Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-09-14
IN 1ntereHtin" Document.

Flee. Presidency Uenouness "Our NVrtheri
Opprcxsp,x, and Eidicuisx Tie '.Senseles
Clamor Of L'nion ."'--Proclaims tie Righ
cj' .Secetsion the only Hope Of the Sonth
nnd declores tint those 9hO dcny il, 1t
Douglas aoss, Fatsyy History
The announcement by Mr. Douglas at Pc
tersburg and Norfolk that he would treat thoS
who attempt to dissolve the Union OF! accoun
of the election Of Lincoln rs Jackson trcatet
the Nuliticrs in 1892. has induced some O
the Georgia newspapers to republlsh th
following letter addressed by III" Hon. ller
schcl V. johnson, the candidate for the Vice
Presidency OH the Douglas ticket, to commit
tee of gentlemen Of Augusta, Georgia, in TIT
year 1861. 1t will be seen that Gov. johnson
handles without gloves those who, like Mr.
Douglas, maintain that the right Of secession
is merely right Of revolution. Can tn,
ticket with such head and tail mislcad suf
licent number of the Democracy Of the Soutl
to give single State to the Opposition:
We commend this letter to the supporters o.
Mr.. Douglas who are charging the friends o.
Mr.. Breckenridge as disunionsts:
LRTrER FROM GOV. JOHNSON.
MILLrDGEvILLE, GA, Aug 80, 1851.
Gentlemen: thank you for your kind and
pressing invitation to barbecue, to be given
to Col Robert McAlilcn the Southern Rights
candidate for Congress in the Eighth District,
on the first Tuesday in September next. But
official engagements forbid me the pleasure Of
it's acceptance Morgan court will be in session
ut that time.
NV personal acquaintance with Col McSIil.
len, is limited, but know him by reputation
~ u gentleman Of high moral worth, brilliant
talents, and sound republican principles
Such men | am pleased 10 honor, and sincere.
ly trust the great cause whose banner he
bears BY the united voice Of the Southern
Rights party OF his district, may be trum-
phant
The contest in which the people of Georgia,
in common with her sister Slaveholding States,
are engaged, is one of vital Importance. It in
wolves the destiny Of the South, and the iede-
ratiye character Of our system Of government.
It is waged upon the right Of a State peacea.
torial candidate Of the Southern Rights party
maintains the affirmative, and the candidate Of
the submission party the negative Of this great
question The one, that the right necessarily
results from the reserved sovereignty OF the
States and the nature Of the confederacy, and
the other that it exists only as right Of rcvo-
luton. The former insists that the general 60
vernment has no right to cocrce a seeding
State; and the latter that such seeding State
must depend for the maintenance Of its posi-
ton upon the stout hearts and strong arms OF
q free people, The one unhcsltatingly and
boldly ayows that if y Southern State were to
scccdc, he would not obey requisition by the
federal government made upon him as the eX-
ecutiyc Of Georgia, for troops to force her back
into the Union; and the other declares he
would convene the Legislature Of the
State. and recommend them to call con-
vcntion Of the people" to instruct him in an
emergency in which the impulses of the true
Southern heart should be 4 sufficient guide
The qreat Issue, Msn, repeat, ~ tic riyM RIA
.State to secede from the tni"n, and the corrcl.
ative absence Of any right, on the part Of the
Federal Government to force such State back
into the Union. II cannot he erHtcd ny TIE
GLORj0TiSs ,GfJll,AMOR OF UNION! THIS
Union is not assailedf by The ;otanetn nisilts
party in Georgia. It's true friends IRE those
rho insist upon maintaining the rights result
ing from the sovereignty n tic stHteS. H'
reul enemies are those who, from behind II, rs a
"masked battery" lerel their destract'te"r T.
lery against It's strongest o"l,0st& W conAS'|,
lima submission to aggression, lNJCSIlEh"Hd
ROBBERY, BECAUSE LIKE "A WOLF N sILEEi'
CLOTHING" they come under the HiPOCRlTl'
CAL GARB OF COMPROMISE. Then let a
yigilant people look well to the true and only
issue involved in the pending campaign-tae
right If u State psnee0biy 10 secede from Mf
Union.
would not, if time and space justified, en-.
ter into an argument in favor OF the attrla.
tive Of this issue | believe it is understood
By the people. 1t hns been 4 cardinal tenet OF
the Republican creed from 179S down to the
present day, maintained by Jefferson and Madi
SON and Macon, Lowndes and Troup, and nj
the distinguished statesmen Of that school, who
prouerly understood the theory of Our Govern
ment, and whose heart beat rcsponsircly to the
great American sentiment which is at once tho
narent and the soul Of Constitutional liberty
Argument is not needed to elucidate or enlorct
it. II the people, shaking OF the tranlmeIs 9
,,nrtv. and spVTning TIE TlMlD CorSsELs Oh
TEMPORIsING SUBMISS ION1STS AMI
SELFISH TKADESMEN IL THE GREAT MARI
OF POLITICAL BARTERING, niN oJey tn
HONEST IMPULSES OF TRUE SOUTHERN sen
TIMENT, Asy piU require no argamrnt 4
arruy them on the side 9f truth, Tllkl!
HEARTH-STONES ASD TIE CONSTlTt-
TION.
TO dctract from the Importance Of the lssu'
in nubIic estimation, it is insisted that It is {
mere abstraction that it will be timo enough
Gor Georgia to determine it, when she shall b.
called upon to exercise the right Of secession
This is but one Of the hundred sudtey"geS
those oho man the "masked : '!ery. me IS
sue is ritaL thus not been "'tde by the stat
Of Georgia, nor by the 'So"'"@rn States. /
Gus 6een forced ~pon us by T." raj aggreSsion'
It has been distinctly tenderc': by high author
ity. 1t was rendered by ll,ary Clay in hi
great speech upon "the compromise bills. y
He said .'ifrcsistance is attempted by any STATE
or by the people of any State, he will lift hi
voice. his heart and his arm in the support
the common authority of this government.
Through Mr.. Webster, the Secretary ofstat'
il has been rendered by the ROTTEN DYNASTY Q
THE FILLMORE ADMINISTRATION. For he ia
distinctly proclaimed the policy Of the CabIn'
to be coercion, if any State should attempt ST
cession. This issue, then, is upon us. Sha
we not meet it? Shall ICE iagloriousiy shrin
from its dscision2 1t is true, that to past a;
cressions, Georgia has determined to offer II
Resistance. But the right to resist and to r
sist peaceably, without the terror Of feder;
bayonets. she cannot yield; and no" she
| Il, +ho Inoison ! Of h
meet it toith frmaness and unanimity.
VAoerer Observes the signs Of the times ca
not fail to see that the RIGHT OF ST
CESSION aciU probably at no DISTANT DA
ASSUME THE FORM AND MAGN1TUD
OF PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE. II
South is in permanent minority in our Fed
raj Legislature. The tone of Northern fana
icism abates not in its frenzy and insoencc.-
1t presses on rapidly to the consummation
its dabolical designs. And what check III
the South upon its progress9 Have we ar ar
under the established rules Of parllia'nehtai
law? Can we expect any justice at the h"'l' \ II
Of the present Free.Soil Executive aha Il
Cabinet? Can we effect anything Sygp.rf Sy aTg