The Woodville Republican. [volume] (Woodville, Miss.) 1847-1853, 1851-04-15
John II Leathe>mdn, Esp

il is the duty Of every citizen of a free aud
enlightened country, 10 act as a sentinel, to
guard the portals Of liberty, against the APP
proach OF danger or the encroachments Of
power. But it is peculiarly the duty Of ev-
cry public Journal to warn the unwary
and arouse the inert, to a true sense oi their
danger and the true policy of resistance
and it seems to me, that any class of clti-
zens, or any public journal, that will en-
deavor to suppress the truth, or wilfully
refuse to advise the people of their real sit
uation, when their nights, liberty and prop
erty are threatened to be engulphed by a
lawless and INSCRIPTIONS majority, are
equally as cuIpable, as if they endeavored to
arouse the people to civil war and blood
shed by s~pecious arguments, and glazing
f~alsehoods. To combat with the first is diff
6cul:, but to detect the latter is easy.
1t has always been the policy Of dispotic
governments to keep the people in igno-
rance, that they may be the more easily
ruled and oppressed so it seems to be the
policy of a certain class and certain editors,
to keep the people of the South in igno-
rance of the acts and doings of the people
of the North, until their wicked designs are
f contaminated, and the "South surrounded
l By a Gordon Of free States. When the
: bloodhounds of savage war will be let loose
3 and the stalwart arm will WELD the keen
and heavy battle axe" TO exterpate the last
remnant of Southern institutions, Southern
glory and Southern rights.
Men OF the South who love their homes
have an interest in slave property, love the
' peace and prosperity of the land and are
: more interested in the well being of then
4 country, than in a scheme of personal and
t wicked ambition, will not long be deceived
g with hollow professions of love for the
9 Union, especially when it is seconded b,
y a free soil administration and %fsnaticaI alb
~olitionists, whose manguverings, are 81
threatening and dangerous to State Right
. and State pride. at .
Is it not, sir, running the Federal doctrin,
d in the extreme, in this, the middle Of tn
y nineteenth century, to advocate the polio,
of keeping the Southern people in igno
rance, to prevent them from detecting tn
encroachments of power, or perceiving tn
vile and infamous design of their northern
:" bretheren to destroy their institutions ? Q
sir, is il a disposition manifesting itself t
!, aid and assist northern allies in their unhol
re crusade against the peculiar institutions {
the South? Why sir, are the members {
re the Southern Rights Association and othe
ht patriots of the South to be arrested and Ell
ar generated in the PenItentiary of the Stat
for subscribing to and circulating Norther
G. papers, that the people may see the dispos
IL ton of the North towards the South
Their papers must be dangerous indeed
= the penalty for circulating them is so grea
4 | hold sir, that the law of this State,
ID relation to the circulation of manuscript
prints, &c, calculated to produce Disable,
ID ton, among our slaves, is applicable alon
or to the low hireling minions of Northern abb
al lirionism who are sent to poison the fountai
~ of southern peace and prosperity. 1t we
never presumed by our lawmakers, that ii
best and wisest of our citizens would /
guilty of circulating documents anon
Of their Slaves, calculated to produce disaffe
as ton or endauger the peace of societ
The veriest tyro in the profession shouI
I'd know, that The Quo amino constitutes ii
I'd crime. Now, sir, what is the motive thi
es prompts the Southern Rights Associate
u to subscribe for these Northern Abolitic
!, papers: is it to excite disaffection amor
their Slaves or endauger the peace of soci
=. ty? 1t could not be supposed that Sout
es ern mel would use them for this purpos
a Then sir what is tho motive ? To show Il
people the real state of Northern feelir
and arouse them to a true sense of the
m, danger from Northern aggressions al
us Northern fanaticism.
~ Is this a crime deserving ten years il
- ~prisonment in the penitentiary?
Is this a crime which sinks the ter
disunionist, secessionist and traitor into i
.. significance, and brands its perpetratiC
re with the appalling name of "child
he hell ?" Why, sir, the persecution of Il
DIS Cuba sy~mpathies. will dwindle into forge
he fulness, when our criminal docket W
IL groan under indictments against the best
US our citizens, for subscribing to Northe
lot - "a r,,r ,ham ~.