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r JMIE undersigned informs his friends and the Planters
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April 18
VOL. I.
[for thi sorrmßx sentinel.]
EAIILY MEMORIES.
BY E. 8. R.
“No ’ those days are gone away,
And their hours are old and gray,
And their minutes buried all
Underthe down-trodden pall
Os the leaves of many years.” — Keats.
“Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers to wither at tho North-wind's breath,
And srars to set —but ail,
Thou hast all seasons for thine own. O Death.”
Mrs. Usmans.
Hast thou not heard a lute-like lay,
A lone wild bird in sorrow pour,
And did’st not mourn ’twould float away,
In one sweet gush, to charm no more ?
And hast not gazed on flower fair,
With modest bloom, beside thy wav,
And did'st not grieve, when wand'ring air,
llad strewn that emblem of a day 1
Perchance thou hast, when childhood's hours,
Had wreath’d their dreaminga ’round tliy brow;
Thy heart was pure as A lpinc flowers,
As stainless as their mountain snow:
’Twas sunny then, as It’ly’s skies,
As fitful in its moods, I ween,
For mirrored in its sympathies,
The form of ev’ry cloud was seen.
If this were youth, when budding fife,
Entwined thee with its sweetest flowers j
Thy path, a way with beauty rife,
And young hopes strung oil golden hours 1
Then thou canst court remeinb'ranee still,
Rememb’ranee of those early days,
And thy heart welcome, with a thrill,
Its voices, and its dreamy lays.
Then mem’ry fond will paint a sceno :
Tlie brown old homestead full in view,
fi hose wails are hid in ivy green,
And monthly roses struggling through ;
Its quaint old porch, and lattice neat,
By scented woodbine covered o'er,
Again thy eager eye will greet,
Like some familiar friend of yore.
The aged oak, whose shelt’ring arms,
Waved o’er thy home in other days,
Has braved tho force of wint’ry storms,
And lives to moot thy earnest gaze.
Beneath its shade thy aged sire
Until sat, when summer's sweet perfums
Was on the breeze, but now his fire
Is quenched, and wild flowers grace his tomb.
Metliinks I see that placid man,
As he sat musing ’Heath the tree,
With half closed eyes, whilst thoughts o’srran
The treasures of his memory.
Hi* head was bowed upon his cane,
And as the scenes of former years,
Rolled back, and gave their wealth again,
He paid them tribute with his tears.
Thoughts wandered to the sunny slopes,
And hill-sides green, of native land,
1 lie wishes, dreams, and joyous hopes,
The loves, the griefs of youth, the bahd
Os home, the lights, and shades of life,
Its pleasures, and perplexing cares,
Os failures, and successes rife,
W hy wonder, then, at age in tears T
The chord is dumb, the response it gar*,
To voices of the past, is crushed,
’Tis as a sound of ocean’s wfjve,
A strain of melody n6W hushed;
Th brilliant star has slowly set
Calmly beneath a boundless wave,
The white rose hangs with night dews wst,
And sheds its sweetness o’er a grave.
There is a tear for those we lor*,
W ho sleep in graves of bygone years,
There is a mem’ry, green above,
Their resting place from cares and fears;
There is a mournful tide of thought
Enwoven with an early grief,
That comes to us unhid, unsought,
And tells of happiness too brief.
There is a deathless love that clings
Around a mother’s moss-clad tomb,
That prompts the touching offerings
Os wreaths of Spring's luxuriant bloom i
She sleeps amid the hillocks green,
The crumbling stone, and twining rose,
M here silence hallcWi o’er the seen#,
And wind seemft softer as it goes.
Dost thou remember, child of earth,
The mother of thy infancy,
Who saw with joy thy prattling mirth,
And seemed to live for ninight but th t
Oh, cherish the fond memorV,
Os that dear this forever gone,-
She bore thee, 16‘ved thee, prayed for the#,
Till she to this cold tomb was borns.
This dreaming is too sad, too sad,
And yet we love old memories-
Entwined in youth, when wc were glad,
And life had scarce a wintry breeze.
But we have changed, and ago comes on—
Like sleep, these memories its dreams:
Tunc will steal even these, anon,
And shroud, in death, their last faint beams !
A bov got his grandfather’s gun, and load
ed it, but was afraid to fire; he, however,
liked the fun of loading, and so put in another
charge, but was still afraid to fire. He kept
on charging, but without filing, until he had
got six charges in the old piece. His grand
mother, learning the boy’s temerity, smartly
reproved him, and on grasping the old conti
nental, discharged it. The recoil was tre
mendous, throwing the old lady on her back;
she promptly struggled to regain her feet,
but the boy cried out—“ Lay still, granny,
there are five more charges to go off yet”
“Sare, you axe what is different entre rheu
matize and de gout ?” said that funny little
French barber, Monsieur Choux.—“You axe
me dat? Ha! I will teel you, tout de suite.
Sink, sare, dat your finger be in von vice,
screw so hard3’OU hollare—hein ? Zat rheu
matize! Apres, you give von autre hard turn
of the screw i Zat gout!”
A Paddy’s Idea of Travelling. —Sure,
said Pat, the Yankees are great travellers—
they travel sixty and seventy miles a day,
while I have hard work to travel twenty-five
or thirty miles: hut there is not so great a dif
ference after all, for they don’t more than half
travel the ground over, while I travel both
sides of the foad over for the most part.
She .Southern Sentinel.
Gen. Mirabeau B. Lamar’s Letter.
Macon, Ga., August 1, 1850.
Sir: A Mass Meeting of those opposed to
the so called “Compromise or Adjustment”
Bill of Mr. Clay, and in favor of the Missouri
line of 36-30 to the Pacific, is proposed to he
held in this city, on Thursday, the 22d day
of August, inst
In behalf of tho citizens of tho city and
county, who favor this measure as the best
means of securing a portion of the rights of
the South, and preserving the Union—permit
us, most respectfully, to invite you to ho pre
sent on that occasion, to address the people
on those important issues. We anticipate a
largo gathering of the people, and hope that
the magnitude of the subject, and the impor
tance of the crisis, will not permit you to de
cline tho invitation. Please advise us at your
earliest convenience whether or not you can
come. Very respectfully",
Samuel J. Ray, Charles Collins, A. H. Col
quitt, B. H. Moultrie, 11. K. Green, Samuel
Dinkins, John J. Jones, Pulaski S. Holt, E.
L. Stroheckes, R. A. L. Atkinson, Lerov Na
pier, Thomas A. Brown, James Dean, W. B.
Parker, Benjamin Fort.
Gun. Mihabeau B. Lamar, Mobile.
Mobile, August 16, 1850.
Gentlemen —Last evening I had the honor
to receive your communication, inviting me
to attend a Mass Meeting of those opposed to
Mr. Clay’s Compromise Bill, and in favor of
the Missouri line, to be held at Macon on the
22d inst. Coining as this invitation does,
from many of my old friends, acquaintances
and neighbors, in whose political sentiments
and purposes, I usually sympathize, it would
give me great pleasure, were it in my power,
which I regret to say that it is not, to bo pre
sent on that occasion, and to take counsel
with them upon the perilous circumstances in
which our country is placed. iVy desire to
attend is not diminished hy the fact that there
would probably he a diversity of sentiment
upon some of the points involved, or that I
might not he able to coincide entirely in all
the measures approved by the assemblage.—
Still, as we would have one end in view—that
of deciding upon the best means of securing
the rights of the south and preserving the con
stitution—and as we would feel equally the
magnitude and importance of the crisis, we
could not fail to unite in a fraternal spirit, and
to separate, as we should meet, friends to
each other, and foes only to tho foes of our
country.
This I am induced to say because I am not
so fortunate as to agree with you in all your
views, as I infer them from the tenor of your
invitation. With the essential objects of the
meeting I fully coincide, so far as they are in
tended to preserve the constitution, and to
opposo the free soil aggression upon the
rights of the South. In your opposition to the
bill of Mr. ( lay, I heartily concur. But in
the proposed approval of the Missouri line of
36-30 I cannot unite. Nevertheless, I hope
I may be allowed to express freely m$ T opin
ions and sentiments to your assemblage,
which I will endeavor to do with the frank
ness of a Georgian, and all the spirit of one
who has no other desire than to share the
fortunes of his friends, however disastrous,
and to fall with his country if tho occasion
requires it. If I know my own heart, it is
far truer to the cause of our country than it
is to its own tranquility and peace, and I wish
it to heat no longer when it falters towards
the land of its birth and affections.
