The Federal Constitution must be preserved," — jackson. A MISCELLANEOUS ESSAY ON THE POLITICAL PARTIES OF THE COUNTRY, THE RISE OF ABOLITIONISM AND THE IMPOUCI OF 81CM0N. BY R. R. BARROW NEW ORLEANS, L MARCHAND, PRINTER, U JEFFERSON STREET 1861. R. R. BARROW ON THE POLITICAL PARTIES OF THE COUNTRY. However much the American people may be attached to the perpetuity of this Union, it is useless to disguise the fact, that the concord and good- will which prevailed throughout the different States forty years ago have scarcely the shadow of an existence to-day. I need not refer further back than to the days of Jackson, when the whole nation simultaneously sided with the President against the nullifiers of South Carolina, and vehemently denounced John C. Calhoun and his confederates as miscreants and traitors, pronouncing the scaffold too mild a process of expiating their unpardonable crime. The feeling and views of the people, North and South, have under- gone a complete change ; and while we may differ in attributing the blame to the source winch wrought this change, there is no room for quibbling as the real existence of one great cause — aud one only — of all our present em- broilments. That cause is Hie inexcusable and unconstitutional interference of the Northern fanatics with the constitutional rights and individual interest* of the citizens of the slave States.. Now, which of the old original parties first dragged the subject of slavery into our State and national halls of legislation, and from there to the stump and pulpit? To which party's humanity did the Emancipation Society owe its birth — the great forerunner and parent of all the fanatical and treasonable isms with which our country has been cursed, and which now threaten to revolutionize and dismember the union of these States ? A momentary glance at the origin and career of the dif- ferent parties, past and present, will suffice to satisfy the most stoical of the culpability of the opponents to the Democratic party. The Democratic Republican party was founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and other patriots of the Revolution, during the presidency of General Washington. Having witnessed with regret the aristocratic and intolerant views of the elder Adams and Alexander Hamil- ton supplant the liberal and wholesome principles which were first inauger- ated into the new Government, these sages rallied to their rescue, and de- fended them against the combined assaults of the Tories and Federalists — the only two parties then known in this country — who accused the advo- cates of " equal rights to all white men,'' with being allies of the French Jacobites, and under the odious epithet of " Red Republicans," held them up to the ridicule and jeers of the populace. But Mr. Jefferson and his friends adopted a name more in conform it}- with their feelings and opinions, " Democratic Republican," and up to this hour the followers of these patriots bear this noble and significant appellation. The new party took immediate rank both among the masses and the political leaders of the time. At the close of President Washington's second term of office, Mr. Jefferson became the competitor of the great Federal apostle, John Adams, for the Presidency, but was defeated more through the influence of the Society of Cincinnati than by the superior qualifications of Mr. Adams, or the popularity of his principles. The tyrannical and anti-Democratic measures of the Federal party not only " damned it to everlasting fame," but imparted new life and strength to the principles of Mr. Jefferson, who was triumphantly elected President at the next election, over his formerly successful rival. For twenty-four years the Central Government remained under Democratic control, during which period the progress of the country, in population, wealth, and commerce is without a precedent in the history of the world. At the date of the party's defeat, (1824) it was considered almost invinsible even by it enemies; and nothing but the all-grasping ambition and pusilan- imous envy and treachery of many of its members, could have produced such a result. General Jackson, Judge Crawford and Henry Clay, were the Demo- cratic candidates in 1824 for President ; and John Q. Adams was the Fed- eral candidate. It was evident that Jackson was the people's choice, but having received only a plurality of all the electoral votes cast, it devolved upon the U. S. House of Eepresentatives to elect a President. Mr. Clay was then Speaker, and hating Jackson with an intensity entirely unworthy of his noble and liberal mind, he cast his vote and influence for Adams. The fair name of the great Clay is not yet clear of censure for this act. He was no longer recognized as a Democrat, nor did he manifest any regret through life for the part he took against Jackson, but rather gloried in it. Mr. Clay was no Federalist, and would not affiliate with that party unless the name and some of its unpopular principles were discarded. This led to a coalision between