The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-06-19

of the message, ii does not xpect to stand at ALL"
[DASIRL WEssTER's Letter TO the Union Meeting
At Winchester.
Georgia and Mississippi-Cobb and Foote.
We have watched with some solicitude the
course of our contemporaries of the Union news
paper relative to the position of parties in the
South; and while we have not been disposed to
question their sincerity as friends of the Com
promise measures, We have apprehended that
their sympathies were with the opponents of
those measures. In an article in that paper, of
the 18th instant, headed Tennessee Politics"
their position is no longer, dubious or question:
BILE, and they have, by implication, brought
very serious charge against some of the most
distinguished members Of the DEMOCRATIC
party. That we may not do the editors injus-
tce we quote the paragraphs. After asserting
that the opponents Of Messrs FooTE, CoBB,
and COLLIER, in their respective States, found
their claims to public favor not on wish, Sc
cret or avowed, 10 destroy the Compromise
3 and dissolve the Union, but on fear that the
Fugitive Slave law, either from the direct
power Of theft ree-soiers and Abolitionists, in
the States receiving their slaves, or from their
indirect action on Congress, will either multi
: fly the Fugitive law or repeal it," they con-
time thus:
"These facts proved daily by all the papers
receive from the South, and by all the conven-
tions and other public acts which determine the
character of elections. In the South they prove
that the Wings, conscious Of their weakness,
clamor loudly for the Constitution and the Union,
expecting that the people will re ward them for
this clamor, aud may be led to suppose that those
Who never silent not meritorious. They
prove, in truth. directly the reverse of the propo
sition which figures SO largely in the columns Of
the special organ, that the Union is in danger
4 from combinations existing in Tennessee or any
q other southern State excepting South Carolina.
There is no danger there except that which ia
foreseen by the Administration, which is, that
however the elections may terminate, they will
disappoint the expectation which has been cher
ished at Washington that the Democratic party
: would not be able to make the next President"
II the assertion be true that the opponents of
Messrs. CoBB and FooTE "have not wish,
secret or avowed, to destroy the Compromise and
dissolve the Union, but only fear that The Flu
gitive Slave law will not be faithfully executed,
in the name of common sense why oppose these
gentlemen? One of the distinct enunciations Of
the Union party of the South is that upon the
faithful execution Of the Fugitive Slave law
depends the continuance and perpetuity of the
Union. Has the Union forgotten that in its
issue ofthe 18th instant were published the pro-
ceedings, in part, of the two conventions lately
held in the State of Georgia, and that one of
the resolutions of the fre-eaters was denunci-
atory of most Of the Compromise measures, and
the burden of their song was the right of a
State to secede from the Union? Is the naked
apprehension that the Fugitive Slave law will
not be faithfully executed sufficient to excite
such feeling against Messrs. CoBH and
FooTE, as is now being daily developed in
the discussions now going on in the respec-
tive States2 Can it be possible that Messrs
CoBB and FooTE, McDosALp and QuIrMAN.
agree perfectly in "not having wish to de-
stroy the Compromise and dissolve the Union;'
and also that, if the Fugitive Slave law is not
faithfully executed, the Union cannot survive,
but differ only as to their fears about It's execu-
ton! And does the Union believe that this
is the only cause of difference for the almost
convulsive agitation that is now going on
ia the South? If these are its real opinions,
we fear that, in its zeal to palliats the conduct
of the fire eaters, it subjects itself to ridicule
commensurate only with the deep injustice it
has inflicted upon the Union men of those States
10 which we have alluded
But the most serious charge made by the
Union is against either the intelligence or in
tegrty of Messrs. CoBB and FooTE for the po-
sition those gentlemen now occupy before the
country For instance, after taking the mat
tiers about which we have commented a, '..facts
prored daily by all the papers received from
the South and all the conventions and other
public acts which determine the character Of
elections" the Union asserts that they also
prove chat the WHrGs in the South, CON
scious Of their weakness, clamor loudly for the
Constitution and the Union, expecting that
the people will reward them for this cIamor,
and may be led TO suppose that those who are
more silent are not so meritorious." Let us
analyze this and see il we can understand the
meaning intended TO be conveyed The charge
against the Wines Of the South is direct, and
could not tie conveyed in more ineligible
language, and that is, that their clamor about
abe Constitution and the Union is raised with
the expectation that the people will reward
diem for this clamor Without stopping To dis
euss at present the unfairness sad the injustice
OF such an imputation. let us how Hessrs.
CoBB and FoorE are affected by it. They are
he selected champions Of the Union party, and