In the first place, gentlemen, I am opposed
to all compromises except the compromises
of tho constitution. When our federal con
stitution was formed, it was based upon a se
ries of compromises, nicely adjusted, and
covering all the diversified interests of the
country, and harmonising them in the only
manner in which they could then or thereafter
co-exist. The South, at that time, conceded
all that she could yield consistently with safe
ty and honor, and received in exchange the
guarantees of the constitution and the plight
ed faith and solemn oaths of the North. At
that time this very slavery question was one
of the great vexed and agitating issues, and
its adjustment was one of the foundation tim
bers of the Union. Its settlement—exactly
as provided by the constitution—was the ve
ry consideration of that instrument, without
which it would never have been formed, and
upon the failure of which, it would of neces
sity become void. Conflicting interests, pe
culiar institutions, social equality and general
security being thus reconciled and establish
ed, and, as it was hoped, forever, the South
felt herself as safe in the enjoyment of her
rights, as any blessings can be made secure
by human pledges. The federal constitution
became to her a sacred charter, which, like
Holy Writ.it would be profanation to increase
or diminish.
This being so, how then can any compro
mises, Californian or Missourian, which mod
ify, warp, or add to the relative duties of the
North and South, be tolerated by any friend
of the constitution or the country? They go
to build Up arbitrary regulations, and to make
our most sacred rights depend upon the mere
will—the caprice of selfish and unrestricted
majorities. They change the whole charac
ter of our government, and afford full license
to the strong to devour the weak; the very
evil which our federative S3’stem was inten
ded to avert. Surety the Southern people
cannot he content to hold their rights by no
other tenure than this. Do the}’ flatter them
selves that there is more virtue in a compro
mise than there is in the constitution; and
are they willing to co-operate with the free
soilers in the dethronement of the latter, and
in the substitution of the former ? Yet this
they- virtually did by their tame submission
to the Missouri compromise, and the very
same thing will they do again, more effectu
ally, if they support, accept, or tolerate any
of the abolition compromises now pending in
congress.
When Missouri ftpplied for admission into
the Union, the Northern States in congress at
tempted to force her into free-soilism. Find
ing that they r were not able to do this, they
then introduced into the act of admission, a
provision that rto future State which might he
formed out of the territory of the United
States, above a certain latitude, should be al
lowed to hold negro property. This they
strove to make a part of the fundamental law
of the land; and, to give it a sanctity and
warrant of continuance, they denominated it
a compromise. Here was a direct assump
tion of power to legislate over slavery’; a
brand of infamy and degradation stamped
1 upon the forehead of the South, in the eyes of
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA, THURSDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 12, 1850.
the world, and a commencement of a policy
of legislation which it is now designed to
continue, and which, if tolerated, will never
cease as long as a vestige of the peculiar in
stitutions of the South shall remain. If con
gress has the right thus to prohibit slavery
north of 36-30, they have the same right to
exclude it south of that line. If we acquiesce
in its exclusion above this visionary moral
equator, for the cogent reasons they advance,
how can we, in opposition to the same argu
ments, resist its prohibition below that lati
tude ? Once surrender the principle and wo
surrender every thing. I am, therefore, op
posed to any recognition of that pretended
compromise. I deny its validity and force,
it was a most flagrant usurpation of power—
a power intended to serve as a foundation
upon which the great lever was to be planted
that was to overturn the liberties of the South.
It was aimed for her destruction; and that
she did not give to it that prompt and deci
sive repulsion which a brave people should
always give to every infringement of their
rights, is to be attributed to that lamentable
disposition in the great mass of mankind to
prefer the tranquility of despotism to that
eternal vigilance and those fearful perils
which are necessary to the maintenance of
liberty. Whether the South will bear the
present assaults upon her constitutional rights,
with the same supineness that she succumb
ed to the Missouri aggression, is the question
now to be determined.
