Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-11-16
Hopeful sign. of the Times.

II there is any confidence to be reposed in
the constancy of politicians, or any reliance
to be placed in the logic of events, the signs
in the political skies are cheeringly auspi-
cious. A Mississippi Senator and Senator
from South Carolina. two States and two in
diyiduals not for several years supposed to
have cherished very devoted affection for
the Union, have boldly announced within the
past few months, that in their opinion, moth
ing has occurred between tine North and
South to justify a separation of the United
States. Perhaps the transmutation of Mr..
DAVIS from a "fire-eater'' to .'Union-saver,"
all things considered, is not wonderful. New
ertheless it is significant and conveys por-
tent. If his motives are in the highest degree
unselfish and wholly patriotic, the fact evin-
ces the majesty and strength of the Uuion,
and its power TO resist the attacks oe mere
agitators. If, on the contrary, his motives
find their source in desire for place, the fact
shows, in his opinion. the weight of popular
sentiment to be in favor of the perpetuity of
the Union. Bnt the case of Mr.. HAMMOND is
entirely different. He seems to he an upright,
sincere and able man. who has never sought
place for the sake Of power who received
his political education in the school of Mr..
CALHOUN who has been surrounded, all his
life, by the hOt-blooded chivalry of State.
noted above all others for its secession, dis
union and revolutionary tendencies who has
been an advocate of dsunion for many years,
as a means and the only means of saving to
the South her just rights Representing such
constituency, and entering the United
States Senate with such opinions, at time
when sectional excitement ran in an unusu-
ally fierce tide, he returns to his people to re-
nounce, solemnly and formally, his long cher
ished views of disuniOn, and to pronounce,
in the face OF the secession legions of South
Carolina, their doctrines and teachings as
hcfesy!
Nor less remarkable is the incontinent
fzzle of the '-Leaguers of the South" under
the lead of persuasive and eloquent Cap
tain, during the summer last past 1t will be
remembered that the attempted organization
of this body of Southern defenders, followed
upon the heels of an overwhelming failure in
the Southern Commercial Convention, at
the re6pening of the African slave trade.
Considering the material of which thuse con-
ventions have been composed, the expression
against any scheme, which. in the remotest
degree, might have been favorable to the
South however chimcrical, was of itself
portent of sOberness not meanly significant.
But the utter contempt with which the propo-
sition Of the champion Of the slave trade was
met, in the organization OF the Leaguers,
whose avowed ultimate aim was to precipi-
tate revolution between the North and the
cotton States of the South. is a most impo-
sing vindication of the wholesome, conserva-
tive Union sentiment of the people. In esti-
mating the weight of this testimony, it will
be enhanced by the additional fact, that the
State Of Alabama had just been made to de-
clare for extreme measures. on the non-hap-
pening of certain event, which event did
not happen.
Another sign not less ausficious nor less
ominous is the most remarkable fact that the
Legislatures of three of the Southern States
have just convened, and the messages of
neither Gov. MELVILLE, of Mississippi, nor
Gov. BROwN, of Georgia, nor Gov. CONWAY
of Arkansas, contain syllable about
-Southern rights nor a line in relation to
Federal politics! These documents are each
lengthy, but entirely occupied in the discus
sion of local state policy. Such an event is
not in our memory since 1850.
The construction which we place on these
facts, is that the South feels that she has been
demagogue-rdden to a most Injurious and
alarming extent. Her people feel that they
have some other interests besides vain and
proftless agitation OF the slavery question.
The politicians of the pot-houses and cross
roads, have been brought to- an unexpected
and disastrous stand-still. 1t is to be hoped
their occupations gone" forever. A gen.
eral calm, on this subject, seems at this
moment to rest upon the Southern mind.
The cauldron of the fire-eaters is ceasing to
boil. The froth and scum and effervescence
have evaporated, and the dregs only remain
Whether we are to have a similar subsistence
OF fanatical extremism in the North, remains
in measure to be seen. We have partial
indications that such will be the case; that
the radical impurities of the SEWARD and
GERRIT SMITH order will be sloughed off, as
the YANCEYs of the South have been. and
that the conservatists of that section discard
ing the insane vagaries OF black republican
ism, will rally again to national standard,
to the support of national men and measures,
and to the maintenance of the constitution Us
it is. and the equal and just rights of all
the States, and the citizens of all the States
under it.