The Southern tribune. (Macon, Ga.) 1850-1851, August 10, 1850, Image 2

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The Southern tribune., August 10, 1850, Image 2

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Newspaper Page TextSOUTH EBN TRIBPN E . PIBMSHED WEEKLY, BY \V n. B . H ABBISOS. WM. B. HARRISON, 1 AHD > EDITOB» WM. S. LAWTON, > The Fnture of America. Mr. Philarete Charles, a distinguish ed writer of Paris, has contributed a long article about the United States, to the Re Yue des Deux Mondes, of which the fol lowing are the concluding paragraphs : ’•What is America to become ? It is not difficult to define it. An aggrandized Europe, and what a Europe ! The space comprised between the Alleghenies, pat al lel to the Atlantic, and the Rocky Moun tains parallel to the Pacific, is, as it is well known, six times larger than France. If to this is added the three hundred and ninety leagues of the old States, and the new territories acquired recently from the Rocky Mountains to the sea, imagination itself is astonished at these proportions. It is the tenth part of the whole globe.— Thus the American does not see his coun try from the belfry, but in the race and society to which he belongs. The inhabitant of New York goes with out trouble to New Orleans, and the Lou isianian easily becomes acclimated in Ken tucky. Provided you leave him those laws and manners which permit him the free development of his American strength he is happy, he feels that he makes part of a grand organic and harmonious body.— Laws, soil, country, manners, remembran ces, desires, institutions, pride, passion, qualities, all is in harmony. The partial democracies of which the Union is com posed are as solid and as stable as the best organized States j they have their roots in the souls of the people, and their sap in the habits of the community. Obicure yesterday, marching in a bold step in the unknown, America cares little for the pre sent, the future is her own. O.ie fact gov erns the whole life ; it is expansion, activ ity, energy, a tendency to variety, the go-a headism. Her moral vigor, identical in its causes and in its essence with the inter nal strength of Rome under the Scipios, of France under Louis XIV, of Spain un der Isabella,of England since the Georges, moves in a space far more vast. The A merican soul, profoundly identified with the institutions of the country, desires on ly what can and must result from the same institutions and the national manners. Every where the people vvoik, live at hotels, marry young, are fond of adventure are not much afraid of bankruptcy, or dan ger, or even death, and they are certain that there will be always land enough fur a courageous American. To this vast social experiment, of which the United States is the workshop, must be added the physical experiment that na ture is incessantly carrying on. The riv ers change their beds, Niagara is receding, the forests fall, prairies burn up, the tem perature becomes milder and more tempe rate, the miasma which exhales from a newly stirred soil lose their morbid pow er, the means of subsistence increase, the population doubles every twenty years, and is yet only a preparatory work. The hemic age, the epoch of war announces itself; this strong race, which absorbs ma ny others, is far, very far, from having fill ed up its borders, from Russian America and the Samoyedes to the Isthmus of Pa nama. The tendencies of North America are, then, to conquest on the one part —on the other to the expansion of the federative groups ; and not in any manner, as some English travelers seem to believe, to the transformation of republic into monarchies. The breaking up of the confederated States into two or three groups is probable when the whole shall be composed of frac tion* trvn mimorrau and too powerful for the borders destined to enclose them.— Already the inhabitants of the Mississippi have some inclination to detach themselves from the States which form the Atlantic border. Texas, California and Oregon ss yet too little civilized, and with too small a population to be of much account, will make another sphere, which will be formed in the Union. It is possible that Cuba, Florida, New Orleans, Carolina, and all the valley of the Mississippi, will unite together, that the old non-slaveholding States of the North, including Canada, will constitute a second group, and the third, sterile in part, but powerful on the other hand from tbemines of California, will embrace the cauntries of the West. Before 1845, the pioneers of civilization had not passed a line which prolonged from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior, and forming an angle at the extremity of this lake to join the mouth of the River St. Lawrence, included near ly a third of North America. The point tho Americans have cartied in California, crosses the whole continent from the At lantic to the Pacific, an unforeseen event, one of the most considerable facts of our age, important, not only by the precious metals which come into circulation, but by the joint responsibility which it establishes between the different parts of the new world. Our Europe, that old country, whom the mild jester, Franklin, called not without irony, “his good grandmother,” what is she to become some day, in face of the inevi table developments of the New World!— something like ancient Greece with regard to Modern Europe. The neo-Romans of this worn out world, have they reason to seek, in spite of the past, the American autonomy, the germ which they do not possess ? This question concerns the mast-.'is of our destinies, political men —1 leave it to them. If I should resolve it, and if I should say what l kuew, the Byz antines of my time, ever deceived by the subtilty of their minds and the falsehoods which they pracdce, would not fail to be lieve that I wish to put my hand to the af fairs of the country, and that I pretend to be a philosopher, that I may bebome some ihing like the head of a party. They may be assured—l should much prefer to go and draw their portraits in some solitude, and practice what they counterfeit under some modest puritan roof near Rome in New Hampshire, or Carthage in Massa chusetts. There I would listen again to that beautiful canticle, rude in versifica tion, admirable in sentiment, the motto of America, and which has never ceased to resound in my heart since I heard it in England : “ O God, what need we have of strength, The strength to toil the strength to bear, The strength ’mid terrors to hope on, Strength feeble women to protect— Strength to submit, strength to endure— Even pain and death—vigor of arm Vigor of soul—faint not, And God will keep you." From the Southern Press. Disunion—Secession. We have had no disprsitinn to discuss these topics—and have abstained from them. We thought it our duty as South erners and as Americans to rely for the present on argument, to sustain the Con stitution and the rights of the South. And we did not desire to introduce any topics to excite the passions and disturb the judg ment of the people North or South. We replied therefore, to butone of these articles recently published in the Republic, and waived a response to the other two.— But the Northern papers seemfond of the subject, and as they labor under great hal lucinations that may lead them to fatal con clusions, we must again interpose. We shall not now reply to the doctrines of Gen Jackson’s proclamation, revived by the Republic, because many of them were explained away and renounced by his own authority in the Globe,e\en after that doc- umentappeared—and have been exploded. As for the notion of the Republic, that “The United States,” or the Government of the United Slates would remain in the sense those terms are now understood, af ter a number of the States, or halfthe States ltad renounced the Union, it is utterly un tenable. A majority of the Senators of all the existing States is necessary, under the Constitu ion, for a quorum to transact business. Ifbalfof .hen were to withdraw, there could be no quorum. In the failure of the people to elect a President by districts, the Constitution equires “« majority of a'l the States to elect.” Iftwo States were to withdraw, and the remaining twenty-eight were to be nearly equally divided, tlieie could be no election—and the Government would fall. That event might happen, indeed, by an equal vote of all the existing States. If one State should withdraw, there could be neither a Senate nor a House of Re * 1 - Cnnstiu tion : for it declares that the Senate shall he composed of two Senators from each State, and the House, of members chosen by the people of the several States. Nor couid a President be elected at all, if one State withdrew ; for the Constitution re quires ench State to appoint Presidential Electors, and a majority is required to elect. The Albany Erening Allas does not troube itself with argument or Constitu tion, but relies on power, in the follow ing : In case of the secession of several States or of halfthe States, we should like to know who would be “the people of the United States.” —Southern Press. This is a question that will not take long in the atiswe.ing, should the disunionists make one movement in their treasonable purpose. They would see and feel who the people of the United States are. With all their respect fertile sovereignty of States, and their repugnance to the ex ercise of restraint, and loathing of war, above all, of a war between kindred races. we do not believe that the people of the Union would ever consent to theexistence of an independent confederation in the South. Such a confederation could only maintain itself by foreign alliance. The principle enunciated by President Monroe that no foreign government should be per mitted to establish deminion on this Con tinent, would operate in this case ofseces sion. The political necessity, or the rule of