The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-21
From the sNw York IT, lbane.
The Buxbear Secession,

]
The signal triumph of SEQ operation"--that is,
of the party which opposes immediate secession
from the Union, and insists that South Carolina
shall consult and cooperate with her sister
States OF the South with respect to their mutual
grievances and the best means of redressing
them-is substantial counterpart of the Union
victories in Georgia. Alabama aud Mississippi.
There may be some secession trumphs in the
plantation parishes; but we know that the
mountain districts are almost unanimous against
secession, and their strength added to that OF
Charleston is decisive. South Carolina will not
secede, nor even make feint OF so doing. Her
shareholders, notwithstanding all the clamor OF
restless intrguers for office, quite aware that
their slaveholding interests are decidedly safer
in the Union than they could be out of it, and
they will not be driven into secession. Her
merchants and capitalists realize that their bust
in the Union than they would be out of it. And
her large class CT poor white men, deprived Of
any equal voice in the government by her arsto-
cratic constitution, which allows small minority
of her freemen, residing in the great slavehold-
| ing parishes, to overbear the great majority in
her legislature, by which her governor, presiden-
tial electors, &C., are regularly chosen though
these poor whites are of little account and have
but n feeble voice in the usual direction of her
public affairs-wl make themselves potentially
heard whenever she shall undertake to secede
from tn, Union. Notification had scarcely a
foothold in the mountain districts twenty years
| ago secession is weaker in those districts now,
Could the question be submitted directly to the
white freemen of South CarOina-"Shall this
State secede from the Union-Yea or Nay
we have no doubt that two. thirds wond
thunder out an indignant and determined No !!
To- "a ..,I, to raut
planting Districts its fomenterS are nearly all
lawyers and ohce.seekers, who deemed this the
royal road to popularity and power. But they
have grievously mistaken.
The people even of South Carolina, though
they may grumble at this or that act Of Con
gress, or exhibition of Northern sentiment, are
at heart attached to the Union, and do not mean
to leave it. The cannon which the chvalry
have been ordering cast at liberal cost will be
laid by to rust in the arseDals. The Comm anders
and Quattebums who seek glory in the tented
Fl Id, must turn their arms against Cuba, North
| ern Mexico, or some other foreign territory
which lies temptingly convenient to slavedom
The last hope Of secession has vanished, and the
business of saving the Union is virtually extinct
| The fate of Gorsuch, and the rescue of Jerry,
have been dnned into the drowsy ears of the
South to no purpose. Gov. Johnston's defeat
ought for the credit of cotton patriotism, to
have occurred some weeks sooner. As it is, it
cannot well be made the cause Of events which
took place previously or simultaneously with
itself The Union will endure for some time
yet, because no influential party concerned in it
has as much to gain as to lose by its disruption
Castle Garden may continue to resound with the
| notes of Maretzek, rather than the honeyed
tones of persuasion which fall from the lips of
Little Btters" and kindred spokesman of the
Union and Safety Committee" tor the peril of
disunion is no more. "Olhello's occupations
gone ~
| And now word on secession in the abstract
which has held prominent place in the discus
sions of the late summer at the South, and has
enured largely to the advantage of the secession
lists, who, by holding up their adversaries rs de-
nying the right of secession under any crcum
stances have been able to represent them rs cut
ting off the South from all chance of redress in
case of the infection of unbearable wrongs upon
her by an omnipotent Northern majority
Whether a State has a constitutional right to
, secede from our Union, upon the occurrence OF
[ circumstances which in her own judgment rem
der such step necessary, is question winch
we will not now discuss That she has no right,
and can have none, to nullify law of the land,
vet insist on remaining in the Union, was abund-
dnlIy cSlAOllSntF DY hlT. w tDsltI III MS BIbat
debate with Col Hayne. But if we regard the
several States as soyereignies, and the Union
az a confederacy, the right TO secede from that
Unionin case of the perversion of It's powers to
the vital injury Of one or more of the high con-
tracing parties, would seem a Legitimate infer
ence from the premises.
But our view of the practical question strips
the abstraction Of much of its shadowy magni-
tude and importance. Suppose a State 10 be
earnestly convinced that the Union has become
a curse TO her, and thereupon TO have resolved
TO secede from it-whqt shall be the federal
government? Shall we call out the militia,
REINFORCE our SECULAR army, cast cannon, a"d
pour down upon the seeding State an avalanche
of bloodshed, devastation and death! Shall
We retain sister State in the Union by fire and
sword, and compel her to send members of Con-
gress, and seem to be our associate and equal
when she is in fact our vas al We think not
IL State, by decided, unquestionabe majpri
ty of her people, should resolve to quit the
Union we should prefer to let her 90 rather
than retain her by military force. This Union
! is not a slave-pen, though il unhappily con-
tains slave pens. IL would be perfectly fai
TO insist that seeding State should not per.
NIT her territory to be abused to defrsud {
revenue laws Of the Union by smuggling, or in
any way 10 injure her neighbours but do not
have her retained as a captive and a subject il
she is unwilling to remain rs partner.
We do not believe if the door Of the Union
were held wide open, State could be induced
to walk out In the course Of the next half cen.
tury. If any did, she would be glad to walk in
again before she had been out tv o years. Our
Union is maintained by force stronger than
fortress-walls and more impregnable than ser.
red ranks-that Of enlightened self.interest and
general security. A dozen Rhetts and jeff
DIvises could go but short way towards its
dissolution.
PosT Office OPERATIoSs-The following
are statistics Of the New York Post Office for
the quarter ending September 30, 1851: