The southern press. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-07

To The Central Southern Rights Association 81
Mississippi, March 8, 1851.

U INC S6FttIOt JOutucfU At&HtS AosOt HtsOff ~
Mississippi March B, 1851.
Mr.. PREsIpENT'AND GENTLEMEN OF THE As
ISOLATION: Two motives induce me to address
you. The one is to correct, on my own know-
edge, Misrepresentation about the origin ofpopu-
lar action in Mississippi on the sectional con-
troversy but the other and my chief aim is to
present, in outline and in the most tangible
form, the view concerning our assailed institu-
ton, which, in the numbers of IIampden in the
Missssippian, since April, 1850, were given in
detail--views which have not been introduced
into the public discussions and documents--but
views that do reach and expose the baseess
foundations of the crusade against us. TO this
effort am mpeIled by the solemn conviction OF
the necessity of urging them to general con-
sideration; and that by doing so am rendering
more service to our distracted and perllled eoun-
try than otherwise in any way could possibly
contribute contemn cavil, spurn all conse-
quences to myself
Whence Ms Mississippi movement? Among
the resorts of submissonism, to arrest every ef-
fort Of resistance to aggression, was the asser-
ton, that popular action here was caused by
Calhoun; as if it had been so it would have dis
credited the illustrious patriot and statesman
"whose mind was ever above the ranges OF ge-
MUS" or maligned the cause he to the last de-
fended-the rights, independence, and the exist
ence of the States under the Constitution The
facts were On April, Z, l849--on reviewing the
then late resolutions of Virginia and the address
Of the Southern congressional delegatlon-not
counting but eXecrating the atoners TO the
North in that gation-taking the vote in the
federal house on Colts insult as sufficient ad-
monition-it struck me- as il did thousands, that
nothing but the unity of the South could repel
the crusade But action must be had The
people of the South had never moved to resist
ance, and were then seemingly as quiet as the
Hindoos. To action, therefore, gave my feeble
efforts and with good help the center meeting
in Nav. l84s, was held All that followed it
are far better known than Southern rights are
understood. | was prompted by the resolutions
of nv native State, and am not so mean as to
claim credit for performing plain duty
What ,cas The object othat movement! Every
honest Southerner of common sense knows that
the object Of all the popular meetings and con-
ventions that have been held in the South, In
lS49 and 1850, was to concentrate the Southern
people-to prevent the lamentable consequences
Of farther submissions-to repel the Impending
ravages--and, if possible, to rescue the Constr
tuition and the Union it created from the hands
of parricidee. 1t was pure.high, holy object
Yhai causes hare hindered and delayed con-
cert, They are too humiliating to be detailed
Honest history may narrate them on It's dark
pages: and its darkest sections VIII transmit
Southern faulty, treachery and venallty Our
enemies-the most ruthless we have had during
the last generation, have been educating them
selves to hostility against US, by talsities and
bels, through the nursery, school, pulpit, press,
tribune, legislative hall, and in both the federal
houses. We, like our revolutionary sres, have
been quiet Like asses we have been submitting
to BURDENS A thousand fold more than our
sires have we been submissive. | cannot ac-
count for this. Perhaps under de!uslye appear
ances of present prosperity, it was not possible,
in one short year, to induce us as one man, TO
apply grea. principles to great wrongs Though
aeeced of the immense profits of our agriculture,
we have still found subsistence left and rs usual
crouch under that sheer subsistence that our
Northern oyerseers allow US. And Is the South
thus in vassalage! Must the chain be rivetted
that we may feel it? Must blood be shed that
we may see it! One by one must our dull
senses be tortured into resistance?
But the faulty and recreancy of the South
NAV be better perceived when the foundations
of the crusade are exposed; and to that ! pro-
coed. Constitutions and compromises are i'm
potent. BY n sort Of geometric progression we
are driven into vassalage. How is this among
freemen! Let Us turn on our enemies and ask
them, on what rock are their cohorts planted
Let US, in curiosity at least, see IL their assai-
ment rest on sound basis; for II Il do rest on
s.re and everlasting principle, then we should
succomo, 40 20 destiny, and seek TO escape some
of the desolations prepared for us. But il on
examination IL be plain that the crusade arose.
progressed and is arrayed on n naked falsity,
then, if we be men, we should rise TO resistance
and defence. II must be obvious that all ques-
lions involved in the controversy turn on this.
IF Il be utterly false that all the races of man.
kind are of one species, and so naturally equ.l.
then the ground on which the crusade is arrayed
is a quicksand-then there may be no higher
law TO rebuke us for Observation-Disclosures with
the strong arms and sure aims Of the warriors
of nine milons.of Southerners, with four mil
lions of the best supported and protected pre-
dials 81 provide the food and the clothing during
the struggle-ifa contest mustcome-cerainly
we have nothing to fear. But If the South unite,
war Is not probable-scarcely possible.
II il proper to state most positively that ] am
not skeptie CT any school, but firm though
unworthy believer in the Holy Bible, as being
the revealed will of the MOST HIGH FOR the
moral government and redemption Of all man.
KIM. ana Inat TlgOt1 unutFstoOu, " cOulaius
nothing in conflict with the orders and uniform
exhibitions of nature. Hence In my numbers
Of Hampden-folowing the demonstrations OF
Van Amrnge the latest and ablest ethnologist
II do not hesitate to adopt. as the most proba-
BILE hypothesis Of the origin Of the varieties in
the human genus, the ordinations through Noah
and Hagar, to which will presently again refer
There are some twelve important consdera-
tons arising out Of the assumption Of the unity
and equality Of mankind
1. Are re oil of one family The round as.
sumption is that all men are Of one family, and
so can affiliate are Of one flesh, and so can
amalgamate; are equal from the creative hand.
and so are entitled 10 social. civil and political
identity. This is the grand dogma wherein
agitation began, has increased, and IL about 10
overturn the only fabric that ever promised hu-
man liberty and exemption from oppression. Let
us take the first branch Of the assumption and
what then7
We proceed, relying on the Constitution and
on compromises, until the catastrophe is upon
us Well might we say, of what avail to US
can be paper guarantees, IL Con and nature b.
against us! Truly, should we raise straw