New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-20
THE SOUTHERN CAUSE.
IxzEnnsrIN.. aeeNEsroNprNon:

to whom tile opening letter was addressed by a
gentleman in hussneSs in the city OF New oFh.
The reply was not prepared with O view to paDh-
enfiop Init hv the consent of the writer we have
been permitted 10 give tito the paollc, lh0usn
our columns. Ii will thus more oefta!nlg iea W.
the correspondent than il were commit3ea 20 inc
ss.fninor at President Eincons mails, ana may
possibly BE of some service in other quarters, IN
stating the principle of action and the purposes OF
the South on their true bases
wknwrS STREET. NEW YoRE April 50, 1861,
Deer Sri take the liberty which an early, anu
certainly a very pleasant acquaintance Woata
seem to give me, to ask You Tor information on
few TONES which are are now of the highest H.
terest 10 the thinking portion of our population.
Il am quite certain that our Southern brethren nave
been sadly, even reckesslY misintormed IN reatlon
to the true feeling and wishes of Northern people
towards them. 1see. therefore, tne propapility
that we may he acting under the influence OF eN-
aeCerated accounts and similar msappreheRslons.
It il better for man to be uniformed than mlsln-
formed because the uniformed man acts, at least,
without prejudice, and is slave to no error, !
would, therefore, like TO ask you or some other
candid Sauthron, the following questions:
First-Is it the wish of the majority of the solid,
sober. thinking men of the Cotton States to leave
this Union. and form Gonfedexacy by themselves!
Seconds or is not, the present position OF the
cotton States the result of misguided passion, or
the act of the demagogues. cooperating with the
irresponsible portion Of your populations
Thirds there a latent but terrorzed Union
party in your midst, who secretly regret the pres
emit condition of things in the Cotton States
FouFth--Have the Cotton States, in your Judg-
meTt. any grievances which unay not be re6ressed
under the Consultation of the United States throngh
the action Of Congress and the Federal Courts?
Ffffh-Do the people of the Cotton States, the
intelligent and thinking people, Imsan, really be-
lisve that IL is the purpose of the present Admins
trsaon Of Of any respectable portion Of the North
ern States TO interfere with slavery in any state
where ID is at present guarded BY law
= lfxytT, Tn, hat nATtiru3T wDuil the
cotton States be benefited by desperation from the
Federal Union
Seventh Do the intelligent people of the South
believe that we Of the North have courage, con
staticy and fidelity, or do they believe that that
iron race who bore the revolutionary flag from
Bunker Hill to the Plains of Abraham, and from
thence to the bloody field Of Yorktown, have
diminished in three quarters OF century to horde
Of poltroons and drigelers2
Ihage not cast vote since the death of the in
icomparable tienry Clay. / have been simply q
G locker ON in Venice" Owing allegiance to no
party organization and absolved from all political
obligations i am, and have been for many years.
in d position to look at things as they are. have
arrived at these conclusions. The people Of the
South have been madly, criminaliy misnformed in
relation to the true designs and feelings of the peo
pie of the North. This has been done by the South
ern press and by Southern demagogues, in with
holding from the public mind the things that are
true and substituting therefore the things which
are false Through their instrumen,aiities they
have been led to believe that the SO called Black
Republican party is an Abolition party, and that
they sought power only that they might invade the
rights Of the Southern States, and interfere with
their State Institutions The Southern people also
have been led TO believe that on the questions of
Union and the Constitution as it is, there was
strong party at the North who would aid and en-
courage the people OF the South in their eHdeavors
to break up the Union The New York Herald
aud the New York Evening Express have done
much toward disseminating this false theory. All
these suppositons, accusations and theories are
wholly untruthfnll.
There are not in all the Northern, Eastern and
Western States five thousand Abolitionists, all
told and this fanaticai band small as tits, en-
braces all the wry-visaged vinegar-natured old
maids, womans rights men and women, old,
rickety, broken down, savage philosophers and
politicians there are in q population of nineteen
millions. This faded rotten, superannuated mass
of fossils never once, not even once, have voted
with the Black Republicans. The Black Re-
puhlicans come in always for their maledctons
with an emphasis By " Abolitionstsn | mean
those who would Gf they could) abolish slavery
in the District Of Columbia, and interfere with
the institution in the several States where it is
authorized by law. No Republican, no Democrat,
no fair and honest man, at the North, seeks any
such thing, or would tolerate it. No man who
has any respect for treaties, for promises, or for
written obligations, could tolerate it. We all at
the North admit that the Southern States have
the rights they had when they came into the Con-
federacy- neither less nor more-and we all say
that the South shall be protected in the possess
sion of all these rights. In striking proof of this
witness an instance in Maryland only week ago.
While the 9Th Massachusetts Regiment were
marching through Maryland to Washington, under
Gen: Butler, word was brought that the slaves in
Anne Arundel county had risen Gen. Butler at
once offered his regiment to put them down. And
this, mind you. was q Massachusetts, regiment, q
State where Black Repuhlicanism is blacker than
it is elsewhere at the North. And all this, too,
after the Massachusetts men had been told by
a,tth Ifno hot ftuo rfp aul ho rfup AVA
them. The entire mind and heart of the North
are sound on all questions Of constitutional right
to all the States, whether North or South, and
they are now, SO far as know them, determined
that all those rights shall be maintained that the
Union must and shall be preserved and that not
a single letter of the present Constitution shall
be altered unless by the act Of the whole people,
as the Con ttution itself provides. These are the
doctrines Of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Clay aud
Jackson. The people of the North will now see
that these doctrines prevail aud that the glorious
Republic which they formed shall go down to our
children unimpaired.
An impression has prevailed at the South, that
in case of an appeal to arms, the Seceders would
have strong party at the North, which, if it did
not furnish them troops, would al least be strong
enough to prevent the Government from putting
down the revolution. | thought So too, until Fort
Sumter fell. But that affair was the signal for a
resurrection of patriotism at the North refresh
ing as 1t was unexpected 1t united us as one
man. All party ties are severed all party 0bliga-
tons are fOrgotten--we are one The universal
sentiment is that the Government is right, and that
it shall be sustained. And it will be sustained
There can be but one issue to this
causeiess, uuholy, unrightenns, vindictive war
Already one hundred Thousand men are under
arms. Many of them have gone forth to stain
their hands with fraternal blood-and all of them
feeling that their cause is just, and that it shall
prevail. In less than four months the North will
piace in the field half million Of men--and all for
what?
The causes which have produced this unity of
feeling are these: All Northern men know that the
Republicans have no unconstitutional designs on
the Benjamius, the Yauceys, the Rhetts, of the
South, really think they have.
All Northern men now believe that this rebel
lion would have broken out if either Breekinrdge,
Bell, or Douglas had been elected They believe
that this outbreak il the result of a conspiracy
which has been fostering in the Republic ever since
1882.
They believe that the Southern leaders are ambi-
fions, dishonest and treacberous--that this rebel
lion is their work, and wholly causeless.
They believe tnat the s. Uuonh is q real bless
ing. North and South. They believe that the South
have no grievances which cannot be legally re-
dressed under the Constitution.
They believe that the ostensible cause is alto
gether too slight to justify the overthrow of the
finest model Of government ever given to man
kind
They believe there is powerful but terrorized
Union party Mt the South, who secretly invoke the
arm Of the Federal authority TO res ore law and
order.
In proof of this last idea are these facts:
Allbusiness men here are constantly in receipt
Of letters from every county in every State in the
whole South, strongly deprecating this secession
movement and praying for q restoration OF Fed