Newspaper Page Text
I _ SOUTHERN "PRESS. WASHINGTON CITY. 1 MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1861. frtf. Lkbcr Ml heceealwa. Dr. Fxakcis Liebek, who fills one of the chairs of the Sooth Carolina College, wss invited to the anti-secession celebration on the fourth of July at Greenville, South Carolina, and wrote a long letter against the right of secession. Dr. Leibeb is a distinguished scholar, of European as well as Amerioau reputation. He is a native of Germany, which has produced a host of eminent writers on political and other sciences, and who have been remarkable for the labor and research they have devoted to history, philosophy, and literature. We therefore expected to find in the doctor's argument something learned, original, and cogent. We unaII now examine his views. We must say that the preliminary portion of his letter, comprehending at least one-third of it, is quite vague and declamatory. The only position he assumes in that part of it, is that Germany owes her misfortunes to disunion. And here he begs the question. He does not show how disunion has injured her. We differ from him altogether. We regard Germany as the most prosperous, or the least miserable of any of the countries of continental JBarope, except Switzerland, which is, besidesT.Gfjjinany, almost the only confederacy in Europe. We assert that Germany has now more liberty and more prosperity, than any other country on the continent Several of her States have republican governments, and several are constitutional monarchies. But a majority of the German States and population belongs either to despotic or extremely aristocratic systems. If Germany were more united or consolidated, if a majority dictated the institutions of all, what would have prevented her from becoming like Russia, Austria, or France?. It is true that, owing to the number of separate and sovereign princes and States of Germany, a number of separate governments and armies must be supported, and that commerce is restricted between them, although that evil mav. or has beeu obviated by the Zollverein. But the result is that every prince, or State, has the power and the disposition to preserve its own relative rights and interests, and commerce, instead of being as with us, and with France, Great Britain, and Austria, concentrated in a few large cities, is widely diffused over Germany. Nor is the expense of their many little armies greater than of one big one like that of Austria, or o Russia. Dr. Lieber knows full well that Germany has surpassed France or Russia in railroads, and that, in letters, the little States are superior to the greater. Goethe, Krht, Schilj er, and a host of others, were the natives or residents of the smaller, rather tban the more powerful States. When the French revolution of February, 1848, excited Germany to revolution, we know it was a favorite idea of the liberals to establish a German union. They assembled a general parliament, but could not succeed, and it was fortunate they did not. Look at the result of unity and consolidation in France. If a German union had been formed, Austria and the other despotic States would have had the majority and control, and the reaction which occured, not only in Germany but Europe, would have Austrianized Germany. Dr. Lieber denies the practicability of accession. He says, it might be possible with a seaboard State, but not wiUi an inland one. He says, we could not and would not consent for Ohio to secede and become a monarchy. Well, does Dr. Lieber believe that Ohio or any otlier j State, could bo compelled against Iter will, to I become or remain a republic. The proposition 1 is a solecism. It is a contradiction in terms. And 1 if tt'A onnM nnf nAmrutl fMiSn 1sa Lt fw*iva could not compel her to be a State of this. Union. She might be made a province, bat thut would dissolve the whole Union and destroy the whole Constitution more effectually than her secession. Dr. Lieber contends that the reservation of the undelegated powers to the States and people, cannot give or concede thetn the right of accession, because that clause recognizes two powers, federal and State; but that secession pats an end to one of them, the federal, as to the seceding State. Well, what of that! There is and always has been such a thing as the power to dissolve a compact?to abolish a government, i If that power is not given to the federal government, it is one of the reserved powers. The Doctor ssjs that this wonld amount M to the Resumption ?iat a principle of self-destruction had been infused by its own makers into the very instrument that constructs the government." Well, what of that! Th? government is but the creatare?the agent of the people of each State, and cannot that which creates, destroy. Did the generation that formed the pres. ent government, j^svs any better right to make a government than the present generation? Nay, had thru a better right to make a government for us than we bare for ourselves 1 l>r. Likbkr thinka our ancestors never thought of secession: Can we, in our aober aenaea, imagine that they believed in the right of secession when they did not even atipulate a fixed time necessary to give notice of a contemplated aereaaion, when they knew quite as well aa we do that not even a comrnort treaty of defence and offence?no, not even one of trade and amity, is aver entered into by independent powers, without stipulating the period which moat elapse between informing the other parties of an intended withdrawal and the tine when it actually can take place; and when they knew perfectly well that unleaa such proviaion is contained in treaties all international law interpreta them an perpetual ? When they knew that not even two merchants join in partnership without providing for the period necesnary to give notice of an intended dissolution of the house. It seems to me preposterous to suppose it. The Doctor has, perhaps, not read the debates in the conventions. How eon Id a time be fixed for secession, or notice of secession ? That time is determined by the conduct of the parties. When the compact is no longer observed, or when it is abused, or when it is no longer adapted to the condition of the people, then is the time of secession?but how could our forefathers know when that time would eome ? Bat the (Kates of Virginia, New York and Rhode Island, not satisfied with reserving expressly all undelegated powers to the States sud people, expressly reserved in their acts of ratification, the right of resuming the delegated pew era,?at plessurs or whenerer they might be pcrvortod. What k that but the right of aecosaien. Will Da. Lokbkk contend that if a State or the people of a State, (for uo other can) resume the granted powers, that there is no secession ? As for the perpetuity of treaties of commerce, or articles of co-partnership, when no time is specified for their termination, that is neither law nor the usage of nations nor of men?and Db. Liebeb must not expect us to take his opinion unsupported. He says: Now, I have taken the paius of examining all confederacies of which we have any knowledge. In none of the many Greek confederacies did the right of accession exist, ao tar as we can trace their fundamental principles. In some rare cases, s i u ufaithful member may have been expulsed. But in the most important of all these confederacies, and in that which received the most complete organization, resembling, in many points, our own?in the Achaean League there existed no right of secession, and this is proved by the following case: When the Romans had obtained the supremacy over Hellas, and Greece was little more than a province of Rome, the ACtolians respectfully waited upon the Roman agent Gillus, to solicit permission to secede from the League. He sent them to the Senate, and the secessionists obtained at Rome the permission to withdraw ?no "leading ease," I suppose, for Americans. The Amphictyonic council allowed of no secession. It was Pan Hellenic, and never meant to he otherwise. The medieval leagues of the Lombard cities, of the Swabian cities, and of the Rhenish cities, permitted no spontaneous withdrawal ; b it the fortunes of the fiercest wars raged against them by the nobility, would bcca- 1 sionally tear off a member and produce disruptions. The great Hanseatic League, which by 1 its powerful union of distant cities became one of the most efficient agents in civilizing Europe, J and which, as Mr.Huskisson stated in parliament, carried trade and manufacture into England, 1 knew nothing of secession until the year 630, when the princes, avid for the treasures of her : cities, had decreeed her destruction, and forced ' many members to secede. This is no leading case either. The Swiss confederacy, the Germanic confederation, knew and know nothing of secession ; nor did the United States of the Netherlands, so much studied by some of our framers, and Washington among them, admit the withdrawal of any single State. All these confederacies consisted of a far looser web than ours. None had a federal government comparable to ours, yet they never contemplated such a right. Now, Dr. Ljebek is very unlucky in the w pains" he has taken u to examine all confederacies, of which we have any knowledge." For it does not seem to have occurred to him to exai.ine a confederacy that existed in^his country before the present one. The articles of that confederation expressly stipulated that it should be perpetual and unalterable, except by the consent of all the parties?and no Achaean, Amphictyonic, Swabian, Lombard, Rhenish, Hanseatic, Swiss, Dutch, or Germanic confederation, could have been more firmly bound than that. And yet a body of seceders met at Annapolis, consisting of Madibon, Hamilton, and others, and openly proclaimed a change. They aflerwn d* met at Philadelphia, with General Washington at their head, and with Franklin, Randolph, Pikcknet, Rutledge &: Co., and deliberately sent forth an invitation and a plan to aecede, if they could get the co-operation of nine States, and they did?and the present Constitution was formed, and the present government went on for some lime in open secession from i several of the States, North Carolina, Rhode Inland, fee. This Constitution and government, therefore. Mere conceived in siH-.efuinn. ?mi hern iii disunion. And if there be no such right as seccsf^^v where none is expressed in a Constitution or compact, then the present Constitution it* not itacif of any authority?nor the present movement anything but a usurpation. Hut as for lite doctrine of Doetor Likbkk. that there is a general principle that leagues or compacts are perpetual where no provision is made for their termination, or even w hen they are perpetual by their terma, we will quote Mr. Webster, iu his speech in the Senate, in 1833, aiminst nullification?and anridtr Im in irond ?. thority for Dr. Liebek : c " If a league between sovereign powers have < no limitation as to the time of its duration, and " contain nothing making it perpetual, it HubsiaU c only during tiie good pleasure of tiie parties, ah ' though no violation he complained of. If, in 1 the opinion of either party, it be violated, Much C party may say that he trill no lunger fulfil it$ <>b- ' ligations on his part, but will consider the whole 1 league or compact at an end, although it might be * one of its stipulations that it should be perpetual. ' Upon this principle the Congress of the United J Slates, in 179S, declared null and void the treaty 1 of alliance between the United States and < France, though it professed to be a perpetual ah I liance. ' IJFThe New York Tribune thus exults in the I formation of an Abolition party in Kentucky, ( with the probability of a defeat of the Whig ( party?not that it loves Whig principles less? , but Abolition more. ! In Kentucky State officer*, as well as mem- ! bers of Congress, are to be chosen on the 4th. lion. Archibald Dixon, the Whig condidate, ' will have a very close pull for governor, and the ' probability is that we will lose it Cassias M. Clay is running independently for this office, on . the ground of emancipation, and is severely blamed for so doing in certain quarters. It is thought that as the State recently decided against emancipation, the question should be allowed to sleep for the present, bat we do not see the ' force of that argument. Undoubtedly no other ' measure would do so much for the prosperity of the State, and that it has now been rejected, is but an additional reason for its instant and permanent agitation. It is well that the emancipationists should organize and display their forces in the way in which they may be moat effective. It in true, however, that their movement will have an unfavorable effect on the Whig ticket, gubernatorial and congressional, and especially i on the forcer. Mr. Dixon is one of the most 1 , bitter opponeta of emancipation in the State, I and in the recent constitutional convention pro- 1 posed to make the publication of an emancipation peper a penitentiary offence The emanci- 1 pntioniata are naturally not in love with him after this, ami aa they are found more among the Whig* than the IiOcoa,he will poll far leee than the former strength of hia party, without gaining anything from the other aide. And if, aa onr moat recent information leada ua to suppose. Cassias M. Clay reaeivea 4,000 to 5,000 votes, It is highly probable that Powell,the opposition candidate, will be elected by a plurality. This we should deeply regret for many reasons, hut still