Year: 1861

orable to both sections may be discovered
but we at the same time can see no sucl
ground so long as the demands of the Sc


cessIonists are adhered to. There must bt
: concession on one side or the other, or both
And, after compromise shall be effected
by whatever means it may be brought
about, we see no greater security to the
: American Union than has existed and does
exist. Solong as no affection for that Union
exists in one section, and the secessionistS
tell US there is none, it is but putting off the
catastrophe which must one day surely
come, for if the prosperity and manifold
blessings which have accrued to the Amer
lean people from the Union have not opened
the eyes and touched the hearts of that
people we may despair of better success
from the same government hereafter. Be-
sides, suppose the North shall concede some
thing to the revolutionists. Will that con-
cession still the storm forever? Will it be
not rather precedent for renewed disor-
ders on one part and more concessions on
| tue oiueIj whenever lne mluoIlty uTe ulS-
comf.ed and the majority victorious? The
word has gone forth, it has been authorita-
lively spoken, that the secessionists will not
submit to the majority whenever that ma
ority shall elect President not satisfactory
to the South. Unless the people of the
South rise up and reverse this declaration
the Union is not worth compromise
There should be some tangible evidence
that the turbulence of to-day is not to be
repeated every four years or whenever a
Northern man is elected President, before
any concession is made, or any compromise
effected any part of the basis of which shall
be generously given by the majority. Otn-
erwise we cut loose from every safeguard
and are at the dictation and mercy of an
exacting minority, unless the statesmen of
hereafter shall, in disregard of our prece-
dent, by display of frmness restore the
rights we have bartered away.


The position we assume is this: 1t is
clear act of patriotism and generosity for
the victorious party to concede anything
at ALL The people, the same power that
formed the government, have given that
partment thereof, to men who happen to
entertain certain political principles 1t is
not claimed that the Constitution has been
violated in any respect by the transfer of
the executive trusts to such hands. The
forms and spirit of the Constitution have
been preserved. 1t is, therefore, the duty
of the minority to submit. gracefully, and
the more particularly so, because the over
| thrown have held almost absolute control
of the government for more than twenty
years. But if their chafed spirits require
something to soothe them we are ready to
see the discontented met on some common
ground which shall not require too much
and the whole matter in dispute settled at
once and forever. Can it be done? Not
with honor while the secessionists are in
arms and make peremptory demands. Be
fore an intimation is given by the loyal
States of readiness to treat, the secessionists
should be required to surrender all prop
erty now in their possession belonging to the
United States, disband their mobs and offer
no obstruction to the execution of the U. S.
laws. Not till some satisfactory guaranty is
given that more demands shall not be made
at regular intervals hereafter, as often as
the minority shall please. And after all
these requirements are acceded to, that
other and greater cause of disorder still re-
mains-the secessionists have no affection
for the American Union. In all their
speeches, and in the speeches of their SYM
pathizers in this State, the patent fact is,
we regret to say, apparent that the South
ern people, at least those born or reared in
the Cotton or Gulf States are strongly at
tached to their State governments, while
their affections for the Union are languid
indeed. To effect O more perfect Union the
attachments of the Southern people to the
National government need to be strength
| ened, else all compromises are but tempo
rary expedients, but mere bands Of straw to
be broken at the will of the bound. How
| shall these attachments be increased is the
real question for patriots and statesmen to
solve. Hope there may be, that the actual
sense of the Secession States has not yet
been made known, but we are not among
the number of those who entertain it very
strongly. The question admits of different
solutions. 1t is quite certain, that if the
general government can again be restored
| to the unrestricted use of the South strong
attachment to it may again be secured-the
attachment of self-interest exclusively
But the solution most desirable to the peo-
pie at large is that to arrive by bringing
to the minds of Southern men the value to
them of the American Union, which can
only be done by educating the masses, or
by allowing them to learn by bitter expert
ence the evils of revolution, or a depriva-
ton of the benefcent fruits of the Union.


NICE DIsrNcT1oN.-The papers of this
State in the interest of South Carolina deny
Indignantly that they argue secession
They attempt to prove themselves in favor