Daily national Democrat., 1861-02-06
The Hon. Cave Johnson on the Crisis.

Banner says:
1t will have great weight with the neonle
OF Tennessee, Its author has grown cray in
the service Of his country, and IN all the Iioh
and responsible positions which he has filed
has ever enjoyed the confidence and resDeet
OF his fellow-citizens In these times. the
voice Of wisdom, speaking from age and ex-
perionce, should be needed bv the people
and il should indeed sink deep into their
hearts"
In his letter, Mr.. johnson says:
'lf South Carolina should so abandon her
obligation to the Union, the other States will
have the right to prevent it, and will do so.
unless public interest and public policy shall
dictate different course. The right to do
50 think unquestionabe.
"What are we then to do if South Carroll.
ma will secede? The Federal Government
Will have nothing to do do, unless attacked
! 10y South Carolina. Her Judges Attorneys,
Marshall and Postmasters may resign, and no
others may accept the offices, her own citi-
zens will be the principal, if not the only
sufferers; make no war upon her; send no
| troops for her to attack let her muster her
minute men, under the Palmetto flag, armed
! with Der Minnie rifles, and 'march up the
bill and then march down again" But if in
her madness and folly she shall attack the
forts, arsenals, or custom houses belonging
to the United States, purchased with her as
sent for which large sums have been expend-
ed the troops Of the United States will de-
fend them; if captured, it will be the duty
OF the Executive, whoever he may be- to re-
take them. without regard to the blood or
treasure that may be expended. The United
States connot be justified to stand idly by and
see millions of the public property seized and
destroyed or converted to the use of others
If such an attempt be made 10 rob the United
States of their property, and shall bring on a
civil war with its authorities, South Carolina
will be holden responsible for all the disasters
that may follow, and will justly forfeit the
sympathy and aid of every order-loving and
law-abidng citizen of the country.
"As one Of the citizens of Tennessee, pre-
Ter trusting the interests Of my children, the
destinies of my country, to the counsel of the
Father Of his Country. who cautioned us with
so much eloquence and feeling in his fare
well address, against a dissolution OF the
Union; prefer to obey the command Of our
own illustrious patriot, who told US that the
Union of the States must be preserved"
must" is the emphatic word used ty him,
and Implies command that | shall be ever
ready to obey.
81 ara asked every day what Tennessee
ought to do in the present emergency p
Everything to allay the i'll feelings and dissi-
pate the prcjudices existing between the dif
terent sections Of our country, and every
thug to produce harmony, and nothing to
excite or disturb it. We should discounte-
aance secession as greater evil than nullif-
cation. 1t was only an effort to defeat an
act OF Congress by single State; secession
Is an indirect movement to destroy the Re-
public itself. We should take counsel with
our sister States, either by Commissioners Sc
lected 10y the General Assembly, or bv a
State Convention, called for the special pur-
pose, avoiding any general Convention Of the
southern States; and if possible, secure har-
mony in the South, as the best means of OBJ
tanning our rights and preserving the Union.
If that cannot be accomplished. then look to
an amendment Of the Constitution for that
security and equality to which we are en-
titled, or presenting the mode and terms upon
which any State may get out Of the Union
peaceably, or for forcibly expellinga refracto-
ry State but by all means to avoid the she'd
ding of blood The first drop of blood shed
may lead to consequences that the wisest can
not ioresee. Even if the State should not
sympathize with or give aid to an erring sis
ter, thousands would flock to her standard
or wrong, and it would end in a desolatiDg
civil war on our heretofore prosperous and
happy country. Our Union was formed to
avoid desolating wars between coterminous
States, which history proves TO be the fate of
all other nations, and its friends may Justly
boast that for seventy years it has accom-
plished the object.
In every crisis which has heretofore
threatened the Union, and they have been
numerous, kind Providence has raised up
patriots, with wisdom and moderation. and a
sense Of justice that enabled them to calm
the raging storm, and guide the vessel of
slate into the haven of safety
ain the stormy period of ancient Federal
ism, Jefferson appeared to guild and con-
troll us; when notification reared its horrid
'front.'" we had our Jackson; we had our
Webster and Clay in 1850. The proceedings
Which we daily witness in the Congress of
the United States cannot but create appre-
hension in the bosom of every patriot that
the wisdom, moderation and virtue necessary
to save the country, in this most trying peri
Cd OF our history, cannot be found in that
body, or entitled as members Of rank with
their "illusiriOus predcccssors"- we must
not despair of the Ropublic." When the
ambitious, selfish, unprncipled demagogues
/
distracted country, we still have a remedy
left, one that has never failed in our heaven
favored country. We must cast aside the
miserable party politicians who haye brought
such disaster upon our once happy people
The people must take their own affairs into
their own hands and preserve the sacred
Union, that we may transmit to pOsterty the
noble heritage received from our fathers"
GOVERNOR MEDAEY cN KANSAS AFFAIRS AND
THE CRIsIs.-We have received copy of the
address of Governor Medary to the people of
Kansas on the occasion Of the resignation of
his Office. 1t presents a gloomy picture Of
the existing condition Of things in Kansas, in
cluding the loafers, vagabonds, thieves, mur-
derers and outcasts from every region, which
still infest the Territory, and the terrible
famine there resulting from lifelong drought
of last summer But, in regard 10 the bor-
der rutlianism and the famine, the retiring
Governor gives much good advice and some
encouragement Of better times. He ad
moui-hes the friends of law and order TO
! give no countenance to midnight "carousals
and other gatherings Of secret clans with
oaths and grips Of their order, stimulated TO
murders aud roLberies for some real or
fancied wrong;" and he advises the respon
sible parties to the exercise of Il wise discre-
ton in the distribution Of their charities to
their destitute neighbors Finally, the Gov
ernor ntimates, in view Of this dreadful cli-
sis of disuuion, that he will soon reappear
before the public as one of the heads of the
newspaper press, with which-eXcepling the
occasional interruption of some official APP
pointment-he has been identified for the