Year: 1859

they be forced to the conviction that
the moral and material relations of
mankind are controlled by the mental
interests which spring out of the natu-
raj convenicnces which attend their
pursuits, we arc sure that the West
and South wnuld ha at .h;r- -~.,-~,-.,
not only allies and friends, but identi-
cal in every question of policy that
could by any possibility divide the
rest Of this Union. Not only Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota, but the
whole of the Northwestern territory
would be identified with the Dcmocra.
cy, and would tell the Atlantic States
of the East that, Notwithstanding their
railroads and artificial means of par
tial connection, the interest of the
West was grandy with the South,
and that their interference with her
property and institutions was not on
ly unjust to the slave States, but Of
fensive and injurious to Western vel
fare. How can the West fail to be-
lieve this ! How can even Ohio ig-
more this natural conclusion Let
the West cast her eyes back into the
"dim and backward abysm of time; !"
let her consult the relics of ruined ma
tions let her particuiarizc Assyria
or Egypt, and reflect upon the causes
which must have given glory and
greatness to those empires that
swarmcd the hive of human industry,
wealth and power, and she must CON
cludc that the valley of the Mississippi
and the valleys of the tributaries that
swell its current, are destined to a
career of grandeur, if human interests
and reason arc true to the laws of ma
ture, beyond which the highest at
tainments of antiquity sunk into
contempt.


VIII the West defeat this destiny :?
Will she still sustain with her gigan-
tic strength, the pigmics of the East
that look into futurity and write their
history in aftertimes upon her shoul-
ders Will she neglect her own fame
by casting obloqny and shame upon
that South whose majestic friendship
and cooperation will place her upon
the roll Of undying splendor, not by
servilty or command, but by the
bland operations of the aifinitics Of
natural laws? The Western States
ought to have nothing to do with the
contemplate Abolition policy of the
North. They are above such political
trickery, and we could wish they
would throw off the finaticism that
minion. But what is the prospect of
doing this We fear that it is very
small. The Northeastern States for
many years have been riveting the
chains Of their policy aroud them, and
by artificial works, popular emigration
and current Of false literature,
moulded the minds of the Western
people to those false theories which it
will require ages to correct. We
wish it may be otherwise, but we con
fess that at present, and in view of
the coming contest, that there is no
other hope for the South but in the
fate Of the National Democracy, and
that depends upon the direct issue
which it shall make with tue "Rcpub
licans" of the East


The mild and persuasive tone Of this
appeal to the West, struck us when
we read it as an evidence of returning
sense on the part of at least some of
our naughty, overbearing brethcren
Of the South. But the Mobile Regis
ter has never been fire-eating jour
nal In old times it was Of the con-
Scrvative Wing school and we be-
lieve since it joined the sectional De-
mocracy, it has, so far as possible,
maintained it's former character for
coolnesS and reason.


But we fear, as does the Register
also, that its appeal to the West and
Northwest comes too late. There are
words of great force and truth in the
assertion that "the Mississippi river
and its tributaries are the great geo
graphical arteries that pour out the
wealth of the West, and connect the
trade aud agriculture Of that immense
ly fertile region with the worldly com
merce of the Gulf of Mexico and that
politically as well as naturally the
fortunes of the West and South are m
separately connected in the national
history of both" Let us then enquire
why this natural alliance has been
severed? Why are the political aflin-
tiles of Alabama and Minnesota to-day
drifting so rapidly to different spheres
of attraction Why does this broad
river, now at flood tide, which flows
beneath the window before which we
write, and upon whose noble, swelling
bosom our eye now rests, not bear tc
! the great marts of the South our po
litical sympathies, as it bears the pro
duets of our fertile fields Why has
IA political barrier been set up across
this great national highway, given t.
one people, and one tongue, and ont


kindred, by the Almighty himself? Ii


short by what course Of human events


has it become necessary that our pro


fessional brother of Alabama should


make the appeal to us of Minnesota


which we find in his melancholy sen


tences above quoted? Let us see


whether we can answer.


The West has ever been a modest


claimant for public favors on the fool
of Congress. She has had measures


to propose which she considered vita


to her prosperity and all important tC
her welfare She has stood by tho
South, and even has gone far out o
her way to sustain Southern measures
and Southern men. How has hel
kindness-we might say unmanl,
subserviency-becn returned by hel
Southern bretheren? Has it been met
by the least degree of reciprocity
We answer emphatially, no! More
than thirty years ago, with bad
grace, she assented to restrict the ex


tension of her system of involuntary


labor to a certain line known as the


Missouri compromise line, and to a!


low to the use of our Western system


of free labor, forever, all territory


north of that line. Did she keep heI


i.