Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-12-08
NEWS AND GOSSIP

The Charleston Mercury and the stat
In answer to late article, wherein We took
occasion to criticise the positions of our friend.
of the Charleston Mercury upon the question
Of DISSOLUTION, that journal says:
The Star is perfectly right in assuming
that We advocate dissolution of the presen,
Confederacy. But in its conclusion. that we
advocate it for the mere sake of dissolution, il
does us great injustice. 1t, in fact, assumes
that We sTe taking theory Of confederate
government, and are carrying it to its ultimate
results. for no other purpose than to realize
our theory. The Mercury has never main
tanned such q position. Ii has never advo
Gated DisuniOn on any other ground than that
Union, in any peaceable sense, had become
an impossibility Il The Star processes to see,
in the result of the recent Presidential cleo.
ton, that the Union, in all it's constitutional
guarantees, will be faithfully maintained
We have no doubt that, rs far the power of
the President and his constitutional advisers
can 90, it will be so. We are very sure that
it ID the determination of Mr. buchanan to
execute the functions of his high Office with
fsithfulness, and a patriotic determination
TO appease the contentious Of the two sec
tons Of the Union. But we do not believe
that it is In his power, or in the power of
any man, to effect this object A storm
has been raised, and is every hour gathering
all executors of law, are nearly powerless
The Star will have seen, before this reply
reaches it, Al emphatic proof of how little the
Executive can do to repress the lawless vio-
lence of sectional passions Twice has Gen.
Whitfield been elected a Delegate from Kan
sas, without a candidate or a vote in opposi-
ton. Twice he has been refused his seat by
the House Of Representatives. In the first
case, there was a preteXt that there were false
votes and bad administration of the polls
No sufficient case was made out, but the pre-
text was at least q cover for their decision
In the last case there is not even a pretext
The election was In perfect accord ance with
all the forms and acquisitions of law, and
without the slightest disturbance Yet the
House, by the same majority as in the former
case, have refused him his seat, and notori-
ously on the sole ground that he was the rep
resentatiye Of Southern opinion in Kansas
O.
"Are We not, then-the North and the
South-emphstically two Peoplesl And has
not the North denounced US, in a hundred
ways, as an alien and hated race, to be hunted
down with all the powers which their ascen-
dancy in the Federal Government can COM
mand And what can the President do to
stay this torrent of hostility? Something, IN
doubtedly, for the moment. His moral infu-
ence, and his positive power, will give him q
certain amount Of ascendancy in the political
affairs of the Confederacy. But it is very
limited in extent, and very transitory in du-
ration; and very feeble when it is brought to
bear upon the heady torrent Of popular pas
sions. 81
"Tbs Star very much mistakes the septi.
ment Of the South. il il supposes that We are
only one in hundred that believes the disso.
lntion Of the Union an impending event The
evidences Of incompatibilty of tho North and
South, under a common government, have
been too distinct and too fOrcible, not to have
brought the conviction to q great portion of
the Southern people, that, under existing cir
cumstances, the continuance of this Union was
not thing to be desired. Every month adds
70 the number Of the thinking men Of the South
who have become convinced that it is impossi-
bic to maintain the Union in the principles
upon which il was established, and that il
must necessarily be a curse to maintain it ON
any yy% Sss' r.. no, q. II. Go. .,, H..
unionists per Sc. We are Disunionists, be.
cause We see no hope Of the preservation Of the
Union without dishOnOr and injury to the
bouth, and, considering how far the dissen.
sions between the sections have gone how
embIttered and irreconcilable are the differ.
enees that have arisen between them, we have
maintained, and do still maintain, that it
would be for the benefit Of both, that they
should peaceably separate. Undoubtedly, We
believe that the North would lose more thar
the South in the interests that would thus be
affected; but anything is better an this life
Of perpetual feud, this absorbing Of all politi
cal interests in grand battle upon q subject
which should really never have found place
In the legislation Of the Confederacy"
Notes.-l. If we believed "that union, in
any peaceable sense, had become an impossi-
bility, We, too, would be found occupying
the position Of the Mercury on this most i'm.
Portant question. On the contrary, we see in
the existing condition of the Northern Demo
cratic party sentiment proof that such union
10 not only possible, but probable, unless the
practical results Of the recent election be
thrown away; which there is no reason to
anticipate. The Republican press charging
that friends Of Mr.. Buchanan whose position
entitle them TO any weight, any where urged
MS election on the ground that he was not
fuiiy committed to the policy Of the Demo
cratic party On the slavery question, state
fslsehoods- We saw personally and read %
extensively the details Of their canvass in the
non-slaveholding States as any man in the
Union, and know that with one accord thsv
occupied as lofty and constitutional ground a,
We Of the South could justly ask They main.
tanned our rights one and all, more fsarlessly
and fully than they were ever before main
tailed in a presidential canvass since the
slavery question has come to be Of inn OH.
anes in Presidential election. We know
that the Democratic parry sediment at the
North on the slavery question Is now sounder
than ever before, AID t. a: it requires but
frmnsss On the part Of the Democracy o.
Congress to harvest the seed scwr, as We
describe above. For the frst time in chr
history were the chara ter aud ten isncies Of
ab"litioni'm under whatever phs1') fairly
put before the people Of the North The DE
mOcrscy Of Congress have only to adhere TO
their present position on the slavery questio N
to turn the tide of Northern sentiment into
the constitutional and really Union-loving