Besides these objections to both “compro
mises” in question, there are others of a char
acter equally cogent and impressive. Neith
er Mr. Clay’s hill, or the Missouri plan, is a
compromise at all. They are simply capitu
lations on the part of the South—surrenders
as absolute and complete as that which Am
pudia made at Monterey and Cornwallis at
Yorktown. In each of them we are called
upon to give up nearly every thing in dispute,
and to receive nothing in return. The free
soilers have not made, nor do they propose
to make, any concessions to us. They call
upon our delegates in Congress to vote with
them in support of a measure which they
themselves admit, is founded upon a deep ab
horrence of our most vital institution, and is
designed to shield the national territories
from its foul pollution; and, in compensation
for this, our self-abasing vote, they promise—
to do what ? They promise to restore to us
a constitutional right of which we have been
violently deprived for many 3’ ears : the right
of recovering our fugitive slaves—a promise,
however, which every’ body knows to be fal
lacious and deceitful, and which can not be
fulfilled, because the State authorities of tho
North will never permit it. And tints, for an
imaginary good, never to be realized, we are
to place ourselves in the disgusting attitude of
ratifying the wrong and confirming the ca
lumnies of which we affect so much to com
plain. And this, we are told, is a compro
mise—an adjustment—-a pacification. “So
liludincm faciunl paccm appellant ” Surely
the South will never be guilty of conduct so
suicidal and degrading. It is had enough to
hear the wrongs and calumnies that are heap
ed upon us without sanctifying them ourselves
and making them indelible. In giving their
aid and co-operation to those anti-slavery
measures of our enemies, the Southern mem
bers in Congress become themselves the most
fearful abolitionists, and cruel accusers of
their country’s institutions and integrity.
And this is one of the great objects of the
present proposed compromises; it is to make
the South instrumental in her own degrada
tion and destruction. By voting for and sus
taining such measures (the bill of Mr. Clay,)
she necessarily adopts and ratifies the senti
ments and principles upon which they are
predicated, and thus, by her own act, site pla
ces her slave property out of tho pale of the
constitution and the protection of the govern
ment, and denounces the holding of it as an
in fumy and a crime. What greater victory
can the free-soilers desire than this ? What
broader foundation for their future opera
tions ?
This much, gentlemen, I have felt bound to
say in a spirit of frankness and freedom, and
with a profound solicitude to advise only
those things which may be for the benefit of
our common country. Viewing all compro
mises, violative of the constitution, as fatal to
the South, I cannot yield my assent to any;
and I am free to confess, that I would boas
ready to take up arms to-morrow against the
Missouri compromise as against any other,
whose boasted purpose should he the” subver
sion of our rights and the degradation of our
character. No’ compromise can ever be in
tended for our good. We desire none. Give
us the constitution and we ask no more. We
do not wish the North to surrender to us any
of her fundamental rights, and why should
we surrender any of ours to her? That
which she so imperiously demands of us, is
not pretended to be necessary to her interest,
prosperity and welfare—it is demanded mere
ly as a concession to her infuriated fanati
cism and arrogant assumption of moral supe
riority. And shall the sacrifice be made?
God forbid.
Iconsider, gentleriien, the condition of the
South as eminently perilous, embarrassing
and painful. It is impossible to contemplate
it without feelings of horror and dread, am
ounting almost to despair. Not only her pros
perity and happiness, but her very existence,
is identified with an institution which it is im
possible that she can surrender, or even per
mit to he touched hy the savage hand of fa
naticism, without involving her in a train of
calamities which the imagination cannot easi
ly conceive nor the pen describe; and yet,
against this very institution, the whole world
is colleagucd, and is now prosecuting an un
relenting war, as if no misery, nor life nor ru
in were involved in its overthrow. Behold
her begirt by foes; assailed hy every’ hand
and calumniated by every tongue. There
may be some apology for foreign denuncia
tion ; hut what possible excuse or palliation
can be rendered for the frightful persecution
of those who are united with her in the same
government; who have long prospered upon
the fruits of her industry; who have never
received from her even the shadow of a
wrong, and who are bound, by’ every obliga
tion that man can contract or honor impose,
to succor and sustain her—to respect and vin
dicate her rights as their own, and to rejoice
in her prosperity and happiness ? These
were the promises of the Union ; and yet, in
the very face of all solemn pledges of peace,
friendship and security, on the part of the
Northern States, they have never rested, day
nor night, in their fanatical pursuit of our des
truction, as if this were the sole delight of
their existence, and the only reason of their
connection with us. Every energy of the
mind and soul is brought into active opera
tion against the South. The press, the pul
pit, the colleges and schools, and, indeed, all
the institutions of theNorth.are made to minis
ter to this great malignant end, and are con
tiftually sending forth their Stvgean streams
of falsehood, vituperation and slander. Even
the v om.n and children are taught, in their
daily prayers, to invoke, with the spirit of a
Puritan, and tho ostentation of a Pharisee,
tho maledictions of heaven upon our heads;
so that this Union, which was intended to he
a shield and bulwark to every section—which
was expected to make of the States a political
Pleiades, shining together in harmonious
brotherhood, has now assumed the aspect and
character of a ferocious confederation of ma
lignant powers for our utter ruin and desola
tion.
