The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1860-12-21
The Eight Cotton States must be
United.
[From the Columbus (Ga.) Sun

Aoho Sottoh otdbSS DG
United.
lFrom the Columbus (Ga.) Sun1
Eds. San: Mark we'll what say-for |
speak advisedly-Georgia will never vote
herself out of the Union unless she
knows, to an absolute certainty that she
Will have company. And now how much
company will she demand? Will she go
with one State, say South Carolina? No,
never! Will she go with two, or three
or four others? No? No-she will do
no such thing. And this will be her ver-
dict, though she absolutely knew that
the other four States were going right
along with her. And the way separate
State Secessionists are going to work,
Georgia can have ne absolute assurance
that even these four States are going out
OF the Union; no assurance whatever of
the fact, and they will not wait even long
enough to consult with them-and what
other result can be expected from this
preclpitate action but total defeat of
the whole movement, so far as the State
of Georgia is concerned! No, sirs, the
people of the State of Georgia are never
going to vote themselves out of one gov
ernment till they see some preparations
made for laying the foundations of an
other They are not going to pull down
the old edifice till they have at least se-
lected the ground upon which to erect a
new one! And they are right. They want
also to know of what materials the new
edifice is to be built What States are to
compose the Republic? And Mey are
rvhH
Georgia lies anchored to-day in q har-
bor-not in peace, il is true, not in safe
ty, it is true, her anslorage ground not
entirely safe, that is true, too; threaten
ed she may be by coming storm-but
still she is in harbor surrounded on all
sides by her sisters in like distress, who
will stand by her to the last. And she
will never weigh anchor in the midst of
these storms and plunge madly out into
the broad ocean, till she k,,ows of some
more zafe harbor to which she can steer
for greater security and protection She
is not going to swing madly out of this
Union, bad as it is, till she k,o,cS there is
to be more "perfect union" to which
she can go with safety. assure her of
that more "perfect union" and she will
steer for it with full sail.
Do you ask me again how many States
/ must have before l organize q Southern
Republic? l repeat again, must have
the eight cotton States! 1 expect no
more, and rW take no less!' The people of
Georgia will take no less. I am laying
down programme to organize a South
ern Republic, and | am going to organize
it to stand. 1t is not for to-day or for
a year-it is for all timc-it is for us and
our posterity. l am going to begin in
such way that even if the border States
should not join us for some years to come,
we would still be safe and strong enough
to protect ourselves. And further, | am
gong to start in such a way that the
border slave States would be obliged to
come to us. We must command the
whole Gulf coast We must have the
mouth of the Mississippi river. We
must have an outlet through Texas
And we will not have any Jvliet, guess pork
or S,pposition about this matter II must
be a '..hccd. fact" We are not going upon
any uncertainties True, there are great
interests that we have to protect, but at
the same time, this is great work we
are undertaking! We must begin Alright
or we shall fail, utterly and forever fail
Georgia will not vote to organize any con-
federation that does not embrace Lousi-
ana and Texas. ......
But the separate State sncossionists are
excited, wild, passionate and are in too
great hurry to wait and consult and CO.
operate with our sister States. They say
secede and then consult. | say consult,
and then secede. Their scheme will fail,
but mine would in all probability succeed.
They say let each State put forth its De-
claration of Independence and then
come together. l say let them first come
together and then unitedly proclaim their
Declaration of Independence.
They appeal to the Revolutionary Faith
ers for an example unto us. appeal to
the Revolutionary Fathers-and by their
great example l will confound these
precipitators at once and for ever! How
did our Fathers go to work? Did each
colony declare itself Independent by it's
self and on its own hook? Did the col
onies first secede, and then come togeth-
er and consult and cooperate? No, sirs,
no, sirs! They were guilty of no such
madness and folly They were engaged
in common cause, as we are. They
consulted. They combined together
They co-operated; and then, and not
till then, they declared themselves Inde-
pendent! They seeded. Iappeal to our
great and wise and prudent Fathers!
JOHN HANCOCK.
A HARD HIT AT SoUTn CARoLINA.-Thc
Louisville Democrat says: