The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-03-02

union, from pursuing slls course he has marked
out for himself. / have no wish to deter him.
| want him and other Northern men to come up
boldly, and do what they tell us their constitu-
ents have demanded"
The South, Mr. President, disclaims the Ian
guage of menace, but it is nevertheless due to
all parties that her deliberate purposes should be
known. We do not intend to stand still and
have our throats cut because the butcher
chooses to sooth us with the operation of hon
eyed words. You can deceive us no longer by
the catch-words cancellation and harmony Nor
can our voices be stilled by the fear Of mourning
the reproach of imprudence. ! said the other
day, and say now, that the time for prudential
action has gone by. 1t is this prudence, of which
we have heard so much, that has brought us to
the situation in which we now are. 1t is this
constant talk about prudential dction which has
induced the people of the North to believe that
we do not intend to resist.
There is point at which prudence changes
from uirtue TO a rice, and it often happens that
it is used only as another name for c0,Dardice.
II is not to be wondered at if our good brethren
of the North have mistaken the one for the
other, and have thus found courage to persist in
n crusade which promised to be unattended with
danger. know not if they will thank me for
plainly with all men; and now proclaim that
you have reached the utmost limit 10 lohich you
can go. There is line beyond which you must
not pass. You have marched up to it, and now
cross if you dare"
Sir, is not that bold and striking language
language worthy Of Southern man contend
ing for the great interests and honor of the
South But he proceeds:
81 do not say this to intimidate. do not
believe it will have that effect. On the contrary,
| believe with the Senator from South Carolina,
Mr. Calhoun, that this movement WiU run its
course, and end, as all similar things have ended,
in blood and tears" He who can.
not now trace out step by step, each successive
event of the future, has learned but little frop
the past history of mankind, and is i'll fitted TO
be the law giver of nation. The North will
not save the Union, and the South cannot; IN
less, indeed, we submit to indgnities and wrongs
of so degrading character as would almost
make our fathers burst the cerements of the
tomb and come amongst us once more to de-
nounce and disoaon the degenerate descendants
who had disgraced g glorious ancestry. We
know we'll what we have to expect. Northern de-
maDds have assumed a form which it is impossl-
ole for US to misunderstood. First comes our
exclusion from our territory; next, abolition in
the District of Columbian the forts, arsenals,
dock.yards, &c. then, the prohibition of the
slave trade between the States; and finally, to-
tai abolition. These results are just as certain,
unless the first step is firmly resisted, as that the
sun will rise tomorrow, and the night will fol-
low his going down. Heretofore, it has been
re!ended that it was not tho purpose of any
considerable body at the North to interfere with
slavery in the States; but this is an illusion
ed
to dispel al,oa, kne,o il aOas false; but did
not expect to see the cloak so soon thrown aside.
But even if it were true, would still say do
not choose to place myself at your mercy. |
will not exchange the Notifications which the
Constitution has thrown around my rights for a
fra reliance on your generosity or'your for
bearance Concession never yet satisfied fanatic
ism, nor has the march of the wrong. doer ever
been stayed by the supplications of the sufferer.
Situated as we are, the impulse of manliness Is
the dictate of prudence. Our duty and our OBJ
yious policy, alike demand that we should meet
the danger on the threshold, and fall or conquer
there. 1t is of no consequence by what name
you choose to designate your aggression. When
principle is established which must bring mol
only poverty, but desoldtion and death to The South
it is immaterial whether you call it abolition,
free soil, or, to use the phrase of the Senator
from Ohio, r Mr.. CHASE, free Democracy; the
end is the same, and so should be the resistance
also. When tho fall of the Out-works must
follow the fall of the citadel, he is poor com
mander who hestates to risk everything in their
defence. 1t is so with us; we cannot yield an
inch of ground we noD occupy, without compro.
missing our safety, and what is worse, mourning
the reproach of eternal intamy None but child
rem can be imposed upon by the miserable delu-
sion that abolition will pause in the midst of its
successes"
al have no threats to make they are out of
time and place; but tell you, more in sorrow
than in anger, not only that you must pause, but
that you must retrace your steps. The guaran-
tees of the Constitution must be respected, and
its promises held sacred, or the most aceak and
timid man in the State represent would Scor,a
your alliance and shatter your confederacy In
deed, | do not know but what it is now too late,
and that this Union, over which you have
preached so much, and about which so many elo-
quent sentences have been penned, is already al
an end"
He considered the Union already at an end.
That was upwards of twelve months ago; and
vet he is standing here now, after all the mea-
sures he was denouncing are consummated, its
ardent champion, and calling those who say it
OuHIlL W w EClOItuCu VI uiSSulNeu uau licI. L
go on:
"Certainly you have severed many of its
strongest ties, and but little remains besides that
formal separation which imbttered feelings must
soon render a necessity. You did enough to dis
solve it when you commenced organized rob-
berries Of our property-when you murdered our
citizens"
Yes, sir, that murder was before the compro.
mise; but now since the compromise, when
another murder is perpetrated in the effort to
enforce the fugitive slave law, where is his in
dignation? Who heard him say in his late speech
defending the compromise and the execution of
the fugitive slave law, anything charging the
North
"You murdered our citizens when you vic
lated every constitutional obligation, and forgot
euery tie which bound us together as people.
Reserve then your denunciations of disunion for
yourselves" * "However much may have
loved the Union, love the liberties of my ma
tive land far more and you have taught me that
they may become antagonists-that the exist
ence of the one might be Incompatible with the
other"