The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-10-26
us THERE A SOUTH 2"

placing the Federal Administration on the
side of Human Liberty.
us THERE A SOUTH"
The South Side va Democrat is anxious tc
know whether There is South 2" Every
where at the North, it says, are signs OF
coming storm. Parties are breaking up-Sls
very is denounced from the pulpit and thu
stump-the widest fansticism is raging-the
People are organizing their forces against
Southern rights-and yet the South ia passive
A little while ago, it says, there was South
keenly sensitive of its honor, ever prepared &c
resent the semblance of insult to its People
aBut it would seem that this spirit of man
hood and chivalry, which made her name
abroad the synonym for courage and indie
pendepce has died out, and that in its place
has crept a sluggish indifference to insult and
outrage. that menaces the very existence OF her
nationality"
The Charleston Mercury talks in the same
strain:
aThe struggle of 1850 seems to have pro-
duced profound indifference, or confident as
surance which is content to leave public affairs,
as connected with tie General Government, to
drift down the stream of time without an effort
to divert or arrest their course. IL the Govern
ment was the most benefcent in the world, and
| absolutely under our control we could not ex-
hibit greater apparent satisfaction with its
operations I.itt)o local State matters alone
bubble up in the State elcctons, as tests for the
peoples choice and favor. The people seem to
be totally unooncious AZ indifferent to the black
tempest Of abolition which is gathering in the
North soon to break in all its fury On the
South"
There il much truth il these representations.
Never was the Anti-Slavery sentiment in the
free States more widespread and potential.
Never were their People SO generally aroused
on the question of Slavery. Never were there
So clear indications Of resOluts purpose on
their part to subordinate all ordinary consid-
orations to the great duty of arresting the ag-
gressions of Slavery, and rescuing the Federal
Government from its grasp. On the other
signs Of agitation or excitement among the
People of the Slave States. The papers from
which we have quoted do not explain this state
of things at the South, but several causes have
contributed to bring it about.
The death of Mr.. Calhoun, the great agitatOr
of the South, left the Disunion Party without q
recognised head. Subsequently, their leading
men went icto tie support of General Pierce,
and on his election were rewarded with o
large share of Federal favor; 80 that even
Federal Government. Now, as the Nullifers
have been the principal Prc-Slavery agitators
at the South, it is easy to soc why the People
there at present arc comparatively quiet.
Besides, the spirit of improvement has found
its way into the slave States, despite the oh.
stacles presented by their slave system, and
other interests than Slavery have been de-
veloped-interests adverse to sectional agita-
ton. The Nebraska Question did not interest
tho feelings of the masses Of the People as
practical question, and there must have been
a consciousness among them that in that mat
ter the Slave Power was clearly the agggres-
sor, end the Northern People had some ground
for offence. And then, when they look to the
Federal Government, and zee oil its Depart
ments under the control of shareholders or
/
determined by the interests of Slavery, they
cannot realize that they Or their institution are
in any imminent danger.
But this is not all: they begin to suspect
that the free States have been misrepresentation
that designs have been attributed to their peo-
pie, which they DO not harbor; that tho dan
gers to follow from their superior political
power, are rather imaginary-in a word, that
their own politicians, in decIaiming against
Abolitionists and Free-Soilers, have exaggera-
ted little for rhetorical or political effect
And they are right. Certain Southern editors
have fallen into kind Of melo-dramatc habit,
and whenever they would rally their respect
i've parties at the South, they roll out their
alarms about Aboltionism and their anathe-
mas against Abolitionists ip spasmodic periods,
full of tragic imagery and "portents dire !"
How much do they believe of their extrsva-
ganzas? During the exciting debates in the
Senate of $780, Senators, who in oracular
speeches had worked themselves and hearers
into an agony about the dissolution Of the Un-
ion, might be seen few moments afterwards,
| u IuuCh, duu UauuylnR jesus
about the imperilled Union, with some of their
impertuTbable brethren from the other side of
Mason and Dixon's line Who has not heard
of the fearful onslaught, within few weeks
of the Richmond (va) Enquirer on General
Cass, for preaching in Detroit the doctrine of
Squatter Sovereignty, for the consolation of
his Democratic disciples in the free State of
| Michigan? From the tone of the ENQUIRER.
one might infer that thore was no longer any
faith at the North-that General Cass had
made a sudden summerset, and gone over to
the Free-Soilsrs-and yet, thu General stands
just where he always has stood, since the pub
LEGATION of the Nicholson letter facing all
ways, but acting one way, and that is in obe-
dience to the South. He believed in Souatter
Sovereignty in ls4s, and interpreted it then as
he does now--and yet the Enquirer supported
him for the Presidency, and curses him now as
a renegade
| A still more curious illustration CT the exag-
geration of tie Southern Press, in its style of
dealing with the Slavery Question, is furnished
by the Richmond VA Wing. In its last tri-
weekly edition, it has On editorial entitled,
Abolitionism still Raging" declaiming about
the mad and reckless crusade of Abolition
ism against the constitutional rights Of tho
South and the liberties of the People," 1t sees
| brt kbo LII oy.~os, &c lo.lu.z