Nor is the South exempt from insiduous
foes in the bosom of her own society’. Her
arch-enemies have their agents and emissa
ries everywhere scattered through the coun
try, whose duty it is to preach the virtues of
submission and to depict tho horrors of re
sistance. In their estimation, the greatest pa
triotism is a patient resignation to injury, and
the highest of all possible enormities is self
protection. The better to secure our confi
dence, and to practice upon our credulity,
they unite with us in our denunciations of
“tho abolitionists,” and say that we have
many just causes of complaint against the
Northern States; but as soon as the slightest
allusion is made to the necessity’ of some ac
tion on tho part of the South, the cry of dis
union is raised; and, without proposing any
remedy themselves, for acknowledged griev
ances, they oppose every measure suggested
by others. If, in defiance of their clamors,
the faithful patriot shall still persist in de
manding redress, he is at once denounced for
a disuuionist and marked for proscription.—
No wonder, then, under these circumstances,
that the cause of the South should languish
within her own boundaries, and that many
of her sons should b® found in the ranks of
her foes; for, in those ranks, there is not on
ly safety, hut also fortune and promotion—
gold for the dastard and station for the trai
tor. Domestic Esaus ! they sell their birth
right for a mess of pottage.
This is certainty a deplorablo condition
for a free people. It is well calculated to
try the souls of men. If all hope have not
forsaken the South, it is because her reliance
is in the justice of a righteous Providence,
and in the integrity of her principles and pur
poses. It is to be hoped that she has too
much virtue to despair. But where lies the
path of safety ? Shall we appeal to the great
written charter of American freedom ? This
she has already done, and found it a waste
paper, but the ghost of a dead constitution. —
Shall she appeal to tho honor, humanity and
justice of her persecutors ? This, too, she
has already done, and was spurned from
their presence with indignity’ and scorn.—
They but mocked at her calamity and re
joiced at the prospect of her speedy destruc
tion. Thus surrounded and hunted down by
the deadliest of all foes—the hell-hounds of
fanaticism and harpies of faction—the ques
tion naturally arises, what is her best emirs®
to pursue in so great an extremity ? This,
gentlemen, I presume, is tho chief question
proposed to be discussed at your mass meet
ing. It is one certainty of great and exciting
interest—whose magnitude can hardly be
perceived, involving, in its decision,the eternal
destinies of the whole continent; and all
who seek to have any influence in its deter
mination, should never lose sight of the high
responsibilities they assume, nor the vast
consequences which are to flow from their
decision. Above all things, they should avoid
those turbulent and angry passions which
obscure the intellect and pervert the moral
sense. I can hardly suppose that the opin
ions of an humble citizen like my’self, can he
of much importance to tho public; nor
would I now think it necessary to avow
them, if I were not invited to do so hy those
in whose good intentions and sound discre
tion I have every confidence. Such as they
aro, you are welcome to them ; and should
they not correspond with your own, as I fear
they’ will not, you must remember that noth
ing hut a profound sense of duty’ could induce
me to place myself in a position where I
have everything to peril and nothing to gain.
The course then, gentlemen, which I w’ould
advise tho South to pursue, in the present cri
sis, is plainly this:—she should say to her
Northern brethren—“your continued aggres
sions upon our rights, peace and safety, can
no longer be borne—the institution of slave
ry which you seek to destroy is identified
with our existence; it is to us a matter of
life and death; and if vou do not immediate
ly and forever abandon your purpose of
wresting it from us, and reducing us to utter
ruin and despair, ice shall consider the con
federacy as dissolved by your act, and will
protect ourselves accordingly.’* This ap
pears to me the only alternative left to the
South. We sec that the Northern States are
bent upon our destruction ; that all their
movements tend that way ; that they are de
termined to force us into the abolition of
slavery, and, of consequence, to plunge us into
greater horrors than ever befel a civilized
people. The sentiment is now publicly
avowed by’ the most prominent of their lead
ers, and acted upon hy all, that the emanci
pation Os Southern slavery is an obligation
higher than all others, and above any oath to
support the constitution; and the govern
ment of the U. States, controlled and admin
istered hy those acting Upon this fanatical
i sentiment, has become, in their hands, an in*
! strument for the furtherance and final achieve-
I ment of this unhallowed end. Certainty this
j leavs the South no possible escape from the
ruin that menaces her, except through the
door of secession. This is her only hope.
