Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1851-01-04
PLAQUEMENE:
SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1851.
From the Natchez Courier.
Letter to Governor Quitman.
IRERy1LLE. LA. Nov. 80.

| 06LtSI 10 eHOVVkJlOI VV4tI11E4Qs
| lBERv1LLE, LA. Nov. 80, 1850
SIR Il have this day received your mes
| sage to the Legislature Of Mississippi, sin ex
traordinary session." Ihave read it with much
care and attention, and now propose noticing
a few out of the many objectionable features
that it contains, assuring you at the Same time
that do not question your sincerity of pur.
pose in expressing the solemn convictions OF
your mind;" for believe that the people OF
your own, as well as those OF other States, are
| fully satisfied that in all your strange move
| ments and political changes, for the last tweu-
| ty five years, you have been sincere in your
| convictions, and honest in your purposes. l
| thought you so twenty years ago, when you
| were supportinga party known to be In oppo-
siton TO the best interests of the country, as
did in 1882, when you declared it to be your
opinion, that the people Of Mississippi were
| not capable Of seIf-government,a and evidenced
that sincerity by recording your vote against
I their exercising right, which belongs only to
| freemen. That you seem still to entertain and
| cherish this opinion, is shown by your apparent
unwillingness to trust them TO select their
own delegates, or to send none at all, as they
NAV choose, to the so.called "Southern Con
yention," assuming to yourself the right to act
for them; but especially do you reveal your
opinions. when yoh recommend that a COM
mittee be appointed or elected with powers
absolute or contingent, which you are pleased
to chrisen a Committee of Safety, and which,
when once formed, you say would OF course
possess plenary powers, uncontrolled by any
instructions or restrictions, which the Legis-
lature might impose"
Now, can it be possible that such sentiments,
officially promulgated by the Governor of one
of the most patriotic States in the Union, will
be permitted to go unrebuked? Who, but
Governor Quitnan would dare to ask the
brave defenders of New Orleans, and their
gallant sons who poured out their blood like
water upon the glorious field of Buena Vista,
to establish upon freemen's chosen soil an
aristocratic form Of Governments govern
ment which, as the author avows in advance,
is to be Independent of and above the will Of
the people. Now, sir, you have not to learn,
that to effect the dissolution of this Union, the
veil of secession must be cautiously and gen.
tly withdrawn from before the eyes of the
people, for if the repulsive features of disu-
MON, or the despicable glare of a crown, were
placed before them without first preparing
them to embrace the one or submit to the
other, you would arouse spirit that would
hurl destruction upon the mistaken mortal,
who dared to offer such ignoble terms, as Il re-
medy for evils. Had the Emperor Napoleon
attempted to usurp the crown, and establish
himself upon the throne Of France, without
first preparing the people for such an event, it
would have cost him his head. He therefore
recommended that three Consuls should be
chosen, taking special care, however, that he
should be first; and by this political move, he
arrested all suspicion, and was enabled to effect
indirectly what he knew could not have been
accomplished directly. Nor did he effect his
object more surely than you will, through
your Committee Of Safety, "a dissolution Of
the Union" and the establishment, upon
portion of its ruins, Of strong central go
-vernment or petty monarchy And yet
have no doubt Of the honesty Of your purpo-
ses and the purity of your intentions.
But where do you find the evidence to Justify
you in charging your own countrymen with
crime most foul, and iu placing the institution
Of slavery in the South, to which we are all at-
tached by education and interest, at the point
of irretreyable ruin, as well rs annihilating the
only Government upon earth that is worth
preserving Government that secures equal
rights and privileges to all:s
You tell us that the North has wared war
against the institutions Of the South. Now
this is an assertion the truth of which | do not
admit. The time was, however, when this
good political coin, and afforded fine theme
to the political aspirations of the day, to excite
favor in the South, and especially was it held
ADORE par Nth those gentlemen uho migrated
hither from The North. But we have now at
our command such ample testimony furnished
by our conntrymen of the Northern States,
that our constitutional rights shall be main.
tanned, that none but those who are resolved
to oppose every conservative measure, can
doubt the sincerity of their averments, and
their fidelity to the Union. know there are
fanatics at the North, who would gladly exier-
inmate slavery as it exists, but their numbers
are few, and their consequence as insignificant
as is that Of the disnnionists of the South. In
proof of the correctncss Of this opinion, re-
Ter you to the last Presidential canvass You
may have forgotten that the wings. democrats,
and families, had thenssach candidate before |
The pcople-the last lnamed party, il it deserve |
that appellation, seIected for its candidate Mr. |
Van Buren, "a Northern man with Southern |
principles once the exponent u democracy,