Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1857-05-06
From the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE RIGHT OF SECESSION.


From the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE RIGHT OF SECESSION.
Quite lengthy discussion of this subject has
been going on between the Courier and Neaus J;
and latterly, the Edgefeld Advertiser and the
former, have had an amusing tilt on the same
battle field. We have hitherto refrained from
mentioning the contest, because we thought, and
still think, that it will all end in smoke The
question has long been settled in favor of the
right of secession, and the eloqsence of the Cou-
risr can never oyerturn that frm-f1ed opinion.
But it resembles too much the metaphysical
jargon of the school-men, to begin at this late
day the discussion of the abstract right of seces
sion. Were the right established incontrovertl-
bly,, "Father Yeadon" would next object to the
practicability of exercising it. Were he driven
from this position, "the old man eloquent"
would find an Asylum in Platonic Love of the
Union, phantasy of the brain, an imaginary
she-Cupid who directs the headless arrows of the
Courier. 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 promote 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, without casting an impu-
tation on our heroic ancestry and on that long
list of bright names which history immortalizes
as synonymes of heroism and patriotism.
The State-Rights party can find sanction
for their politics under the right of secession ;
the Union party, if they have any scruples OF
conscience about the existence of such an ab-
stract right, can cooperate with them and dis
play their heroism under the right Of Rebellion.
Thoss craven spirits, who have determined to
endure every outrage and oppression must con-
tinue as heretofore to charm with the whistle
of q name" themselves and their deluded fol-
lowers. The only question then, worth atg, is
the e1pediency of separation of the Union, and
if the Courier and the Neaos, wish theme
"worthy Of their steel"-pens, let them estimate
the value of that Union. We believe firmly in
the dogma of the sage Bentham, that utility is
the only safe and sound basis Of Legislation.
Once convince people in what direction their
interests lie, and the difference between "twee-
dledum and tweedledee" vanshes instantly. 1t
is sickly patriotism that inveighs against cal
culating the value of the Union, and chivalry
on stills that effects to treat nations like indi-
vidual,, and act the mock-heroic at every viola-
tion of an imaginary code Of honor. II the
governmental organization" which our fore
fathers 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 oppressed-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 secede or rebel-which-
ever 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 be-
lief, they were strong. But even then, when
the souls of men were tried" there were many
who preferred the "glorious Union" with Great
Britain to independence out of it. If the peo-
pie of the South think themselves oppressed,
if she is convinced that the civilization and ge-
MUS of the two sections Of the country require
different laws, if she can direct her destinies to
her own advantage independent of the North,
then say we, that the right of secession is clear
ly made out and the expediency Of it incontro-
vertibly established. Like the right of Revo-
luton this right may be disputed at the point
of the bayonet, but the blood of millions can
not wash it away.
We refrain from any nice distinctions on this
subject, since it is an easy matter to make q
distinction without difference. 1t is an easy
thing for ingenious sophistry to construct q
labyrinth, which will bewilder and entangle
the unwary, for there never yet has been a
traitor since the world began, who did not plead
some plausible excuse in justification of his
treason. Arnold has his defenders, Caesar his
eulogists, and Bonaparte his admirers and par
tisans. Those who have predetermined to desert
the Southern cause, can easily plead a love OF
the Union-an indefinite nothing-to justify
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 bea cordial, brotherly, warm-hearted union,
between North and South, "They stand apart
like cliffs that have been rent asunder." When
we hear men pleading an oyer-righteous" love
of the sglorious Union" as an excuse for dis
tracing the counSels of the South, we consider
it the unequivocal 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 a practical issue
rests upon the same foundation. A rebellion
may be peaceable as well as secession, or in
both cases, force may be called in to coerce the
seeding party. But we promised to avoid all
hair-splitting distinctions. "The war Of the
Giants" has worn thread bare that filagree non-
sense
We did not peruse with care either the arti
cles of the Courier or Neps, but read enough
to conclude that the articles of the former
- Were curious examples on the whole.
Of Rhetoric, which the learned call rigmarole."
"Father Yeadon," as he has been affection
ately dubbed by Boy Simkins," merely
wishes to show, we opine,
"That tho out argued he can argue STILL"
An innocent and laudabls ambition, but one
not likely to convince any one. The Ncps has
ably defended the deeply ingrained doctrine of
State Soyereignty-that noble bulwark against
the consolidation and Capitalization of power,
which the South should ever defend. The Ad-
rertissr was quite felicitous in its reply to the
thunder of the Courier, and seems to have
silenced the enemy's guns, for time at least.