The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-03-25
[roa THIS MuacunY.I

Too ADVENT q which has been 20 long hcraldcd,
has at length appeared. The first number reached
THE city some days since, and contains an arti-
Gle from which ] extract 30 much a. relates to
Charleston:
&C. The STATE CONVENTION apathy of the
people Of South Carolina, in the election Of mem
bers OF the convention was, indeed, most extraor-
binary Not onc-third Of the voters went to the
polls We regard this a. the commencement of
reaction about to take place in the State. There
are other indications still more significant. In
Charleston almost the entire delegation arc opposed
to secession or separate State action The views Of
Judge Cheyes are well known. He is disunion-
ist 1t 10 true The purity of his motives one can
doubt, however much we may lament his error.
But ne looks with contempt on the idea Of South
Frost regards separate State action secession a.
species Of political insanity; and moro pure
minded and pure hearted man we have never
known. MIR. Robert w. Barnwell, our former
Senator in Congress, who possesses ~ many &C
compliments Of head and heart a. any man in
South Carolina, il utterly opposed TO separate
cession on the part of the State We have no doubt
Judge Huger is also; in his own expressive lam
guage, he T" knows age for dishonor,', and, we
may add no time for such folly State secession.
Judge Butler 10 also opposed to secession; and
possessed. Without positively knowing, we have
no doubt that both Chancellor Dunkin and Judge
King are opposed TO secession. So, too, we have
understood Colonel Isaac w. Hayne to be. These
gentlemen arc all members elect from the city of
Charleston"
With the senior editor Of the new press, who is
easily recognised in the above extract have long
had the pleasure of personal acquaintance; know
that he would not wilfully pervert facts, and his
feelings, well his principles, would, i am sure,
revolt from any intentional Misrepresentation of
the position of individuals with whom he has kind
ly personal relations, and for whom he professes per-
sonal regard. Yet 20 unconsciously do strong po-
litcal bias. and the ardent pursuit IF cherished
object, operate, even honest natures that in the
article cited, it appears to me he has been betrayed
into both perversion of general facts and mis-
representation of individual position.
The small vote in many districts, at the recent
election for delegates, Il subject Of regret to all
who feel an interest in the State To me IL seems,
however, only the natural result of that principle
of our nature which makes It 20 difficult for the
masses Of men to realize the important bearing of
their present action upon the events of an inde6-
mite and distant future. Even in matters of higher
concern than any thing merely temporal can be,
though the reason Ia fully convinced that there is
great day of reckoning hereafter, compared with
which all else 10 vanity, yet how few there who,
in their daily conduct, prove their sense Of this
simple and solemn truth. The convention called
without settled, well-defned purpose, to meet at
distant and uncertain day, did not, it 10 true ex-
cite that pervading interest among the people
which il should have done, but under the circum-
stances this was, submit, neither "extraordnary"
nor, conceive, any evidence of reaction, in
public sentiment on the subject of resistance to
Federal usurpation, This is not the point, how
ever, which has induced me to trouble you and the
public. II 10 of the s'other Indication deemed
by the editor "stil more significant" that would
speak.
The character of the Charleston delegation he
cOxu tha IF thoac oio
cant indications of reaction in the State" and
among the names cited 10 prove reaction 10 my
own. / shall be excused, under these circum-
stances, for a few words of comment.
Reaction! reaction" since when? from what?
and to what? Words, used by one of the senior
editors good sense and experience, should have a
definite meaning.
Highest in the vote obtained. first upon the tick
ct, and tho first named by the editor, is Judge
Cheves.
Have Judge Cheves's own views undergone any
change? Does the thought Of "submission' the
less "curdle the blood in bis veins" than when, at
Nashville, in strains of eoquence never surpassed
and with overwhelming power of illustration
and logic, he scared to "he height of this great
gument?'
If the reaction is not in Judge Cheves himself,
is it in the public mind in regard to him? The L.
gisature, which called the convention delighted to
honor him. They multiplied evidences of their re-
spect, confidence, and admiration Is il not known
to the editor, that there was no position in the
State which they would not have gladly accorded
TO him, could the cold man eloquent have been
induced to accept of place Office? That the read
ers Of the Greenvillc paper may understand the
character of the reaction of which Judge Chevess
election is "the significant Indication let the ed-
tor insert in his next number the following extract
from his Nashville speech:
"The thousand changes which we have heard
rung upon the Union, the glorious Union the
eternal duration OF the Union are ludicrous, and
would be amusing if they were not melancholy.
Men OF sense, and FREQ of sinister motives laugh at
this vaporing. No man who has any pretence to
inanities. They may do for boy exercises,
or the tinsel of dull dcmagoguc, whose invention
ia 1T fault for better flourish. A statesman would
know that the Interchangeable laws of the Modes and
Persians were not free constitutions; that un-
changcablc government will always become de-
spotiC governments, because the leading character
Of all controlling governments is encroachment, to
ampliiy their jurisdiction"
"Let the people beware of the thousand untruths
that are daily rung in their ears to lull and de-
ceive them such as the following; That the Con-
stituton has not been violated; that what our sg-
gressors have been pleased to grant was the best
we could get that California was honestly and
constitutionally admitted into the Union; that it
was QOltc JUST cquAtoOlcs huu nOOeet lOr lew
squatters, and few ignorant conquered people, to
assume the sovereignty of territory equal in ex-
tent to the aggregate Of many States, with all the
ports and harbors within its bounds on the Pacific
ocean, and the most valuable gold mines in the
world; that your slave property 10 safe. while your
tyrannical rulers are industrously striving to de-
stroy it, that it outrage to hold forcibe pos
session of the territory Of an independent State,
which was expressly held In trust for that State,
and to threaten her with arms If she attempted TO
enter it; that Texas will be benefited by the dis
memberment of her territory, and the destruction
of her fine bold. uneffaceabe natural boundary In
fine, that bride may be rendered without insult,
and accepted without disgrace. Above all, let the
people beware of the insidious esuitica cry of tho
Union, the glorious Union.'"
elm conclusion, pray God, in his merciful pro-
violence, to release the faculties Of southern men
from the awful torpor which utterly benumbs
them, to dispense their dclusions to inspire them
with some love of country, to endue them with
self respect, with sense of honor, fear of
shame and degradation. If He shall, in his good
ness and mercy, 10 do, shall not much longer
deliberate, but act with the spirit of men-of free
men, Ms q band Of brothers, men who know their
rights and dare maintain them. The South can
hardly overrato its strength when shall be united