The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-24
THE SOUTHERN PRESS.
From the Chsrtsston Mercury.

WEEKLY, w
From the Chs,Isston Mercury.
MEssRs EDIToRs: The new Greenvle pa
per. the advent of which has been so long her.
aided, has at length appeared The first num-
Der reached this city, some days since, and con-
tains an article from which extract 30 much |
as relates to Charleston.
"THE STATE CONVENTION. apathy OF the
people of South Carolina in the election Of mem |
beers of the convention, was, indeed, most extraor-
binary. Not one-thrd of the voters went to the
polls. We regard this az the commencement of
reaction about TO take place in the State There
are other indications still more significant. In
Charleston, almost the entire delegation are OPP
posed to secession, or separate State action. The
views Of Judge Chevss are well known He is a
disunionist, it il true. The purity of his motives
no one can doubt. however much we may lament
his error. But he looks with contempt on the idea
OfSouth Carolina seeding alone. We know that
Judge Frost regards separate State action or Sc
cession az q species Of political insanity; and
more pure minded and pure hearted man we have
never known. Mr.. Robert w. Barnwel, our
former senator in Congress, who possesses as
many accomplishments Of head and heart any
man in South Carolina, is utterly opposed to sep
arute secession on the part of the State We have
no doubt Judge Huger 10 aIso--in his own express
sive anguage-he "knows no age for dishonor,"
and we may add, no time for such folly State
secession. Judge Butler is also opposed to seces-
sion, and truer heart than his for Carolina, no
son of hers ever possessed. Without positively
knowing, we have no doubt that both Chancellor
Dunkn and Judge King are opposed to secession.
So, too, we have understood, Colonel Isaac w.
Haync to be. These gentlemen are all members
elect from the city of Charleston"
With the senior editor of tho new PRESS who
is easily recognised in the above extract, have
long had the pleasure of a personal acquaint-
ance; know that he would not wilfully per-
vert facts, and his feelings, as we'll as his prin-
ciples would, am sure, revolt from any inten.
tiOnal misrepresentation of the position of in
dividuals with whom he has kindly personal re-
.ations, and for whom he processes personal re-
gard. Yet so unconsciously do strong political
bias, and the ardent pursuit Of q cherished OBJ
iect operate, even on honest natures, that in
the article cited, it appears to me he has
been betrayed into both perversion of genera
facts, and misrepresentation Of individual pc
sition.
The small vote in many disticts, at the recon
election for delegates, is subject of regret tt
all who feel an interest in the State. TO me
it seems, however only the natural result Of that
principle of our nature, which makes it so ditf
cult for the masses of men to realize the import
ant bearing Of their present action upon the
events of an indefinite and distant future. Even
in matters of higher concern than anything
merely temporal can be, though the reason is
fully convinced that there is great day of reck-
oning hereafter, compared with which, all else
is vanity, yet how few there are who, in their
daily conduct, prove their sense of this simple
and solemn truth. The convention called with
out settled, we-defined purpose, to meet at a
distant and uncertain day, did not it is true, ex.
cite that pervading interest among the people,
which it should have DONE but under the cir
cumstances this was, submit, neither extraor-
binary" nor, as | conceive, any evidence OF a
"re-action" in public sentiment on the subject
of resistance to federal usurpation. This Is not
the point, however, which has induced me to
trouble you and the public. 1t is of the " other
Indications" deemed by the editor still more
significant" that would speak.
The character of the Charleston delegation
he considers as the foremost of these 'more
significant Indications of reaction in the
State" and among the names cited to prove Q
reaction is my own. | shall be excused, under
ment.
Reaction! s're-action," since when! from
what !? and to what? Words used by one Of
the senior editors good sense and experience,
should have definite meaning.
Highest in the vote obtained, first upon the
ticket and the first named by the editor, is Judge
Cheves.
Have Judge Chevess own views undergone
any change Does the thought of submission"
the less acurdle the blood in his VEINS" than
when at Nashville in strains of eloquence never
surpassed, and with an overwhelming power Of
illustration and logic he scared to "the height of
this great argumentw
If the reaction is not in Judge Cheves him.
SELF is it in the public mind in regard to him
The legislature, which called the convention,
delighted to honor him. They multiplied evil
dences of their respect, confidence and admira-
ton. Is it not known to the editor, that there
was no position in the State, which they would
not have gladly accorded to him, could the "old
man eloquent" have been induced to accept of
place or office That the readers Of the Green
vile paper may understand the character Of the
reaction of which Judge Cheves's election is
"the significant indication" let the editor 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 free of sinister motives, laugh at
this vaporing. No man who has any pretence to
the character of statesman would ever utter such
inanities. They may do for school boy exercises,
the tinsel Of a dull demagogue, whose invention
is at fault for better flourish. A statesman would
know that the Interchangeable laws Of the Modes
and Persians were not free constitutions that I'M
changeable government will always become des-
potic governments because the leading character
of all controlling governments is encroachment, to
amplify their jurisdiction.
"Let the people beware the thousand untruths
that are daily rung in their to ul and deceive
them; such as the following: That the Constitution
has not been violated; that what our aggressors
have been pleased to grant was the best we could
get; that California was honestly and constitu-
tionally admitted into the Union; that it was
quite just, equitable and modest for few squat
tiers, and few ignorant conquered people, to as
sumo the sovereignty Of a territory equal in ex-
tent to the aggregate OF many States, with all the
ports and harbors within its bounds the Pacif-
ic ocean, and the most valuable gold mines in the |
world; that your slave property is safe, while
your tyrannical rulers indusriously striving to
destroy it; that it was no outrage to hold forci-
BILE possession Of the territory Of an independent
..hieh exnresslx held IN tra,st