Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-04-30
THE RIGHT OF SECESSION.

been going on DetWeen Tue Co"te' ahu -'e'''' "''N
latterly, the Edgefsh Adrsrti'er and the former
have had an amusing tilt on the same battle-he'c.
We have hitherto refrained from mentioning the
contest because we thought and still think, that 1t
will all end in smoke. The question has long been
settled in favor of the right of secession, and the
eloouenee Of the Courier can never ovcrturn that
firm fixed opinion. But it resembles too much the
metapbysical iarpon of the scEool-men, to begin
at this late day tho discussion of the abstract right
of secession. Were the right established incon-
trovertibly, ssFather Yeadon" would next object
to the practcability of exercising it. We're he
driven from this position, "thc old man eloquent
would find an Asylum in Platonic Love Of the
Union, phsntasy of the brain, an imaginary She
Cupid who directs the headless arrows of the Cou-
rier. If there was any stopping place to the
retrogade movement, we could patiently await the
issue. But if we wish to unite the South, and pro-
mote her interests, there is one common ground
on which we all can stand There is one right
which even sophistry cannot deny US, the right Of
Rebellion. That right cannot be refused us, with
out casting an imputation on our heroic ancestry
and on that long list Of bright names which his
tory immortalizes as synonymes of heroism and
patriotism.
The State-Rghts party can find sanction for
their politics under the right of secession; the
Union party, if they have any scruples of con.
science about the existence Of such on abstract
right, can co operate with them and display their
heroism under the right Of Rebellion. Those era
ven spirits, who have determined to endure every
outrage and oppression must continue as hereto
fore to "charm with the whistle of q name," them
selves and their deluded followers. The only
question then, worth fig, is the expediency of
a separation of the Union, and if the Courier and
the Nsws. wish theme "worthy of their STEEL
pens, let them estimate the value of that Union.
We believe firmly in the dogma of the sage Ben
than, that utility is the only safe and sound ba.
ais Of Legislation. Once convince people in
what direction their interests lie, and the differ
ence between "tweedledum and tweedledee van
ishes instantly 1t is sickly patriotism that in
Weighs against calculating the value Of the Union,
and chiyary on stills that effects to treat nations
like individuals, and act the mock-heroic at every
violation Of an imaginary code Of honor. If the
governmental organization which our fo-efath-
ers have handed down to us, has failed to secure
that peace and happiness to the North and South,
which they intended to secure to them, what fools
we are to debate about the propriety or the right
of making change for the better.
Instead of displaying laudable reverence for
our forefathers, we should be disgracing them by
our ignorance and imbecility. When convinced
that they were orpressed-that the laws of the
old world were lettering the genius of the new,
our forefathers did not stop to debate the idle
question of a right to seeede or rebel-whichever
term sounds the best ''to ears polite" They felt
that heaven had never sanctioned, and never would
sanction, the plundering of any people, whether
done openly or perpetrated under the fiction of
legal right, and in that belief, they were strong.
But even then, swhen the souls of men were tried
there were many who preferred the GLORIOUS
Union; with Great Britain to independence out Of
it. fthe people of the South think themselves
oppressed, if she is convinced that the civilization
and genius Of the two sections of the country re-
ouire different laws if she can direct her destinies
to her own advantage independent of the North,
then soy We that the right of sion is clearly
made out and the expediency oft incontrovertibly
established. Like the right of Revolution this
right may be disputed at the point ofth bayonet,
but the blood of millions cannot wash it away.
| We refrain from any nice distinctions on this
subject, since it is an easy matter to make dis
tinction without difference. 1t is an easy thing
for ingenious sophistry to construct labyrinth,
which will bewilder and entangle the unwary, for
there never yet has been traitor since the world
began, who did not plead some plausible excuse in
justification of his treason. Arnold has his de-
tenders, Cesar his eulogists, and Bonaparte his
admirers and partisans. Those who have pre-de-
termined to desert the Southern cause, can easily
plead Above of the Union--an indefinite nothing
to iustify their course Union there is no union.
In this instance it is word without correspon-
ding idea; for there is not and never again can
there be cordial brotherly, warn,-hearted union,
between North and South, "They stand apart like
cliffs that have been rent asuuder." When We
hear men pleading an 'over-righteous" love Of the
"glorious Union" as an excuse for distracting the
counsels of the South, consider it the unequiv-
ocal index of folly or hypocrisy.
We are accustomed to attach different ideas to
the words Secession and rebellion but the right of
both when brought to practical issue rests
upon the same foundation. A rebellion may be
peaceabe az we'll as secession, or in both cases,
force may be called in to coerce the seeding party
But We promised to avoid all hair-spltting dis
tinctons. "The war of the Giants has worn
thread-bare that flagree nonsense.
We did not peruse with care either the articles
of the Courier or Ners, but read enough to con-
clude that the articles of the former
-"Were curious examples on the whole
Of Rhetoric, which the learned call rigmaroe"
"Father Yeadop," as he has been afectionately
dubbed by "Boy Simkins," merely wishes to show,
we opine,
s'That tho out argued, he can argue still"
An innocent and laudable ambition, but one not
likely to convince any one. The News has ably
defended the deeply ingrained doctrine of State
sovereignty-that noble bulwark against the con-
solidation and Capitalization of power, which the
South should ever defend. The AdpertisT was
quite felictous In its reply to the thunder Of the
Courier, and seems to have silenced the enemy's
guns, for time at least.