The Press on the State of the country.
The press of the South has commenced the utterance of its opinion on the question of secession. The Lynchburg Republican thinks the issue is Black Republican domination on the one hand, or a Southern Confederacy on the other. It says:When the cotton States do secede, we shall advocate secession with them, and resist the right of the Federal Government to coerce them back. We believe Virginia ought to be, and will be when the time comes, the North of the South, and not the South of the North.--Botts and his crew may go with Lincoln, and enjoy the fleshpots together, but we shall go with the South, and for South at all hazards and to the last extremely.
The only way in which the Union can now possibly be preserved, is for us to have a Convention of all the States of the South, which shall lay down our demands of constitutional guarantees. These should be submitted to a Convention of all the Northern States, and if rejected, then secession is the only remedy, and will be adopted by an overwhelming majority of each Southern State, if, indeed, a majority of the Southern States do not secede before such Convention can be called. Patriots of all parties ought to look to this grave question at once, and divested of all party feeling. We are for secession direct, but are anxious to adopt any intermediate steps which can possibly preserve the Union upon constitutional grounds.
The Clarke county (Va.) Journal says:
‘ We advance to the discharge of a solemn duty in hoisting, for ourselves, the flag of disunion. It is a solemn duty binding upon us, because we believe in our conscience that it is right and necessary, and the will of that Providence which has always guided us as a people. If Providence points clearly to anything in the future, it does to the separation of these Northern and Southern States from each other. We cannot live together in peace and equality, because the North are conscientious in claiming a right to agitate our domestic institutions, and because they are greater, and therefore, in a political sense, the master section. We were not born to be mastered, nor to submit to inferior position. There is no alternative but separation from those who seek to be our rulers, or else abject submission to their yoke. Who can hesitate what he will or ought to do?
’ The Tappahannock (Va.) Southerner says:
‘ Whether this Union can be divided, seriously admits great doubt. But the probabilities of an attempt at dissolution, in certain contingencies, are certainly very sure. The attempt, to our mind, is as fearful as actual disunion. It will bring with it, if it ever should come, collision, bloodshed and the worst calamities. More than this, if the attempt should be made on slight grounds or inadequate causes in the estimation of the masses, it would doubtless meet with determined resistance at home.--Our people, we admit, have already been carried to great lengths by hot-headed demagogical party leaders; but when the question of union or disunion comes to be bruited, those leaders will find the people will not go with them. They must be satisfied that the cause is a just one--a necessary one, and that the necessity is imperious.
’ The Portsmouth (Va.) Transcript thinks secession is inevitable, but adds:
‘ But there is no special demand for immediate secession. If we discard altogether the assurances offered by prominent friends of Lincoln a few days before election, that he would not use his position for sectional purposes, we have other cheering facts to rely upon independent of Black Republican professions.--They will not be able to repeal the Fugitive Slave Law or adopt any other hostile legislation, because both branches of the next Congress are inimical to his administration. There is no doubt that he will have Southern men in his Cabinet honest and loyal enough to conservatize him in a degree, and it is therefore obviously the dictate of patriotism and prudence that we should remain in the Union for the present. This action would not interfere with the object of redressing our wrongs. The time which must intervene between the inauguration of Lincoln and the securement of legislative ascendancy by his party, could be employed as a season of preparation, so that at the first blush of treasonable designs we would be prepared to resist them with a united South.
’ The Murfreesboro' (N. C.) Citizen has the following:
‘ It will be difficult to induce the Southern people, loyal in their instincts as they are, to transfer to the incoming Administration the traditional respect and reverence which American citizens accord to the National Government de facto. Acquiescence in the popular verdict, so far from being speedy and entire, as is usually the case, will be tardy and full of reservations. It will be a mere submission to a dynasty which cannot, whatever be its policy, command the confidence of the South. The right of a sovereign State to withdraw from the Union whenever, in the judgment of such State, the evils of the Union shall outnumber its benefits, is sound and universally accepted Democratic doctrine.-- Whether North Carolina should now assert that right, is a question for the people to determine. We, for one of her citizens at least, oppose the taking of any such step at present. We say, let North Carolina stay in the Union! Let her not ingloriously abandon the Government with its immortal trophies and worldwide prestige to the exclusive possession of the North! But, if South Carolina, or Georgia, or any other State, shall decide upon secession, in God's name, and in the name of civil liberty and State rights, let her withdraw! This is not the hour for rash counsel, or precipitate action. Moderation was never more desirable than now.
’ Referring to the position of the Georgia Legislature, with reference to action in this crisis, the Augusta (Ga.) Dispatch says:
‘ The rights and powers of the Legislature are conferred on it by the Constitution, and the framers of that instrument never dreamed of or provided for a contingency like this. They conferred no powers for such an emergency, and the assumption of them by the Legislature would be usurpation, tending to produce divisions among the people, who, in such a crisis, should be united. The Legislature is now in session, and, like all patriotic Southern men, feel themselves stung to madness by the insults of the North. Passion and prejudice rules the hour, and it is not at such a time that men are capable of consulting as calmly as is fitting upon a measure the most momentous in modern history — no less than the overthrow of one of the first powers on earth, and the establishment of two or more governments upon its ruin. We are convinced that the people will not be satisfied to leave the decision of this question to the Legislature — that unwarranted action on the part of that body will give rise to partisan discords, and will, therefore, not effect the end desired.
’ The Charleston (S. C.) Courier, of Saturday, says:
‘ The times demand coolness, calmness and steady resolution, not impulsive demonstrations or fiery outbreaks of vehemence and youthful passions. We rejoice in being able to state that our city has so far, notwithstanding the intense and all-pervading excitement, exhibited the characteristic moderation and order of our population. Some symptoms of ill advised, but well-intended demonstrations, on the part of individuals, have occurred; and we refer to the matter now only to remind all citizens of the importance of avoiding such errors. ‘"Let all things be done decently and in order,"’ and let us meet, as citizens of a well-ordered Commonwealth, the great issue presented.
’ The Fredericksburg (Va.) Recorder, speaking of the incoming administration of Lincoln, says:
‘ We should require the execution of the fugitive slave law, non-interference by Congress with slavery in the States, Territories or District of Columbia, and a due regard in the Federal legislation of the country to the wants and requirements of all sections, and last, and by no means least, a fair representation of the South in Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet, for it is idle to talk about a Union in name if it be not a Union in fact. All of this is legitimately ours, looking to a fair and honest interpretation of the Constitution, as a chart for our rights — to this we will consent, and to nothing less. We believe Mr. Lincoln can administer the Government upon such a basis, and if he does we shall stand by the Union, for the Union will then be standing by the Constitution; but if he goes aside in one particular from the plain path of duty marked out by that instrument, we shall look to the House of Representatives for his impeachment and the Senate to hurl him from power, and then if we fail in this resort, the Union will already be dissolved, and Virginia — for we shall only speak for her — responsive to her revolutionary pride and State honor, will prepare to maintain her rights under the auspices of the God of battles, if need be.
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