New Orleans daily crescent., 1858-02-25

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We owe Il to cur ancestors to preserve entire these
rights, which they have delivered to our care we
owe ii To orr nostefty not to suffer their dearest in
heritance to be destroyed But II u were possible
for us TO be insensbe oil these sacred claims, there
yet an obligation binding upon ourselves from which
nothing can acquit as-a personal interest whleh we
cannot surrender To ALLEVIATE even our rights would
be crime as much more enormous than suicide, az a
life of civil security and freedom is superior to base
existence And If life be the bounty Of Heaven, we
scornfuy reject the noblcst part of that gift if
consent TO Surrender that certain rule Of living with
out which the condition Of human nature is not only
miserable but contemplate. (Junius
No matter on what occasion Junus penned the
above extract, It is as applicable to Southerners al
this time as though it had been addressed to then
directly Have not the rights delivered to their cart
by their ancestors to preserve been invaded and the
perpetuity endangered? Do they not owe it as
sacred duty to their ancestors as well as their poster
ity, to preserve entire these rights ~ Does moi
their own personal interest,"" as binding ohliga-
tion, impose this duty upon them2 The people Of
the South cannot screen themselves from these
:" sacred claims . and binding obligations by the
allacous plea that the rights entrusted to their care
and keeping are not in danger Of being alenated and
subyerted. If they tamey permit this, without one
bold manly effort to prevent it, and thus fail to dis
charge their sacred trust, will they not be guilty
Of a scrme as much more enormous than suicide,
as life of civil security and freedom Is superior to
base existence n
In proof Of the assertion that the rights of the
South are in danger refer to the history of this
country for the last twenty years. If Hareview of that
history cannot the South to realization of the
necessity torspeedy action n defence of its rights and
interests then we shall cease hope that she will be
aroused to Of the danger which threatens her
until it is too late. The time was when the now all
powerful combination Of the North was mere speck
upon the political horizon, scarcely as large mans
hand. But it may now be likened to a stone started
down the mountain side, gathering strength and force
in its wild, headlong career, scattering dismay and
destruction amid the ranks Of all who attempted to
impede its onward course until it grew into an ava
anche, ovsrpowering all opposition. This small
speck, which twenty years ago was scarcely discern
able in the political armament is now the ruling poll
ticaI element Of the North All others acknowledge
its supremacy and revove around il as a common
center, from which all political light must 1ow. Is
there nothing in all this to alarm the South of i'm
pending danger? Has the. rise, the growth and ex-
panson Of this element given the South no cause to
fear the subyersion Of her rights Most unqueston-
ably it has The tocsin Of alarm has time and again
been sounded and still do many of the Southern peo-
pie continue to give to the syren song Of the wiley
demagogue, and hug to their bosoms the delusive
hope that patriotism win yet triumph over the wild,
fanatca spirit that is disractng the country and
Iaboring to array one section of the Union against
the other. The South has too long hoped, too long
trusted to the coming of this promised political mil
lenium, which was to right all her wrongs and prove
l.afr ~ n.t,
hoping and trusting, the work of aggression upon
her rights has been steadily progressing And even
now efforts being made to surround her with abo-
litionized territory, and thus arrest efectnay aud
forever the progress of her expansion.
The wrongs Of the South are not imaginary. The
aggressions upon her rights Of which she complains,
are not the coinage of disordered brain. They are
matters Of record they stand out in bold relief as
indexes pointing warningly to what the future por-
tends unless the Southern people arouse to sense Of
their duty TO themselves and poserty and take act
i've measures to ward off the pending danger which
threatens therrghts and their interests But if they
refuse to be warned, and supiney await the coming
storm, which will sweep from them every vestige of
the rights delivered to their care and keeping, dsre
gard their own interests, and the sacred claims of
posterity, then indeed viii they be guilty of "a crime
as much more enormous than suicide as life of civil
security and freedom is superior to base existence
II they yield up their rights freemen without one
bold and timely effort to maintain the privilege of
regulating and controlling their own affairs in that
way which seemeth to them most conducive to their
happiness then indeed will they have yielded up the
"nohest part of the boon of life, "without which
the condition of human nature is not only miserable
lint eonfemntihle