The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1859-07-27
THE MISSISSIPPIAN.

uon In the city OF JACKSON, suiy y
1859.
Ny FRIExps Again il has been granted
to me to mingle with you in the periodical
reunion of our political family again to look
upon the well remembered faces associated
with the memory Of so many struggles for
the cause of Democracy sacred TO us as the
cause of truth and of our country.
Accustomed as Representative OF the
State. most frequently to address those who
listen with purpose TO contrayert, if not 70
misinterpret, it IS grateful privilege 70 ex-
change opinions with those who have com.
mon sympathy and from whose opposition
one can but expect the correction Of error
until final agreement is reached BY the estab.
ishment Of truth.
The occasion, the circumstances and the
hearty greeting with which you welcome me
home, bring to me such joy as the mariner
may feel, when his trials ended, his doubts
and fears are resolved, by seeing the smoke o.
his own cottage and the shadows of the trees
which speal % his heart Of affection and rest
The purl ,se for which we were assembled
has been achieved, and we are about to dis
perse each and all in their appropriate sphere
to labor for the common good. You have
chosen our standard bearers, not for their own
but for the public interest," for Democracy re-
CARDS government as the property Of the peo-
pie, and recognizes no prescriptiye right to
ofice. You have met the issues of the day
3 becomes party whose characteristics arc
stability and progress. Whist the world Is
changing, and new relations, material and mo-
al, are the result, you cannot stereotype a
orm of expression for your opinions; neither
can the principles which are eternal and Of
universal application. be too often re-asserted.
To stand still, or to walk with retroverted
eyes, would III become the genius of our age,
and still less the condition of our country.
It is ours to deal with the present, and look
to the future. and II is only by walking out
nom the shadows Of the past that its lights
become available to our onward course. By
the bold encounter Of power and the arraign-
mont of precedent ali the great victories of
Democracy have been wen. : The history of
our predecessors furnishes beth an incentive
and chart Had they listened to the coun-
sci of q conservatism and in view of the
hazards of expansion and the mingiing of
different nations and languages in our confed-
eraey. Louisiana and Florida and California,
! had not been Of us Had they shrunk from
the coA1iet with which monarchy threatened
republI anism, the tina honored policy of no
entanthg alliances had not remained to us,
but 81 .ieu of il we should have been under
trsass Mutation forbidding US in any event
10 acaa'<e the Island Of Cuba Your duty is
two-fobd-your responsibility IS immeasurable.
It IS yours to maintain the constitution, and
to adapt it to the changes Of time and Of cir
cumstance, that the purposes. for which it was
ordained may be realized by ourselves and
posterity; it is yours to develop the institu-
lions we inherited, to their greatest capacity:
and your responsibility embraces all the hopes
which depend upon the demonstration of
mans capacity for government
For more than fifty years have democratic
principles prevailed IN the administration of
pur government The fame, the prosperity,
he growth and happiness Of our country, at
est the adaptation Of our theory to confede-
rzton of free and sovereign States We have
pride in the past, we have zeal for the present;
may we not have hope for the future2
Il use the form Of interrogation, il is not
because am prone to despair of the republic;
but because we are necessarily cognizant of
the fact that the unity of the people Of the
States, is disturbed BY sectional, fanatical
hostility, as irrational as it is vicious. How
ever well it may serve to fan the fame of To-
cal excitement and to promote the personal
Amhtion of an aspirant, the idea of incom-
stability for the purposes of our Union be-
zEe Of different systems of labor in the
Sites, is palpably absurd, and would be sui
id if the purpose ayowed were attainable
Ihagh the defence Of African Slavery (thus
tkcommonly called is left 10 the South, the
North are Jointly benefited by it Deduct
m their trade and manufactures all which
sdpendent upon the products of slave labor,
ieE prosperity would fade and poverty would
gme upon them g as one who traEelleth.s
)U fathers wisely saw harmony in diversity,
Andmutuality inthe opposite character of the
Innate, population and pursuits of the people
nhe different States But to them the pro-
poiton was far less apparent than It is to US.
ast expansion of territory and the add
Ito the LIST Of its productions Of the great
hPles Of our country's exports, have given
ice trade between the States value
xhrh could not then have been fully antici-s
nd All of the necessaries, and nearly all
{ The luxuries of life, are now produced
min the limits of the United States, and
zhanged for each other without other
kge than the cost Of transportation The
h | hope is not distant, when by the acqui-
n Of tropical territory, we shall complete
tcircle of products.