“In native swords, and native ranks*
Her only hope of safety dwells.”
No true friend to the South can any longer
doubt the fact, that the extirpation of slavery
is not only resolved upon by the Northern
States, but that they regard its accomplish
ment as a matter of certainty. The only
question with them is the best manner of ef
fecting it. One portion of the anti-slavery
party, impatient of delay, are disposed to at
tempt it at once, without any regard to con
sequences ; while the more temperate and
calculating portion, equally bent upon the
purpose, are laboring to achieve it by less
precipitate and perilous action. The one is
unwilling to resort to force ; the other, how-
ever, desirous to avoid a conflict which might
endanger success, and in which they could
not hope to escape from their full share of
heavy blows, prefer to work by slow and sure
degress, and to throw their toils around us
so artfully as not to excite alarm until they
have us fully bound for the sacrifice; and
then, (I fear not until then,) when the fatal
blow is about to descend upon us, we shall
see the folly and madness of our present sui
cidal conduct, and shall perish, as all other
supine and foolish communities have perish
ed, who lie down to sleep, whilst the enemy
is battering at their gates.
Foreseeing the catastrophe, it Is crime not
to provide against it. The designs of the
enemy are no longer masked—we now fully
comprehend them, and seeing that all things
are tending to their accomplishment, I would
put the question to the born-southern man,
whether ho does not think it high time that
something should bo done to avert the ap
proaching calamity, and to place his country
and her institutions in a state of greater se
curity ? Ho cannot hesitate to answer yes.
Then what is the remedy ? If ho can devise
a better one than that of secession, lot him
name it. In iny opinion, this is the only
measure adequate to tlio occasion; and so
fully satisfied are our enemies of this truth—
so confident are they that separation is the
only means of salvation to us, and defeat to
them—that they have not scrupled to indi
cate their intention of detaining us in the
confederacy by military force—an intima
tion which fully confirms the danger of our
situation, and increases the necessity of our
withdrawal.
I am not wanting in duo respect to the
American Union, nor a just appreciation of
its value; but no one will pretend to say, that
the present is a union of the constitution—the
union established by the sages of the revolu
tion—the union that was to ensure “domestic
peace and tranquility;” but another great
dynasty erected upon Its ruins—a Russian
empiro which makes a Hungary of ti e South.
Such an Union cannot be desired; it is a curse
instead of a blessing; we never entered into it,
nor should we any longer endure it; it should
be dissolved immediately if the North do not
pause at once in their aggresssion, and give
us back the old charier, with all its guaran
tees and securities,unimpaired and unrestrict
ed. If the present Congress, then, in defi
ance of our remonstrances, should adopt any
of the abolition measures now pending be
fore it; I Would recommend the Southern
States, as soon as possible, to hold a conven
tion, empowered to organize a Southern con
federacy, and to make all necessary arrange
ments for public defence.
I advise this course, not from choice, but
from necessity. Wo are forced by our ene
mies into the alternative of retiring from the
Union, or of remaining in it upon terms al
together incompatible with honor, peace or
safety. They do not hesitate to avow their
hatred and abhorrence of us, and publicly to
proclaim that their connection with us is a
degradation to them. This itself is no very
unreasonable ground for separation ; but bow
doubly keen and afflictive does the insult be
come, when we know that the scorn and con
tempt of our foes is founded upon that very
submission which we so wofully mistake for
a virtue, flow Can they respect us when we
do not respect ourselves ? Our irresolution
it the basis of their presumption. That we
should desire to remain in the Union under
all these circumstances of outrage, defama
tion and contumely, and with the certainty,
too, of ultimata ruin, is a species of infatua
tion, of insanity, as incomprehensible to me
as it is lamentable.