we are somewhat used to aeeing the Whig party suffer from the progress of new ideas and new measures. In 1849, Crittenden beat Powell by 8,600 majority. The Rational ffenuaaeat Jeerual. We are requested to say, that the second nnruber of the * National Monument" journal will not be published until about the middle of September, more time being necessary for sub scriptions to be returned. If not then published, it will not be at all, and to those subscribers who have paid in advance, their money will be , returned. I Editors of newspapers generally,are requested to give this notice an insertion or two. From Ike LamremvilU (S. C.) Herald TuMeary Clay ?f fteatacky?lie. I. Sir?More Mian forty yoara of your life hav< boon spent in the public service, and as a slates man and party leader your name haa filled u< inconsiderable apace in tbe public view. Already your biographers, emulous of the distinction o recording tbe deeds which have givuu you sue! an unenviable notoriety, have entered the aruua and have vied with oauh other in the task o pampering your iuordinate vanity, by spreading upon tbe historic page gilded pictures of youi public acts. Iu their etforts to make you Presi dent, they have given you credit for patriotism which you never possessed, and a disinterested ness of purpose of which you never had an> conception. They have deceived the public, as well as yourself. You are now old, sir, andyoui career is drawing to a close. The tinsel with which your partisans have glossed over a long public career of selfish ambition, cannot much longer conceal from a wronged und indignant people, whose rights you have violated, the ? ? 1 x i LI J if !i! - - ...... clangorous ana aeiesuiDie ueiuruuues >u jrum public character. Soon posterity will demand more truthful and impartial chroniclers of the public life and character of a politician and cabinet minister, who, under the specious garb of a pretended patriotism, has contributed so much to change the character of the government, and to prostrate the Constitution of the country. When you shall have disappeared from the stage of action, those who have ministered to your ambition and your vanity, to escape your course denunciations, so derogatory to the American Senate, and to the rank and character of an American Senator, and the hungry expectants who have fawned upon you, with the hope of [irofiting by your influence and elevation, will no longer have. 4 motive to praise you, or to joncfeal the vices of your pub'ic character.? Justice and truth will then demand an exposure of the crimes you have committed against the Constitution, which you have so often sworn to oreserve inviolate; and the judgment which a coming age will pronounce upon you, will be 10 withering, that could you be conscious of it, sven your unparalleled effrontery could not sustain you under the scathing infliction. A Southern man and a slaveholder, your first public act in the State of your adoption, to whose people you looked for patronage and support, and among whom you sought a retreat from poverty and obscurity in your native land, was an incendiary assault upon its slave institutions, and upon the social and political rights ot the South, which you have since so fatally betrayed, for the purpose of placing upon your )ead the Presidential diadem, as the reward ol your treachery. In the arts of the dem igogue, which abilties of a high order have enabled you to reduce to a science, you have distanced all competition, in an age so fruitful in the production of that dangerons and despicable character. An avowed friend of the abol tion of slavery? a pretended enthusiast in the cause of liberty? a distinguished disciple of the incompatible schools of Mirabeau and Danton?the moat consistent emancipationist of the age?a professec republican, and a practical consolidations!, by your unequalled skill in the arts of deceit and dissimulation, like an actor on the stage, by aa^ suming a costume and a set of principles adapted to the time, circumstance and place, you havt succeeded to an unprecedented degree in de ceiving a confiding people into the belief that the fictitious part you played was real, and thai you are a patriot and a republican. So well, sir have you played the part of a political magician that at the moment the Constitution is expiring from the blows you inflicted upon it with youi dagger, you are eloquently pronouncing eulo giums upon the blessings of freedom, and at the same moment laying the foundations, broad ami deep, of a consolidated despotism upon the ruirn of republican liberty. Unscrupulous about the means of reaching the object of your ambition few statesmen of modern times have combined in one character so many elements calculated to inflict incurable wounds upon the institutions ol the State. The equal of Cataline in courage, his supwrioi in expedient and resource, you have by youi countenance and encouragement, aided, with all the influence of your example, the incendiaries if the North, whose leader in the work of emancipation you are, to assassinate the public peace, ind who only await your bidding, to light up he tire of a servile war. And yet your agency ii the internal plot, by your skill in political cgerdemain, is concealed from public view. A itatesman thus gifted with such extraordinary |ualitie* for stratagem and mischief, whose political code imposes no restraints upon his excesses, and who, upon every great question vhich has agitated the public mind during his Itfii kua kuon frxtlit/i n/luAAufinflf vith plausible but untruthrul eloquence, first >ne aide and then the other, and who has been :onsistuntonly in bin ambitious thirst for power, itid his ceaseless desire to see the abolition of >ur Southern institutions accomplished, could lot fail to achieve for himself an unenviable disinction. And, sir, of all your extraordinary lualities, that one which has ? nabled you for so ong a period of time, through the many imporant political epochs, in which you have borne l distinguished part, to conceal from the Southern nind your selfish ambition, and your agency in >ringing upon the country ao many fearful evils, s not the least remarkable. It shows, air, the perfection to which you have carried the arts of political knavery. At all times ready to offer up he South as a sacrifice, the victim of your ambiion, to make yourself popular at the North, hrice hare you, by your intrigues for the Preailency, brought the country to the verge of civil a ar. And notwithstanding your American syscm haa plundered the South, undercolor of law, ?f a thousand millions, for the benefit of your Vor'.hern allies?notwithstanding your ucompronitet" have put in jeopardy fifteen hundred milions more?notwithstanding your last ' compronise" confiscated