Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-08-02
NOBLE SENTIMENTS UNJUsTLY RE-
RUKED.

BUkED.
A writer in the Laurensville Herald takes the
Hon. p. s. Brooks, one Of the representatives
from South Carolina, to task for expressing the
following sentiments in his recent speech on
the Pacific Railroad. Colonel Brooks said:
al know, sir, that shall be suspected Of
giving preference TO this route because of sec
tional feeling. If so, l am unconscious of it,
and the facts which / have presented will ac-
quit me. The time has been when / was Sec
tional, and it has passed. / came here sec
tional; but the noble trio Of New England
IMessrs Macdonald, Hubbard, and Ingersoll
have taught me TO tear the word from my poll
teal vocabulary, and insert in its place another
which is more elevated and patriotic-the word
constitutional.
"The people of my State were told on q
memorable occasion, by very high authority
there, that If one Of them should be asked If he
was an American, the answer should be No,
air q South Caroline This sentiment has
had its day and its votaries, OF whom no one
was more earnestly jealous than myself. But,
sir, recent act Of this Congress, which vim
dicates the great principles Of non-intervention,
popular sovereignty, and the rights of the
States, has verified the dctum Of Mr.. jefferson,
that 'error Of opinion may be tolerated when
when reason is left free 70 combat it, and will
henceforth cause my heart TO swell with loyalty
and pride to be called an American"
Col. Brooks assailant says, that in giving
utterance to these patriotic sentiments he has
made one Of the most grave and unjust charges
against South Carolina that have ever heard
or read, either in or out Of the State" He
also argues to show that Col. Brooks says,
substantially, IL not in terms, that the Consti-
tuition finds no favor in South Carolina. He
goes on to charge that in acknowledging him
self an American, Col. Brooks repudiates the
State of South Carolina.
AT the very moment when Col. Brooks was
zealously and ably advocating the route that
would most benefit his State, he is chided for
indifference TO that State. Now what Col.
Brooks said was precisely what every patriot
should say, and il was eminently appropriate
in him, while endeavoring TO secure this route,
that he should conciliate other members from
other sections by SO expressing himself-for he
and his State had by the force of unfortunate
circumstances been driven into sectional
position--an attitude Of antagonism to the non
slaveholding States.
He acknowledges that at that time Of pres.
sure and peril, when he regarded the Constitu'
| ton as violated, he was a sectional man. Had
the Constitution been observed, had State rights
and State equality been respected, he would
not have INDUCED sectional feeling And
now that "a recent act Of Congress, that vindi
Gates the great principles Of non-intervention,
popular sovereignty, and the rights of the
States" has passed, by which the Constitution
is restored, Colonel Brooks very properly dis
cards that word sectionalism from his vocabu
larry, and inserts in its place that better and
nobler word--the Constitution He must be
indeed the most Grabbed Of critics and the mos
narrow.minded and hide-bound Of all section
alists, who would object 70 the substitution.
Col Brooks loves the Constitution because
the Constitution protects State rights and State
equality. But Col. Brooks is gravely accused
Of great crime because, first, he expresses ut
tschment 10 the Constitution, which every pa