The Feliciana Democrat., 1855-12-08
FELICIANA DEMOCRAT.
THE sOUTH-wHATIs HER DUTY

days, the National Know Nothing Aboli-
ZIONIST Convention which met this month at
Cincinnati, adjourned to meet at Philadel-
phia in February next. The resolutions
which it adopted characterize the repeal of
the Missouri compromise as an infraction
of plighted faith, call for its restoration
and declare that, if efforts to that end fail
in Congress- admission into the Union
should be refused Of any new state tolera-
ting slavery, and formed out Of territory
from which that institution was excluded
by the compromise. This, there is no long,
or any doubt about it is the settled policy
Of that powerful cohort Of abolitionists and
Free soilers which know nothingism has
brought into existcncc; policy which
strikes at the root Of our most sacred priv
ilcges rs Southcrncrs, and which, if carried
out, will eventually undermine tho foun-
dation upon which our Constitution re-
poses. HttRU Hg0a4Nh gHt gh iEAW
In view Of this subject, in which we are
all personally interested. we appeal solemn
ly, and, we hope, not without necessity, to
the sober sense Of the people of the south,
to prepare themselves for the political
struggle in which they must erelong be
called upon to play their part. We are
far from wishing to kindlc anew the torch
Of sectional strife, or to array unneccssari-
ly one portion Of our union againit the 9th
or. Our platform is the Constitution and
the Union, and if the north will stand by
and adhere to it as we are determined to
do, we will be among the first to labor
with her until lraternal harmony and friend
ship be restored between the various sec
ton. Of the country. But, until we have
tangible evidences of this wish on her part
to cultivate friendly feelings with the south
andto respect not only our acquired rights,
but those incidentally derived from the Fed
|eral compact we must stand on the watch
tower Of defence and urge true southern
ers to that protection and vigilance which
their interests SO imperativcly require. aHu
One OF the strongest weapons of de-
fence which nature and our institutions
have endowed man with, is EDUCATIoN.-
1t is at once the fnlcrum and the lever
the basis and the spring of action. II is a
subject which has awakened the attention
OF our astutest statesmen, and which has,
time and again, been presented to the con
sideration Of the south, as one in which
her interests are indissolubly involved
We do not mean that southern education is
the only measure of defence to which it be-
hooves us to resort. There are others,
which we will in due time lay before our
readers, but among the most important, is
certainly that under consideration.
We have before us an able and well writ
ten article upon this subject, by one of the
ablest pens of the country and we take
pleasure in recommending it to the close at
tention Of southern parents. Let the pa
triotic admontions it contains be needed
ere it be too late, and may its recommends
tions be at once carried out. Let our mot
to be !" 1t is time that the south should be
doing something for herself" ~ D.'. '''4i
The system that has been pursued all
along by southern parents of sending their
sons to the north to complete their educa-
ton, is unwisc in its political aspect and
dangerous in its social bearing. 1t is but
one Of the many modes that have been pur-
sued, OF draining the resources of the south,
and OF pouring into the full lap of north
ern enterprise her wealth and the products
of her industry. Thus impoverished by
her own folly the gratitude Of these bcneii-
Charles Of her bounty is manifested in the
unworthy talmt that southern men and
southern institutions are inadequate to the
development of the resources Of the coun-
try. We have not at present the means of
making calculation of the amount of this
immense charge upon the south, but we will
at some future day take occasion to do so.
Some idea of the amount, may however be
formed when we remember the number of
students from Virginia who flock to the
medical colleges of Philadelphia alone
1t may be fairly estimated, that in this sol
itary instance, nearly $4,000 are lost to
the state Of Virginia annually.
1t needs no profound political economist
to convince southern man that the money
thus year by year carried out Of the state,
and layished at the north is as absolutely
lost to her citizens as if it was thrown into
the sea. The unhappy condition of Ire
land, wasted and dcsolatcd by abscntecism
is an illustration of the evil which must re.
suit from such course. There the propri-
etors of the land reside principally in Eng
land, and lavish in the extravagances of
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