ft r your abolition associates in immense territory, the rightful property of Lhe South, and as a consequence, the Southern lorizon presents to your gaze now only one un>roken line of storms, fast thickening into a iweeping tempest, and with the glare of the lightning of civil war in your face. Hill you effect tot to nee the peril which you hare brought upon hat Union which you pmfett to love to much, and itill true to your instincts, and standin/ upon l?o Keirtlr af llio rrrsi'o Vaiis tliieof fi.p rmtro* yet unappeaSed. It may he worth your while, air, to pauae and nqnire why yon have ao long labored in vain? why yonr ambition la not yet gratified, in a ountry which offer* ao many ineentivea to honsrable exertion ? To all aave yonrael f the canae r?f your oft defeated aspirations ia no myatery. Your domineering and tyrannical propenaitiea are wormwood and gall to thoae even who acknowledge you aa their partv leader.?Not eontent with bei ig the leader of a pnrty^you cannot atop ahort of being it* tvrant. The party to whom you have looked for elevation have therefore refuaed to place you in their power. Thiraty aa many of them are for a diviaion of the apoila they are sufficiently cirenmapect to profit by the moral of the fable, and deeline to anbmit the diatribution to one never content with lea* than the lion's ahare of power, at least, if not of plunder. The wire-workers of your political associates comprehend the leading traits of yonr political character. They became aware at an early stage of your career, that although at all times ready to * compromise'1 away the right of others, you are ever careful never to " compromise" the objects of yonr own insatiate ambition. The game at which you have played required a heavy stake. The property, the equality, peace and repose of the Houth was not too much for your courage, when your political morality interposed no obstacle to the hazard. With the desperate spirit of the gambler, of which yoo had aome conceptions, you placed the country?the mother which warmed you into life?upon *he board, played the game, and lost the stakes. Wonderful man! what superhuman powers of endurance yon poaaeas ? for you ttiU live, with a mountain of politioal guilt rooting upon you 1 But, air, thii k not yon will escape forever. "The e ie a Divinity which shapes the ends of man," and ?iiii -milled the worm that never dies will yet feel the ?uduring punishment of offended justice and vio, lated faith. When the apathy and delusion . which tow hanga so heavily upon the tninda of , your outraged countrymen shall have passed f away, I would not uudure for a moment the f scorching sentence of reprobatiou which they , will patw upou you, for all the empty honors you have received or ever hoped to acquire. , f You are still, sir, surrounded by llattorors r who hold to your lips the cup of adulation ^ you no greedily quaff. It iuay be doomed in. decorous to disturb your self-complacency and composure, by calling to your mind past remiaiscences iu your past eventful life, not ao f creditable to your character as a statesman us , your best frieuds might desire. But there is , one portion of the country from which you can , claim no title to forbearance, and I am not , aware that the arbitrary rules of decorum, re[ quire that your selected biographers and par. tisans have alone the right to be heard. You \ must be brought, sir, to the bar of public opinion, . and the meuus by which you have indicted inl curable wounds upon the Constitution, and lit , up the torch of civil war, must be exposed, that your power of doing mischief may be tuken from you, and the contagion or your example may cease to contaminate the young men of the risi ing generation. 1 shall present to the public in a seriea of numbers the adverse side of the , picture of your public life. The task is not a . grateful one, for the material before me affords ample evidence that I shall have more public vices than public virtues to record. When the work is done, the candid man will find it difficult to determino whether to accord to your > merit the sentiment of pity or contempt. I have thedionor to be, Your obedient servant, BRUTUS. From the Charleston Mercury, July 30. I.k,. ..J K <1. mvai ovHiaviu mguis auu nuutncru operation meeting. i In pursuance of a call, which had been very numerously signed, a meeting was held last , niglit at the Hibernian Hall, of those " who are in favor of co-operation und opposed to seperate ; State action, for the purpose of resistance, under existing circumstances." Notwithstanding i the storm and heavy rain, which occurred at the , hour for assembling, the meeting was very large, , filling the hall, and many who came failed to ' gain admittance. Not only in regard to num. hers, but in the earnest enthusiasm of those who were assembled, and the patriotic spirit 1 with which it w.is animated, it evinced the high resolve which governed those who were anxious , to discharge their duty to the St4te, with a deep regard to the momentous consequences which I were involved. At the appointed hour, Nelson Mitchell, esq. . moved the organization of the meeting, and the appointment of the following officers: President. ' JOHN RUTLEDGE, Esq. ' * Vice Presidents. Hon. Daniel E. Huger, Charles Alston, senr., J " Thomas Bennett, Wm H. Hey ward, " William Aiken, Dr. James Moultrie, " James Rose, Henry A. Middleton, " J. B. Grimball, Arthur G. Rose, ' ' Mitchell King, James H. Ladson, " " T.L Hutchinson Geo. N. Reynolds, jr., u John Schnierle, Charles Macbeth, Gen. S. Cruikshank, Dr. Thos. Y. Simons, ' Dr. Sara'l H. Dickson, Thaddeus Street, ' - Henry R. Frost, J. F. Steinmyer, James Adger, Dr. St. John Phillips, H. W. Peronneau, James Chapman, Wm. Bull Pringle, Col. A. P. Hayne, Charles J . Lowndes, ixeorgo Thompson, C. G. Memminger, John Klinck, J. L. Bowie, Col. B. F. Hunt, Dr. Benj. Huger, w Jas. S. Shingler, VV. C. Dukes, M Thos. O. Elliott, Dr. Ellas Horlbcck, Edward McCmdy, W. M. Lawton, Edward P. Milliken, John Vinyard, Col. A. H. Belin, James Povas, John Ii. Honour, Hugh R. Banks, James Lamb, William Bird, Thomas Ryan, W. H. Houston, Dr. C. C. Pritehard, M. C. Mordecai, James M. Caldwell, James Welsman, James E. Walker, W. H. Gilliland, Henry Gourdin, Dr. E. Geddiogs, James Robertson. Secretaries. C. Richardson Miles,' Edward J.. Pringlo, Thomas Frost, John Seigling, junr., Samuel D. Stoney, Chae. II. West, junr. The following letters wero then read by A. G. M&grath, esq , having been received in reply to the invitations which had been addressed to these gentlemen to be present at the meeting. The reading of these letters uroused tho meetting to the highi st point At tho announcement of the name of the venerable Langdon Cheves, repeated cheers strongly told how deep was the respect cherished by our citizens for this eminent statesman, so truly worthy of the appellation of our Nestor, in this momentous crisis. The letter from Colonel Orr, and those from the other gentlemen, which are published, were Also received with mark* of the highest approbation : letter of lalfodok ciieves. Savasrah, Julv 26, 1851. Gektlemcs:?I have had the honor to re' ceive your note of the 22d instant. I am both flattered and obliged by (he invitation which it contaiai, oa well us by the manner of it; and I regret very much that it ia altogether oat of iny power to attend the meeting. I concur entirely in the object of the meeting. I have aeveral time* within the last twenty yenra entered publicly my proteet against separate State action. Of the right of a State to Recede from the Union, I have never had a a shadow of doubt That right is the right of a sovereign State. A right of which a sovereign State cannot be divested ; , and the only real question ia: Are the St .tea of the Union sovereign States ? Of which, ( suppose, no Southern man will venture to express a doubt Bat I think separate secession, though an undoubted, legal and public right, is scarcoiy a moral and social one on the part of one Southi ern State In reference to her sister States of the South. Their relations of un'ty are so many, so homogeneous, and so strong, as to amount to destiny. God and nature have combined them by such social adhesion, such homogeneousneas of interests, by such great and benign sympathies of blood, of character, and historical action, as to make their separation deplorable, dangerous and unwise. And what reason is there to despair of the'r union ? The precise question nnder deliberation is not a year old. I think, indeed, thia ia more than time enough to make us certain of our injuries, they are so great and obvious, and to satisfy us thai we cannot exml under the present government of the United State*, without being a degraded and oppreeaed people ; b?t I ahould think it, nevertheless, a ahort time within which for a people to be required to decide on a queetien so momentous aa , a great revolutionary change of government; for each, undoubtedly, secession must be considered. For myself, I think we ought to secede,?bat not alone; and I have an ardent hope, and a sanguine belief, that the Southern States ' will resist, by a unit d effort, tiough not on the instant We have few, perhaps no examples of aoch speed in the movement of nations, and, if 1 we have any, 1 believe the results will not be I found to have been always happy. I pray God to inspire yoar deliberations with his wisdom, his truth, and his power. 1 am gentlemen, with great respect, yonr obedient servant, Lskqdon Chevks. Messrs, A. G. Magra'h, and others, commit1 tee, Ao., Charleston, S. C. IsKTTCh or Hon, J. L. Orr. , Arderson, July 34th, 1851. i Gentlemen?It is a source of profound regret ; to me, that a previous engagement precludes I the possibility of n?y attending your mooting, i on the 39th instant 1 Meetings all over the State by the ce-opcra> tionista are imperatively demanded, if the State 1 is to be aaved nrom the perils of secession. The sentiments offered st the 4th of July celebrations t V ill the parishes, (and you have no doubt, observed, that nearly all the exhibition of public opinion in favor of boporate HUU action, has come from one cougrcsUuiutl district iu the parishes) evince a spirit of proscription and intolerance, against the cOfOperatiouista, which furnishes a beautiful commentary oil the professions of the autionists, that they desire hurinony may be preserved in ttie State. 1 have no doubt that they will give us tlie harmony which tlie wolf jpves to the lamb. i If the State ia to be put upon the perils of separate secession, and your beautiful city is to share the fate of Moscow, in God's name let it not be done by a minority of the people. If the immediate actioiiiats have by accident secured a majority of the convention, and ure resolved in pushing their advantage to the uttermost limit, we have no recourse left, but to instruct the delegates elect, through public meeting of the people. I had hoped that the convention would be left untrammelled, to act with wisdom according to circumstances when it assembled. The late proceedings of the actionists, wherever they have the strength to move, has dispelled that illusion, mid if the schemes of the leaders cannot be frustrated, then secession is a fixed fact The people, however, in my judg-, nient, are not with them, and whenever the issue is made, the self-appointed leaders will be rooted?overwhelmed by the voice of the people rebuking their temerity. In such nn issue, gentlemen, they wiil be beaten in the mountain districts. Our people here are not subrnissionists?hearty all are for resistance, and for efficient resistance, to the Clay compromise? but they have yet to be convinced that they have more courage and patriotism than their Georgia and North Carolina neighbors. They have too muchtnodesty to thrust them?elvos forward as the only champions of Southern rights and, Southern honor. They believe that Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi are as spirited as South Carolina, and that there is no very startling disgrace in their waiting for the co-operation of these States. I am gratified that you have originated the meeting in Charleston. Every South Carolinian has vital interest in this question, but the people of your city are peculiarly involved, when you are. advertised in advance that you can become a second Moscow without exciting any sympathy from the interior. The meeting will have a happy influence, and will, I trust, be followed uu bv other meetings of our friends in everv district and parish in the State, and the seal of condemnation, by the people, put upon the rash and unfortunate move of separate State action. I am, very truly, yours, &c. James L. Orr. Messrs. A. G. Magrath, und others, Committee. Cor.. Chesnut's Letter. Camden, July 27, 1851, Gentlemen : A few days since I received your letter of the 19th instant, inviting me to be present at a meeting of the citizens of Charleston, to be held on Tuesday, the 29ill July, instant, for the purpose of defining their position in re- ! fe re nee to the present political position of the State, as favorable to co-operation, for the pur- ( pose of resistance and opposed to separate State , action under existing circumstances. I I feel and acknowledge the honor of your invitation, and regret that I am not able to be , present. ( I agree entirely in the position you have in- , dicated, and think it points to the only true and | wise policy for the State. A concerted action , on the part of the Southern States, must produce | redress and security iu the Union, or result in our independence as a Southern confederacy , out of it With either condition I believe South | Carolina would be satisfied. For myself, howe- | ver, J consider the first not very probable and j prefer the latter as furnishing the only per- | manently safe condition. Any step therefore, , which leads to the attainment of this end, hus | my hearty concurrence, and will receive whatever support I can give. While the citizens of Charleston to this great end feel it necessary to "define their position," I am assured that it will be no done as to give no just cause of dissatisfaction to a considerable portion of the resistance p?rty who are at present separated from us. I feel a strong hope (aa their policy is disapproved by a large majority of the State) that they will in their patriotism fall back cheerfully upon us and co-operate for a great and common purpose. 