and selfish objects, take it into their heads-hav-
ing the powerto abolisha part Of the Constitution
and substitute in its place that which is not only
offensive, but highly unjust and oppressive in its
operation, to the minority; and when that minor
ity, in the feelings of establishment and indigna-
ton, complain of this as something to which they
never agreed-as something that is not, and never
could have been, in the original compact. and de-
clare that considerations Of the highest and most
momentous import forbid them to acquesce in
such piece of despotic usurpation, they are de-
nounced as "rebels' and "trators'' and COM
mended to a traitors doonf!" Such s.rebels y
were John Hancock, the Adamses, Patrick Henry,
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington!
Those men and their immortal compatriots
were for "Union" with Great Britain, until the
principles of the British Constitution, the sacred
love of freedom, honor and safety "impeed
them" to a final 80 separation" So will the peo-
pie Of the Southern States to man, go for our
American ''Union until its principles, the love OF
freedom, honor and safety "impel them to sepa-
ration.'' Haa a
Had George the Third, and his parliament dealt
but honestly with the American Colonies, their
|"unon" might have continued, for aught we
know, down TO the present day; and If the North
and the Federal Government desire the perpetuity
of the American .sUnion,'' let them take warning
from this pregnant lesson, and grant justice to the
South. $3.50 ,
In conclusion, if the North does really not like
this South Carolina Rhetsn, it is the easiest thing
in the world to put it DOWN. she will only scifl
it, and that too, without one drop Of boodshed
Had there been no despotic George the Third,
and no tyrannical parliament, there would have
been no "rebellious" colonists and no American
Revolution. When Congress and tbefre States,
therefore, shall cease to initiate George the Third
the tyrant of England, the Rhetts of the South
,riH cease 10 initiate George Washington, the great
'sREBEL" Of .qmerica. pg so
Put dorm .9boItionism in the Government, and
Rhettism in the South riH die Of itself, certainly
that there can be no effect ieithoaa a cause.