The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-05-27


would appear, from the course they have taken on
great national questions during the last year or
two, that they want credit of another kind-that
they want the credit for Interior object, of break
ing up and scattering to the winds this glorious
sederacy of ours, which has made US the people we
are, and which, if not destroyed, will make the
greatest nation that ever existed in the world Ii
is well to have all these things understood.
sosthern speeches-The Union and Dlsunion
South Carolina, Georgia, and the South
ern States.
We give in our columns, to-day, the speech of
Senator Butler, at the Southern Rights Convention
recently held at Charleston, and q speech OF
Mr.. Ho we'll Cobb, delivered at Savannah, in favor
Of the Union and Union compromises and which,
of course, is Of very different character to that
of Mr. Butler In addition to these, are
able to insert also, fros special correspondents
several letters from South Carolina and Georgia
the whole enabling the intelligent reader to form
very correct conclusions with regard to the position
of political parties in the ScSthern States.
One of the respectable" papers Of this metro
polls, which has divided its columns, recently, be-
tween public discussions and personal hestilities,
has taken upche exploded notion, in vogue twenty
yesrs ago. that the agiseton Of the slavery question
silence, and charges upon its contemporaries desire
to infame the publ; mind subjects connected
with this topic, As well might this sagacous
journals. recommend standing Table
Rock, at Niagara Falls, to believe himself to be
standing on stcae in brook three inches deep,
as to attempt 10 subdue the natural excitemen'
spriBging from the agitation Of the political waters
as manifested in the documents which this day
place before the public. 1t is mere political imbe-
City or slug gardsm-a s'litte folding of the hands
to sleep'svhen everywhere around US the notes OF
| warning are sounded, and we hear the 'scnk of
hammers closing riyets up, thus TO shut eyes,
and to affect to be deaf and dumb, when every hour
4 brings us evidence that We near the dawn of
| great, terrible, and, perhaps, bloody contest.
There arc events in the history Of nations which
preceded by harmless oGens; but he who habitually
disregards every portent of danger, is as much a
/ fool one who, having escaped death in periods
ofpern, believes he shall never perish That is not
atrue philosophy which buats the sensibilites and
makes the judgment drunk
That South Carolina, now divided into three par
ties may have powerful influence upcn the COM
| mon sentiment of the Southern States, should her
sons boldly dare to try the question of secession by
any practical action, reasonable mao will doubt
Il is not then, enough 10 be satisfied with the power
and the right Of the federal government to restrain
such action provided it has that ability, and should
il be attempted 1t is the part Of wisdom to listen
to the honest complaints Of any section Of the coun
try, and to avert, if law and reason have the power,
a collision between the compact government and
the partner which derives all of its own national
! existence and government from it, A civil war
once commenced in this country, it must be admit
! ted, would be, beyond precedent, disastrous. The
wound once made, could never be healed. There
would be perpetual issue, and political cata-
plasm would ever be potent enough to restore the
body polite to it original perfection and soundness.
On this account, every wise legislator, every pru-
dent man, will anxiously awaken to the position Of
South Carolina and her citizens; not from any fear
Of that State or of them but with grave apprehen-
sions of that interminabe train of evils which must
result from any outbreak of popular feeling against
the unity of the confederacy-any effort to separate
the exterior right Of State sovereignty from the n-
herent national federal interest, which, it is con-
| tended, necessarily exists in the confederated
government at Washington
Now, we have in our columns, in the speeches Of
Messrs. Butler and Cobb, avowals both of the
secession and the Union feelings Of the South.
There is an honest frankness Of purpose in both.
One stands the impersonation Of impatience and
dssatisiaction-and the other Of patience and conf
dence. Each represents the opinions Of large class
Of Southern citizens; and in the political equipoise
now apparent, it is in vain that can
prophetically declare which scale is settle down
the weight Of political events agi.ates the beam.
All is critical and doubtful; while. SO far as South
Carolina is concerned, the preponderance Of popular
feeling is in favor, at all hazards, Of throwing off
all attachments which link her with the Union.
| Grant that her Legislature has sufficient moral
and political courage TO bold 10 the conservative
| policy Of endurance, under the alleged expressions
Of which she complains, yet the theory Of secession
Is in her brain, If not her heart, and, while il re-
mains, will agtate her ard the Union. Already
has she adopted retaliatory measures on the ques-
on Of slavery, which have brought her action under
4 the inquiries Of the British government Her laws
4 for the imprisonment Of colored ssamen who come
4 TO her ports, sumptuary enacments, which
have grown up through the interference Of Northern
men with her institutions, and Is act Of which
We might expect many a similar one, had she the
| opportunity Of returning In this way blow for
blow. In this evidence Of her disposition, may be
dimly read the vague and uncertain future which
would arise from her movements a an independent
power free from all allegiance TO the federal
| government.
Georgia and other States at the South have much
q the same spirit that has recently characterized
south Carolina; but they have apparently more
reverence for thai compact Of compromises and
concessions which was born, nursed and nurtured
under he care, zeal and genius Of our fathers Of
the revolution. They have sprung from difercn,
ancestry. They do not inheri, much Of the bold
chyalry Of the cavaliers in the reign Of the Stuars
| They dalight more In the beautiful philosophy Of
mutual dependence, which Is 80 admirably con
figured and illustrated By all the great elements Of
nature, and by nature itself, in every Of her
ricd forms-in the heavens and on the earth Geor-
gia, in particular, blends her Southern soul with