the opposing factions, which resulted in the formation of the Whig party. In this fusion, men of the most antagonistic views joined hands and labored for the same ends — to crush Jackson and the Democracy. A notorious Abolitionist and Federalist, John Quincy Adams, headed the conspiracy, arid was sustained by Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Hugh L. White, John C. Calhoun, George Poindexter, &c, &c, &c, all of whom imbibed a similar hatred to every Jacksonian or Democratic. But the power of this new fledged party was drawing to a close, and its expon- ents strained every nerve to render its measures acceptable to the people of both sections of the Confederacy. In the North the doctrine of slave eman- cipation was preached from the pulpit and stump, and societies for its pro- mulgation were established in the towns and cities. To planters of the South they promised redress for past grievances, and security in the future, but they had neither the ability nor inclination to fulfil either. The anger of the people was unbounded against those who defeated their favorite (Gen. Jackson), and in 1828 he was decisively elected President over his first opponent. A new state of affairs was inaugurated after the reigns of gov- ernment had passed from the imbecile and timerous sway of Adams and Whiggery to the energetic and fearless grasp of Jackson and his friends, 'jhe evils and abuses of Federalism, fomented and instilled into our gov- ernment by the Whigs under Adams' administration, were speedily eradi- cated, and the pure and unvarnished teachings of Jefferson, &c, substituted in their stead. But there was one evil sown among tne people of the North that had taken too deep root to be removed even by the active and unyield- ing energy of Jackson. That evil was the accursed influence of the Eman- cipation Societies. Petitions were presented to Congress praying for the curtailment of slavery; and several northern Whig members became so dis- couiteons in their tirades against this institution that they had to be expelled before business decorum could be restored. But the slavery question was then considered too unimportant and harmless for others than hypocritsand monomaniacs to assail. The Bank, Tariff, and Internal Improvements were questions which absorbed the special attention of Jackson's administration, and the onward and upward march the whole country made during his occupancy of the Presidential chair, convinces me that sectionalism has been as injurious to our common welfare as to our happiness and pea ?e. Foul- mouthed treason had few sympathisers then, as its seeds, sown by Feder- alism and Whiggery, had not yet taken a firm hold on the public mind ; but time was the only requisite to develop the tearful monster — Abolitionism — in all its present horrible proportions. Behold the august and insolent front it presents to-day, you old line Whigs who have worked side by side with it to overthrow the Democratic party, and to overwhelm, perhaps dismem- ber the Union, which your Clay, Webster, and Choate so earnestly and elo- quently sought to preserve. For your own future peace, I hope you are short-memoried, that those upraidings of conscience, which the guilty al- ways experience, may not be your portion, in the dark and turbulent future. Upwards of fifty years have elapsed since Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Rufus King and other prominent Federalists, organized the first Emancipa- tion Society in Albany, N. Y., that ever was established in the United States. To prove that the influence of this Society tended to Abolitionism, I mention that all the descendants of the above-mimed gentlemen are Black Republi- cans. Preston King, son of Rufus K., is the political friend and colleague of William II. Seward in the U. S. Senate ; the son of John Jay is the Epis- copalian minister who recently endeavored to abolitionize that highly honor- able and conservative denomination, but failed ; the descendants of Hamilton though less conspicious, are as rabid in their hostility to slaveiy as those of his renowned contemporaries. Nothing of consequence in the shape of sectional agitation occurred during the administration of Mr. Van Buren ; but the wires were dexter- ously laid by the dissatisfied and disappointed politicians of the opposing party. The Whigs perceived that a compromise and fusion with the Free Soilers would enable them to triumph over the Democrats in the ensuing presidential election, which they adroitly effected by nominating Wm. U. Harrison as their candidate. His election created much rejoicings among the Free Soilers, as they fervently expected Mr. II. would enable them to pro- pogate their treasonable doctrines. But it was not the will of Providence that he should live to encourage any ism which conflicted with his oath of office and the Constitution of his country. He expired on the 4th of April, 1S41, exactly one month from the day lie was iiiaugerated. His successor, John Tyler, though elected as a whig, administered