Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-07-30
THE HOPE OF THE SOUTH.

THE HOPE OF THE SOUTH.
Amid the political agtatious by which we are
surrounded it is natural for us to ask the question
What is the Hope of the South? There is no
better evidence of the indecison and want Of con-
sistency and practical sense on the part OF the
South. than the variety and worthlessness. of the
answers given to this vital and all important IN
terrogatory. Our party, emulating the patience
Of Job, bids us wait for the developments of time
With this class nothing is bad so long as there
can possibly be something worse. To shift the
responsibility from their own shoulders and let 1t
fall-no mntter how heavily-upon their posterity,
is. in their eyes, the contamination of the highest
craftsmanship. What would we think Of the ply
sician who would find us sinking hourly under a
raging fever, and yet would sit idly by and bid US
wait the determination of chance, whcn. we ex-
pected the efficient aid of science md skill =
Would we not vote his reputed science and vaunt-
ed wisdom, the climax of quackery and empiri-
cism? Yet such is the wisdom of that class Of
advisers, who at the bare mention of any innova-
ton for the better, begin to croak abont patience
and procrastination. We wonder if time ever
cured any evil 80 yes" answers philosopher
of the Be-patient School, it s the great rectifer
of the mpetuosity and fire of youth, it moderates
the e1uberance of fancy, it supplans theories and
idle speculatons with sound and settled views
Nations are like individuals and to them the same
remark will apply" This is their most plausible
argument, yet how unphilcsophcal and how false
in both premise and inference! We admit there
is generally less impetuosity, less buoyancy Of
fancy and more settled and dogmatic. if not more
sound and correct opinions, with age But we
DENY that it is time which produces this change
The fire of youth has consumed itself md pru
dence has ceased to be virtue. The opinions if
the more philosophic and orthodox, have become
so, not from the gliding by of certain space Of
time brt by study and reflection. And to apply
the remark to our present political evils if time
ever cures the selfish and aggrandizing disposition
of the North, it will be by Cutting it at the e1-
pense of the South. It will be when socin. i'm
morality or misguided fanaticism breaks her in
ternal strength, and the disorganzation of the
Reign of Terror succeeds the present settled and
disciplined sectionalsm. Or it will be, when,
robbed of our wealth, We will be too poor to at
tract the attention of q respectable enemy. Then,
perhaps, the matursd judgment of our Northern
brethren will dictate the policy of leaving us in
;fofa md
strength for future depletion.
But is this our only hope! "No," replies poll
tician of the patch-up, half-measure school, 'let
us revive the slave-trade or cease patronizng
Northern manufactures and Northern pleasure re-
sorts" Every move in this direction must prove
futile, since the dominant party which is able to
pass enactments over our heads, will scarcely be
thwarted by petty efforts ut revenge, and we may
be sure that no attempt, founded false ideas of
economy, can march up hill to success. 1t is not
by the rule of contraries that the salvation CT the
South is to be achieved This only aggravates
and by no means cures the disease. Besides, there
is something despcable in the tit-for-tat policy.
1t is more odious ifpossbe, than that other re-
source which is openly advocated by few, of
putting ourselves under the protection of the
Democratic party, and by entering into its secret
cabals, and ''crooking the pregnant hinges Of the
knee" to secure an occasional favor as the boon
of mercy-not of right.
The .'patch-up" policy thou will not effect
permanent cure; can the Democratic party do it :?
First let us ask, can the Democratic party save
itself? Now this may appear novel question
when We look at that gigantic organization, every
where triumphant and banded together, so far as
its leaders are concerned by the strongest ties of
self-interest and ambition. But the seeds of its
destruction lie in its very success and strength
Could the old Wing Party have survived, and kept
up the warfare that elected the genius of CAL
HouN, CLAY and WEBSTER, that class of stock
jobbing politicians, who are now guiding the helm
of State, would still slumber in primal obscurity
But unless we mistake the signs Of the times, the
decadence of the Old Line Wings was but the pre-
lude to the fall of the Democratic Party. Say
what we please about principles, it is selfinterest
that controls individuals. If the Wing organiza-
ton was foupded on, and sustained by principles
alone, why is it now broken and SC altered like the
fleet of Xerxes;
she counted them at break of day
And when the sun set, where were they"
Are those principles lost to the world-are they
less applicable now than in the day of their great
ness, when giant minds unfolded, and the splen-
dour of eloquence illustrated; their excellency?
No, the simple truth is, that there must always
be two parties, where the honors and emoluments
of office ore open to competition. And so soon as
one becomes every where triumphant, it will it
self divide and begin anew the struggle for suprem
acy. This natural course Of parties is sometimes
modified by circumstances, as in the present in
stance. With the dissolution of the Democracy,
the mask will be thrown off, and there will stand
forth what they are already in reality; but two
parties-the North and the South.
1t is then su easy matter to understand what is