Year: 1866

Secession North and South.


In the course of an interview that we
had with Jeff. Davis in January, 1855, the
subject of the terms of peace was introdu
ced. Mr.. Davis asked US what was the
chief objection of the North to the recogui,
tion of Southern independence We an
swered that the North knew perfectly we'll,
as unquestionably be did, that if she should
Law down her arms, and consent to divi'
sion of the Union into two Confederacies,
she herself would very soon be dissolved
that State after State, States singly and
States combinedly, would secede, and the
whole North be split up into petty powers
or no powers, all of them contemplate in
the eyes of mankind, and not one of them
willing or able to contribute to the payment
of the national debt. Mr. Davis replied,
with his characteristic calmness, that this
was certainly true, but that the same thing
would happen, and probably happen all the
sooner, if the North should continue to pros
ecute the war.


We thought at the time that Mr.. Davis
was greatly mistaken, and told him So We
still trust that we were correct in our esti
mate of the character of his opinion, but
just now we can indulge no over-confdeuce
that we were The North continued to
prosecute the war, and the South, after the
bravest and most desperate resistance known
in wars annals, was conquered But now
come the North's trials Now We are to
see the test of her internal strength. If,
out of the dreadful war between the North
and the South, Northern civil war arises,
if Northern armies march against each 9th.
er, vengeance before them and blood and
death and desert behind, many Northern
States will very soon weary and sicken of
the horrid work, aud will probably adopt
secession as the quickest and surest RENE.
dy, fully relying upon the mighty troubles
and perils of the Federal Government as a
perfect security against coercion. Most
likely the Northwestern States will 60 of
first, repudiating, of course, their proportion
of the public debt, and thus piling higher
the monstrous financial burden upon the
shoulders of the remaining States. These
will have neither the will nor the ability
to bear up under the crushing weight, and
so others will secede, and then others, till
the whole North shall be divided up into
such poor little non debt-paying, feeble,
mock rationalities as a citizen of one of the
Mexican States or of the South American
republics or one of the petty, miserable
German principalities might look upon with
contempt and scorn. Jeff. Davis's declara-
ton to US as to the consequences of the war
to the North, if prosecuted, will be amply
vindicated, aud whatever reseutments, if
any, he cherishes against the North, will be
abuudanlly satisfied. We tell the Northern
fanatics, as lover of our whole country we
solemuly tell them, that, unless madness
has seized upon their hearts and brains,
they will not insist on pushing the dissen-
sious between the President aud Congress
to the fighting point. They may rest as
sured, that, if the fight comes, it will be-,
to them, such one as they have no account
of either in history or tradition. They will
find it an infinitely different thing from the
war of the rebellion, dreadful as that was
throughout all its annals. They will find
themselves a divided people, divided al
most equally, divided and mutually hostile,
whilst the whole population of the South
will be a unit, able to strike for their friends
or to stand afar from the fash, the crack,
and the roar of war, as may seem best to
them. The thick cloud now enveloping
the South may be partially lifted but night
aud storm, surcbarged with bloody rain,
will close over the North We say to the
people of the North that very large pro-
portion of them have acted and are acting
most unwisely, most madly. Theirs is "tbe
very error of the moon" They seem in
capable of profting either by the South's
experience or their own. They initiate and
follow the South in the most unhappy acts
she ever committed. The South, in 1861,
undertook to break up and destroy the Fed
era Constitution She rebelled against it.
She's at naught its provisions, and attempt,
ed to maintain her attitude of hostility to it
by force of arms. She failed As graciously ly
as she could, she recognized the result
She bowed to the arbitrament of war, aud
has been using whatever power and inHu.
euce she possesses in support of the Gelsti.
tuition she strove so fercely and desperately
to subvert and annhiate But 10 ! the
Radical party of the North, claiming to be
an overwhelming majority of that great Sec
tion, are now violating and denying the
Constitution even as the South violated and
deGed it. No sooner does the South give
up rebellion. than the Northern fanatics In
agurate it. 1t is as true that there is a
Northern rebellion now, as that there was
Southern rebellion FIVE years ago. Re-
belliou has simply changed itslocality. But
Just as it failed in one section, it will in-
evitably fail in the other. 1t can have no
other future than future like its pasta
future of blood, and humiliation and misery.
For years we invoked all the patriots of the
whole country to put down rebellion in the
South-we now invoke them to quellrebel'
! lion in the North


Prentice, Louisville Journal