1 nave ine honor to t?e Your fellow-citizen, James Cheskut, jr. To Messrs. A. G. Magrmth, N. Mitchell, P. D. Torre, and others. Immediately after the reading of these letters, Col. Isaac W. Ilayne announced that the Hon. Robt. W. Barnwell and Hon. A. P. Butler, were in the city, and moved that a committee of three be appointed to conduct these gentlemen to the hall, and that out of respect to them, the business of the meeting should be suspended until their arrival. The motion was adopted, and Col. Huyne, A. 11. Dunkin, esq., and P. I). Torre, esq., were appointed the committee. At the return of the committee, accompanied by these distinguished gentlemen, the warmest and most enthusiactic welcome greeted them ; and conveyed to them the assnrance of the deep anxiety felt by all classes of our community, that the city and country should remain, as they ever had been, united in feeling, and following the advice of those whose patriotic devotion to their Slate had been among the chief elements of a character which ennobled them and dignified their State. W. Peronneau Finlev, esq., then rose, and, after a brief address, introduced the following resolutions: RESOLUTIONS. 1. Retolved, That the aggressive measures of the federal government, in connection with various exhibitions of public sentiment by the j people of the North, through their Slate govern menU end otherwise, for a series of year*, indi cate, in our opinion, a deep-rooted hostility to the interests of the South, .sjd a settled purpose to deprive the Southern SUtea, on account of their peculiar institutions, of their original rank as sovereigns and equals in this confederacy; and that the inevitable result of anch proceedings, if allowed to Uke their course, must be ultimately the entire abolition of negro slavery in the j South, and the erection, in pltce of our federal j Union, of a consolidated gore.nment, alike despotic and irresposible. 2. Retoloed, That in view of the humiliating condition of the slave holdfct/ Hutes in thin confederacy?their rights violated?their institul ions proscribed?their character vilified?their offers of compromise rejected?and in view of the atill greater danger* which are impending over them, we believo the time has come when this Union should be dissolved, and a new government organized on the basis of a Southern confederacy. Hut while such is our deliberate opinion as to our wrongs and our remedy, we would still be willing to give n trial, fairly and in good faith. . to any plan, short of dissolving the Union, which our sister States of the South may propose, for ro-|iimauiiK ?? HI "ro jnmnnwiuii ui ^ur rights, and providing as with adequate guaruntoo* for oar future security. 3. RttoltrA, That aa the auhjeet of the con- ? troveray In which we nre engaged la not peculiar ' to South Carolina, but equally concerns the other slaveholding State* of this Union, our true policy snd moat proper mode of procedure, is in : our opinion, to make common cause with our aggrieved confederates; and unite with thetn i' counsel and action to obtain redress for our common wrongs; "snch concert of action," *c cording to the views of our own Calhoun, being "the one thing needful," whether to save the Union, 01 if (aa we believe) that be now too late, then "to save ourselves." 0 4. Reiolved, That in the present aspeot of our t political affairs,we deprecate the separate secession of South Carolina from ths Union: 1st Because it la doe to our Southern confederate* having a common interest and threatened by a common danger, to take counsel with them,and especially with raoh of their oitizens u are knowi to be our faithful and devoted frieuda, aa to tlu mode and measure of redreaa for oar ooiemoi wrongs; and because our precipitate aeueaaior from the Union, in opposition to their views sue wishes, would seem as if we claimed to be th< exclusive champions of Southern rights; an as sumption which could not but be regarded ai arrogant in as, and insulting to them?-thus, it place of harmony of feeling, and concert of ac tion, provoking jealousies, and sowing the seedi of discord between us and our natural allies, and operating to prevent the formation of a Southerr confederacy. 2. Because our separate secession would be eminently premature and unwise al this time, when we utay fuirly calculate on tin co-operation of other States at no distant period since the effect of renewed agitation and continued aggression by Northern fanatics?results which may be regarded as absolutely certain mast inevitably be, to bring up some of oui sister States of the South to the same position which we now occupy, and thus operate to ensure the formation of a Southern confederacy. 3d. Because South Carolina, by separate secession, would be placed in the attitude of a foreign government to the other slaveholding States oi this Union, the effect of which would be, that, under the laws of Congress, prohibiting the migration or importation of slaves from a foreign country into the United States, we should be subjected practically to the uWilmot Proviso," in its most aggravated form. 4th. Because in all her public resolves, South Carolina has given no other pledge?has avowed no other determination, than to co-operate with her sister States of the South in resisting these aggressions; and finally, Because In the present posture of affairs, to dissolve our Union with the South, and thus isolate ourselves from the sympathies and support of those with whom we are bound together in a common destiny, wonld be not only abortive as a measure of deliverance, but if not utterly suicidal in its effects, in the highest degree dangerous to the stability of our institutions. 