The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-05

| From ~ Jaekson AEsass'Ppiar.
Address delivered ~ Hen. 4. Hutchinson,
To The Csntral Southern Rights Association q
Mississippi, lMsrch s, 1851.
Mr. PREsIDENT AND GBHTLEMEN OF The AS
ISOLATION: Two motives induce me to address
YOU The one il to correct, on my own knowi-
edge, misrepresentation about the origin ofpopu'
lar action in Mississippi on the sectional con
troversy but the other and my chief aim IS "a
present. in outline and in the most tangible
form, the view concerning our assailed instltu'
ton, which, in the numbers of Hampden IN the
Mississippian, since April, 1850, were given IN
detail-views which have not been introduced
into the public discussions and documents-bui
views that do reach and expose the baseless
foundations of the crusade against us. 10 this
effort am impeled by the solemn conviction Of
the necessity of urging them to general con
sideration and that by doing 80 am rendering
more service to our distracted and perIlled coun-
try than otherwise in any way could possibly
contribute contemn cavil, spurn all conse-
quences to myself.
Whence hs Mississippi Increment! Among
the resorts of submissionism, to arrest every ef-
fort of resistance to aggression, was the asser-
ton, that popular action here was caused by
Calhoun; as if it had been 80 it would have dis
credited the iustrious patriot and statesman
"whose mind was ever above the ranges OF &C.
MUS" or maligned the cause he to the last de-
fended-the rights, Independence, and the exist
ence of the States under the Constitution! The
facts were On April I, l849-on reviewing the
then late resolutions of Virginia and the address
Of the Southern congressional deegation--not
counting but execrating the atoners to the
NJ IL ;,,k NJ dalu all
federal house on Colts insult as sufficient adj
monition--it struck me, as it did thousands, that
nothing but the unity of the South could repel
the crusade But action must be had. The
people Of the South had never moved TO resist
ance, and were then seemingly as quiet as the
Hindoos To action, therefore, gave my feeble
efforts and with good help the center meeting
in May, lS4s, was held. All that followed 1t
are far better known than Southern rights are
understood | was prompted by the resolutions
of my native State, and am not so mean as to
claim credit for performing plain duty.
What ,oas the object of that movement Every
honest Southerner of conmon sense knows that
the object of all the popular meetings and con-
ventions that have been held in the South, in
l849 and 1850, was to concentrate the Southern
people-to prevent the lamentable consequences
of farther submssions-to repel the impending
ravages-and, if possible, to rescue the Consti-
tuition and the Union it created from the hands
of parlicides. 1t was pure. high, holy object.
What causes hare hndered and delayed con-
cert? They are too humiliating to be detailed.
Honest history may narrate them on its dark
pages; and it's darkest sections will transmit
Southern faulty, trenchery and venality. Our
enemies-the most ruthless we have had during
the last generation, have been educating them
selves to hostility against us, by falsities and
libels, through the nursery, school, pulpit, press,
tribune, Legislative hall, and in both the federal
houses. We, like our revolutionary sires, have
been quiet Like asses we have been submitting
to BURDENS A thousand fold more than our
sres have we been submissive. | cannot ac-
count for this Perhaps under delusive appear
ances OF present prosperity, it was not possible,
in one short year, to induce us as one man, to
apply great principles to great wrongs Though
heeced Of the immense profits of our agriculture,
we have still found subsistence left and as usual
crouch under that sheer subsistence that our
Northern overseers allow u.s. And is the South
thus in vassalage! Must the chain be rivetted
that we may feel itr Must blood be shed that
we NAV see it! One by one must our dull
senses be tortured into resistance?
But the faulty and recreancy Of the South
may be better perceived when the foundations
of the crusade are exposed, and to that pro-
coed. Constitutions and compromises are i'm
potent. By sort of geometric progression we
are driven into vassalage. How is this among
freemen! Let us turn on our enemies and ask
them, on what rock are their cohorts planted
Let us, in curiosity at least, see if their assai!-
ment rest on n sound basis; for if it do rest on
n sure and everlasting principle, then we should
succomb, as to destiny, and seek to escape some
of the desolations prepared for us. But if on
examination il be plain that the crusade arose,
progressed and is arrayed on naked fasity
then, if we be men, we should rise to resistance
and defence 1t must be obvious that all ques-
tons involved in the controversy turn on this
If it be utterly false that all the races Of man.
kind are of one speces, and so naturally equal
then the ground on which the crusade is arrayed
| is quicksand-then there may be no higher
law to rebuke us for our institution--there with
the strong arms and sure aims of the warriors
of nine millions Of Southerners with four mil
lions of the best supported and protected pre-
dials to provide the food and the clothing during
the struggle--ifa contest must come-certanly
we have nothing TO fear. But if the South unite
war is not probable-scnrcely possible.
It is proper to state most positively that ] an
not skeptic of any school. but firm though
unworthy believer in the Holy Bible as being
the revealed will Of the MOST HIGH for the
moral government and redemption Of all man.
kind: and that rightly understood, it contains
nothing in conflict with the orders and uniform
exhibitions of nature. Hence in my numbers
of Hampden-foowing the demonstrations Of
Van Amringe, the latest and ablest ethnologist
Il do not hesitate to adopt, as the most proba-
bic hypothesis of the origin of the varieties in
the human genus, the ordinations through Noah
and Hagar, to which will presently again refer.
There are some twelve important considera-
tons arising out Of the assumption of the unity
and equality of mankind
L. Are IRE all Of one family The round as
sumption is that all men are of one family, and
so can affiliate; are of one flesh, and so can
amalgamate; are equal from the creative hand,
and go are entitled TO social, civil and political
identity This is the grand dogma wherein
agitation began, has increased, and is about to
overturn the only fabric that ever promised hui
man liberty and exemption from oppression. Let
us take the first branch Of the assumption and
what then!
We proceed. relvinp on the Constitution and