The chief argument of those who arc op
posed to this measure of redress, is directed
rather to the fears, than to the understanding,
of the Southern people. We are told that
sanguinary war will be the immediate conse
quence of a dissolution of the Union. This
may or may not be. It depends upon the dis
position of our enemies; and it is more than
probable that they will find as many argu
ments in favor of a peaceful separation as
ourselves; but if this should not be the case;
if they shall resolve on war, I am confident
of one thing, that the direst calamities that
can possibly result, will be insignificant and
trifling in comparison with those which follow
in the wake of abolition. I will not stop,
however, to place them in contrast; but will
proceed to say, that I cannot perceive any
thing so terrible in war, that we should avoid
it at the sacrifice of everything which gives
value to life—honor, freedom and social
equality. If it is, then, inevitable, let it come;
we must meet it, as our lathers did before us,
with “stout hearts and sharp swords;” and
having justice on our side, we cannot fail to
have victory also. We shall have otir border
strifes—formidable invasions—sudden incur
sions and bloody retaliations : all very hurt
ful, no doubt, but as hurtful to the foe as to
us; and surely we shall be able to endure
them as long as he, having a better reason
for the war; he fighting for fanaticism, despot
ism and military rule, and we for our lives
and our homes—for our Women and children
—for truth, honor, justice and political rights.
Nor can the struggle last always—it will
have a termination ; and when the storm and
tempest shall have passed In - , we shall be
left in the enjoyment of a brighter day, and
we will then he able to sit down in peace and
safety under our own vine and fig-tree, and
bilking over our brilliant career of arms, re
joice in our establishment of a government,
less fanatical, and more just and forbearing
than the one which is now seeking to devour
sis; so, gentlemen, you perceive that, if all
the scenes of blood and carnage antici
pated by the submissionists, should be realiz
ed to the fullest extent, they will not be with
out their glorious and happy results, and they
cannot exceed the trials and sufferings which
our revolutionary patriots encountered for
those very rights and principles which it is
our purpose to regain and re-establish. 1 here
is no disguising the truth, that the South has
as many high and just complaints against the
North, as the colonies had against the mother
country. Our situation is much more alarm
ing than that of the colonies at the com
mencement of the revolution. But if our
long endurance of insult, and submission to
wrong, have rendered us too timid and effem
inate to vindicate our rights and character —if
in losing our social and political equality we
have lost our virtue and valor too—then let
us yield at once; and ceasing from our windy
war of words, obey the conqueror and kiss
the rod.
Let it not be forgot, however, that our
continuance in the Union —without some uu
unexpected change in the views and feelings
of the anti-slavery party—will doom us, be
yond all doubt, to a far deadlier struggle than
that which the submission party are so desir
ous to avoid. In steering from Sylla we shall
be wrecked upon Charybdis. We shall bo
thrown, by the triumph of abolition, into all
the horrors of a domestic and servilo war—a
war which will have no parallel in atrocity
and cruelty, and which must leave the South
ern country a bleeding victim—a land of
suffering, mourning and desolation. There
is no uncertainty as to the consequences.
The Northern States will never permit our
black population to enter their country. The
gates will be closed against the negroes in all
the abolition States. The consequence will
be, that when we shall be finally driven by tho
combined powers of corruption, harrassment
and force into the emancipation of our >1 ives,
they will have to remain amongst us; aid
the impossibility of their doing this in peaco
and safety, must be apparent to every mind.
The freed slave and the master cannot dwell
together on terms of political and social
equality.- Such a thing would not only bo
rendered impossible by tho recollection of
their former relative positions, but it is forbid
by the laws of God and nature. It caunot
be. Thus, as I have already said, tho suc
cess of abolitiou will throw the two raced
into a fearful conflict—a conflict which ad
mits of no Compromise but death—no quar
ters but the grave—no termination but In ex
tinction. I desire that the South may be
saved from this awful tragedy. I desire that
she may escape from it, because it is revolt
ing to every sentiment of humanity—becattsU
there is no possible reason for such a horri
ble catastrophe— because it is an unmixed
evil without the remotest hope of good. And
yet it is inevitable if the South falter in her
duty to herself. I am not opposed to the
emancipation of our slaves, solely on account
of tho universal bankruptcy and pecuniary
ruin which it would create; but more on ac
count of those very calamities to which I
have just alluded ; —it will lead to tho total
butchery and destruction of a race whoso
welfare and happiness every Southern man
feels bound to consult as well as his own;
and viewing the subject in this light, I cannot
but hold it as one of the highest duties of
the patriot and philanthropist,to oppose every
act and measure, which may have the remotest
tendency to bring about this unhappy state
of things. We, and our slaves, are now
dwelling in peace and harmony
satisfied with each other—we, with their
moderate labor, and they with our kindness,
care and protection ; and he who seeks a vio
lent disruption of these good relations cannot
mean the welfare and safety of the negro—
but tho ruin of us. Our destruction is his
end and aim, and, to accomplish this, he heeds
not the fate of the slate. Sucli a man has
no flesh in his heart; he is a monster—a de
mon, that deserves the scorn and execration
of every virtuous mind.
Thus is it plainly to bo seen, (hat in fleeing
from one evil we only rush into another—
another incalculably greater. Now, it is my
opinion, that if we are to be forced, against
our wishes, into a great battle upon this slave
ry question, it is infinitely better that wo
should fight it with the abolitionists, than with
our own slaves. Let us not war with our
friends, but our enemies—not against tltoso
who serve us,but those who wrong us, —not
against the defenceless, whom it were cruelty
to slay, but against those demons of distur
bance, whose conduct will deserve every blow
that wo deal. War may or may not follow 1
our retirement from the confederacy; but if wo
continue in it on tho terms which now exist;
tho abolition of slavery, and all its concomi
tant horrors, will as inevitably result as tho
coursing of the sun through the heavens. It
is as certain as death. No arm can avert it.
I sincerely believe that this solemn truth is
apparent to the minds of almost all of us;
we only want the frankness to avow it, and
the firmness to act upon it. We are stand
ing on the precipice of ruin,conscious of our
dreadful situation, yet too parallzed with fear
to flee the danger. It is time to arouse us
from this unmanly lethargy—to shake off'tho
stupor—and to do at once, and bravely, what
ever duty, honor and safety demand. A
little more delay, and it will be too Into for*
action—wo shall be bound hand and foot—•
the car of desolation will be driven over us,
and the woes of our bleeding and blighted
country may become the theme of another
Iliad.
In view of the whole gentlemen,
I am constrained to say, that I have little or
no hope that the North and South can dwell
together in harmony so long as the institutloii
of slavery continues with us. Our best po
licy, then, is timely to separate. That tho
separation should be a peaceful one, is a mat
ter of the highest importance to both parties.
Like Jacob and Laban, let our enemies go to
the left, whilst we go to the right.
These, gentlemen, are my views, honestly
entertained; and frankly expressed. Having
long since retired from the political arena,
disgusted at its partizan character and un
principled broils, I did not again expect to
raise my voice in tho clamorous contest of
the day; but, in the present hazardous crisis,
T should feel myself derelict in the highest
duties of a patriot-citizen, if I should remain
silent when called upon to declare mv senti
ments. I am aware that the views which 1
hate expressed are now unpopular—too un
popular and startling to be breathed in tho
lowest whisper by any one who fears perse
cution or desires public favor; but sure lam
that they will be finally triumphant, and that
the words secession.} separation, disunion ,
which are now so appalling to the hearts of
many, will become the common dialect of
our children —and until that day shall arrive,
I can entertain but little hope of the South.
I have tiie honor to be, gentlemen,
Your obedient servant,
MIR A BEAU B. LAMAR.
Making a “V.” —A story is told of an auc
tioneer who was provokingly annoyed while
in the exercise of his profession, by the ludi
crous lads of a fellow whose sole object seem
ed to be to make sport for the buyers, rather
than himself to buy. At length, enraged be
yond endurance, the knight of the ivory head
ed hammer, looking round the room for a
champion to avenge his wrongs, fixed his
eyes upon a biped of huge dimensions, a very
monarch in strength, and cried out:
“Marlow, what shall I give you to put that
fellow out?”
“I take one five dollar bill.”
“Done, done, you shall have it.”
Assuming the ferocious, knitting his brows,
spreading his nostrils like a lion’s, and put
ting on the wolf all over his head and should
ers, old Marlow strode off to the aggressor,
and seizing the terrified wretch by the collar,
said to him in a whisper that was heard all
over tho room—
“My good frin, you go out with mo I give
you half de money”
“Done! done!” said the fellow.
“Hurrah! hurrah!” shouted the audience.
The auctioneer had the good sense to
join in the laugh, and coolly forked out tha
live.
NO. 37.