That but faulty could cause a commercial
nufacturing people to overlook their adj
zage in such a relation as that which exists
aeen the North and the South Ours
nagricultural people, blessed with fruit
aDil and genial climate, the elements unite,
Il man to render his labor profitable. We
b. under these circumstances, no induce
- to engage ina general competition with
\, who, for want of land and BY rigor of
dnte find in the workshops their only in
drial employment Stimulated by class
saAton, and aided BY taxes. indirectly
E7ng from other pursuits, it has had fur
ths extension than this,-but speako its
iua and normal condition, such as will exist
when under the operation Of equal laws, no
Dther federal tax shall be imposed upon the
;itk than that which is necessary to enable
be 1eral government to perform its delega-
n ctions That errors Of theory and
80 should occur IN the administration Of
s<siem of government rs novel and COM
ID As ours should not excite SURPRISE and the
tssty with which reform has from time to
. been introduced proves how complete
ehe compromising advantages of ouR new
em. Errors of Judgment, or from want
formation, cannot destroy the principles
ar government, and of such it was truly
q they are never dangerous whilst rea-
5 left free to combat Them,
is. however, otherwise when division is
1 on geographical basis, and it has been
brtune to witness this last worst phase Of
cal division. A party too powerful to be
eeded and marked as nations are distin-
he'd by territorial limits, Is now organized
he destruction Of the labor system of the
th, and seeks to obtain possession Of the
sral government that its machinery may
al IF thar. .x1r.aF1 aJrt2
3e rs a sovereign State. Ss-zT
such would be the consequence of success
he nefarious object, the pursuit Of which
- ayow. Their movement has no longer
scharacter of speculative philosophy. II is
e the political division Of people because
Inherent opinions upon matters Of joint IN
est 4: but Is in the nature of foreign war
..red for conquest and dominion.
q far as the abstract right 10 hold the At
an in bondage, is concerned, we have cause
s congratulate ourselves on the progress
.k;ch within the last ten years, truth. and
and philosophy have made.
anterior to that time it had been the habit
: Southern men to refuse 20 discnss . 4ues-s
"a Of strictly domestic conceEnment with
.Iose who assumed 10 invade it. Thus, fora
- period. error scattered her seeds broad
- over the land, whilst reason in over con-
sisnce stood passive The recent free discus
- by the press, and on the forum, have
s:soeled delusions which had obseured the
- Of a generation until even among our
n.ives Il was more easy to find the apologist
IN the defender The case IS now 50 far
ssrsrsed that many northern men have ad
s-sssed themselves to the task of defending
~ constitutional rights on the ground of
tseir Justice, and there IS not probably an IN
,ei;eent mind among our own citizens who
Soubts either the moral or the legal right Of
he institution Of African slavery as itexists
IN our country.
II Il not little curious to note the fiuctua-
,;ous OF English and American, Of Northern
IND of Southern opinion, upon this subject
n During the colonial condition, Great Britain
o1nIy protected the slave trade, but denied
colonies the right to prohibit the impor-
of negro slaves INTO their respective
nv. Nov she IS the source of an agita-
yainst the United States, because the
hdants of the negroes so imported are
D bondage. -.
Northern States once held slaves, and
Is Of emancipation generally followed
lsfer Of the property to the Southern
their people engaged in the importa-
i African Slaves, and now persecute the
&t,f,sla-l,