Semi-weekly Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1851-1852, 1851-04-15
SUPPOSE SOUTH CAROLINA DETER
MINES TO GO OUT OF THE UNION,
WHAT WILL AR. FILLMORE Do!

SUPPOSE SOUTH CAHOL!NA Dh Eh'
MINES TO GO OUT OF THE UNION,
WHAT WILL Mr.. FILLMORE DO! Z.
This oaestion begins to grow important as
th. probabilities increase that she wAl decide
nnon that as.the alternative between ndisgface
.nd resistance. 1t is our duty as,ffesnlen to
look this issue boldly ard fea,lcs +y-fat,e face.
If the. strength of this Uuion is to be tested,
and the federal power brought to cocrcesa State
into the quiet suhgissien to wrong. we say the
quicker the isslleSis made the better. The
present is MS aqlSirious an hour as any for the
South. lrtl,@sihe is delayed, the North con-
tinuaIly audi sTpidly strengthening in popnla-
tion, VIII soon possess. the nunericalPower to
restrain by forms of Jaw every effortto resist
oppression If then, the issue is to he forced.
il is in every respect better to face 1t now ihan
hereafter. In view of the issue being iorced'
let us ask what President Fillmore will DO -
Will he attempt to exercise the military power
of the federal government to coerce South Caro-
lima.
There are those who have little respect for
onr constitution, and less respect for the ptlarl-
ples ofrepublicanism and genuine CIVIL libesty,
declare that the President would, and that it is
his duty to, .coerce a sovereign State by mil'tly
I, force. We are of those who believe the Presl-
dent has no such power nor does the cons'isu-
ton anywhere give to Congress the right to
clothe him with any such power. Were It
otherwise, the President might be empowered
by alawless Congressional majority, to enforce
any law, no matter how oppressive, ny military
coercion Against u State, we care not under
: what pretext, the constitution furnishes no au-
thority for any department Of this government
to exercise coercive power instructions or
against State-resistauce in State against
: constitutional law, may be coerced by military
power But State, after. it has in its sovereign
capacity denied the coiistitutionality OF the ex-
, ereise, of political power by Congress, can
Z, not, in our opinion, be coerced either INTO an
acauiesence in it, or to submit to the enforce
,nent filthy the general government within its
borders: 1t may legtimately, and it ought to
resist any attempt by the general government
to enforce such law within the limits oil the
State. XII ~ 1sa, ~ Is.
But it is urged that State may. not 60 OFT OF
the Union, and that should any4make the ex-
pertinent, the federal arm would be raised to
slap them back There is a singular opinion
abroad among the calm thinking classes on this
subject. Let the first federal gun be discharged
at the citizens Of South Carolina, if she secedes
and this Union. will melt. down as rapidly as a
piece Of butter would have done in the furnace
into which those holy men of old Were cast.
e this were not to be so, we should be prepared
to believe that the institution Of slavery instead
Of being permanently, enduringly fixed as pecn-a
liary adapted section, by climate, soil and pro.
ductton, was merely an accidental element to
be displaced by those, who happenedto possess
the physical power of doing it. We contend
that If the federal government were permitted
bysthe Slave States to coerce South Carolina,
they wodld write, seal and deliver a mortgage
to the North upon the negro property OF the
South, which, within fifty years, would be fore.
closed. The safety Of the South lies in her re-
sisting at every and all hazards, the exercise Of
military power by the, general government
against the legal and sovereign authority ofany
State.
1t is said that Mr. Fillmore would exercise
the military power of the government against
s. Carolina, il she dare secede. We do not be-
lieve it. In politics we know him to be cold,
sagacious man, but he has demonstrated to the
world that he is morally feeble. He shrank
from before the lofty crest of abotionism in
Massachusetts,, and he trenbles at the cold and
and slow progress of that Robuspierre in New
York, w. II. Seward Mr.. Fl lmore will dis
grace himself by seeking pretexts and excuses
for delay, should he be summoned tofacc the
storm now gathering. Mr.. Fillmore will blus.
ter and fume little, but he'll do nothing liza
bold political combination were to he formed,
such an one as that which despoiled Texas of
so odd thousand SQUARE miles of territory ard
robbed the Federal Treasury of Sl0,0oO,OO0,
Mr.. Fillmore is the man for such Il manruvrc.
If the abolition vote is necessary to him or his
projects, he knows how to work out just such
p combinations But Mr.. Fillmore is not the
man to face or guide revolution; and should it
be his misfortune to be at the head of public
affairs when the crisis comes, he will dwarf into
very suall-exquisitely small proportions.
Columbus (Miss. Standard.
The suffrage basis IN Trginia.-I'here are
manifestations of very excited state ofpopu.
,,r