Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-04-29


the masses Of the population marked by a sense
Of personal freedom ~ferson$f dignity and per-
senal Independence. o. bas the inaaehce of
wealth in the structure Msgovernment made
them the it tools and Instruments OF leaders,
ready I'd plunge them at any moment intoscenesa
OF anarchy and war Upon all these points Il
want light and information. have right toy
demand it, The people of Virginia have right
to demand it from those " no seek to force upon
us and upon our children this South Carolina
policy And yet not one gentleman on the oppo-
site side has so far condescended to place be-
fore US one particle of information upon this
most important aspect of this subject Perhaps
there may be facts in her system which might
justify such principle Of government there; ;
and which could NOT justify il here Perhaps
these facts might be found In the rapid increase
of her slave popnlation---the very slow increase
of her white population Perhaps in the fact
disclosed by the recent census, that her slave
exceeds her white population upwards of one
hundred thousand souls. Upon all these points
| want light, and yet none has been furnished to
US by the advocates and supporters Of this
scheme
| have had but little opportunity, myself, Of
looking into this aspect of the question. l pro-
fess to have but little information, which can
throw light upon the internal condition of South
Carolina; but such little as l have CLEANED with
in the last day or two from authentic sources, is
not calculated to recommend the system very
strongly to my adoption.
Iohserved, a few days ago, an article in the
Charleston Mercury, written, manifestly, 10y
man OF high ability and of extensive information
"a member of the late general assembly Of that
State-in which he denounces her system OF rep
resentation as IA plague spotn--"d sore npon The
body Hengendered at a time when
share of the government was we'll nigh here
ditament, and when a seat in the legislature, like
family pew, descended to the heir at law He
gives some significant hints that wide spread
feeling of dsatfection prevails in the upland dis
tricts against it and ii the spirit Of the people
has net been broken by halfa century Of its OPP
Grafton there, we may possibly find that we arc
about taking it up, when even South Carolina is
prepared to cast il off
In the last number ofthe Southern Review |
find an article, which may think, be read with
some profit. This able and spirited journal, as
we all know is published also in Charleston, and
was established for the express purpose of vim
dicating that State, and o!yindicating everything
southern, against the predominant influence of
Northern literature. Here is the manner in
which that authentic exposition of South Carroll
ma policy has thought proper to speak OF that
State Whether the state ofthings which he de-
scribes is to be traced in whole or in part to the
system of representation, must be left to those
who are better acquainted with the State than
am, TO determine:
1--WE share in South Carolina, with the Old
North State, the rcproach Of too great tenden-
cy 10 stagnate. The world is everywhere in mo-
tion--going too fast We admit, In thousand
ways but this is no reason that we should reso-
lutcly oppose the work of Improvement, when, to
be stationary, is almost equally TO suffer as from
the worst of change Let us, at least, in our at
tempts at reform, be met with calm and reason
4.
Let us not be encountered by the cuckoo cry,
simply, against change We have a large party
among us who have no other cry, Change is
dangerous say they. So is stdgaotion} We an
swer Better invite the storm which puriies
than become stified with the fetid Inspiration of
designating atmosphere"
And, again;
slow long, oh venerable legislators, will
you abuse our patience by this stand-still phil
osophy, and this ominous Groaking abont the
horrors and the dangers of changer Be ASST
red that your people begin to be weary of those
cuckoo carvings With the proofs of progress
everywhere around them, and the proofs of loss,
and trouble, and expense, aud delay, eyerywhre
among them, in consequences Of your sdgaqi5A,
they are not disposed TO remain inactive them
selves, nor will they much longer. They begin
TO say--thc profane vulgar THAT you are only
good at CANNON; that is your curse, and their
curse, that you talk, and talk, to the end Of the
chapter: that there is no end TO your talking,
and that-sitle the uorid a5out non is dairy.
acAiegiag conqg@iag. adeaactag. teooasisg geasAg,
sfyong aepuj0fs--that YoU ALONE. And TBrY
ALONE, in consequence of YOUR iSgitENcE and
EXAMPLE, lie down, Ikea fat tabby on The hearth
rug, purrtng an mnaer sohg---lke that OF \ kettle
siga,neriaq on The Erc--the burden of which still
insists upon tho propriety of being allowed TO
purr on in that same attitude on that same COM
Portable rug, by the fire, and in that pleasant
covering of fat. which shows an animal condition
admirably justified We do not doubt that
change would be annoying TO youys You find
much comfort in your sleek conditions. Bot
your danger is precisely like that Of n Fat cat
that your people will rout you some day with
some Cromwell at their head, and send you
packing where you will never more be heard OF.
on from; even as Dolly, the honse-,naii, with
hourshiDg broom sends the luxurious tabby
from the parlor rug to the Kitchen
Now sir, how must the condition Of o State
like this strike the eyes of an impartial obser-
YER when its own ayowed advocate and apollo
gist feels justified in breathing il in this style
DO you wish to see Virginia siiiled with tho in
SEPARATION of the same stagnating atmosphere =
If not, thea why-why import from her prin-
cpc Of government whose every tendency Is TO
degrade the freeman, 10 impair his sense OF
personal and political dignity and independence
Ito foster subservicncy to wealth, and to
drive him, in a rapid career, from Incidence to
apathy apathy to stugnation--from stag
nation to slavery.
The gentleman from Loudoun iMr. Janneyl
does not seem willing that South Carolina shall
enjoy the paternity of the mixed basis scheme.
He has endeavored to trace 1t to more popular
and exalted origin. He tells us it is to be first
found in the great federal compact, adopted by
people of the United States in 1855, and that it
was there planted by the hand Of Washington.
Sir, that gentleman must be dsiven to great ex-
tremity, indeed for authority, if he can discover
anything in the federal constitution at all resem-
bling this scheme now under consideration
And--I speak not here of the total want Of anal
ogy between the structure of federatiye CON-
pact between Independent republics, having ref
crence mainly to its foreign relations with the
world, and the organization of single common
wealth, looking 70 the arrangement Of its own
domestic concerns--apart from all this, what
conceivable resemblance can be traced between
that provision, which, rs an equivalent for
surrender OF power in the Senate, gives repre-
sentation to three-fiiths of the slave population
Of the South, and that scheme, which seeks to
base one-half OF the entire legislative power Of
the State upon property SIR, this subject of
the federal basis as it is termed, has been so full
ly developed in this debate, that ! cannot con-
sumo the further time Of this committee with it.
II is impossible for any gentleman 10 read the
history Of that compromise in the Federal OOii-