The Port Gibson reveille. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 185?-1857, 1853-09-14
Reminescenoes of the Past.

! 7. ,heso DAYS when Governor Foote and his
E ,5s are 50 fond Of denouncing as Disunion-
au who hesitate to bow down before him
/ i Worship at his footslool, il may perhaps
1 ,roftable 70 revive some rccollcctions Of
mast Men should be charitable towards
Who have imbibcd the same sentiments
D - themselves however erroneous they may
.ni after having assisted BY their precept
example TO inculcaio the sentiments, and
k them in the public mind, they should
4 !, crow impatient or abusive towards those
4 ~ ave not the same motives, or the same
1 en5cncios. which they manifest themselyes,to
Il change sides upon great Issues.
II the present canvass. Gov. Foote sets up
new test of Democracy.-one never adopted
J h The party in Convention, but on the con.
tr,ry expressly rcpudiated by it. The Bal
,im're Convention declined 70 make the mer-
4. or demorits Of the Compromise measures
1 IA &c Democracy, and wisely left all men
t,e Is hold their individual opinions on that
,alicct The Presiden', in his Inaugural,
exrreses his belief that those measures were
n strictly constitutional" ana thereupon
Gov Foote Immediately sets up the Inaugur-
IA. Che standard Of Democracy, and insists
a,t Il ought tobo u. S. Senator, because he
a5ne. among al the prominent Democrats IN
Mississippi. conours in this respect with the
President How contemplate is the position
i, thus assumes, when We consider for mo-
msnt his former course on this subject
Gov Foote, in common with every South
eyn man. held the wilmot Proviso,-that IS
flo exclusion Of Slavery BY act Of Congress
from tie territory Of the Union,-to be clear
i unconstitutional. In many speeches he
. conicnded, in the Senate and elsewhere.
Wien tie bin FOR the admission Of California
wnpending IN Congress and when its passage
VA clearly ioreseen, Gov Foote signed let
ter Is The then Governor Of the State, de-
clarnr that the admission Of California would
ls nothing less than "ale IVitnlot Prrotso
ii another forq, = expressing the conyic-
ton that the outrage upon Southern rights
vas asout to be perpetrutod; and asking to
i advised By the Governor, Legislature and
r.5,le Of Mississippi, what course our ssna-
Ars and Representatives ought TO pursue up
on the consummation Of this fragrant infrac.
tor Of the Constitution. Thus solemn did
be then regard the wrong that would be done
IL, south BY the mere passage Of the law for
t.a admission Of California
But Lis vas not All. Shortly after this
Ter xas written, GOV. Footo declared in
tts Senate not only in favor Of the right ot
secession, bat that the admission Of Cali
iornia would "j'ustify, nay, demand, " the
exercise or that right BY the Southern States
Iao following is an extract from speech Dc
liyered BY him in the Senate on the 2ith o.
March, 1861
II have no hesitation in declaring Il a. my
solemn. dspassionate conviction, that if Cali
l9rnia i dragged into the Union in the mode
now nroposed, the Southern States Of tho
Confederacy viii feel that all hope Of frater
nal compromise has become extinct, and tha
such intolerable oppression has been already
imposed upon them as 70 justify, nay, TO de
mand. secession from the Union, IN order t
save themselves from evils still worse thar
disunion its,lG
And in speech delivered on the 2lst Q
March, he said =
IF in al these important points the Nortl
should prove unwilling to do justice-whlc
Heaven forbid-if the offensive enactment
menaeed shall be adopted, and the grievance
already confessedly inflicted shall remain IN
redressed, then the Southern States viii as
semble in convention, to consult for their owl
safety and welfare and II justice shall D
withheld after All pacific and constitutions
cxpcdenls have been tried, and tried IN yaln
Why then the Southern States may feel T.
Be a duty, forced upon them, ef secea'H,
IN the last resort from the Union"
But little aattery from Clay, little soft
soap from Webster,--thc ambition to be cor
nccted with some prominent measure. an
gresto, the volatile Senator is on the othe
side Of all these questions. and spends tn
summer and fan Of 1850 in unsaying an
disproving all that he said and proved j
tho preceding winter and spring. The WI
mot Proviso suddenly becomes clearly an
strictly constitutional. and the right Of s.
cossiOn is as Jlat burglary as erer 'co
committed - e
We do not question The Governors right
change sides as often as he may find it col
vcnient or profitable; but We think Int
moiosty would be becoming in one wi
has turned around 50 completely, and that
aud his friends should exercise little 70
boaranco towards those who are not qui
prepared to change with him. or to give up
his bidding tie opinions they have formt