Weekly national intelligencer., 1851-01-04
THE PAST, AND THE FUTURE.

We have now reached point in our National
history at which we may be permitted to rest tor
moment--to look back upon the year which has
lust ended and those which went before it, and for
ward 10 the years which are to come. To this
retrospect Of the past and glance at the future, we
are impelled by sense of duty, but yet more by |
a grateful appreciation of the generous confidence
with which the readers of this paper have encour-
aged and sustained the course Of its Editors in the
trying conuncture through which the country has
lately passed.
Before, however, we enter upon our review OF
the past, let cast eyes over the area OF the
great field of controversy into which the Press,
with the People of the United States, was forced
some twelve months ago, and compare its general
aspect at the present with that which it then wore
How glad the emotion which this survey, and the
contrast between the condition of the country at
that epoch and at this, cannot but excite in the
heart of every lover Of his country How fervent
his gratitude to the great Ruler OF Heaven and
Earth, that the tempest into which the political
elements were lashed to such fury as to seem
to leopard the fabric Of Government itself, has
thus far spent its force without efecting breach
ole stone from the structure of the Union.
Of all the States, fifteen in number, which had
been counted upon to engage in the design of break.
ing up this Confederation, the Governments of tDo
only have SO much as entertained any proposition
looking to the severance of any member OF the
Union from the rest. Better still of these two,
one only has acted with such method as to induce
the belief that the heart of the People is with the
Executive and Legislative branches of its Govern
ment in this movement. Every other State seems
to be tranquil whilst latest and best Of all, the
State Of GEORGIA, resisting every seduction and
appliance brought to bear upon her, has decisively
repelled the tempter, declined the lead that was
offered to her, and declared her adherence to the
Union, whose foundations were cemented by the
blood shed by her brave ancestry and their COM
patriots in the common cause.
Before entering further into the review which we
propose to institute of the origin and the merits of
the political combination which at one time threat
ened the integrity and even the duration of the
Union, it is proper that we do to the two States
above referred to the justice of placing before
readers copies Of the official acts by which each of
them has engaged herself, to certain extent in an
enterprise which has for its object the separation
of the State of SOUTH CAROLINA certainly, and
possibly also of MISSISSIPPI, from the Federal
Union. Those acts will be found at large in the
preceding columns of this paper, and can hardly
fail to engage every readers attention.
From an analysis of these acts, it will be seen
that they differ so much in their provisions that
they can hardly be classed together for though the
dc &c tIo,o lo %l,o
Mississippi act proposes only Convention of the
People for delharation npon their real or supposed
grievances, and to adopt of redress, &C.;
which, before they become binding upon the State,
are to be submftedto the People at the ballot box
for their approval or disapprova. When we bear
in mind that this act was passed by Legislature
composed of the same individuals as those who
undertook, without any authority from the
People, to appoint Delegates to the first Nash
vile Convention, it may without violence be
presumed, that, in passing this act, they may have
been influenced, in some degree, by that pride Of
opinion which in high party times plays so impor-
tant a part in all deliberative bodies. When this
act was passed, moreover, the Convention of the
People Of Georgia, called by the Governor Of that
State upon grounds and allegations similar to those
recited in the Preamble to the Mississippi act, had
not been held, nor was the result of the election
of Delegates to that Convention then ascertained:
SO that the Legislators of Mississippi, deceived by
! the confident predictions Of the Disorganzers in
Georgia that their friends would prevail in that
election, might have taken for granted that they
were only following the lead Of Georgia, and would
not want for associates at least in the incipient
measures of conflict with the Union.
Be that as it may, the action of Mississippi stops
far short Of that Of South Carolina, whose Le-
gislative act cuts the knot which Mississippi
proposes rather to unite. 1t projects at once a
Southern Congress, prescribes the mode Of ap-
Pointment of her representatives to it, and forth
with elects the quota of four of them whose ap-
pointment it had devolved upon the Legislature
whilst the Legislature of Mississippi has taken
direct practical mode of ascertaining the sense of
the People Of the State upon the expediency of any
extraconsitutioal action and, in the event of any
such action being proposed by the State Conven-
ton, subjects the proposed action again the pop
ular vote. We have not the least apprehension, in
the case of Mississippi, should the Disunonis.s or
Secessionists succeed in elecing majority of the
State Convention-which, however, we cannot be-
iieve that they will-that the sober second sense
OF the PeoDle will not d;cor,,, ito n, f an