The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-06-14
SOUTHERN PRESS.
WASHINGTON CITY.
SATURDAY, JUNE IA, 1851.
"A Worthy Offering.

before the memorable battle OF Yorktown, while
Gen. Washington was reclining his head against
an American tulip tree and his feet against a
beech tree, some one remarked that the battle
that was to ensure would probably decide their
Mtes, should they not prove victorious they
would all be hung Gen. Washington replied
that they might be cut to pieces, the blood and
hfeless trunks might be left upon the field but
my neck was never made for a British halter.
The box presented to General Qnitman, was
made in Richmond from the wood of these two
trees. It was Of old Virginia growth, of Virgil
mia manufacture, the tree of which it was once
part had been seen by Washington, and
beneath them he had reclined and made an ex-
preston worthy of the Father of his country
sVicksburgh Seminel
We find the above striking incident copied
into the Richmond Republican, accompanied by
series of very facetious and sarcastic" com.
ments truly remarkable as coming from the
State that produced WAsHIKGToN, and whose
soil still holds his ashes. The most loyal SUBJ
ject of an European colony could not evince a
on the (" sovereign,"-no slave of an Eastern
despot could more reverentially and hopelessly
bow his neck to the bow-string, than such coun-
sellers would have the South demean herself in
abject dread of divorce from the North-which
they would deem destruction. For thus speaks
the Republican, with bated breath and whis-
pering humbleness," whose voice used of yore
(before the election of GEN. TAYLoR) to ring
out like clarion in defiance of Northern insult
and aggression. Quoting the paragraph from
the Vicksburg paper it adds:
Judge Smith and DR.. Johnson, the donors of
the above mentioned box, must be very face
tious and sarcastic gentlemen. We should
think that their present must have been a better
answer to Gen. Quitman's speech than any ora
fion which could have been made. If General
Washington had been hung upon the tree of
which that g box" was made, or if he had died
in the battle of the revolution, the South would
have been precisely in the condition to which
she would be reduced by secession,-impov-
erished, degraded, ard province of Great Bri-
tain. The successful result of the labors of
the secession school, would be either to expose
the South, and her institutions to the enmity of
the North, of Great Britain and of the world,
and thus to hasten and make inevitable the ul-
innate downfall of the Southern States or
else which is more probable, to force the South
under the protecting arms of England, and rem
der her as much province of that kingdom, as
if such man as Washington had never existed.
And, for our own part we should regard it as
better for his fame if he had fallen at the battle
of Yorktown, than that the victory which he
there achieved, the tolls and sacrifices of his
whole revolutionary career, and the illustrious
virtues of his unrivaled character, should termi.
nate in so ignoble an end as the speedy dissoln-
ton Of that republic which he was raised up by
Providence to establish.
Admitting, even for an instant, that this pic
ture of Southern impotence and imbecility were
correct; that for the South and slavery-like
the scorpion grit with fre--there was no hope
of permanence and safety, except in the pro-
lection afforded both, by the existing alliance
with the Northern States would it be wise, pa
triotic, or proper in Southern man TO proclaim
il to the enemies of both Is it the part, even OF
a politician--we will not say of a statesman
while war is waged against his section, both at
home and abroad, on account of " peculiar In
stituton" las it is the cant of the day to call IT'D
TO invite aggression by declaration Of weak
choice alone of clinging to the protecting arm
of the North under any and all circumstances,
or becoming Impoverished, degraded, and :
Province of Great Britain ?" That such is her
helplessness and weakness that they will moi
permit her any other choice than that Of choos-
ing foreign or domestic tyrant! But was
such the successful result" for which WASH.
NcTos the STAKEHOLDER, and his noble compeers
perilled life, fortune, and sacred honor?' Sucl
the lame and impotent conclusion TO which his
mighty energies and selfdevoting patriotism
have brought that land which be loved far more
than lie Ia choice Of masters for his idolized
Virginia--for If ever there wss a man intensely
sectional" in the true and noble meaning o.
that abused word, that man was GEORGE WASH
1SeToS.
To give credence for a moment to the idei
that such OPTIONS are seriously entertained b.
the men of Virginia or even by her timid women
would wrong the descendants Of those revolu
tionsry sires, and visit on her whole people thu
penalty which few of her intriguing and wire
pulling politicians should alone be called upor
to pay Such never has been, and never can b
the creed Of that old Commonwealth, that ba
borne the Resolutions Of '9s so long upon he
banner Were she hereafter 10 adopt IL, he
proud emblem would be reversed in the read
ing, and the PROSTATE and trampled figure undo
the feet Of the armed man, be the sad type o
her own fallen state The editor himself who
in his attempt to pen facetious" paragraph
has lost sight Of the real drift and purport o
the admissions which it makes, we feel satisfies
would never consent to carry out the conclusion
10 which they inevitably lead--uncondifiono
submission 10 the North under all circumstance
Of aggression. For, If the inevitable result Q
secession be but the choice Of evils he hn
painted-if that act would reduce the South {
the condition which she would have occupie
had the "traitors" who advocated the "secei
sion" from Great Britain suffered traitor
loorx, ~ L. v,oe;t;op ,oxu lo ava, ,.oreo tho