policy, or the appetite for dominion, which constituted the action of the Gov ernment in regard to Louisiana, Florida, Texas and the recent acquisitions from Mexico, would forbid the existence of an alien State in the heart of the Confederacy- A confederacy composed of South Carolina, Georgia, and peihapstwo more States, could have no internal strength, and no foreign alliance except at the double cost of dependance on distant power and of irreconcilable enmities here. If it were laiger it would be still more necessary to crush it, for its offence, being the fact of its existence, would he aggravated in proportion to its formidableness. This is plain speaking, hut if there is any one so infatuated as to believe that the people living on the branches of the Mississippi, will ever consent that its mouths shall be under a foreign flag, such a one requires plain talking to. Does the Atlas forget that some three thousand Semino’e warriors defied the power of the States united, for seven years? Does he forget that those Indians foiled the genius of Gaines, Scott, Taylor, and Jessup, at the head of as many troops as could he employed against them ? that these were the Generals who have asti< n iahed the world by their victories ? that General Jackson was President—and that the warcost us forty millions ? Does he suppose that the people of any State in the Udion have less genius, courage and resources than the Seminoles ? We have heard people talk of bockad ing Southern ports. Well if that could be done it would inflict ten times the injury on the North as the South. Whete would be the cotton mills of the manufacturing North? Where their markets ? Where the markets for Western produce? But the thing could not Ire done. No commerce so rich and so indispensable to the world as the Southern could be cut off. The smuggler would defeat all :he navies in the world. The attempt lias been made to suppress the slave trade—that trade has increased in contempt ofEnglisb,French& American navies. Great Britain is sea. girt, and navy-girt. Yet the smugger will pass her lines of battle ships for twenty five pr.ct.and sell his contraband goods in con tempt of the most powerful interior govern ment and police the world has known, and in contempt of the hostility of the great mass of the people. So also in France.— But how could the interior frontiers of a seceding Stale be guarded ? Such a State would supply her neighbors with that sort of merchandize which now pays federal duty at New Notk. But what could the Federal Govern ment do with a seceding State even after ovrrunning her with troops? Would she be held as a conquered province ? The Constitution binds the United States to guarantee a republican form of Govern ment to each State. How could that gua rantee he fulfilled towards a people op posed to a union with tlio <>th.-i States?— How could her Government he republi can if she were coerced or occupied by troops. It is obvious therefore that the idea of maintaining this Union by compulsion, is preposterous. The only bonds that hold it together are justice, mutual regard, and mu'ual interest. But when one section undertakes to seize and apppropriate the share of the other to avast territorial do main, the deed is a flagrant violation and rupture of these bonds that none but the blind can fail to see. “Who fetters flame with flaxen band, Or binds the sea with rope of sand, Hath yet a harder task to prove," By flagrant fraud tobold our love. And if submission is expected, why even Mexico "”“ u --*—*?* intim ine« of a narrow strip of this very territory until she had poured out her blood on many a battle field. Is it expected that the South which had the principal share in the conquest of Mexicans, will now display less spirit than those whom she has done so much to over come ? From the Floridian Journal The Proviso in Disguise. It is known that Mr. Clay, the great ad vocate of the Submission Bill now before the Senate, urges as a reason why the Free S filers should bo satisfied with this Bill, that although it does not enact the Wil mot Proviso di ectly, it does indirectly, "inasmuch as it does not repeal the Mexi can law—abolishing slavery, and it prohib its the Territorial Legislature from legisla ting on the subject. On the 23d ultimo, an effort was made in the Senate to do away with theso “Mexican laws.” as will he be seen by the following proceedings : Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, offered as an amendment loan amendment then pending the following: “And that all laws and usages existing in said territory at the date of its acquisi tion by the United States, which deny or obstruct the right of any citizen of the United States to remove to and reside in said terrttory with any species of proper ty legally held in any of the States of this Union, be, and they are hereby declared null and void.” Mr. Yulee spoke at some length in fa vor of the amendment. He thought it no more than right