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ry of the South and South West; or they will
couplo the transit of slaves with conditions
which will secure their emancipation in the
States to which they shall be transported. It is
vain to say that such measures will Ire uncon
stitutional. Neither fanaticism nor power can
be restrained by the privileges ol'a constitution
in parchment. It has been already repeatedly
upon, and a total disregard of it has
been boldly avowed by the leading actors in the
prevailing crusade against slavery.
next cause of complaint, and of clanger
and alarm is, that the balance of the Goverment
is destroyed forever; and it is beyond the power
of our opponents, them selves, to restore it, il
they had the wish to do so. The admission ot
•California into the Union reives them a decided
majority in the Senate, and they have long had
a majority in the House of Representatives.-
Their majority in the first will be speedily in
creased by the admission of new States lrom
which slavery will be excluded —the last needs
no increase to give them overwhelming power.
Rat besides the natural increase of their present
excess of numbers, the introduction of foreign
ers will add to it, perhaps a quarter of a million
per annum. Thus they grow stronger and
stronger every day, and the South, proportion
ally, weaker. It is as certain as it would be, if we
bad a declaration from Heaven, that there never
will be another slave State admitted into the Un
ion. It is equally certain that the overwhelm
ing power of our opponents will be exercised
most despotically. The spirit by which they
are urged on is two fold: first, the ambition of
low-minded politicians, who are determined to
govern and to crush all power in the Southern
States. They aro governed by an ancient ha
tred that has come down to them from the old
federal party, but without the talent or urbanity
of that party. That party was put down by the
Union of the South and South West, and have
borne v.'iui great restiveness their absence
iroin power. Rut they were men of great tal
ents and accomplishments, fit to govern. These
are now cast off by their successors who have
none oJ’their high qualities—rnen known to the
nation by no distinction of talent or public ser
vice—the Hales, the Giddings, the Sewards.
These are the brood of the second element of
the now dominant party, fanaticism. They are
generated from the slime of this foul principle;
unless you resist, you are to be governed by it.
You are absolutely powerless. No tyrant lias
ever existed whose power to do evil was so
great, whose disposition to do good so small.—
A popular tyranny of fanatics and low-minded
politicians, a tyranny much the worse because
it is many headed. A popular tyranny (even
when composed of less foul elements) is more
debasing than the tyranny of a monarch, in its
appetites more inappeasible and gross, and in its
duration mors lasting. It never dies. The
gloomy expanse of time which it covers is never
irradiated by a Trajan or an Atoninus. There
is an eternal duration of its vicious qualities and
its rapacious reign.” Good God! is the proud
Southron to bow in submission to such a govern
ment ! Where is the race of our great men ?
Rut under the influence of the benumbing gov
ernment, which is called our “glorious Union,”
you have ceased to produce great men. Where
are the Jeffersons, the Madisons, the Henrys and
the George Masons, of Virginia; the Rutledges
and the l’ickneys, of South Carolina; the James
Jacksonsand the Win. 11. Crawfords, of Georgia?
Gone! gone, and none to take their place;—none
to rouse us to manly resistance against the in
justice and the tyranny under which we suffer.
No! It cannot be. There are such men, if the
people will call them forth. The people must
lake the subject in their oum hands. They must
no longer look to their national politicians who
have inhaled the pestilential air of Washington.
They must throw off national party names,
whos little factious politics have been put a
bove their country’s cause. There must be nei
ther democrats nor whigs: but wo must all be
Southern men. We should Pave, if possible,
nothing to do with the General Government.—
We have, there, no longer a particle of practi
cal power. Our own representatives have be
trayed us. I admit that there are highly honor
able exceptions ; but we have been shamefully
betrayed by many of them. Without that aid
which they afforded the enemy, the sad results
which we deplore could not have been accom
plished.
Our presence in the Ilalls of Legislation gives
to our enemy the countenance of forms which
once embodied the spirit of a vigorous freedom;
which gave us our share of power our share of re
spect, a standing of equality in the nation. Rut un
der the present operation of the government,
these are all extinguished. Our own represen
tatives have told us, that what our enemies
were pleased to grant us, we ought to take, be
cause we could get no more. 1 should be glad
to bo informed what they have left us. Have
they not taken all ? The great matter in con
test, when the recent controversies began, was
about the territory which we had conquered
from Mexico. I say, which we of the South had
conquered, for our opponents were opposed to
tho war, opposed to the appropriations, and
their section contributed only a few noble spirits
who rose above their low aspirations. Have
they not taken all? The only tiling granted to
us was a law to restore to 11s our fugitive slaves,
which it was never supposed could be execu
ted, and which, we are now abundantly assur
ed, they will not suffer to be executed. Nor
was this a grant of anything; for we had the
right before, and the recent law was only an ef
fort to counteract their bad faith in the execution
of the constitutional provisions. They have
not, however, been satisfied with taking all.—
They have mode that all, a wicked instrument
for the abolition of the constitution and of every
safeguard of our property and our lives. Our
danger is well expressed by a member from
Massachusetts, in a former Congress, when the
subject of slavery was incidentally agitated, who
said: “It was not with them (the South) a
question of policy, of political power, but of safety ,
peace, existence .”
I have said they have mado tho appropriation
ofthis territory an instrument to abolish the con
stitution. There is no doubt that they have a
bolished the constitution. The carcass may re
main, but the spirit has left it. It is now a fetid
mass, generating disease and death. It stinks
in our nostrils. The constitution, when we en
tered into the compact of union, was a well bal
anced scheme of government, securing the
rights of all parts of the Union ; a government of
equal rights and equal powers. What is it now,
and what is it to be in tho hands of our oppo
nents in future? Have wo any power? Shall
we not certainly be bereft of even the semblance
of it, when New Mexico, Utah, Minnesota, and
a dozen other States excluding slavery, shall be
admitted into the Union, and no slave be al
lowed to enter it ? The parchment on which the
constitution is written may remain; the forms
may remain, as a delusion to mankind, as the
cover of tyrannical acts destructive of Southern
rights, safety, honor and peace ; but there will be
no constitution securing these objects. The a
buse of the name and forms of the constitution
has been already seen. We have been told—
and even by representatives of the South—that
Congress, in all the atrocities that characterized
the late session, has not violated the constitu
tion. What do those who thus speak, mean?—
In their sense the Constitution of the Roman
commonwealth was not violated by the Roman
emperors. The forms of the commonwealth
were preserved for ages after the Republic had
ceased to exist. According to these acute rea
soned, the constitution of free Rome was not vi
olated when Caligula made his horse a Roman
consul.
A constitution means, ex r i termini, a guaran
tee of the rights, liberty and security of a free
people, and can never survive in the shape of
dead formalities. It is a thing of life, and just
and fair proportions; not the caput mortuum
which the so called constitution of the United
States has now became. Is there a Southern
man who bears a soul within his ribs, who will
consent to be governed by this vulgar tyranny—
by the Hales, the Giddings, and the Sewards ?
Will the high-toned Virginian to submit to it ?
No one who is a genuine son of the Old Domin
ion will submit to be governed by it.
[to be continued.]
£39“ In some persons “old maidenhood” nev
er commences, for they never grow old. Youth
of heart may exist tor a hundred years or more.
SOUTHERN SEiNTINEL.
COLUMBUS, GEORGIA:
THURSDAY MORNING, DEC. 5, 1850.
ter Mr. JOHN ii. SLATON is duly authorized
to act as Agent for this paper. Ilis receipts for sub
scriptions will be good at this office.
Our Hook Table.
Mr. B. B. deGraffenried lias laid on our table
several specimens of the largo stock of new books
which lie lias just received. Among them we notice
the following:
“ Nineveh and its Remains; by Austin ll emit
Latard, illustrated with plates, maps and woodcuts.”
This work is fine of the most attractive issues of the
day. Asa record of discoveries it is equally wonder
ful and important. Its pages teem with interest to
tho antiquarian, the bible reader, nnd the reading
public gcerally. It is printed in I’utnam s best
style.
“Egypt and its Monuments; by Francis L.
Hawkes.” This work presents a comprehensive
and authentic, and at the same time popular view of
all that has been brought to light by modern travel
lers, illustrative of the manners and customs, m-w,
architecture, and domestic life of the sr.eient Egypt
ians.
“History ej Spanish Literature; by George
Ticknor, t£6a.” A genuine acquisition to American
literature. The author is better acquainted with the
subject of which he writes than any other author in
America, and he lias here given to the reading pub
lic, in a most attractive style, the benefit of his own
long and laborious researches.
“ White Jacket; by llf.rmon Melville.” The
author of Omoo and Typee needs no introduction to
the reader of light literature. It is enough to know
be lias again appeared, and in a style well worthy of
his reputation, to ensure for him a general and cordial
welcome.
Mr. deGrafff.nried has recently received a verly
large nnd well selected lot of books and stationery.
Give him a call, under the Post Office.
O’ We invite the attention of our city readers to
tho card of Mo.\s. deßoncaud, which will be found
in another column. M. deßoncard comes with the
most satisfactory testimonials as to character and pro
ficiency, and we doubt, not, those who desire to become
acquainted with the French language, would do well
to embrace the opportunity thus afforded.
Who wants a Home ?—Read Mr. Jas. A. Wig
gins’ advertisement of “ another lovely residence for
sale.”
“Invocation of tiif. Muses.” —The time of dedi
cating the new Temperance Hale has been post
poned from the 17th of this month to the Btli of
January. In consequence of this postponement, the
time allowed the competitors for the prize cup for the
best original ode, is extended to the 20tb inst.
Georgia Skill and Alabama Cotton. —At the
recent exhibition of the South Carolina Institute ,
Mr, E. T. Taylor, of our city, received the first
premium for a Cotton Gin made at his establishment
in this place, over a strong competition from this State
and South Carolina. Mr. Brown, connected with
Mr. Taylor’s manufactory, took a gold medal for his
Gin Saw Filer, an invention which reflects great hon
or upon Mr. 8., and which we regard one of the
most useful of the day. To James R. Jones, Esq., of
this city, was awarded the highest premium for a
bale of cotton, raised on his plantation in Russell
county, Ala., and ginned on one of Taylor's gins.
Mr. Jones was also the successful competitor for the
premium awarded for the best bale of cotton, at the
late Fair in this place. “Wo understand that the bale
which was exhibited at Charleston will be sent to the
World’s Exhibition in London.
Election Returns.
We have received returns from seventy-two coun
ties, of which sixty-four give submission, and eight,
Southern Rights majorities. In many of the coun
ties heard from, we have only the result stated, with
out giving tho majorities, so that wc can form no
satisfactory estimate of tho aggregate vote. As
soon as all the counties have been officially reported,
we shall publish the entire returns.
The l*nst, tho Present, and the Future.
We have just passed through a campaign of most
exciting interest; the people of Georgia have deter
mined for the present the questions which were be
fore them, nnd we may now, in the calm which imme
diately succeeds the storm, dispassionately survey
the whole ground with the hope of deriving from the
contemplation some important truths for our future
good. And when we say our good, we mean tfte
good of the people of Georgia and of the entire
South. We have been most unnaturally divided ;
we have permitted our differences to grow into
breaches, our breaches to widen into angry dissen
sions; but when the heat of the campaign shall hare
subsided, and the excitement of the contest shall
hare been forgotten, we must again feel, as we
ought always to have felt, that we of the South are
one people—one in interest, one in destiny, nnd that
our happiness nnd prosperity depend upon our re
maining one in feeling, and one in action. Let us
then as sensible men, glance at the causes of the
recent contest, inquire how it was that we became di
vided, nnd how we may become united.
The last session of Congress assembled under cir
cumstances of unrivalled interest in the history of
our government. The war with Mexico had ended
in the acquisition of a vast domain upon our West
ern frontier, and at once a struggle commenced be
tween the North and South for the supremacy in
that territory. Or rather, tli North immediately
commenced the work of appropriating to herself all
the fruits of our common acquisition, and the South
in self defence, attempted to counteract the move
ment. Under these circumstances the last session
commenced, and upon its action depended the settle
ment of the issues between the two contending sec
tions. Accordingly, Congress immediately entered
upon the great work before it, nnd after many
months spent in angry discussion, a series of meas
ures were adopted under the name of a compromise.
What those measures were, we need not here recap
itulate—they are known to the entire country. This
comp remise was hailed by one part}’ at the South as
a settlement of all the differences between the two
sections, on terms which, though they were not en
tirely satisfactory, were such as we might honorably
acquiesce in for the sake of peace. By another party
it was regarded as a sacrifice of the rights of the
South, and spurned as an insult to our wounded
honor. Upon this issue the respective parties went
before the people, and they have decided at the ballot
box in favor of accepting the so called compromise. So
far then as the action of this State upon any of the
features of that compromise is concerned, the ques
tion is decided. Our people have determined that
there is nothing in the admission of California, noth
ing in the abolition of the slave trade in the District,
nothiug in the bills giving territorial governments to
Utah and New Mexico, nothing in the Texas bill,
which outrages the rights of the South, nnd of course
therefore that they inflict no wrongs which demand
redress. Those questions then are at rest, but the
country lias not yet experienced that peace which
was promised from their settlement. The North and
the South are not yet reconciled, ’and upon the ap
proaching session of Congress will devolve the labor
of adjusting new difficulties. Anew compromise is
demanded. What is now the subject of controver
sy ? We have positive assurances that at this session,
bills will be introduced to repeal or essentially modi
fv the fugitive slave act, t apply the Wilmot provi
so to Utah and New Mexico, and to abolish slavery
in the District of Columbia. We cannot of course
foresee what is to be the fate of these measures—they
may pass or they may Rot; it is enough for us to
know that the wrong has been threatened, and as
wise inen let us prepare to meet it. Shall we ac
quiesce in this new compromise “for the sake of
peace ?” Wc hope not, and we hope that here is a
platform upon which every man in Georgia may
“staucl. Let us forget our past differences, let us ban
ish all recollection that we have ever stood arrayed
against each other. Southern men surely do not in
tend to yield every thing 5 they certainly intend to
make a stand some where, awd wc ask if we are to
retreat further than this ere we begin to resist? We
have been afforded in the late election, the strongest
evidences of the devotion which our people feel for
the Union, and we are willing to allow full weight to
that attachment, but strong as it is. we do not sup
pose it is blind or without reason. “We arc not to be
led by a love of the Union to sacrifice file South.—
We are not to immolate upon its altar, the interests
of our homes nnd families. We owe no allegiance to
a government which exists but for our oppression
and ruin. Let us then rally hero. Our outposts
have been already abandoned. We have been driv
en beforo the enemy, not because of his strength, but
b‘c-.-use wo have been divided. We thought that
the time for resistance had fully come, but the people
have thought differently. In the name then of our
common cause, let us cease to differ, and let us unite
as one people, upon one common platform of resist
ance to future wrong, and proclaim to our common
enemy, we have borne enough , we will bear no
more.
The Moral.
The consequences of the recent election, do not
end wilfi the mere triumph of one, and the defeat of
the other party. Nor indeed is it quite so clear, as
might at first appear, who have been the victors, and
who the defeated party in the contest ; or rather, it
is not yet certain, that the principles of either party
have shared the fortune, good or bad, of the leaders.
Those who rallied under the banner of Southern
Rights have been defeated, and those who claimed
to be the friends of the Union have succeeded, in the
mere contest for supremacy in the approaching
convention ; but the cause of the South is not lost,
nor is the cause of the Union more secure, on that
account. The defeat to us has been no less; to our
opponents, victory brings no triumph. In the final
settlement of the great issues which distract tills
country, tho result of a popular election in Georgia is
of but little real importance. Those issues sooner or
later must be met, and th'e deliberations of the con
vention which is shortly to assemble at Milledgeville,
may modify the time and the manner of their settle
ment ; but the ultimate result is the same, whether a
spirit of resistance or of submission prevails in that
body. Tho former might postpone, the latter cer
tainly will hasten, the denouement; but the evil is
radical, vital, incurable ; ami whether it be met with
prompt, energetic action, or by a spirit of quiet ac
quiescence, the result is the same. We believe that
tho days of this Union are numbered, and no elec
tions, conventions or platforms can save it. No
barrier which we can oppose to the flood of North
ern fanaticism can stay its- onward rush, no spirit of
compromise can arrest it, no appeals to the former
great*css and the future promises of the Union can
restrain it. Disunion, sooner or later, is inevitable,
and to apply tho immortal words of one who spoke
under similar circumstances in ’76, “lf.t it come.”
The spirit of injustice at the North might have'been
checked for a moment had the banner of resistance
prevailed in the recent election, but only for the
moment; now, however, the triumph of submission
here will but swell the stream of oppression there,
and wo shall, consequently, be sooner hurried to
that point at which the entire South will unite to
maintain her rights and her existence. Who, then,
are tho victors in the recent struggle? Not those
who have been deluded into the hope that the Union,
which they truly loved, might be preserved by a
policy of compromise and concession; nor those who
have dreamed of securing our rights by measures
of constitutional resistance in the Union. These
aro doomed alike to and sappointmcrif, and the fruits of
the election belong alone to those who have looked
forward to a dismemberment of the Union as afford
ing tho only remedy for the evils of the past, and
the only security against those which ar* threatened
in the future.
What effect is this election to produce upon the
popular mind at the North? Our movements have
been watched with no less intense anxiety there,
than throughout the South. Much aa we may have
squabbled here about names, and devotion to the
Union, and treason to the South, the North has not
been an inattentive or an uninformed observer of the
true nature of our differences. They have noted
and correctly interpreted the motives which have
operated and controlled in our election. Our suc
cess would have been construed as a determination to
submit no longer to their “foul domination,”
and they would have wavered in their purposes of
future outrages. Our defeat has been interpreted as
the expression of the decided disapprobation of a
majority of our people, of all resistance, and they
will presumo upon the strength of our devotion to
the Union, to increase their demands of the South.—
The spirit of encroachment will be emboldened, anti
slavery will become more clamorous, and we shall
be sooner driven to the point of necessary resistane.
Such is to be tb effect produced upon the popular
mind at the North, and if we will anticipate the ac
tion of our approaching convention, we shall not find
there any more satisfactory evidences of that security
to the Union, which our opponents have promised as
the result of their election.
Should the convention adjourn immediately, with
out taking any action, this will be confirmation to the
North of our disposition to submit to any and every
outrage which may be imposed upon us, rather than
endanger the peace of the Union by our demands of
justice; and we have seen how far the integrity of
the Union is already threatened by the prevalence of
this opinion at the North. On the other hand, if
the convention should undertake to act at all, ii must
adopt strong prospective resolutions. No platform of
abject and unconditional submission can be ad
opted in that convention, though there should not be
a Southern Rights man in it. Some line must be
drawn, some stakes driven down, some ultimatum
made, and when this is once done, the question of re
sistance is settled. We can draw no lines, plant no
stakes, make no ultimatum, which Northern fanati
cism will not sooner or later transcend, and thus, if
true to ourselves, the time must come when the
South will resist. As to what resistance means,
men may speculate and differ, but to our mind any
thing which stops short of a total separation between
the two sections, is inadequate and therefore only
provisional. We may commence with non-inter
eourse or any other of the expedients which have
been suggested by an anxious disposition to save the
Union, but they are only expedients after all, and at
last must come to the only mode of resistance which
deserves the name—separation, complete, total and
forever.
And thus, we repeat, in the settlement of these
great issues, it matters but little how a popular elec
tion in Georgia may have resulted. The ball is in
motion, and it will never stop till the South has been
vindicated and her rights secured, or until her hopes
have been finally eclipsed in the gloom of bondage.
Fire in Pike Cos., Ala. —Two children
burnt, to death. —The Montgomery Adverti
ser learns that the dwelling house of Mr.
James P. Pope, in the vicinity of Indian Creek
Post office, Pike county, was consumed by
fire on Sunday evening the 10th inst., togeth
er with two of his children. The Advertiser
says:
The family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs.
Pope and three children, (one an infant,)itad
retired to bed. When they awoke and dis
covered the fire, it had progressed so far that
Dir. aud Mrs. P. had barely time to escape
from the burning building, Mrs. P. carrying
with her the infant in her arms. The other
two children, a daughter about seven and a
son about four years of age, were on a small
bedstead under the one upon which the fa
ther and mother were sleeping, and in des
pite of the exertions of the father to save them,
they perished in the flames.
North Carolina Legislature. —This
body was opganized on the 19th inst., by the
election of Weldon N. Edwards, of Warren K
as Speaker of the Senate, and James C.
Dobbin, of Cumberland, as Speaker ol the
House of Commons. Loth democrats.
Hog Slaughtering. The Louisville
Journal of Friday last, says:
Hogs bring better prices in our market now
than at Cincinnati. Four dollars were the
figure yesterday at which heavy hogs were
held, and $3 75 was freely offered. We did
not hear of any sales. We notice sales ol
green hams at 5 1-2 cents and learn also
that this price was refused for a large lot.
From well informed sources we learn that
it does not admit any longer of a doubt that
there is not only a great falling oft in thenuin
ber of hogs, but also in their quality. Not
withstanding this, present prices tire consid
ered entirely too high.
Ifog slaughtering commenced at St. Louis
on Monday. The Intelligencer quotes 275
a -S3 25 as tho extreme range of the market.
Light hogs, weighing 200 pounds or less, 2
75 a $3. Those weighing 220 to 250 pounds
or over 3 a 83 25.
The Louisville Courier, of Friday, also
says;
Sales of hogs at Cincinnati yesterday at
83 85 net, also sales at 81. The number of
hogs slaughtered at Cincinnati up to Wed
nesday last is 9,675.
We find the following in the Eutaw
Whig, of the 29th ult:
Cholera at Selma, Ala. —As there have
been several reports in tho neighborhood, of
sickness and mortality in Selma, we publish
the following extract from a letter, dated the
25th inst., which has been furnished us by
the kindness of a friend:
“Wc have had and still have a great deal
of sickness about Summerfield and Selma.—
Mr. King, pastor of Valley Creek Church,
died on last Friday with cholera. He got
home the day before, having lost two negroes
between Mobile and Selma with cholera. Mr.
Cato preached Mr. King’s funeral on Satur
day and died on Sunday night with cholera.
Since the above was put in type we have
been shown a private letter to a gentleman in
this place, dated 25th ult., which substantiates
the above, and further states that Mr. Class.
Mrs. King, (the wife of the deceased,) and
one of her slaves, in the vicinity of Summer
field, had also been attacked with the same
malady.
We learn from the same letter that Mr.
King had been on a visit to Louisiana for
some negro property —that coming up the
Alabama river on his return, two of the ne
groes were attacked with cholera, one of
whom died before reaching Selma, and the
other at Selma.
Not seeing any mention of the matter in
the Selma paper of the 29th, we conclude the
disease has abated. — Montgomery Advcrliser.
Odd Fellows’ Statistics.— The follow
ing view of the operations of the Odd Fel
lows’ Association is prepared from the official
returns made to the late session of the Grand
Lodge of the United States. Several States
failed to make returns :
Revenue of Subord’e Lodges, 81,200,396 74
Contributing members, 174,485 00
No. of initiations this year, 30,579 00
No. of brothers relieved. 23,882 00
No. of widowed families relieved, 2,327 00
Paid for relief of brothers, 345,007 62
Paid to widowed families, 42,801 01
Paid for education of orphans, 7,348 44
Paid for burying the dead, 67,595 90
Whole amount of relief, 462,252 97
Congress—President’s Message,
Baltimore, Dec. 2, 1850.
Congress has organized, and the Presi
dent’s Message was sent in at half past two
o’clock, to-day. It approves and will sus
tain the Compromise, and all laws under it.
It favors Internal Improvements; recommends
that provision be made for retired officers of
the Army and Navy; also a reduction of
postage to three cents on letters, to be pre
paid; also ad valorem duties—modifications
not increase of the tariff. The receipts into
the Treasury for the last fiscal year are four
millions over the expenditures. We aro at
amity and peace with all nations.
Texas Accepts the Bribe.
We have received several exchanges from
different parts of Texas within the last two
or three days, and there can be no longer any
doubt that she has accepted the bribe held
held out in one hand, while the sword was
extended to smite her in the other. Thus has
a State which the South took to her bosom
and warmed into life and vigor, been-the first
to sting her to the heart. Without Southern
valor, Texas never could have achieved her
independence in the first place; and without
Southern aid, she never could have entered
the Union. She has rewarded us, by suffer
ing herself to be bullied out of 103,125 square
miles of her territory —a scope of country
large enough to make two such States as N.
Y ork, avowedly for frce-soil purposes. Is
this the entertainment to which she invited
the South ?
That Texas had a technical legal right to
dispose of this territory, we never doubted ;
but that she could do so in justice and good
faith to the South, we ahva\\s utterly denied.
The cession can be looked upon in no other
light than that of a stupendous and monstrous
fraud upon the other slaveholding States.
[Montgomery Advertiser.
Northern Sentiment.
The following is from the N. Y. Express,
whose editor, Mr. Brooks, has recently been
returned to Congress from that city. It is
valuable as the testimony of an honest wit
ness of the true State of feeling at the North.
Strange indeed is the infatuation which blinds
the South to the real aspect of affairs on the
subject of her vital interests. How long are
we to slumber ? When are we to be aroused
to the reality of our danger ? The Express
says:
Two powerful States in this Union, central
States, too, New Y ork fciud Ohio, have two
Senators in Congress—New Y T ork, Mr. Se
ward, Ohio, Mr. Chase; pledged, Mr. Seward,
to abolish slavery in the District xf Columbia,
at all hazards; Mr. Chase, to repeal all the
peace measures of the last session of Con- j
gress. It is not to lie disguised or denied that |
these two members do not move their own vo- j
lition, but it is known that they are backed :
by powerful masses in the powerful States j
from whence they come. The New \oi k
State Convention at Syracuse had in it a ma
jority so rash that even at the expense of the
existence of the Whig party it persisted in j
endorsing every thing Mr. Seward had done, i
and therefore especially not endorsing what |
the President, of the United States, from New
Fork,- and eleven of its members of Congress
’ had done, the very reverse of Mr. Seward’s
I doings. In Ohio, the abolition party that
elected Mr. Chase again hold the balance of
power in the State Legislature, and there is
scarcely the probability of electing a Sena
tor there who will not, in the main, second
and carry out the propositions of Mr. Chase.
The repeal of the fugitive slave law, or
that sort of a modification of it which would
repeal the constitution, it is not to be dis
guised, again, has been made, to a great ex
tent —almost to a universal extent—the test
in the recent elections in the Northern States.
There is a fair chance that if a direct vote
cannot he evaded in the very House of Rep
resentatives which passed the bill, that House
will virtually repeal the law. It is very true
that in the Senate no bill of repeal can pass;
but a successful repeal in the House alone is
calculated seriously to embarrass every
Union man in the slaveholding States, and
to give every disunion man the strongest sort
of a weapon to assail the Union with. His
declaration that the Northern people are
Nullifiers, and that they are unfaithful to the
constitution, can scarcely be resisted, if
such a bill of repeal passes the popular
branch of the Government by Northern
votes.
‘i’he question is,now—-if these things are to
be done, or to be attempted to bo done with
success in such States as N. York and Ohio,
and in New England—whether consent, af
fection, common interests, the real bonds of
our Government, can keep a Government
thus working together. Grant that force
can keep us together, but force is costly;
force means a large standing army; a
urge standing army means despotism; and
force is civil war. The more a reasonable
man reflects, the more he will see that when
our thirty-two States do not like to live to
gether, it is wisdom to part—if possible, with
out arms or civil war. The theory of our
Government is acquiescence, not arms. The
strength of our Union is the loyalty of affec
tion toward it, not the bayonet, nor grape
shot.
To say nothing of what the South must
feel, and of the inevitable alienation that
must follow this constant war upon Southern
rights, or, if you please, prejudices, but cer
tainly interests, a state of things is about to
be created, nay, for a year past has existed
in this Government, under which, if contin
ued, a strong Northern party will demand a
dissolution of the Union. Already the whole
abolition party say it is better to dissolve the
Union than to obey the stipulations of the
constitution in the matter of fugitive slaves.
Dissolution is even now preferred among
large masses to the execution of the constitu
tion.
A dissolution of the Union is inevitable, if
this exclusive negro agitation cannot be
stopped. When government ceases to con
fer any benefits upon those for whom it was
i- sdtuted, the quicker it is dissolved the bet
ter. This feeling already ex : s'slo an alarm
ing extent in every slaveholding State; and
hence the value of the Union is now counted
as a party question in the Southwestern
States. The question w ill soon he agitated
here, if every interest of the white man is to
he neglected, and only the negro is to he leg
islated upon. To talk of having common
consent, affection for, or devotion to such a
Union, is to talk the most flagrant nonsense.
If wo cannot crush the agitators and the agi
tation which is making the Union odious, the
Union is already gone, save in its forms and
phrases. Its spirit will depart, and its corpse
only be in your hands.
Causes of the Whig Defeat in Massachusetts.
The Atlas, the principal whig journal in
Boston, thus explains the causes of the re
cent whig defeat in Massachusetts. The At
las does not seem to agree with the anti
agitators of the South that the anti-slavery
party is an unimportant faction, and that Dan
iel Webster can wield the State as he lists:
“In 1818, the democratic party were in
power in this State. They had the Governor
and the Senate, and the House was about
tied. The following year they committed
themselves in favor of the annexation of Tex
as, slavery and all. The whigs met them on
that and other issues, and they were routed
in every department of the Government.
During Polk’s administration the}’ continued
to lose ground, until for three years the whig
party had a Unanimous whig Senate, and
stood about six to one in the House. The
nomination of General Taylor in 1848, took
from us at least 20,000 whig votes ; but the
truly wise, humane, and national policy which
Gen. Taylor, when he came into power, pur
sued, was fast bringing these 20,000 votes
back to our fold again; and had that great
and good man lived, we should have carried
Massachusetts this fall by a larger majority
than has been given the State since 1840.
We state these facts to show that the slavery
question is the most powerful element in our
popular elections. Our people do not desire
to go out of their way to meddle with 4he in
ternal policy of Southern States. They do
not ask to infringe upon the provisions of the
Constitution, but they do mean to oppose sla
very wherever they can do it morally, legally,
or constitutionally, and they will thus act.
It is with them a moral and religious principle,
and party lines fall before it as hoar frost be
fore the rays of the morning, sun. Any one
who has studied the political history of Mas
sachusetts must be struck with this great fact.
We need not, however, go to the history of
the past to show this. We have it before us
in the result of the election last Monday, and
Mr. Webster never made a greater error than
he did in supposing that this sentiment was
merely a “ prejudice,” a sickly sentimentality j
in favor of Freedom and humanity, and that
all we had to do was “ to conquer our preju- j
dices.” To conquer one’s prejudices is no
easy task. To conquer a nation’s prejudices
requires ages; and he is not a prudent politi
cian, who, upon entering upon a popular elec
tion, takes not into consideration the prejudic
es of the people. They are to be respected.
But in Massachusetts opposition to slavery
and the Fugitive Slave law is not a prejudice—
it is a principle. Adherence to the ordin- .
ance of 1787 is not a prejudice, but a princi
ple, also founded upon the great law of na
ture, that men are born free and slavery is
wrong.
We say take our late election. Look at
the result in the eighth, district. Mr. Mann
was opposed by the Whig press in his district—
by two of the Whig presses in this city, pre
vious to the nomination of Mr. Walley, and
by all of them afterwards. He was opposed
by Mr. Webster and his warm and active
friends. The democrats nominated a candi
date against him, and the whigs put up as their
candidate a gentleman whom to know is to
respect and honor; and yet the people elected
Horace Mann to represent them, over the
heads of all others, and in spite of all oppo
sition. These are facts.
The only r other candidate chosen to Con
gress out of Boston, is Hon. Grin Fowler.
His majority is about thirty-fire hundred. He
also was singled out by the democratic papers
and two of the whig papers in this city for es
pecial immolation. He had spoken too strong
ly of anti-slaverv. He had spoken in favor of
applying the Wiimot Proviso even to Green
land, if that country should ever be annexed
to our own. lie had in Congress made an is
sue with Mr. Webster upon this very question.
It so happened that Mr. Fowler was the
representative ol Mr. M ebsters own district
Marshfield being one of the towns compris
ed in district number nine. r l he issue was
put to the people, and they decided in favor ot
Mr. Fowler by a majority so overwhelming
as to astonish every one.
Thus we have the fact, that in an issue fair
ly made between Mr. Webster and Mr. I owl
er, or rather between the principles of the 7th
of March speech and the old principles of the
whigs of Massachusetts, Mr. Fowler carries
Mr. Webster’s own district by thirty-five hun
dred majority, and Mr. Webster’s own county
by four thousand majority, and Mr. Webster’s
own town of Marshfield by fifty majority out
of about two hundred and thirty votes. We
state these things, that the people may in some
degree appreciate the strength of anti-sla
verv in this State. For unless the real state
of the case is understood, it is folly tp begin
talking about redeeming the State next year.
The Pulpit nml Politics.
One of the most lnmented developments of
the late Northern elections, is the extent to
which the pulpit has been degraded to stump
speaking on. the slavery question. With the
strictest impartiality, we must exonerate the
Catholic church. With equal discretion and
good sense, it has kept aloof from our political
squabbles, and especially from the mischievous
agitation of this Fugitive Slave law. The foun
der of Christianity tnurrht his disciples neutral
ity in politics,and obedience to the laws; but of
late years, too many of our Northern churches
have mingled in the dirty work of politics, and
seldom to’ any good purpose. In the late elec
tions. tli< ir intermeddling has been absolutely
mischievous in its tendency, in open violation
of the law, and in direct opposition to the safety
of the Union, and the safety of society.
A Presbytery in the western part of Pennsyl
vania, and we believe the Presbyterian Synod
of Pittsburgh, have placed themselves in direct
hostility to the Fugitive slave law; and instead
of recommending obedience and respect to it,
openly gave countenance to resistance and
bloodshed, as the “higher law” of conscience
and religion. Tin's monstrous and destructive
heresy has extended, more or less, through all
the Northern states. It has divided churches
societies, and families, and has finally carried
some of our most important elections to the
most deplorable issues. The Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher, of this city, with all the fanatical des
peration of Garrison himself, recommends a
bloody, treasonable resistance to the execution
of the. law ; bloodshed, and even murder, being
holy in his eyes, if resulting from such resist
ance. llow far these mischievous and wicked
doctrines, in the disguise of “conscience” and
religious duty, affected the elections in New
York, we have no means of judging; but we
have no doubt that they exerted a powerful in
fluence.
At a preachst's’ meeting held in Brooklyn on
the 9th instant, consisting of Methodist minis
ters of New York, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg,
they resolved that the fugitive slave law was
inconsistent with the constitution, the objects of
the Union, and “iniquitous and unrighteous in
its provisions, and in flagrant violation of the
law of God but they do not go to the extreme
of open rebellion, urging only “all wise and pru
dent means for the repeal of said law.” Their
proceedings were, notwithstanding, a mischiev
ous interference in political matters, with which,
as a church, they have no business to intermed
dle at all. As citizens, they have full liberty to
pass any resolutions they please: hut as a
church, they ought to abide by the limit* of the
New Testament.
In Massachusetts, the doctrine of nullification
is a sort of religious principle, or fanaticism.
The same spirit of bigotry and intolerance which
burnt the witches artel drowned 1 lie Quakers
among the early Puritans, may be traced to the
judgment pronounced against. Mr. Webster in
the re-election of Horace Mann. The sermons
of such preachers of politics from the pulpit as
the Rev. Then. Parker, of Boston, advising the
same bloody resistance to the execution of the
fugitive law as Beecher and Fred. Douglass,
have done the work. The people of New En
gland are a religious people—always have been.
But many have got that bright idea of modern
philanthropy into their heads, that Southern
slavery is a sin, and that a “higher law” than the
Constitution and the laws under which they
live and are protected requires that they should
aid the. fugitive to escape, nr snatch him off by
violence from his master, rather than submit to
the law. This is Christianity run into hypoc
risy or fanaticism, and conscience turned to
treason. It is this religious abstraction, preach
ed in the churches, that resistance to slavery is
obedience to God, which has given the late ex
traordinary impulse to nullification in Massa
chusetts, which has carried the State elections,
and in the issue between Mr. Websfes and Ho
race Mann, has resulted in the prostration of
the great statesman upon the very altar of the
Constitution.
In the We stern States, the same principle of
religious fanaticism has contributed to similar re
sults. The defeat of Mr. Buel, for Congress, in
the Detroit district, Michigan, is a striking exam
ple. Gen. Cass resides in Detroit; Mr. Buel re
presents that district in the present Congress.
At the last session lie voted for the Fugitive
Slave bill, and, as (lie political and personal
friend of General Cass, it is understood that that
vote was according to his wishes. Good fai h
to the Compromises, obedience to the laws,
and the harmony of the Union, suggested the
re-election of Mr. Buel as the test of the appro
bation of the people. lie was defeated by the
nullifiers, who settled upon the whig candidate,
pledged against the law. The churches, with
some exceptions, took the field with the nullifi
ers. The re-capture of a fugitive slave at De
troit, added fuel to the excitement. Fermons on
the Sabbath day were devoted to the condem
nation of the Fugitive law, as violating the feel
ings of humanity and the injunctions of holy
writ. The doctrines of treason, and the in
stincts of prejudice, thus clothed in the drapery
of religion, were successful; and Cass shared in
Michigan the fate of Webster in Massachusetts.
These two prominent cases are sufficient to
show the disastrous power of the churches when
they become the blind instruments of dema
gogues and fanatics, traitors and nuliifiers, in
their political schemes. It is degrading to the
church and dangerous to the “State to mingle
with such allies in any political contest what
ever. In these two cases the mischief will soon
be apparent. If the strength of Cass and Web
ster at home is thus paralyzed by nullification,
what reliance have the South in the future for
bearance of ‘he North? The fact of the election
of Horace Mann, a raving abolitionist, and of
the defeat of Buel, on the platform of the com
promises, with all the attending circumstances,
is better calculated to widen the jealousy, dis
trust, and disaffection to the Union, in the South,
than all the other results of the late elections
combined. It will embolden the nullifiers to a
more violent agitation in Congress upon the sla
very queeticn, at a time when the Southern
temper is not in the mood for trifling- It weak
ens the handy of the lovers of the Union, and
leaves it, to a* great extent, to the rnercy of the
abolitionists. Had Webster, Cass and Dickin
son been sustained, the case would have been
widely different. It would have enlarged the i
confidence of the South, encouraged the con
servatives, and crippled the agitators beyond the
power of further mischief.— N. Y. Herald.
Latest train Fir John Ross.
EXTRAORDINARY FLIGHT OF CARRIER
PIGEONS.
We have learned from a private source’
that on Friday last two of the carrier pigeons
taken by Sir John Ross when he left the port
of Ayr, and some of which were to be dis
patched home in the event of his either find
ing Sir. I ohn Franklin or being frozen in, ar
rived at Ayr, finding their way at once to the
dove-cote which they occupied previous to
being taken away. The birds we understand
arrived within a short time of each Other; but
neither of them, we regret to be informed,
conveyed anything in the shape of a letter of
note of any kind. One ol them, indeed,-
which may have had some document attach
ed, was found to be considerably mutilated;
is legs having apparently been shot away.—
The time they were liberated by Sir John
Ross is of course uncertain, but taking into?
consideration the well known powers of flight
possessed by the carrier pigeon, it cannot
have been very long since they left our gal
lant countryman. The arrival of authentic!
news from the Arctic regions will bo looked
forward to with additional anxiety 7, from the’
probability which has now arisen that some
tidings have been heard of Sir John Frankfirf.-
Independent, however, of the interest which
otherwise attaches to the extraordinary flight
of the pigeons, it will lie regarded by natural
ists as a most remarkable incident. We dot
not recollect of any 7 parallel to it. The dis
tance the creatures must have traversed can
not be far short of 2,000 miles, and as they
travel bv sight, and not by scent, the fact is
the more extraordinary. Sir John Ross we be
lieve, took five pigeons with him, which, it
may be remembered, were stated in the last
accounts received of him to have been at that
time all alive, so that there arc still three to
be accounted fur.— North British Mail.
SOUTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE.
Columbia, Nov. 20.
In the Senate, resolutions were submitted
bv Mr. J. F. Marshall, on the Southern ques
tion, and referred to the Committee on Fede
ral Relations.
The following Preamble and Resolutions
were offered by Mr. B. F. Perry 7 , and order
ed to be printed:
“Whereas the recent legislation of Con
gress on the subject of slavery, and the con
tinued aggressions of fhc North on the rights
of the South render it. necessary that all tho
Slaveholding States should take common
counsel and action for their own security
and honor; and whereas the Nashville Con
vention have recommended a Southern Con
gress for the purpose of considering our
grievances and prescribing the mode and
measure of redress: *
Be it, therefore, Resolved, That this Legis
lature do hereby concur in the proposition to
convene a congress of the Southern States
for the purpose of obtaining security for tho
future, as well as indemnity for the past, and
the Committee on the Judiciary are hereby
instructed to report a bill for the election of
Representatives on tho part of South Caroli
na to such Congress.
Resolved, That in case any of tho South
ern States should refuse or neglect to ap
point delegates to a Southern Congress, then
it shall bo the duty of His Excellency tho
Governor, to send delegates to such States,
to urge the people and the Legislatures there
of, to unite with the other Southern Stales,
in a Congress of the whole South.
Mr. Wilkinson ottered the following reso
lution:
“ Resolved, That the Governor be reques
ted to ascertain from Federal authority tho
purposes for which additional troops have
been sent to Charleston, and whether they
are intended to remain there.”
W 1 iich was immediately considered and
adopted.
Proceedings of the Mississippi Legis
lature.
Jackson, Miss., Monday, Nov. 25.
The resolutions censuring the course of
Gen. Foote, Senator from this State, which
have been under discussion most of the timer
since the session commenced, were to-day
passed in the House by a vote of 50 yeas to
BO nays. Absent or not voting, 14. Tho
resolutions are now under consideration in
the Senate, hut no vote has yet been taken
on them in that branch of the Legislature.
The Joint Committee has reported a bill
in the Senate, calling a convention, to bo
held in November next, tho members to bo
chosen at the September election. The bill
will, without doubt, pass the Legislature.
In the House, a bill has been introduced,
expressing satisfaction with the Adjustment
bills of Congress, and declaring that seces
sion is not justifiable, except in the event of
the Fugitive Slave law being repealed, slave
ry abolished in tho District of Columbia, &c.
The bill was to-day indefinitely postponed.
Governor Quitman has to-day sent in a
message recommending the organization of
the militia without delay 7. It will give rise
to a prolonged discussion.
TERRIBLE STEAMBOAT EXPLO
SION.
From tho Montgomery papers, we learn
that the st e: m?r Antoinette Douglass explod
ed her boiler at Tate's Shoals, on the Alaba
ma River, on the 2Gth ult., killing and wound
ing nearly 30 passengers. Over 700 bales
of Cotton were lost, and nearly all the pas
sengers’ baggage. The following is a list of
the passengers :
List, of Killed and Wounded. —J. A. Gold
son, Augusta; Samuel Montgomery, bar
keeper, killed; S. L. Bennett, Marengo; W.
Hazard, Selma; Adolphus Carter, do ; E. F_
M atts, Dallas; A. G. Tuttle, l’ike county 7
W. Foster, Montgomery; Edward McCord,.
Mobil e, since dead; E. C'rossman, Bridge
port ; John Cole, Marion ; T. H. Locket, do;
John Hart, Wilcox; E. B. Wall, Marengo;
N. M. King, Georgia; E. W. Roberts, do;
8. A. Nelms, Perry county; S. A. Watts*
Dallas county, badly wounded; N. A. Mc-
Millen, Wilcox county, C. C. Sellers, do ;
John Kelly, do; Dr. Caldwell, E Parkman*
Selma ; E. L. Schrocebel, Mobile ; A. J, Mar
tin, Dallas; T. P. Officer, first clerk, Jas.
M emyss, Mobile ; Ily Adams. Benj. Oppan
heim, W. B. Taylor, Wilcox co., slightly
wounded.
Passengers not injured. —Commodore E.
W. Moore, Texas ; Wm. B. Weaver, of Wea
ver, Mullin & Cos., Mobile; R. N. Philpot,
lady and child, Columbus, Miss.; A. J. Free
man, Georgia ; Aaron Ready and daughter,
Wetumpka ; Mrs. Latting, child and servant,
New Orleans; James Bankhead, Nashville,
Tennessee; C. G. Forbes, Hayes, Jolly, lady
and two children, Ga.; Wm. Roland, do; H.
W. Carter, Montgomery; T. M. Clayton,
Washington City ; Thomas McDowell, Mo
bile; Jerry Fall ; Straughan and son ; Capt.
George E. Stewart, Aberdeen, Miss.; W. W.
Divine, Miss.; N. Bussy, Dallas county ; D.