The Nevada journal., 1858-10-08

COLONEL DENTON UPON THE IEAL L
ORIGIN OF DIsUNIoN.-In an appendix
to his review of the Dred Scott case,
Colonel Benton exposes, as he had al
ready done in his Thirty Years in the
Senate" the real origin of the disunion
sentiments SO extensively cherished
throughout tho Southern States, if not
rcsolutely predominant in some of them.
He shows that the Slavery agitation is
not the cause of these sentiments, but
only the pretext for them. He says:
In the year 1899, some Southern poll
ticians, having some private griefs of their
own to redress, and some ambitious OBJ
jects of their own to accomplish ,conceiv
ed that separation of the States, and
the erection ola new Republic South,
Yves the way to accomplish their purpose;
and at that object (the segregation of the
States south Of the Potomac) they went
to work--pretexting their operations with
1.-The expressions Of an unconstitutional
protective tariff" With this veiw, and
upon this pretext, the first Southern
(South Carolina) Convention was held in
November, 1882, which passed the ordi-
nance of notification and secession-de-
claring the revenue laws null and void,
fixing the day of February, then next en-
suing for the succession, (unless Congress
in the mean time should abandon pro-
tective tariff and leaving an army to
maintain her attitude. The jackson
Proclamation of December, 1882, de-
nouncing the penalties of high treason
on all who should commit the covert act"
under that ordinance, and the full belief
that he would do what he said, baked
that project and gave birth to the tariff
compromise of 1888, by which protective
talif, as pretext for secession, was laid
aside, to be substituted by Slavery Gag
itation, generated out of the alarms of
the slaves States for their lives and pro-
perty through fear of the Anti-Slavcry
aggression" encroachments, and cru
sades, of the North, against the South.
The substitution was instant and notori-
Gus. On returning home from Congress,
Mr.. Calhoun told his friends that the
South could never be united against the
North Oh the tariff question-that the su-
gar interest of Louisiana would keep her
out-and thatthe basis Of the Southern
Union must be shifted to the slave ques-
ton; and shifted accordingly it immedi-
ately was. Incontincntly, all the nulli-
fication newspapers opened for secession
for that new cause, filling the country
with alarm for the safety of slave prop
erty, and spreading the terrors of servile
urrection-itevitabl consequence of
the abolition designs.
"The whole South Immediately took
fire. Before the month of June-that is
to say, in less than three months after the
protective tariff pretext for secession had
been laid aside-thc new pretext had
been installed in its place, and so fully
developed as to be seen by all observers.
Mr.. Clay saw it, and on the 2Sth of Nav,
in letter to Mr.. Madison, expressed his
apprehensions Of this new danger, and
declared his disbelief of any foundation,
for the alarm which was attempted. Mr..
Madison Immediately replied, reciprocal
ting both his apprehensions and his dis
belief; and, in brief paragraph, fixing
all the points-date, locality, actors, pre-
text, and mode of operation-in this new
phase of the secession movement, and
branding it with as much reprobation as
the amiable moderation of his temper
would permit. That letter becomes a
starting point in this inquiry, which his
tory will seize upon and find in it the key
which unlocks the door that gives the
inside view Of all the Vaccinations which
have led to the present portentious Sla-
very agitation. In that letter to Mr..
Clay, he said:
"'It is painful to see the unceasing
efforts to alarm the South by imputations
against the North of unconstitutional de.
signs on the subject of the slaves. You
are right, have no doubt, that no such
disposition exists in the
body of our Northern brethren. Their
good faith is sufficiently guaranteed by
the interest they have as merchants, as
and manufacturers, in pre-
serving a union with the slaveholding
States. On the other hand, what mad
ness in the South to look for greater
safety in disunion The danger from
the alarms is, that the pride and resent
ment excited by them may be an over