the government more in accordance to the spirit and principles of the Democratic party than to those of the party which elevated him to power. He vetoed the Bank bill. and to the great discomforture of his former political friends, he signed the bill which admitted Texas into the Union. The campaign of 1844 was one of the most closely contested of which the history of the country bears any record. The Whigs declared that the admission of Texas would be equivalent to a declaration of war against Mexico — that a war with that country would be unjust, and contrary to the established policy of the United States— that the annexation of Texas would weaken the bonds of Union between the North and South, as it would i- give a wider field to slave labor, which, in the opinion of that party, the General Government was bound to curtail within its then extended limits, The foresight of the Democratic party was not less acute than that of the opposition. The country was prepared, aye, anxious for the war, despite the horrors and calamities which the Whigs declared be would the "fruits of such a damnable crusade." The Free Soilers, who invariably acted with the Whig party against the Democracy, at this juncture brought forward Mr. Gurney as their candidate for President. This was a death knell to the aspirations of Henry Clay; and the decline of the Whig party bears date from this period. Mr. Polk prosecuted the war with zeal and ability, while his enemies reviled him the more as the news of each new victory reached our shores. In Congress they voted against appropriating money to pur- chase clothing and food for our soldiers, hoping thereby to force us into an inglorious peace ; but the Democracy stood beside their chief, and saved our gallant army from starvation, and our country's honor. As a specimen of Whig-abolition hostility to the brave men who conquerred Mexico, freed Texas, and acquired the vast and wealthy territories of California and New Mexico, I quote the following clause from a speech of Thomas Corwin, delivered in the U. S. Senate in the winter of 1846-7 : " I hope that the Mexicans will welcome the American soldiers with bloody hands to hospit- able graves." In 1850 Mr. Fillmore took this jtraitor into his cabinet, and now he represents Ohio in Congress. He is just the man to represent a negro-thieving constituency, but honest men ought to oust him from among them. In the celebrated Gardner swindle he was criminally impli- cated, and nothing but his political standing saved him from prosecution by the Federal Government. At the conclusion of the war, the Whig pulse-feelers joined with the common herd in order to ascertain the current of popular sympathy. They soon perceived that the hero of Buena Vista was the favorite of all circles. The "old coon" dropped "Harry of the West," for " Rough and Ready." The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass, and the Free Soilers the renegade and wire-worker, Martin Van Buren. The Democrats thought that the competency of Mr. Cass would out-balance General Taylor's popularity, but in this they were mistaken. Taylor was elected President in 1848. He was totally ignorant of the affairs of government ; he nad never held a civil office, and for upwards of thirty-five years he did not vote. Written law he knew nothing about, and cared less. The arbitrary and tyrannical mili- tary code was his study and practice, and from it lie should have never been taken, to be made a tool of by political demagogues. The best that can be said of him and his brief administration is, that they done no harm. The Democrats anticipated a defeat, but the subterfuges and false colorings of Whigs plainly indicated that their party was on its "last legs." The rene- gade Democrats and Free Soilers that voted for Taylor, received all the cast-away crumbs of the spoils which Whigs would not have. The hero of several hard fought battles, found Washington a hotter place than any. He died before one-third of his term had expired ; and Mr. Fillmore succeeded him in office. His administration imparted new vitality and strength to Abolitionism, by taking its master-spirits into his Cabinet, and giving them the lion's share of the most honorable and lucrative offices. The most sagacious and wisest of the Whig statesmen foresaw the whirl- pool which threatened to submerge their party, and earnestly and eloquent- ly they entreated their followers to stand by the Constitution and see justice fairly done to each and every citizen of the Union, Had these admonitions been respected, the overthrow of the Whig party might have been post- poned fur a time, but its doom was sealed, and tall it must, sooner or later. The revolutionary and sectional dogmas of Seward, Corwin, Lincoln and others, were substituted for the orthodox teachings of the sages of the part)'; and in 1852 instead of placing a statesman in nomination for the Presidency, as Mr. Clay advised when on his death bed, they brought forward General Scott as their standard bearer. Franklin