Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-25
FIFTY YEARS ago
In THE STAR

VAvA WI YVES the real SlenlHcance OF
nn.;r.a the movement on the part
OF the gulf states to leave
the Union. In The Star OF December II,
1880. the following appears:
We presume that few here who trouble
themselves to note closely the develop
ments of the views and designs Of those
at the south, who prefer disunion to any
guarantee of southern rights in Union.
fail to comprehend the fact that none
will be more disappointed than they IL
civil war fails to follow the secession Of
South Carolina. Else they fear that
their cherished scheme Of an entire SOUTH
ern confederacy may after all be defeated
by the refusal of the border slave-holdins
| states to trust their future in the keeping
OF such statesmen as Messrs. Iverson,
Toonrbs. Wigfall and keitt. AS regret
table as the fact is, it is now becoming so
plain that none but the willfulIy blind
can fall to see 1t, that civil war thus
forms the groundwork Of the policy for
the immediate future OF those who as
sumo to launch the extreme south upon
the uncertain sea of immediate and sepa-
rate state secession
~
The openness with which dwellers In
Washington proclaimed their advocacy OF
secession was matched by
COckadeS the Partisanship Of the
for Col. unionists Enterprising shop
keepers took advantage OF
this rising feeling by .offering for sale
| cockades appealing to the supporters of
| tho north and the south. I'm The Star Of
December 10, 1880, is the following:
I'VE see In some Of the Avenue shop
windows the various cockades now in use
for sale We give n description OF them
for the benefit Of our readers:
South Carolina-This cockade is made
of three layers of very dark blue cloth,
nctched at the edges and fastened to-
gether by a gilt button. on which the fol-
lowing appears in relief: In the center
Is the palmetto, with two arrows cross
ed, and fastened together at the point
OF crossing with a bow knot of ribbon.
The following is the motto around the
| ribbon: 'Animis opibusque parati,' Ready
with our minds and means
"Vfrgin!a-This consists of a double
rc,sette of blue silk, with a pendant of
lemon color, the whole fastened together
by q gilt button. on which appears in
name of the state and its motto encircling
1T. The motto is Sic semper t,rannis.'
"Maryland-This cockade is formed of
double rosette of blue silk. with blue
pendant and fastened the same as that
Of Virginia, with the state button, with
the simple word Maryland beneath the
arms.
The Union cockadc-Thhs is also. a
double rosette, the center one being of
red silk, the inner one of white silk and
the pendants of blue. The gilt button
that fastens the whole shows the eagle
or America, surrounded by the stars Of
the United States
andrew Johnson, then a senator from
tennessee, delivered an important speech
in the Senate about this
Johnson's time fifty years ago which
Sr..oh served to attract national at
tention to one who after
ward figured cOnspicuously in the affairs
Of the country:
THE able and emphatic speech deliy-
cred yesterday by that representative
man, Andrew Johnson, in the Senate has
already generated intense excitement
among the disunionists in Washington
Juniors among them are freely declaring
that hanging Is too good for the traitor
Traitor to what, or whom? To the pro-
posed limited monarchy and oiigarchy in
the south? To dictatorship Of states
men as Messrs Keitt, Iverson, Wigfall,
the Charleston Mercury & Co.?
Mr.. Johnson is emphatically the repre-
sentative Of the laboring citizens Of the
south and of the immense class there of
quiet business men in all walks of life
who. while they eschew the trade of poll
tics and the no less pestiferous trade of
hlibustering-the vocation of nine-tenths
of the noisiest disunionists of the times
are far more deeply interested in the
preservation OF the many blessings of
government now enjoyed by the people of
every section Of this country than in the
reopening OF the African slave trade, anu
a new cut, shuliie and deal of property,
positions. ETC., throughout the United
States. These classes spoke in the Sen
alter chamber yesterday through Mr..
that they are at length awakening to
the necessity of protecting themselves
from the dangerous scheme of the politi-
clans and filibusters by trade in their
midst. The indications of his speech
alarm the disunionists per Sc intensely.
Hence the vehemence Of their denuncia-
ton of the orator"
The actual first stroke of secession, the
formal severance of relations between
the Union and the state of
Secession South Carolina, was an
ra.Al nounced in The Star of de-
cember 81. 1850, as follows:
Shortly after The Star went to press
yesterday dispatches reached US announc-
ing that the South Carolina convention
had passed the proposed ordinance Of Sc
cession amid the firing OF cannon and
beating Of drums. This action was, OF
course, expected by all here. Without
dollar Of real money in the treasury.
without credit upon which to obtain a
single dollar abroad and with none in
her own limits able, by combining, to
loan her sufficient money to keep a single
regiment In the field for a year, the
threats Of war against the United States,
to which her orators In her movement
are constantly giving utterance, amount
to no more than whistling to keep their
courage up. When. as she will soon find
out, no European nation will permit
vessel with a South Carolina clearance TO
discharge cargo in its port, the people
of South Carolina will begin to under
stand that separate state secession is
likely, after all. to prove as injurious to
them az to the rest of the states of the
Union their leauers are striving to involve
in one common ruin.
UNSHAKEN Believer.
still besi.s{e in Santa claus-the old-time saint
Not sli the arguments Eve heard or evidence
hat =