The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-10-22

Before and AMER
The glorious result Of the late electoral de
csion in South Carolina has placed the Charles
ton ,Mercwy-the organ Of the Secessionists--
in position embarrassing enough to itself, but
very amusing to the byslanders Having been
completely vanquished at the polls, the Merck
ryattempts to decry the contest altogether as one
of no importance whatever; apparently forget
iul of the tenor of its editorials and it's CORE
spondence on the subject for months past. To
give an idea of our contemporaries wrigglng
and jumping. we take passage or two from i,s
columns before and after the election.
Referring no further back than the 18th in
slant, we have the Mercury discoursng in this
fashion:
To-day will determine whether the time
honored flag of Carolina shall float triumphantly
over the field of conflict bc tFailed tattered and
tlefaced in the dust. Whether the State, now an
object OF admiration TO her friends aud of respect
TO her enemies, is to become theme of shame and
reproach to the one, and OF scorn and derision to
the other Whether her brave words and high re-
solves to be indicated by corresponding ac-
ton, she is TO the character Of bobadil
and braggart Whether, in a word, she will, as
she has repeatedly asserted che would do, resist
the outrages and aggressions of the Federal Gov
crnment, by which she has been degraded from
her constitutional equality. or follow in the train
Of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia, and sub
mite
When ,hls eventful day had passed, the
Mercury suddenly discovered that its thunder
had been misspent; that the election really
settled nothing as to the action of the State;"
| nd hot he ha
tied in the Legislature, and in the convention
convened by order of the Legislature.
! Here is the .uerctHy's after thought;
"The Co operation majority is, rs anticipat-
ed, very large The election was practically OF
10 moment, and decides nothing, as it was notori-
Gus that there would be no Southern Congress. Ii
is TO the Legislature which called convention, and
to that convention, representing the sovereignty OF
the State, that the people will look for the solution
| Of the great questions before them
The work Of dsunion, from which the cti-
zens of the State, as body, recolled with pa
riotic Indignation, is to be performed by this
said convention, on whose proceedings the
Mercury now fixes all its hopes:
There are not ten Unionists in the convention
unless the members have grossly bclied their rea
sentiments. II will be assemblage of nren ben
on the dissolution of this Confederacy; of men dc
voted and pledged to resistance ths because
they believe the very existence of the South as re
publican and civilized communities, ia in imminen
peril under the present Government. In these po
sitons there ia no difference between the Go. opera
ton party, such, and the Secessonists The
| leaders of the former the most eloquent teach
ers of dsunion, and from them have come tn,
burning words that infamed the people to resist
4
their words They will not be allowed to forge
them; we do not fear that they will DEERE to do so
or that they will shrink from the responsibility
they have assumed before the State and the South
With regard to Charleston itself, the .Mer-
ctrq has performed a similar summerset On
the lst Of August it thus referred to meeting
in that city on the previous evening:
''In respect both to numbers and to enthusiasm
the meeting last night was the greatest and most
| glorious political demonstration that has been
made for years in our city, and is. think, deci-
sive evidence that the majority of the people here
are for resistance"
And again, on the Goth August, in reference
to another meeting in the same city:
| Colonel Gregg raid rightly that this meeting
was convincing proof that Charleston sympa-
thzcs with the rest of the State and that when the
| uIne came sne Woulu Dear her part noDly In the
defence of the common cause"
! With these and hundreds of kindred expires
sions of opinion in its columns, prior to the
election, the Mercury now very coolly says, in
reference to the Charleston votes, This re-
suit causes US no surprise, and it will cause
none in the State at large;" very easy way
of getting out of a difficulty, but one that i'm
plies poor compliment TO the intelligence OF
the secession ranks.