Pierce was the champion of the Democracy; and the radical fanatic, John P. Hale, was nominated by the Free Soilers. The result af the campaign emphatically showed that the people were not to be gulled a second time into the support of a military chieftain. The voice of 27 sovereign States recalled the Democracy to power; and no man since the days of Jackson entered upon the arduous duties of President with kinder wishes for his success than did Frank Pierce. At the opening of the 33d Congress, several Whigs threw aside the mask and took their position where they properly belonged — among the Aboli- tionists. This was the signal for the disbandonment of the Whig party, and it soon afterwards perished — tli^ victim of the numerous jarring elements •which composed it. The whig party being dead, buried and damned, the enemies of Democ- racy ransacked their craniums for a new name under which to sail their piratical craft. The pick-pockets and black-legs ot our cities came to the aid of one wing, and hypocritical preachers, school teachers, and strong- minded women, hatched up a name for the other. Those under the guid- ance of the pick-pockets, cyjc, betook themselves to garrets, barns, &c, and formed secret political societies, with a ritual as bloody and proscriptive as that af the Jesuits. Oaths were administered to its members, and grips and pass-words were instituted to exclude outsiders. This party was known in its day by the name of Know Nothing. Its avowed mission was to dis- franchise the Catholics and adopted citizens, and monopolize all the fat offices. In truth, its originators had neither character nor position. They used the revolver aud bowie-knife to convince the wavering and slay the obstinate. They resembled a band of incarnate fiends, let loose as a scourge upon the earth, more than beings endowed with feeling, sympathy and reason. The second branch of the opposition was dubbed by its founders — the Re- publican party : but from their mock sympathy with the slave, and their dark and hell-born hatred to the slaveholder, the Democracy improved upon their name by 1 qualifying it with the word u black ; " and now their title, suggestive of their principles, reads: "The Black Republican party." In the North these factions fused, and made a clean sweep at every State, Congressional and municipal election, so that at the opening ot the 34th Con- gress the Democratic party found itself in a very decided minority in the House of Represenatives. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill the pre- vious Ided fresh fuel to the lire, and furnished our enemies in the Free States with uncrontrovertable evidence that the Democratic party aimed at the equalization of the North and South. This completely revolutionized the political feelings of every Northern State, and thousands who heretofore rejected the principles of Black Republicanism as treason now embraced them with an enthusiasm amounting to frenzy. Fanaticism raged with all the fury of a mania, and invectives of the most bitter and personal nature were hurled at the friends and supporters of the bill, both from the stump and pulpit. To counteract the benefits and privileges which its passage secured the South, emigrant aid societies were established in all New England cities and towus; inonev, amunition and arms were gratuitously furnished to all who would go to Kansas and resist Southern emigration. Thousands Hocked thither and enrolled themselves under the blood-stained and piratical banners of John Brown, Montgomery and Jim Lane. With what fidelity these murderers and assassins fulfilled their hell- born mission heaven alone knows, but for this enlightened age, the inumerable massacrees perpetrated by these bands of human butchers were horrible to comprehend. It could not be surpassed by a St. Domingo massacree, and undoubtedly would be considered incredible by the present generation were we not, so to speak, eye-witnesses to their execution. It is a lamentable fact that their aiders and abettors were princi- pally men who formerly ranked high as whigs — who in 1848 and 1852 stood upon platforms which recognized all that the Kansas-Nebraska bill guranteed to the South, as just and equitable. Political apostacy may be deemed a virtue in such Whig- Abolitionists as Seward, King and Smith, of N. Y. ; Collamer and Foote, of Vermont ; Wilson, Burlingame and Thayer of Massachusetts ; Fessenden, of Maine ; Wade, G-iddings and Corwin, of Ohio ; Botts, of Va. ; Bell and Etheridge, ofTenn. ; Bates, of Mo. ; Wilmot, of Pa. ; and numerous others, when their nefarious and treasonable warfare against the peace of their country is taken into consideration. The Know Nothing party North suffered a premature death from affilia- ting and sympathisizing with Black Republicanism; while the remanent South, dubbing themselves Americans, fell back upon the time-worn doc- trines of Whiggery and Federalism, and battled for their supremacy with a zeal worthy of a better cause. During the administration of