that the obstructions called “Mexican laws,” which were supposed to exist in the new teritoiies,should be remov ed. He went into the whole question, and argued in favor of the Missouri Com promise, as the most conciliatory measure that he could give his assent to. He showed the inconsistencies in the course which had been pursued by the Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Fuote] on this point. Mr. Foote replied, and after numerous explanations by Messrs Yulee, Foote and Hale, the question was taken on the amend ment of Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, and it was rejected by the following vote: Yeas— Atchison, Barnwell, Bell, Ber rien, Butler, Clemens, Davis, of Mississip pi, Dawson, Downs, Houston, Hunter, King, Mangum, Mason, Mot ton, Pi att, Rusk, Sebastian, boule, Turney, Under wood, Yulee— 22. Nays —LJidger, Baldwin, Benton, Brad bury, Bright, Cass, Chase, Clatke, Clay, Cos >per, Davis of Massac..useas, Dayton DicKinson, Dodge of Wisconsin, bodge of lowa, Fetch,Foote, Green, Hale, Hamlin, Jones, Miller, Norris, Pierce, Seward, Shields, Smith, Spruance, Sturgeon, Up ham, Wales, Walker, Whitcomb— 33 1 his is a significant vote. It shows the Soutli what justice she is to get by Mr. Clay’s mis-nained Compromise. Is it not theWdmot Proviso,disguised in worst pos sible shape ? Mr. Clay tells us that "the South gets not one foot of territory by this Bill.” Mr. Webster says that by its pas sage the North will loose precisely what the South will gajn —nothngf And yet Southern men are stigmatised, North and South, as “disunionists,” “agitators,” “ul tras,” and such like epithets of their oppo sitionto it.— Flor. fy Journal, 3d inst. Correspondence of the Charleston Courier. Washington, Aug. 1. We have passed through eight months of this excited session. What have we wit nesse? The slavery question and the ter ritorial question met Congress at the be ginning. For a long time Congress re mained without organisation. Tlicii came the message of the 21st of January.— Both Houses have been engaged, to the neglect of other ordinary subjects, in the high questions of the da). Congtesshas been dislocated, paralyzed. It lias been found unequal to the adjustment of ques tions not belonging to its proper sphere. Mr. Clay, coming out of his letirement, attempted to give peace to the country.- — He was nobly seconded by the great men of the North. The illustrious and lament eU aetenuer or Southern rights »ett in me midst of the conflict. The Committee of Thirteen reported an adjustment plan While it lingered, the Texian controver sy assumed a menacing aspect. The Nashville Convention acted. General Taylor died, just at the moment when he had determined to oppose force to Texas interference. Anew Executive and anew administration succeeded. Mr. Webster formed its head and front, and added official to social influence upon Con' gtess, in favor of conciliation. Ewing and Winthrop, both in favor of General Taylor s policy came into the Senate.— All these events, so unexpected and so mysterious, seem to have happened as if by accident, and as if the world were, in deed, ruled by chance. Ts many things favored conciliation, other things foabade it. Well, the compromise is defeated, killed, scorned, scouted at. The new ad mlniotrotmt, proved to be powerless to prevent it. It has fallen in the house of its friends. The future is inauspicious, while the past is mysterious. There was some disposition to save the bill, and it was generally thought that each measure derived strength from a com bination of measures. The votes of Tues day showed that the bill was not without some vitality—a considerable majority was willing to give it a fair chance. To conciliate the vote of the Texas Senators the amendment was adapted providing for the suspension of the territorial govern ment of New Mexico, on the east side of Rio Grande, and the prohibition of the | establishment of a State Government on the east side of the same, until the terri torial dispute was settled. This amend ment was the immediate cause of I lie de feat of the hill. Mr. Pierce, of Md., as- j sailed it yesterday as an implication in fa- j vor of the extensive claims of Texas. It J was contended that it was, in effect, yield- ■ ing to I’exas her whole claim, because the dispute would never be settled.