The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-16
From the Riehmond Eran,iner.

ton of the whole nation. Thirty -six associa-
tons are represented, and four hundred and fif-
ty delegates were present An assembly so con-
stituted is naturally respected as fair represent
tation Of the people Of South Carolina; and
naturally looked to for definite and almost Of
fetal expression of their determination in regard
to their future conduct. The convention which
is to meet next year, to proclaim the secession
of that State or its acquiescence in the existing
condition Of the Union, thus :" cas- 8 its shadow
BEFORE" and if the coming substance is like unto
its effigy, there is little doubt about the destiny
of the old Union of thirteen States. All things in
heaven and on earth proclaim that the end draws
nigh. If ever men had reason to expect with
certainty an event which depends on moral
causes, we have cause to believe that South
Carolina will leave the Union. The people Of
that State appear to have weighed all cOnse-
quences, all the dangers and all the benefits
which may result from secession, and fully made
their resolution to stand to the cast of the dice.
They may not, after all, effect their determine
tion but if prevented, it will be by causes
which are not foreseen He that in the present
condition of things does not anticipate their Sc
cession, does not reason with common sense.
The party of consolidation and their leaders,
threaten civil war. They declare that the powers
of the federal government shall be fully tested
when South Carolina shall declare her separa-
ton from the rest of the Union. They promise
to send thther armies to ravage and despoil
those fair lands to exterminate that briave peo-
pie, to make into wilderness that garden of the
South set the fleets which guard our shores to
the work of bombarding burning, and sacking
her city They vaunt the vast munitions and
myriads of men which the President of the
United States can command to this business Of
hell and in braggadocio triumph point to the
inadequacy of force which South Carolina must
bring to such battle.
That they are inadequate, is a manifest fact
If all the men, and all the weapons, and all the
treasures oftwenty-nine large States, are brought
to bear on one small one, it cannot be doubted
that, in the long run, however brave and warlike
and clever that State may be, it will be crushed
out of existence. But then the question arises,
whether such an effort of the federal govern
ment in cause 80 iniquitous, is possible
thing? No characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon
race is so indellibe and so strongly marked, as
its love of fair play. 1t is not one of those who
side with the strongest. The sympathies of this
race will ever be with the weaker side. In our
revolutionary war, the colonies were not more
unequal to n contest with the whole British en-
pire, than South Carolina will be to war with
the rest of the United States but the powers
prince nearly absolute, could not be, and were
not, brought to bear upon us,-because the SYM
pathy of the nation was always with us. The
same cause would deaden the arm of federal au-
thority in contest with South Carolina. The
sympathy of all the American people would be
with brave State, contending valianty for its
independence.
Then the cost and nature of such contest
must be taken into account End rs the war
might, it would cost millions of money and
oceans Of blood. What portion of the American
people are willing to be taxed for the destruc
ton of their fellow countrymen! What por-
ton of the American people will volunteer to 90
there and be shot down by, or themselves shoot,
people homogeneous with themselves, speak
ing the same language, accustomed to the same
life and occupations Can the political quarrels
of the United States carry them to these terrible
lengths? If South Carolina is finally beaten in
such battle, she will be beaten as Poland was.
All the narrowing scenes which darken the pages
of European history must be renewed in this
virgin hemisphere before she can be subjugaled
Are the people Of the United States ready to be
the actors of that tragedy? Will they be salts
fed and rejoiced to hear Of victories in which
thousands of their fellow citizens have been cut
down at the rout l-Of cities pilaged and burn
ing in which many of them have traded-lived
and found endearing friendships !--Of lands
laid waste whence came the riches and the glory
of the whole continent
And for tohat1 For what are we to undergo
all these labors, bear all these expenses, send
down our names to posterity spottled with civil
blood, and harrow the sympathy Of all the pre-
sent world by tales of our butcheres Suppose
the triumph of federal power to be complete ::
and thai South Carolina shall be perfectly bro
ken down rohat is gained How are we better
off than if she was out of the Unionl Whsa
good will it do to keep ruined, oppressed, and ex-
asperated people in such an organization as ours
The very key stone Of that organization is the
quality of the sovereign States. They hawes
equal powers and rights, meet in n common
parliament, and decide all things by the majority
of voices. Thev have no sovereign ruler above
them all, who shall decide their disputes. chastise
their faults, and receive their fealty. Their ex-
istence as a whole is simply the concert of equal
parts. How then will the existence Of the
Union be conserved by the degradation and en-
slavement of one Of those States The Union
is not more complete when one of the States
has become slave and captive of the rest, than
when one Of the States has withdrawn from the
Union The result is the same. A limb that
is paralyzed is not more valuable than limb
that is cut off.
Thus the federal Union can gain nothing by
the most complete triumph which can be con-
ceved. But let us now look at the reverse of
the medal-let us see what the federal Union
has to lose. 1t has everything to lose--honor
representations itself These are her stakes
in the game. Can it be supposed that the South
ern States will either aid or abet the federal
Union in the destruction of one Of themselves
lin contest over rights and injuries which are
the rights and injuries OF them al---or bring
down on Carolina n doom which they must see
in store for them all in succession They would
not. while one grain Of common sense, one spark
Of manly sympathy, or. one relic of Independent
character remain among their people. They
would strive in the beginning to be mediators
between the contcnding powers their legisla-
lures might vote the regular quotas demanded
by Congress; bnt the first tale of horror which
would shudder along the electric wires, to noun
tain and savannah, would rouse the passions Of
the Southern people TO madness. No man would
] Iaj to feel tho cause Of Carolina the cause of