The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-08-23

Administration cannot stand upon the principles
ofthe message, il does not expect ostand at all"
TDANIEL WEBsTER's Letter 10 the Union Meeting
at Hestchester.
Parties and Purposes in South Carolina.
glance at the present condition of affairs
In SOUTH CAROLINA may serve an useful Pur-
pose, in view of the misrepresentation which
prevails very generally al the North IN regard
TO the spirit and purposes of that State. IL is
time that prudent and patriotic men IN all sec
tions should distinctly understand the troubles
and dangers which menace US, and consider
them in the serious aspect In which they must
present themselves 10 every rejecting mind.
Without discussing the sufficiency OF the
causes which have induced the state of things
TO which we refer, and in no spirit of unkind-
ness to the men who have been active in
bringing it about, we propose merely to exhibit
the facts in the case, with no further commen-
tary than is necessary to explain and illustrate
them.
1t is not, then, to be denied that, with the
exception of few men like Mr.. PoINsETT, Mr..
WADDY THOMPSON, Mr. PETIGRU, and Mr..
GRAYsoN, the citizens of SOUTH CAROLINA are
infected with a lamentable spirit of dlsunion.
We may regard this spirit in the light of ia
naticsm or deluslon, but we cannot blind our
selves to the fact that it exists. The time has
gone by when her sons boasted, with the pa
triotc HAYEE, of the "unform, Jealous, ar
dent, and uncalculating devotion" of SOUTH
CAROLINA to the UNION. At the very moment
that bar ora,t Sanator ,yas utterinp thnse me-
morable words in the illustrious assembly of
which he was distinguished ornament, there
- - H.. Aa-L Spirit who looked upon
that UNION with eyes of hostility and hatred,
and who even then entertained purpose that
was to develop itself twenty yeals afterwards in
unblushing perjury and inclpent treason. From
that day to this he has sought influence. posi-
ton, high Federal dignities, and has taken
upon his lips repeatedly the oath 10 sup
port and defend the Constitution, while
his daily prayer and his constant effort
have been for the subversion of the Union
Let him carry out in overt acts the sentiments
which he avows; let him eight" as he pro
poses, and Mr.. RHETT will certainly entite
himself to the name of traitor; while we can
not comprehend the thin and subtle distinction
by which he would separate the violation of his
Senatorial oath from the crime of perjury. The
Constitution, which he is sworn to support, was
established to ''form a more perfect Union"
How, then, can effort to dissolve that Union
be reconciled with an oath to support that Con
stitution2
The iPcessant labors of Mr.. RHETT and his
associates for five and twenty years have ope-
rated 80 widely and deeply on public sentiment
IN SOUTH CAROLINA as to create the disaffection
to the Union which is now admitted to pervade
allclasses of her population. The only open ques-
ton among them is question Of time and man
ner. The party represented by Mr. RHETT
take the ground adopted by that gentleman in
his speech delivered in Charleston, on his re-
turn from the first Nashville Convention This
ground was that SoUTH CAROLINA would join
her sister States of the South, OF support any ~
them, in all expedicnts for redress they might
propose; but that for herself she would have re-
dress or disunion. 1t was on that occasion Mr..
RHETT proclaimed, "we are in the beginning of
a revolution" adding, few sentences after
wards, "to begin is to go on; and to go on is TO
20 on to the end-it has been SO in all revolu-
tons" He was satisfied that the redress
sought could not be obtained He was already
satisfied that the other Southern States would not
conspre for the dissolution Of the Union, and
he took that occasion TO mark out line for
SoUTH CAROLINA, without concert or consul
tation with any of her leading men, on his own
responsibility alone, committing himself and his
State las far as il was in his power) to the pol
icy never before suggested, ofisolated, separate
secession. Then and there it was-on the Dist
of June, in Hibernian Hall, in the city Of
Charleston-that Mr.. RHETT, SOLITARY and
alone, set this ball in notion"
1t may well be imagined that this kind Of
dictation could hardly prove acceptable To those
citizens of South CAROLINA who thought they
had at least an equal right with Mr.. RHETT TO
give their counsels in this great emergency of
the State. Men who were prepared for a South
ern Confederacy were not prepared for the sep
arate nationality Of SoUTH CAROLINA Men who
thought successful movement towards pacific
dissolution might be madeby concerted and uni
ted action of the Southern States, saw nothing
hut discontinue and defeat in the secession of
single Commonwealth. They were disposed to
wait while Looking many Of them not more
fayorably than Mr.. RHETT upon the Union,
they proposed to bide their time, to lay by until
some new act of real or imaginary grievance
should occur, and then, in their own language.
"strike while the iron is hOp-while the
whole South is glowing and kindling with a