5. Resolved, That while we are opposed to the separate secession of South Carolina from the Union, without the concurrence and co-operation of at least some other slave-holding State, or the reasonable assurance that such would be the result of her seperate action, we hold the right of a State to secede, as no longer an open question, and as essential to the sovereignty and freedom of each member of this confederacy. 6. Resulted, That, as our hope of deliverance at this crisis rests on the formation of a Southa.r. .Anr.J....... - -1 ...Li-L I- -I! Dili vuiiavucinujr a i uiiuiUOIUil WHICH WtJ HtJIltJVtJ to be entertained by a large majority of the people of Sontli Carolina?we would earnestly invoke the early action of our State convention, whenever it shall be assembled, to devise and adopt such measures, as in their wisdom shall seem most effectual to bring about a system of concert and co-oporation among the slave-holding States, in resisting the aggressions of the federal government; and also as representing the sovereignty of South Carolina, to determine by a solemn ordinance, what relation to that government it shall meanwhile become us to occupy; and at the same time to prescribe to the constituted authorities of the State, such a course of action as will enable them to take advantage of all emergencies, and to be prepared for all results. After the reading of the resolutions, the meeting * as nddresed by Hon. A. P. Butler, in opposition to seperate State action. Although evidently laboring under severe indisposition, ie spoke with animation and great effect. As *hope to be able to publish his remarks in full, we forbear further comment at present. The Hon. Robert W. Barnwell followed in in address of considerable length, addressed to the point of the inability of the State to sustain lerself alone, and the folly of looking to Great Britain for countenance and aid. lie expossed fully the abolition policy of that nation, ns exKo Kue o/.to ?*?*** ??*??* ? U- ? .ui^/diiuu */j uvi iui ujunjr jonrat Jit? TO* Ferred to the great sacrifice at which she had ibolished slavery in her own domii ions, and to Lhe fact that in her offer to Texas, the abolition jf slavery was one of the conditions. Both speakers studiously refrained from any appeals to the passions or fears of the audience, ind sustained their views of this great question in calm and forcible argument As the resolutions offered by Mr. Finley were iboul to be submitted to the meeting, a resolution was read by Mr. B. R. Carroll, as to the treason of such as should oppose the action of the State. After a few earnest remarks by Rev. Mr. Yates and Dr. A. G. Mackay.agsinst any attempt on the part of such as were known to be apposed to the objects of the meeting to discuss its proceedings, it seemed to be regarded as an unwarrantable interference, and a motion to lay it on the table wus adopted by an overwhelming vote.* The following resolutions were then introduced by M. C. Mordecai, esq , and adopted: Retoltxd, That, inasmuch as the organization ?f the Auxiliary Southern Rights Association is now recognized aa intended to advance the doctrine of separate State action, it l? incumbent on those who are prepared to stand bv the resolutions just adopted, to make equal preparation for the just maintenance of tire doctrines that we Mieve essential to the welfare and honor of sloii'h Carolina. Rctolced, That a committee of vigilance and inference, to consist of one hundred members, ?e appointed by the chair, whose dnty it shall se to recommend such measures as shall be, in their judgment, beat calculated to unite the pub-1 ic sentiment of our city and State in the support ] >f the principles we have now openly profeaMd. Retolwd, That s committee of correspondince, to consist of twenty five, be appointed by the chair, to correspond with our fellow-citizens n this State and other Southern States, in relaion to the great purpose of combining Southern Feeling, and making it conduce to tha great end >f jinited Southern action. The resolutions offered by Mr. Finlev were hen pat and adopted with great unanimity. JOHN RU T LEDGE, Prtndml. c. Ricrardso* Milks,! Thomas Frost, I Samtjkl D ^toskt, I Edward J. Psirolk, [ sfcreianftJohn Seiuurg. jr., CmarlksIL Wkar.jr.J * The following is the resolution nubmitted ?y Mr. Carroll, and which waa laid on the table >y a rote of the meeting:?[Ens. Miarmv. Rf*olr*d, That, while we cannot believe our lister States of the South will submit, for any lonsiderable time, to the recent aggreaeions of he federal government upon their rights, and vhile we have full fsith in their intention* to co iperate with each other for the vindication of hose rights, we nevertheless declare that to iouth Carolina is dne the allegiance of each of ter citizens, and that mnch as we deprecate her cparate secession from the Union, under exittng circumitanctn, yet should her constituted uthorities resolve upon such a measure, we hall then hold it trrasoh in any person to op one such determination. Auxiliary Souther* Rights AaaoclafIan. The first regular monthly meeting of the auxlisry Southern rights association of St. Philip nd St. Michael, was held at Hibernian Hall en ifonday evening, fhe 88th instant, the president, he Hon. John 8. Ashe, in the chair. The following gentlemen were reported by he central pxecntive committee as members of he finance committee, vix: Edward W. Matbewes, E. W. Walter, James M. E.son, John Heart, J. P. Devenng, Conrad Wiengea, Theodore Huchet, Hopson Pinckney, W. K. Davis, Robert H. Osrden, Rice Dulin. Jscob Williman. The executive committee also repo ted the allowing gentlemen as chairmen of the reapecive ward committees: Ward No. 1. James M. Stocker. Ward Nd. 3. Charles H. Axsou. Ward No. 2. James A- Duffos. Ward No. 4. William L Cleveland. Ward No. 5. A. M Pepper. umm1 i Ward No. 8. John Hanokel. i Ward No. 7. Henry E. Dotterer. 1 i Ward No. 8. William T. Saunders, i Major Edward Manigult from the central ese- . 