New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-09
! fTNT5ss 8 n nam SOUTH.

T,ens stars are now glitering upon the Southern
and North Carolina will soon add another.
Thera Wilt then remain but four others Of the IF
teen slave States; and one OF these, Delaware, is
only nominaliy slave holding. For the remainder,
Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri, their entrance
into the Southern Gonfederacy, sooner later, is
an event almost positively certain.
Thus, then, the South is already a unit. There
is no difference of opinion among us in regard to
the defence Of the South against the approach Of
the Northern invader. As one man, the South
stands, presenting o united front and defiant at
titude to these who are SO eagerly clamoring for
our 8abjugation and disgrace.
The folly of the Government at Washington. in
affecting to treat this as rebellion finds no paral
lei in the past history of this land, any other
uponsthe surface Of the globe. Rebellion, indeed!
Every single State of the Union had the right to
determine for herself whether she would remain in
4 the Union or withdraw from it. If not expressly
nominated in the bond,' it was the universal I'M
4 derstanding Mt the time the Constitution was
framed. The sovereignty of the States was never
surrendered when the Federal pact was entered
into. If South Carolina alone had repudiated the
Federal Government, there would have been no
| rebellion in the act
But, instead 81 South Carolina, here are ten
States which are out of the Union, and four others
. which are out, to all nfents and purposes. These
States cover the greater part of the territory oc-
Y eupied by all the States and comprise nearly
half Of the whole population. To affect to con
slider this as a rebellion" and to treat twelve
millions Of people as 'rebes, = is as absurd as it
iscontenlptible.
let US suppose that other states-some of the
! Free States Of The North-shoud determine to
I withdraw from the Union, and resume their sover-
eighty. That would be g rebellionn also, we
' suppose. Then other States yet might withdraw.
still, it would be rebellion! But suppose every
one should withdraw. Suppose every State in the
i Union should cease TO send representatives to
Washington, and cease to respect the Federal laws
I in their limits-what then? Would Lincoln and
4 Seward still sit in the White House and claim to be
+ in power, and decide that the whole people were
XII in rebellion There Wond be no Government
y then, and no authority. The Government would
be more iInmaterial than the shade of name.'
would be no Government at all, but the ghost q
$, departed Government, fitting about among the
\. ruins Of its former habitation.
d 1t is evident then that some limit must be fixed
+ whereby the extent of rebellion may be determ
Y med tits not rebellionif one State only seced
from the Union. Still less is 1t SO when nearly one
/, half of them, by common impulse, throw off tn
VI restraints of the central authority, and exercis
the right proclaimed in the original Declaration 0
A. independence, to abolish and reject Goyernmen
y which has become oppressive
= History furnishes no instance of a peaceful an,
bene6cent Government in which there were hal
of many antag0nisc interests as there were in TIL
IL late Union; to say nothing Of the radical differ
ences between the two sections in race, in educa
ton in social customs and laws, and in their view
d Of the ends for which Governments were con
IL stituted.
Upon all other points the people of the South hav
/ had their differences and their disputes We hav
a quarreled fercely among ourselves. in past times
u over local and general elections. Party spirit ha
y run high and party lines have been closely drawn
IN Yet, at the first intimation of aggression upon
O. from the North, the Ratchet has been buried, an
the people Of the South oblivious of all past dis
m sensions, stand in serried ranks to meet the foe
d Is such a spectacle of SO little Importance an
ID grandeur as that it may be fippantly called
rebellion?
. Let not the North make any further calculation
~ of divisions in the South. Whatever differences
= opinion may have existed heretofore, have disar
u peared utterly; and but one sentiment, one in
: pulse, one determination now animates us al
IT, 4. We have the fairost land upon which the ~
Z shines. and population nyincible against IL
e world in arms. If the North refuses to belle,
this, and is willing to pay the fearful cost of lear
q = ing it, the South is ready for the onset.