New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-01-03
ST. PETER or THE SMALL SWORDS.

Whoever else, thought We may balk from
bloodshed and practically conGne himself to
pen and paper, the Hon. Pierre Soule will De
found in the crisis of the contest his bright
blade twinkliDg in all directions, up to his
knees in red rivers of the blood OF those who
may oppose him. In these martial times, we
grieye to say that the Honorable Peter, 50 Tar
from inclining to gore and revolution and great
wars. has betaken himself 10 the emission OF
cards. in which arms yield to the toga, and in
which the writer exhibits himself rather as n
special pleader than as general. In his pro-
nunciamiento now before us, We must say that
nothing is at all pronounced, aud We are left at
very much of a loss to decide whether Mr.. Soule
il for ornaments or arguments, for coaxDg or
coercion for this, that, or the other thing The
only explicit ayowal in his address is this " |
am no submissionist;" but then the value and
dignity of this declaration are much mtigated by
our total ignorance Of what the writer viii, aud
of what he viii not submit to. II is all very
well for Mr.. Soule 70 exclaim: - ! hold that
" resistance TO ACTUAL WRONG Is paramount
&" duty with States as well as individuals
There is nothing distressingly novel about this
slightly platitudinous assertion; but for the salts.
faction of those who do not feel like fighting
pbantOms. il would have been better for Mr. Soule
to have stated az briefly as he pleased what the
" actual wrong" in the ease at bar is. The
Southern people have been shameiully injurcd-but
who has injured them In what part have
they been hurt Clearly stated, what is the tort
q I,ab nua.itDu. In
which Dir. Soue youchsaies no answer what
ever; and all his compatriots are just as retcen,
as he is.
There is no lack of bills filed in the chan
Gerry of politics: there is m cessation OF
qnerulOus complaints but while injured States
vaguely Diaunder in their tears aud grieyously
generalike their agones we can honestly declare
and all fair and intelligent men will sustain us in
the declaration, that not South Carolina herself
poised as she is upon the brink Of treason, has
yet plainly stated her wrong, or asked explicitly
for redress. We have read reams of resolutions
and the reports OF hundreds of speeches, some of
them silly and soIue Of them savage; but we have
vet to discover the injury of which the South has
been the victim. We have had plenty of de-
Jul NHfu W III ti' obS.i'''N ''"s''
file their bill of particulars In the utter alb
sence of well-grounded and solid causes Of COM
plaint is it strange that the Grand Committee at
Washington has done nothing! There was no
occasion for it to do anything. There was
nothing that it could do. 1t was based upon the
amiable fiction that the South had real causes of
quarrel; but when the Committee came to seek
l. a. ,..I. Of
fire-eatng Conventions, and in the columns Of
fuddled newspapers.
In fact, the position Of the South so far as it
can be said to have any position is that while the
North may in Congress, oppose Nebraska bills
and the extension of Slavery, it shall not
exercise the privilege of sustaining its opn-
ion and policy by the election of n President.
These generous, slayehoding souls will debate
with us for years, if we will but allow them to
have the best of the argument; but whea we
begin to be practical and to demonstrate by acts
that We are in earnest, they declare that there is
an end Of the controversy, and that an appeal
to arms gutta.percha canes and the god of bat
ties is all that is left them This is neither ex.
aggeration nor gssconade. II is plain statement
Of the plain TRUTH which no man can gansay.
We record the fact here as history will record
it in the future. Such simple record, which it
would be falsehood to our position to omit, pas
sionate and prejudced and puerile men may
declare to be exciting and incendisry, but the
truth remains.
1t would lessen our labor if we had a tan
gble position to carry or genuine argument
to refute. But the South cannot afford to Gene
10 the close quarters of an investigation
iudicinl in its method and equanimiE. II seeks
safety in generalization. 1t would stun us by