Mr. Pierce, murder, riot and rapine ruled the country, and for the suppression of which there was no available remedy at the command of the executive. The Pres- idential election was approaching, the enemies of Democracy resorted to every means in their power, however trivial and base, to deceive the masses as to the real instigators of these disturbances. The Know Nothings had the cheek to hold our party accountable for riots which had recently occurred in the principal cities of the Union ; and the Black Republicans, with equal sangfroid, said that the Democrats were responsible for all the blood shed in the Kansas broils. These accusations neither intimidated nor astonished the executive or his friends, as they relied upon the intelligence of the people to exculpate them from such charges. In the spring of 1856 a union between the Southern and Northern Know- Nothings was attempted, but without success. The convention assembled at Philadelphia, and after many ineffectual attempts at a nomination for the Presidency, it dispersed never to convene again as a national party. In the Southern delegation there were Catholic delegates whom the Northern ritual positively excluded ; and again, their opinions upon the subject of slavery so intensly conflicted as to render harmony utter impossible. The Northern wing joined the Black Republicans in the nomination of John C. Fremont, while the Southern made one more display of their hardihood in bringing forward Milliard Fillmore as their candidate for the Presidency. The Dem- ocrats nominated the present incumbent of the executive chair, James Buch- anan, and the opposing parties could trump up nothing too indecent and malignant in the way ot fabrications and epithets with which to assail his private and political character. But the people had not yet fallen into the vor- tex of fanaticism so deep as to be wholly blindfold sd by such billingsgate. Mr. Buchanan, was triumphantly elected by a decisive majority over both his competitors. Nevertheless, the vote received by Fremont showed that the brotherly feeling which existed from the fonndation of the Federal Govern- ment up to that time between the North and South was destroyed forever, and that the unprecedented increase of abolitionism forewarned the South to be prepared for the worst. She saw that her rights in the union wei\" threat- ened, nay, assailed by a majority of the people of the North, and the only alternative left for her to chose between oppression and disunion, was to unite and resist to the death the aggressions and usurpations of her unrelenting en- imies. The 35th Congress opened with brighter prospects for the Democratic party and the interests of the South, than had been known for many )#ars previous. The General Government was completely under Democratic rule, and a more propitious period for the peaceful adjustment of national affaire never in the history of the Government presented itself. The new executive had his hands full to suppress insurrection in Utah; besides three territories were knocking at the doors of Congress for admission into the Union as sov- ereign States — Kansas, Minnesota & Oregon. The intelligent reader is aware that perfect harmony had to exist among the friends of the administration, if they expected to succeed against the opposition. In the lower house of Congress we had barely a majority, and any defection among the Democrats would defeat the party. A 1 ill for the admission of Kansas, together with the Constitution, which had been recently ratified and adopted by a direct vote of the people of that territory, was presented in the Senate by Mr. Green of Missouri, and to the unutterable astonishment of men of all parties, it was strongly opposed by Senator Douglas, who was then Chairman of the Committee on Territories. It was visible that his opposition arose from sel- fish instead of patriotic motives, as his term of office was drawing to a close. The State which he represented in the United States Senate had undergone a complete revolution in political sentiment. He fought its passage inch by inch in the Senate, but with little effect, as it passed that body, without a dissenting voice from any other Democrat except that of Stewart of Michi- gan and Pugh of Ohio. When it reached the House, the man of "small pro- portions" and 'indomnitible pluck," had his clan marshalled, and gave them instructions to vote with the Black Republicans against the bill. They ac- cordingly done so, and the administration was defeated at the onset by the very man upon whom it based its chief reliance, and whose orthodoxy was as unimpeachable, up to that hour, as that of the President's. The news of Douglas' treachery fell like a thunder-bolt upon the ears of the unsuspec- ting people of the South. What, their favorite and champion false to all his former declarations and positions, impossible ! The rumor was t reated as false and malicious by at least nine-tenths of the people; and I confess, as his warm friend for past services, in staunchly