—Tex. as would never, it was said, yield any part of her claim, and, if she did. Congress could never come to any settlement, as was already shown, by rejecting so many propositions- Mr. Rusk on the other hand, contended that Texas would act with magnanimity and conciliation. Thedispute.he thought, soon be settled by the Board of Cornmis sioners But he feared there were many who were willing to make the experiment of the strengih ol’thisG overnmtnt in con trovesy with Slates. It was a hazardous experiment. He would do what he could to avert the storm, and, if it come, I will said he, standing blameless of it,endeavor to do my duty, let the consequences be whatever they may. Mr. Pearce’s motion was to provide that the territorial government of New Mexic go into effect on the 4th of March next. Mr. Dawson's amendment was stricken out by the votes of Mr. Pierce, Mr. Underwood, and Mr. Shields and Mr. Pearce’s amendment failed. The result was that all that part of the bill which re lated to Texas and New Mexico was stricken out. No effort was made after this. The Senate wa9 tired of it, and its op ponents were deteimined not to adjourn till they had witnessed its defeat. The fo.lowing were the closing proceedings. To Mr Plie ps it was perfectly appa ien. that a t ill with conjoint measures, could not pass. He proposed to get lid ol it by one vote, instead of dessecting it. He said there was difficulty in settling the Texas question by itself. Mr. Atchison wished to strike out Califer tiia, the great but then on the omnibus, and leave Util), which was entitled to a gov ernment. Mr. Foote said no territorial bill could pass without the \\ ilmot Proviso. He ,eti the burthen of this mischievous conse quence oti .'southern men. 1 he motion of Mr. Phelps to postpone the bill indefinately was rejected—yeas 28, nays 29. Mr. Atchison move to strike out that part which relates to California, leaving Utah alone—lost. Yeas 29, nays 29. Mr. Pratt moved to adjourn—lost. Mr. Douglas moved to fix the boundary of Utah by the parade] of 30°. Mr. Sebastian moved to amend, so as to fix 30° 30' instead of 37°—lost. Mr. Douglas withdraw his motion. Mr. Winthrop rose to a privileged mo tion, to reconsider the vote rejecting the motion to strike out California. Ha ltad voted in the negatbe, which was the pre aning side. His object was to separate measures, and vote on each singly. At the tequest ofMr. Berrien, Mr.Win throp withdrew the motion for the present- Mr. Berrien moved to strike out the se cond section of the California bill, provi ding for gi ing her two Representatives— rejected. Yeas 21, nays 36. Mr. Winthiop’s motion, above stated, was then carried. Yeas 33, nays 26. Mr. Clemens move an adjournment— lost. Mr. Clemens moved to postpone the bill till December next. Mr. Foote hoped it would be withdrawn, and give an opportunity to get rid of Cali fornia. The motion was lost. Mr. Clem ens moved to adjourn. He ltad been here seven hours, and was unable to remain.— This was lost. The original motion to strike out California was carried. The Southern boundary of Utah was fixed at 37°. The bill which merely provides for territorial government for Utah, was order ed to a third reading after a sitting of eight hours, and on the last clay of the eighth m nth of the Session. The Telegraph at the same moment announced a storm at the South / Large ami fiutliustastic Meeting. Forsyth, Aug. C, IGOO. In pursuance of previous notice a large and respectable portion of the ciiizens of Monroe county met in the Court flonsefor the purposeofexpressingilteirviewson the subject of Southrn Rights and their oppo sition to the ‘‘Clay Compromise Bill.” On motion, Judge David Ogletree was appointed chairman, and, N. W. Newman, Esq., Vice President. Di. H. L. Battle and Alexander M. Speer, Esq. were requested to act as Secretaries. After the meeting was thus oranized, on motion of N. W. Battle, Esq., a Committee of 21 were appointed by the Chair, to pre sent matter for the deliberation of the meet, ing. The following gentlemen were con stituted the Committee : Messrs. N. W. Battle, James Fletcher, D. McDonald, A Cozart, Rowland Redding, Sam’l Patten A. Chapman, John Pinckard. A. Cochran, Jethro Williams, Isam Sims, J. McCollum, J Grcen.Wm McGinty, I. H Butler, D F. Walker, Dr. J. D. Head, Cosl eraPn Goodwyn, John Morris, Benier Pi e> ward Clark. 1 he Committee having retired, Mai o r John H. Howard, of Columbus, bein* loudly and enthusiastically called for, ad dressed the meeting for more than an hour, in exposition of the frauds and imposhions of the ’Clay Compromise Bill’&rc. He w a s followed in turn by Martin J. Crawford Henry L. Benning O. C. Gibson, Thomas C. Howard, Mr. Law, and Col. Z E Harman, all of whom discussed with signal ability and el. quence the all absorbing question of the day. The orators were cheered at intervals by deafning shouts of applause. During the discussion, the committee of twenty-one presented, through their chair man, the the following Preamble and Resolutions which, on motion of Dr. H L. Battle, were unanimously adopted. We, a portion of the citizens of Monroe county, in the exercise of a constitutional privilege, do peaceably assemble, and now desire to express our views on the momen tous question of “ S uthein Rights.” It is told us that we are engaged in a contest with our Northern brethren What is that contest ? “Messrs. Butler, Morton Toombs and Thompson, in their Address to the people of the Slaveholding States upon the subject of a Souhern organ to he established in the City of Washing ton,” hold the following language : “In the con est now going on the Con stitutional equality of fifteen States is put in question. Some sixteen hundred millions worth of negro property is involv ed directly and indirectly, though not less surely, and an incalculable amount of propety in other form*. But to say this is to state less than half the doom that liargs over you. Your social forms and institutions which separate the European and African races into dis tinct classes, and assign to each a distinct sphere in society, are threatened with overthrow. Whether the negro is to occupy the same social rank with the white man,and enjoy equally the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizen, ship—in short, nil the honors and dignities of society, is a question of greater moment than any more question of property can he. Such is the contest now going on ” Therefore, it cannot be disguised that we are involved, by no act of ours, in a great crisis—a crisis that fills every true and patriotic Southern er with painful apprehensions. From the date of the Ordinance of 1767 down to this present moment, the North has been making hold aggressions on the rights of the South. Abolition societies have been forming, and the presses have assoeiated and affiliated to lev\ war on our peculiar institutions. Even the pulpit has been made to resound with the‘moral evil and sin of slavejy.’ The ultimate object of it all has been, and is now, tn overthrow the ins itulion of slavery in the States. “Urged on by a blind and bigoted fanaticism, they elaini a dignity and a religion higher and purer that that of Christ, and a political consequence above the Constitution. The recent rapid progress of abolition io the free States, and the reckless disre gard of our Constitutional rights on the part of Congress, are certainly startling. Animated with the prospect of speedily robbing the South of the whole of our territorial acquisitions recently won from the Republic of Mexico, and in the lan guage of a New York Senator, “over throwing slavery wherever it exists,” the North is pursuing a course of maddened folly io which even Mr. Clay in his late speech bears reluctant testimony. Mr. Clay says: One of ihe misfortunes of the times is the difficulty in penetrating the Northern mind witli noth, to make it sensible to the dangers which are ahead, to make it com prehend the consequences which areto re snlt from this or that source, to make it give a just appreciation t > all the events which have occurred, are occurring, or which must eviden ly occur.” In every attack heretofore made on us on account of our peculiar insti ulion of Slavery, the South after feeble remon strance submitted —not because she did nut understand her rights— not because she did not have courage to maintain her rights but because she loved the Union. She preferred an appeal to the pat iio: ism of the North to say the hand of aggression, and to address herself in the language < f rea son and argument to the mind of our North ern brethren. The following sentiment of a distinguished Geoigian will find a re sponce in the breast of every Southerner who va ues his independence—“ When the argument is exhausted we will stand by our arms.” But has the argument been exhausted? The glories of the past, the happiness of the present, a common lineage, and magnificent future, ennobled with our common country's grea'ness, Southern eloquence has portrayed vividly to our Northern brethren.i- We still invoke them by all these high consider ations, and by tlie additional one, that the South “lias borne until forbearance ceases to be a vir tue,” to pause and consider who tve are they oppress. It is not yet too hue to do justice to the injured South,and save the Union. We now put it to all candid men, have not our remonstrances hitherto, as now been replied to in language only of menace and insult ? When we have appealed to lh« North in respect to the sacredness of the Federal Constitu tion—when we have addressed ourselves to the inhabitants of the North, and applied to them the endearing title of “brothers, how have we been treated ? When we have called upon them not to trample on rights which “are inestimable to us and formidable to tyrants only”—nay, in voked to cease their aggressions upon slavery, we have been inet with fiendish yells of “no more slave States.” We have entrrnted, besought and conjured out brethren of the North—and warned them against the fatal consequences of further aggres sions ; hut up to this present hour we have failed to reach them by nny such means. Asa last re sort we have threatened them that if forced to the wall, we would maintain our rights “at ev ery hazard and to the last extremity," Strang® we have been given to understand in each an** every instance that “the mind nf the North t* made tip.” So says Mr. Winthrop. But we here repeat what we have hitherto so often so solemnly declared. We yield t 0 !?° ®f of men on earth in sincere de'Otior. to and i°”