The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-08-13
Tbe. RsaI Character and Position OF the So
C,esssonasts OF the S0uth-ImPortant Confess


the Charleston Mercury, the leading secession
organ, not only of South Carolina, but Of the
whole South. The first of these articles is head
ed A Libel upon the State, and is leveled at the
NEw YcRK EEEAID the second is on :" South
em Weakness" and the third upon The Issue"
that is the Kansas issue, as raised IN Congress
upon the Army Appropriation bill. We also
give in this connection an article from the South
Carolina Times in reply to a late article in our
columns on the statistics of Southern slavehold-
ing and non-slaveholding voters. The Times
ounds the alarm and calls the South to the res
cue against the 100000 non-slaveholding voters
that live among them, and enjoins vigilance and
a strict inquiry into their opinions. Let our read
ers peruse these several extracts especially that
of the Columbia Tises. 1t is certainly very
curious and suggestive Southern warning.
The first of these articles, in reference TO the
alleged . libel upon the State of South Carolina
by the NEW YoRK HERALD, first demands our at
tention. In late leading article on the slavery
question, we took occasion to advert to that
large majority of the white voters Of the South
composed Of the various non-slaveholding indus
South Carolina Times that ace hare more abo'aioaiss
al hoss residing in The South than most people are
acdre Of" we undertook to show that this hostili
ty to the slaveholding aristocracy existed, no
doubt, in this large non-slaveholding ma
jority Of the Southern white population
Applying this view of the subject to
the threats of Mr.. Fillmore Mr.. Blu
and 9th
that the election Of Fremont viii and ought to
be the end OF the Union we ventured upon the
logical conclusion. that from the natural an
tagonism between the democracy of labor and
the aristoeracy of capital everywhere, the
Southern shareholders, should they attempt the
experiment of secession, would be defeated by
the reaction of their non-slaveholding neighbors
with whom the Union is OF higher Importance
than the extension Of slavery or the price of
niggers.
This is the libel" against South Carolina Of
| which we stand accused To prove itupon us,
our Charleston contemporary says that it was not
the non-slavehoning Southern people that de-
feated the secession movements Of 1851, in South
Carolina and other States-that, on the contrary,
this class are sound and reliable upon the ques-
ton of secession; but that :" is a .fac, 'olch no
one can here 9eny, that The ,ceaih Of he State IRE
arrayed against the secession party" We are further
assured that the defeat of the secesionists was
the work Of men having the greatest possible
stake in slavery, and who, by every argument Of
pride or possession, should have been foremost in
resenting and resisting aggressions upon it.
These statements of fact are so explicit and
emphatic, that we accept them without debate
Indeed, in confirmation of them, we are re-
minded that at the Secession Convention at
Charleston. in the spring OF 1851, such
men as Senator Butler and Langdon
Cheves were among the first to break
the spell Of the secession furore which at that
time threatened to hurry South Carolina single.
handed into the desperate experiment of an
armed Instruction against the Union. Adopt
ing. then the facts of our Charleston cotempo-
rary a. the true explanation Of the defeat Of the
secessionists, what follows. We are thus fur
nished with better argument than our own in
behalf Of the strength Of the Union in the South.
We are informed upon good authority and have
the proofs 10 support the declaration, that In
South Carolina in ISL, 1.-The wealth Of the
State was arrayed against the secession party"
and defeated it. And why not: That project of
secession was hazardous one and the substan-
tia property holders Of the State foresaw that
if adopted, il would involve ruinous sacrifices to
them without any compensating equivalent. Pro
perry, indeed, is everywhere conservative and
anti-revolutonary or IT only moves in behalf Of
great political changes, from cool calculation
Of the chances, and with a reasonable cxpecta.
tion Of solid benefits in the end, superior to all
possible intermediate sacrifices.
But, in accepting the fact that the wealth Of
the South. in the secession experiments Of 1851,
was hrrayed against the secession party, the
question arises, who were and who are the
secessonistsg We answer that they are
the interruptions demagogues and poll
ticians q the South-mere adventures and spoils-
men. Ike our Northern abolition and democratic
secession and disunion agitators, whose only ca.
pilal Il n disunion agitation, and who have no
thing TO lose from any CONFUSION which may
occur, bat everything to gain, like the camp FOL.
lowers and carrion birds that hang upon the trail
W dh 1hNu y Nb' St1N--iOn VI
South represented in the Senate by such polit
clans as Mr.. Toombs Of Georgia, and in the North
by such old party hacks and hucksters, we we're
about to say, as Mr.. Fillmore and Mr.. Buchanan
We undertake to declare that 30 far from IN
advocacy Of secession from the body Of the large
shareholders Of the South. in The event Of fail
ure to extend the area Of slavery, that the bulk
Of them will be satisfied with the failure. from
the fact that the extension Of the area OF the
cotton tobacco. sugar and rice culture, win tend
to diminish the profits Of those products by in
crcasing the annual supplies. This objection was
made by Mr. Barrow, a Senator from louisiana
against The annexation Of Texas lie said that
it would result in the addition Of a great cotton
and sugar growing region to the Union The de-
vvlopemcnt Of which would 20 largely increase the