1 uutive committee then offered the following > resolutions, aud prefaced them with a few re marks, forcibly sustaining the principles theyadi vance: I 1. Resolved, That in the opinions of tbis as. aoolation, South Carolina has taken her stand i against the misnamed compromise measures, to I which, conuietently with her honor, she can i never submit. i 2. Resolved, That the eo-operation of the \ Southern States upon past issues, although > much desired, by all the people of South Caro, Una, appears to this association at preaent to be ' at least improbable. i 3 Unsolved, That in the opinion of tbis as, aociution the State of South Carolina cannot, without dishonor and imminent danger to the i rights and liberties of ber people, wait for any . new issue to be presented, snd failing in a rea, aonabie time to obtain the co-operation of the other Southern States, should withdraw, alone, i from the Union. ! The Hon. R Barnwell Rhett then roee to , support the resoluticns, and was received with . enthusiastic and long continued applause. Mr. Rhett engaged the earnest attention of the > meeting about an hour, in delivering one of the '1 ablest speeches and completeat arguments which has ever been pronounced upon the subject of Southern wrongs and remedies; hie appeal to the consistency'and determination of the citizens of this State u nder existing circumstances will long be remembered by those who heard him. Judge Rice then addressed the audience, and the question being taken on the resolutions they were unknitnoualy adopted. The meeting (hen adjourned. JOHN. S. ASHE, President. c. k! pbiolaep, \ rec Important to Slave Owners and Others? A case of considerable importance to Southern men, and involving some points of general interest, was decided Dy Judge Key, at Cincinnati, on Saturday last. The Cincinnati Commercial says: 1 ? " The plaintiff, Harper, was a farmer in Boone county, Kentucky, and the defendant was a well known colored person of this city, named Keyte. ' A bill was filed by the plaintiff to foreloee a mortgage; and the defence was a want of consideration for the mortgage. The facts were these: The complainant had been the owner of three slaves?a man, (the son ef the defendant,) a woman, and a child, the offsping of the other -I..,.. 'I?k? ?k............. ?k I- v?-?I? / mu OIIITCCI A no UIIVO WDIO WUI Mif 111 AVCIIIiUUHy, , about $1,300. They escaped from their master and came to this city in 1849, where they were concealed. The mister pursued, but ftas unable to discover them; and the defendant opened a negotiation with the complainant tpr the purchase of the three slaves. Finally, they were sold to him for $450, and a bill of sale executed in this city, by complainant, in which he warranted that he had a good title to the slaves, but did not undertake to give possession of them. The defendant executed to him promissory notes for the payment of the money, and a mortgage, on which the suit was brought. The first point urged by the defence, was that Keyte 1 was deceived by the complainsBt, who was charged to have represented the female slave to be the wife of his (defendant's) son; both verbally, and in the bill of sale, when in fact, ae defendant claimed, she was not?next, that tho plaintiff had warranted his title good to the slaves, when, (as defendant insisted,) at the time of the escape the man was not a slave. The third point of defence was, that a contract with the State of Ohio for the purpJia** of fugitive slaves, then within the Stat"* could not be sustained under our laws. In relation to the first point, it was held by Judge Key, that the testimony showed that the verbal representation* of oomplajasnt, ill regard to the la Li <ma existing between the mate and female slaves, were in accordance with the facts; that the statement in the bill of sale, that she was the wife of defendant, was mere matter j of description ; and also, that according to the usages prevail! g among slaves, she was properly described as his wife. It was held by the court, in regard to the second point, that it appeared from the testimony, that the m?le alave had once come to the city of Cincinnati, driving a wagon with his master, and had voluntarily returned on tbe same day?and that, although the slave might then, according to the rule* of law universally recognized in the courts of Ohio, have asserted his freedom, and could not have been compelled by his master to return ; yet that, having voluntarily returned, the tlalut or legal condition of the stave so returning to Kentucky, remained according to the decisions of the courts of that State, without change. Upon the third poin\ the court held that, jt having been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, in a case involving the same question, that the tlalut, or legal condition ot un aliped furtive from service, w*s to be viewed according tn the law of the Stite from ! which the escape waa made; and the ConstituI tion of the United States, and the act of Conj gress then in force (than which, at expounded by the Untied Stolen Supreme Owrt, thit court knew no higher law,) giving a right of recapture, such right of recapture was sufficient to sustain a contract of sale executed by the master in a a free State conveying fugitives, then io eoch free > State, to a citizen of such State. The court fartlier remarked, that the effect of such conveyance would he to place the fugitives at onoe in the condition of free persons, as completely aa any other citizens of Ohio. A decree waa accordingly rendered for tbe complainant for tbe amount of the mortgage n tea. Cholera at the VVebt.?'The St Louis Republican of the 34th ult. aaya that daring the ten days previous there had been fourteen deaths by cholera at Glasgow, Mo. At Lexington, in the same State, there had been eight deaths from the same c.ioae during the week previous. At Dubuque, in Iowa, there had huen eleven deaths during the week ending the 14th ult in wow pans or iiunoia n was raging mom*. At Waverly, in Morgan county. on* of the healthiest settlement* in the middle portion of the State, it had broken oat with frest rim* lento 'I'he Republican, of St. Losis, had a letter from there on the 24th ulL, elating that up to that time there had been in that small community from seventeen to twenty death*. Among the victims ar* named Dr. Chellen and son, and son's wiie, Dr. Mslone, Dr. Jliteheork, Mrs. Phelps, Mrs. Prim, Rer. Mr. McMurray and wife, and threo children, and Mr. Smith and wife, and three son*. The Repahliean adda that the sconrge is visiting this season many places which it had before spared, and neighb?rhond*, aa well ns town*, were offering up their victims. At PL Louis the disease had almoa'. entirely asbeided, the ernes being but scattering one*, and generally from off the boat* from the Sosth. At Opper Alton, 111., two brothera by the name of Roaaoll fmm Arkansas, attending the RaptisA college in that plaee, died on the 17lh ultimo, with cholera, and were buried at4h* *' same time. Ami-compromise men nt the North ecoompliah more by "nursing their wroth" then by enpending it at this time, yet no on* enppoeee the! the ating of their malignity haa been extracted, or that whenever opportunity shall occur, they will not let out upon thoae who were the ' friend* of the compromise from the beginning, the pent up volumes of their hostility.?Botto* Courier. Crstral Souther* Rights Assoctatto* or Virginia.?This HHsocietiori. at their last meet log, on the 18th ulL, (W. D. Leake, president pro teiu.,) invited a general convention of all the Southern rights associations in Virginia, to meet in Richmond on the ftrvt Monday in Osto- < ber next There are now fifteen hundred mem- < bers attached to the association in Rishmond. I