The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-02-22
Extracts from the late Speech of the
Hon. A. o. P. Nicholson, U. s. seua-
tor from Tennessee.

1t is not easy for Southern men to CON-
prehend the code Of ethics moral or political
by which Northern people Justify the forma-
| ton in the Free States of an organization
based entirely upon sentiment Of hatred for
| the domestic institution existing exclusively
| in the Southern States. We can understand
that kind of opposition to slavery which ex-
cludes it from the Northern States, but we are
wholly at loss to reconcile the continual agi-
tation Of the subject in the Free States with
those fraternal relationsand obligations which
| were created when several sovereign States
pledged their faith to each other in a common
confederacy.'
After remarkins tll II was not possible for
the present uIalassral So of alienation. to
proceed much further without splitting asun-
der the confederacy, Judge Nicholson has the
following strain of remark:
at rests mainly with the people of the
North to decide whether the Union is to be
broken up or not. The Southern people will
look on with deep anxiety at the conflicts
which are to settle this momentous question.
They appreciate the sacrifices which their
Northern friends have already made in their
efforts to resist the progress OF that sectional
organization which threatens the sublugation
Of the Southern States. All their sympathies
will be enlisted on the siGe of the Union in
the future struggles which they are to have
with sectionalism. The Southern people have
never expected their Northern friends to be-
come the advocates and champions Of the in
stitution of slavery, orSOf its extension in the
Territories. They have never assumed that
an abstract opposition to slavery was irrecon-
cilable with faithful compliance with all the
duties and obligations, both confederate and
constitutional, which legitimately attach to
the members of the Federal Union. They
have insisted on the constitutional right to have
the title of slaves recognized as valid in the
common Territories, not from spnl of slave
ry propagandism, but upon the great principle
of perfect equality, Of rights guaranteed by
the Constitution to all the States.
They have not maintained that none are to
he regarded as reliable frienls of the COnstitu
tional rights Of the Southern States who be-
lieye that the people of a Territory have the
right, whilst under territorial organization,
TO regulate their domestic Institutions in their
own way. Whilst the Southern people have
honestly entertained their known opinions on
these subjects, they have not sought TO pre-
scribe tests of orthodoxy to which their
Northern brethren could not conseientiously |
subscribe.
They have expected (and in this they have |
not been disappointed) that their Northern
friends would stand forth as the advocates and |
of the Constitution and the Union
IS our fathers made them This is all that |
we now expect and desire at their hands. We
know that in the Northern States We have
,ver million and a half of friends who have
not yet bowed their necks to the yoke Of sec
Upon these we rely for the pres
.rvation of the Union in the day of trial that
S approaching. Until they are conquered the
,eople of the South will have no occasion to
consult safety out Of the Union.