The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-02-25
THE SOUTHERN PRESS.
ADDRESS OF tie
Hon. JACOB THOMPSON, Of Mississippi,

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ADDRESS OF fie
Hon. JACOB THOMPSON, Of Mississipp',
TO HIs ooHsrIrUENTs.
y The time of my present service in the Congress
of the United States has nearly expired. Ii will
soon deyoive upon you TO select my successor.
In advance Of any discussion on that subject,
and in response TO many kind letters warmly urg-
ing me again to present myself before you for the
high and honorable post held by me for the last
twelve years, deem IL my duty to make known
my fixed purpose TO retire to private life.
My entrance into the last canvass for Congress
resulted from peculiar circumstances, which il
was Impossible for me 10 control, and which
well understood by you My interest, my wishes,
and my cherished and known arrangements stood
opposed 10 the urgent and unanimous solicitations
Of my party friends 10 become their standard
bearer. In this conflict did not feel at liberty TO
disregard the request and the wish of so many
worthy men, who had sustained me SO cheerfully
and ~ firmly In former contests, and who were
entitled 10 my wnrmest gratitude. On the altar Of
higher duty and higher obligation, | sacrificed
my own personal ends and DESIRES and conlormed
my course to suit their views. But made known
then my determination at the close of this term to
retire from Congress. Duty to myself and family,
well inclination, constrains me to observe
that resolution.
know there are many Of you, guided by feel
ings Of personal kindness aud Partially, who de.
sire, amidst the excitement through which we
passing, to make some manifestation OF your
confluence and appreciation of my conduct. To
all SUCH let me appeal and assure them, that the
most acceptable s,rvce they can now do for me is
to leave me to the quiet ! seek around my own
hreside. As a private citizen, will unite with
them with my whole heart in unfolding our cause,
IN maintaining our constitutional rights, and our
true interests, under the lead of any true and faith
fu candidate they may choose 10 select.
la fan1s, fr,n ~, he
complain Of my withdrawal, and my political
enemies cannot with any fairness candor mis-
represent my course or my motives, yet hav-
ing been SO long your representative, and having
trumphant!y passed, by your support, through
SO many trials, regret that our relations are
about to change at time when SO much gloom
and apprehension cloud and depress the public
mind, and when the counsels OF our safest and
wisest advisers are so much confused and divided.
- The preservation and continuance OF this Union
is an object Of deep anxiety to every American
citizen. We have all been taught from earliest
childhood to cherish ito watch over and guard
il Ms boon of inestimabe value. Under the stars
and stripes OF this Union, our progress has far
OutstrIpped the most extravagnEt calculations OF
the patriotic men of other days. Three score and
ten years ago, we were weak and poor, and of no
repute; now we are powerful, rich, honored, and
contesng for the first rank among the atoms of
the EARTH In civilization, in intelligence, in all
the arts Of peace and war, improvements, in the
amount of individual prosperity and wealth, we
are surpassed by no other people. 1t is in the
contemplation of such picture, that good men
fall down and worship this g glorious Union as
the highest God Of their political idolatry But
in 10 doing they overlook the cause in their admi-
ration of the effect they praise the picture, while
they forget the artist. The creature is worshpped,
while the creator is never remembered
This Union formed by the adoption of
Constitution or league between the different sover-
eign States. The objects of that Constitution
were " to establish justice, insure domestic tran
guilty, provide for the common defence, promote
the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our poserity." The
powers conferred by it upon central federal
government were specified trusts to be exered for
the accomplishment OF the above named objects.
And so long as that government moves within its
prescribed orbit, IN spirit and in truth, doing JUS
tlce to all, nsurlng domestic tranquility 10 all
providing for the common defence of Il l. promot-
ing the general welfare of all the States, without
psrtialty prejudice, without grudge vitupera-
ZION, thus securing the blessings of equal liberty
TO ourselves ard our prosperity, so long would
my heart-srings grapple and cling around that GO
vernment and that Union, and would dese 10
more honorable death than TO lay down my life in
its defence But whenever that central govern
ment /" shall become destructive of these ends il
is the right Of the people to alter or abolish it, and
10 institute new government, laying its founda-
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 10
effect their safety and happiness. ~
* must follow, therefore, that that man who
cherishes and avows an unqualified devotion to the
Union without condition, under all circumstances
deserves to be discarded from your confidence; in
deed he is as much the enemy OF our true inter
ests and Of the country, as he who openly avows
hostility to our present form of government and
seeks lis overthrow whilst IL is confined to lis le
climate action.
1t is desirable to preserve the Union, hut il is
not less desirable to preserve intact our rights
When the Union is maintained at the sacrifice of
our rights, IT works Cypress on; and when any
people tamely submit to oppr, IS on, they are pre-
pared for master. There never has been
nation so prepared for the yoke, who has not found
the tyrdnt ready to throw the manacles upon their
limbs. No free government can long exist in
peace without doing justice; and the Union can
only secure the hearts of the country by dealing
equally between the several States, maintaining
the rights of each and every citizen. And il by
insisting upon our rights, the Union is endan-
gered, let II be; If the nerve Of the aggressor
stronger and stouter than that Of the aggrieved,
let him who yields be accounted bastard. But
q people who exert an eternal vigilance over their
rights, and who have the courage ever to assert
them, can never be enslaved. Such do regard
the people OF this country. They may diff err as
to what are their rghts--they may dispute as to
the extent to which they are deprived of them by
any given measure or law; and owing TO this diff
ference they may differ to remedies. But let
US be once agreed what are our rights, and how
far they have been dsregarded and violated, and
what shall do in the way of resistance or RENE
DIV will suggest itself to each and every mind -
Having common object in view, we will pursue
the same great end with frmn-ss and unanimity.
The cry lately raised in Mississippi about union
and disunion, is not the issue which the people Of
Mississippi are called upon to decide. These are
merely the juggler's talismaDc words TO divert
the attention of the audience. Without any agree
msnt on the premises, 1t is sought to drive your
minds on to conclusions. The public intelligence
will detect and expose trick SO shallow, and
device so transparent.
The true issue for you to decide il, whether the
late action of Congress, variously denominated 10y
friends, "ihe compromise" "the Adjustment
'the settlement, ""the peace measures, has done
you justice. Has it secured your rights Has it
tended to insure domestic tranquility Has it
provided for your defence, and promoted your
welfarei Have they, in short, secured ,.those
blessings Of liberty" transmitted to usray our
fa,hers' And though you may. come to the con-