The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-01-04

Arected ~ political lepdssA who having made
'hs most Of abolition support In tbs bite cleo
lions. are now trying what capital they can make
by pretending to oppose 1t. did not see the
name Of . single prominent fraud Of Nj. CLAY
among the officers or orators, and Of the Demo
cratic party there was barely enough to make
speeches, 1t seems rather to have been meet
ing Of merchants, the leaders Of which were
trading politicians, and the followers traders in
cotton, rice aud tobacco. II they ever fight the
battles Of the South, il will DO from behind the
cotton bags and tobacco hogsheads.
There " no safety for the South, but to bring
the conviction home to the North by acts, that
cannot be mistaken AZ distinct indications, either
Of secession, resistance or retaliation. Legisla-
tive resolutions are laughed At and dsspised, al
they deserve to be, since the ~creancy Of old
Virginia and company, and especially since the
manifesto Of the Empire State of the South"
which il by fur the best apology for Northern
aggression, and the most courteous, encouraging
remonstrance, inviting future invasions of South
ern rights, that have seen. Neither will dane
ing minuet, one step forward and two back
wards, answer the purpose Least Of all will
the course pursued by that great bulwark Of
Southern rights, the Washington Union, in
pledging itself to resistance ia the event Of a
certain contingency, solely on the presumption
that it will never happen. That paper has now
become the fnger-post by which the Northern
politicians graduate their approaches towards
the citadel Of Southern rights All this is more
than idle---it has b come ridiculous, which Is
ten times worse than being wrong In politics,
the party that has the laugh against it. is already
defeated The North must be made to look Sc
rious, and think seriously too.
! am neither alarmist, agitator, or disunionist
don't affect 10 smell rat when there is not a
mouse stirring; and to see this now great, and
once happy Confederation rent asunder, would
bereave me of one of the dearest contempla-
tons of my old age. But ! cannot shut my
eyes, dim as they are, to the conviction that the
principles declared and acted upon by the Aho-
litionists, and those ayowed BY the most distin-
guished leaders in the Senate, intoxicating the
old exploded doctrine of passive obedience and
non-resistance. as applicable to. the States of
this Confederation, backed by those assumed by
the President in his declaration Of war against
Texas cannot but see, that If these should
supemede the letter and spirit Of the Constitu-
ton, then the days of the Union are numbered.
1t cannot and ought not to last If it does not
20 of in commissions, it will linger on through
an inevitable process Of decay, and stand a
ruined temple, without any cement to keep it
from crumbling to pieces at the first shock of
the elemental The Abolitionists must be put
down, not by being nursed and abetted by all
parties, either openly or in secret, but by being
disdained by all; not by being cast off by one
party, to be adopted by another.
But how is this to be brought about? an.
swer by the South, and not the North. The
most dangerous enemies of the South arc fos-
tered in her own bosom. They are the men
who, after betraying her in the councils of the
nation, went home and used all their influence
to make the people traitors to themselves. They
are the men who first led the States they repre-
sented into position from which they could
not retreat with honor, and then led them out Of
it covered with Disgrace and ridicue. If there
are any disunionists or traitors in the South,
these are they; for it is clear as the light of the
sun, that il they had not basely deserted the
cause of the South, that Compromise, which
will yet prove the death-knell of the Union, or
the ruin of one-half Of it, could never have been
perpetrated. do not wish wantonly to assail
any mans motives but when see him adduc-
ing reasons for his conduct like those paraded
in the manifesto of the Georgia Convention, so
utterly insufficient to snstain the conclusions
drawn from them, have right to suspect he is
influenced by other motives, which he does not
choose to avow. 1t needs no extraordinary "a.
gacity or experience to predict, that 90 long as
these men continue in a position to blind the
people, by throwing dust in their eyes, the
South will be paralyzed, stultiied, Supplied, be-
trayed, and sold in her sleep.
In specializing, as have often done, on the
result of those sectional contests, which arc in.
evitable in Confederation of such vast extent
comprising such diversities of soil and climate
have always, hitherto, assumed as fixed fact
that the Southern States, having common in.
terest Of such vast invaluable Importance, and
far outweighing all party considerations, would
always, though placed in minority, be able to
protect themselves by virtue of that great com.
mon bond Of nnion. But it appears was mis-
taken, and that the pultry interests Of party, and
the rivalry of political pettifoggers, are too po
tent for the vital principles, and happiness, and
safety, and repose of the entire mass of the peo
pie. So long as this continues to be the case
and unity remains impossible, either in single
States or in the mass the South has nothing left
but to follow the example Of the wise King Of
Spain, resort to the consultations of philosophy
and "since nothing can be done, make the best
Of it," l beseech their legislatures not tc
threaten any more what they will do, in case
i