Year: 1860

tense feeling pervades the entire South, and that
10 case Of Mr. Lincon's election number of the
Southern States will withdraw from the Union.
They regard the Republican platform as direct
aud positive declaration OF war against them and
their institutions and hence should he be elected
be and his principles will receive the endorse
ment of majority of the Northern people. Look
ing at the matter IN this light It Is more than
probable that several of the southern States viii
not wait for any overt act, butwill so out once
-Ecprcss.


1t is quite apparent to our mind that, II
any Of the Southern States do withdraw from
the Union, upon the mere fact that Lincoln
is elected they will show thereby treaehery
to the principles urcn which our Govern
ment is founded and to the memory of its
| founders which will call for the eXecration of
posterity, down to the remotest times; for
/ they will have seeded without good cause
In the first place there isno such thing, prop
orly speaking, rs Secession. 1t is simply
Revolution, and Revolutions, according to the
general Judgment of all good men, are seldom
to be justified ncyer bat in the most extreme
cases. They bring disasters uncounted in
their train break down the barriers of prop
erty; uproot the institutions upon which
depend interests of such vastness as scarcely
to be computed by figures; impov verish fami-
lies retard progress, and, in short reduce the
social organization into a chaos Of all the
political and moral elements From the mass
of ruins, it becomes necessary to construct a
new fabric and to fashion forth another or
ganizaton which will be at best but an ex-
pertinent 1t is merely TO pull down and
then to rebuild. A division between the
North and South. on the plan that some crazy
theorists project is an utter impossitility
What become of the Territories which are
the common property of the Union? What
division can there be of the public property,
generally? What kind of distribution of the
public funds? What possible adjustment
could there be, on anything ike equitable
principles, Of the ten thousand differences
which would arise respecting affairs foreign
and domestic, government obligations at
home and abroad, and all the great interests
which are common to the Union as it now
stands? 1t is utterly absurd to suppose that
any peaceable division like this could occur,
even admitting the full right of secession in
its broadest aspect. Every thing gained on
either side would have to be fought for The
territories would have to be fought for, most
certainly. Questions Of boundary and ques-
tions of property would all have to be de-
termined by the grim arbitrament of war.
| We cannot believe that the South is so in
sane as to embark in such an undertaking,
without good and sufficient cause When
she can no longer have her rights in the
Union, then will it be time to raise the flag
ofRevolution. But not now, when the worst
that can have happened is that President is
elected who will be held in check by the
three great departments of the Government,
and who cannot commit any overt act of hos
tity against Southern institutions.


To seek to break up the Union on such
pretext as this would leave any State which
undertook it without the sympathy of even a
large portion gifts own citizens, and without
the respect Of any part of the civilized world.
Foreign powers might rejoice at it, but it
would be because it opened TO them a pros.
peet for putting their hands to the business of
blotting a great and free Government from
the face of the Earth.


There is nothing to gain by such move
ment, on the part of any Southern State,
and every thing to lose There is nothing
like having just cause, and SO grave a pro-
ceeding as the severance of the bonds of this
Union must ignominously fail if it be not
justified, perfectly and absolutely, before the
world With even so good a cause as that
for which the Fathers of our own American
Revolution contended, they thought fit, nav
deemed it imperative, to set forth their rea-
sons in a Declaration which is immortal
They stood justified for what they had done
But, these men, who would now inaugurate
Revolution against the same Government
which that Declaration we'll nigh spoke into
existence, would have sorry looking Declar.
alton of their Independence to compare to the
great instrument which Jefferson penned and
he and his mighty compeers signed, with the
alternative of Liberty or Death.


lfany secession paper can show US a sol-
tary right of IA Southern State which is not
at this time perfect and whole, we would be
happy to have them produce it. What cause
is there then for Revolution and for breaking
up the Union None. 1t is a mere pretence,
and the Southern people will see through it
much more readily than their would-be
leaders imagine.


II the Union could be dissolved peaooably,
aad both sides thought it was to their interest
to separate, there might be some sense in a
division, without waiting for the transpiring
ofany future events But, it is madness to
/ plunge the country into what must inevitably
be bloody civil war, before anything has
happened which could possibly be tortured
into cause for Revolution.


| CoBB vs.. STEPHENS. Secretary Cobb is
disgracing the position which he occupies, by
using his influence if reports be true. to in