The Van Buren press., 1860-11-23
Axkansas and her Duty.

Wsrare n The midst Of time. and are suvreun
frsuno - srents. vkieAwin sfn ose Of fthe p,os.
linpoehrt nj inseatisg passage. infature hiss.xy
fsra ebusltsd to the syss Of an eaf..st and en-
quit Pdg6e. They al then see The bearing.
Of eesHs nce eleas1yf - We possiLay can /: their
| EYES N1n % ped frous she vail q preiudiee .ad
passien-theif reason unclouded by excitement q
fsnatieism. We are preparing our cause for the
bar Of the future. They must try us-shey must
aeqult a condemn ass4eUsanarusssd. * bv ous
fathers With institution. end privileges attaching
thereto. hailowed by evsas se.e rssed--nede So
cred oy their blood and dtreasure-purehased At the
erpsass q ssss,d sdE1l s6d privatsos. On
Adeaity 10 this fEsnt fDbsat to be tried. Tie
svesh which have ossisred siea1in the past few
|a9espe.k too rlaialysef - hnh,s which ia in
the puas WON'T Of de fstss. ssoa to be east upon
NJ At such tins a. lie psessnt 1t is worse than
useless for men to specuiste--worse than useless
for . % deseantin loog ess.ys, or argue in wordy
speeches. upon - sbse Ayight Of . State 70 se-
eeds from this Unio.t = i wholly imnss.srial to
US now which is rie - doet.i,e .pnos,.cea by
Calhoun and Haynes in thear sseas speeches on the
door of Congress upoa tie legi&insa3e Significance
Of the word esmpsct. or shs opinion promulgated
by die immortal Webster in his reply We have
to deal with abstsaetions no longer As in al rev.
oiutions, sbstrsetioas are lost and the mind nat,
rally and necessarily seeks the tangble, the practi
cal. the expedient The abstr.et moral or legal
right Of one Stste - seeede from The Union is gone
for the present aad We can deal only with the
ether division of the Question, namely, the praeti
sal We s.ssssswe1es seeess esss asss Fa.s sf sass
question. Tor two States Aa.e put in practice
the thing ITSELF call it secession orevolution. names
cannot effect the truth. The only question now in
issue is. would it be expedient for Arkansas to fol;
low in the wake Of the States that have taken ii
upon themselves to withdraw from the comnaet
heretofore entered into by these sovereign States
Shall we assist in dernolishing the government
which is the wonder of the worid-the pride of
Americans Shall we, too. retrace the bloody stems
Of our revolutionary heroes-sharl we undo all
that wisdom little short Of inspiration has done
for u.s. and emerge into the dark clouds Of an anar-
chy too terrible to be even contemplated without
shudderof horror Shall we assist in denonstra-
ting to the civilized world, that Republication is
a whim, folly which only has being in the
brain of speculative politicians Shall selfgor-
ernnent and free and liberal institutions prove
disgraceful failure And shall we assist in bring
ing about this failure These are the questions
which press themselves home upon us now. An
noae they must be answered-their solution mp At h
given quickly. The election of Mr.. Linc,ln r.
passed IRON doubt into certainty, and W., neho, :.
III him President elected by only on. char.eter Of
The free - States alone. have had voice
in his election but he goes jato the p,r.;dert;.l
char. check -mated-he i. a nauph, noxsr,a..
impotent So long as b.. fulfls the co..t;,,,;on.,
obligations of the oath he win take al, vii,
be well enough. brit the moment he .tt.m,,. q,
overssep them Re becomes Justly ridiculous and
EXHIBITS him' -ftoa mocking people as an impotept
PupPes eo' ied in the robes of ROYALTY. It is sa;d
'f Aih' oin intends to promulgate his line Of rol
y az make known the members Of his future
net a. soon as he is certain of his election and
specially intends to announce his views uno, the
slavery question. If this be true let us hear him
Tor the presumption is. and to my mind it is a
violent one. that he intends to modify his hitherto
expressed sentiments On that important subject SO
that they may more fully comport with the views
entertained BY the Southern people and with the
constitution, 1t not, then why is<ne any .da....
at all for We certanlvar fully advised as to the
opinions he has heretofore held. Now If he do
ses to this former opinions on tn = .ubect "a
this is the apple Of diseord. and thereby turns cold
shoulder upon his radical and insane brethren
ana SHOWS every disposition to abide by the Con-
satuton especially the Fugitive slave clause, and
by the lava already enacted, we certainly cannot
object to his going on. and to giving him fair
chance, particularly when disunion an6 anarchy
are the alternatives. The most sensible oninon
is that he cannot. at all events maint.;n
himself in the presidential chair for SIX months
unless he does abide by the Constitutiou. And II
ne does 90 abide then he will plant seeds Of undv
ing contention in the bosom Of his party, and
these. cooperating with the insate elements of de-
'truetion. will soon eatirely destroy the RepubIi.
can party. Aud 20 unblushingiy corrupt j. the
party. that when it does go,so Other party. Of
similar character can rise upon its rains All tbe.e
lhinss being true. would It mot be better for Ark.
snsas to keep perfectly cool and not sllow herself
10 be hastened on to Distraction and treason bv
'eheming and designing men. Let her citizens ne
dect upon the condition in which che win place
herself by 20 mad step - secession from the
Union Let the masses. the taxpaying masses,
reject that upon them and their property will fall
he buzthensome weight of supeossine the new
government. even if they succeed IN ftxH,iny one
they must pay taxes sufficient to keep the wheels
II their government in nsotion--&o keep up the
Post Office Dspatmcht-uewa and additiouaI duties
N imports. and more thsu likely be compelled to
'ssist in maintaining standing army that instru
nent and eonpasioa Of despetism, which will be
'hle II any day % raise . military despet over
hem. These are the leyiimsse olf.sAoots Of revo-
nfion. There is ak Of sszins . eoavension. II
call is to Be made, lse the people be On the hook
nj, and have their aembef In ssat convention who
vin express thsie ssntamsnts.s 1t they ase unwii-
ing 10 haszafd . seeessiea, let theaa elect men
whe are opposed to seeessions and let the conven-
hen reject the true ssnsiment cf the people Cir
may become snch = to force Arkansas
. 90 with do esutA@a stasss a abolisa slavery.
Alabans, Aississippi. Louisiaaa and Texas
should seeede. then, Of course, but two paths are
pen Tor Arkaaas. She win then be forced to Sc
edo. alsq eaboaish slavery. It s, Of course too
,reat apecaniasy meri6cefcr her to do Ire latter
he must sdept the former course. And, in that
'ase she VIII Asvs nothing 10 regret. She will
hea have acted wisely by keeping quiet and al
owing the current of events to take their course
md when nothing else ID left her. she win fall in
. the tide and become .. creature Of destiny Tor
he step once taken, events became greater than
,sn and we all are forced to trim cur sails to suit
sfr-,,, md sas1