defending Democratic principles anu suppressing Whiggery, that I was slow to believe its correctness my- self. But facts are stubborn things, and in this instance they were so direct and self-sustaining as to force conviction down our reluctant throats. The hold which this political Iscariot had upon the sympathies of the people was not yet entirely sundered. His opposition to the admission of Kansas would have been overlooked, had he not enunciated the odious and baneful doc- trine of Squatter Sovereignty, which in reality is but another name for Ab- olitionism. Mr. Douglas having thus fallen from the lofty position of a sound, national and consistent statesman, and the acknowledged leader of the great Democratic party, to a level with the despicable and groveling political gam- blers, who place a higher value upon self-promotion and agrantiizement than upon their integrity as public servants and patriotic citizens, his admirers and friends at the South generally abandoned him to the fate which his hery had carved out for him. His celebrated Harper's Magazine article 8 followed his treason in the United States Senate, and on the stump in Illi- nois; and if any doubts yet remained in the Southern mind as to his defini- tion of Squatter Sovereignty, this article completely eradicated them. He emphatically declared that a territorial legislature possessed the indisputable right to abolish slavery from its limits, the decision of the Supreme Court to the contrary, notwithstanding. This avowal won to his support the en- tire Democratic party North, with a few honorable exceptions, while it con- vinced the South of his perfidy. The few among us who still clung to his fortunes were principally men of his own stripe, political desperadoes and mountebanks, who would sacrifice friendship, honor, and even country, for office and its spoils. The leading measures of Mr. Buchanan's adminis- tration have furnished him and his friends ample opportunities to evince their opposition, which they have embraced with an eagerness unequalled by the most rabid Abolitionists. The magnanimity of the southern Senators and Representatives in Con- gress was nobly displayed when Oregon and Minnesota applied for admission into the Union as sovereign States. Their Constitutions positively prohib- ited slavery, and their admission would increase the represenative strength of their enemies in both branches of Congress, but this the members from the South knew to be no valid objection, and having been always actu- ated by a patriotic attachment to the Constitution aud a desire for the en- forcement of all laws which coincide with that instrument, they forgot their prejudices and self-interests, and voted as a body for the admission of these States, which have already turned their batteries against the South and her institutions. Prom some strange cause the Black Republicans were opposed to their admission. Is not the contrast most striking between the friends of Minnesota and Oregon and the opponents to the admission of Kan- sas under the Leeompton Constitution? But it is easily accounted for. The Southern men were governed by their sense of duty and respect for the Con- stitution, while those from the North were swayed by selfishness, and prej- udice to everything Democratic or Constitutional. Again the period had arrived for politicians to busy themselves about the forthcoming Presidential Campaign. In the North there seemed to have been but one choice among the so called Democratic Party, and that choice was the arrant appostate and wire-puller, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois. The time specified for the assembling of the Charleston Convention was near at hand, and already the various States had nominated their respective delegates. The South was divided between James Guthrie and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, Daniel S. Dickinson of New York, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, &c, &o. Douglas had also a few supporters from this quarter. The convention met at Charleston on the 23d of April last, and in scanning its proceedings to-day, I am reminded more of the Rump Parliament which Cromwell dissolved, than of any other deliberative body. One hun- dred and fifty delegates from abolition States endeavored to force a man upon the convention upon whom the Southern or Democratic States could place no reliance. The South from her knowledge of Mr. Douglas' political character, could not in justice to herself support him for the Presidency. His friends were fully aware of this fact; and if they desired the harmony of the Conven- tion and the partiy's success why did they not remove the only impediment to both, by withdrawing his name as a candidate for the Presidency. Their tenacity in blockading the proceedings of that body with his name, strength- ened the prevailing impression among the Southern Delegates, that they had sold themselves and their party to the Black Republicans. The two-third having been adopted at Charleston, upwards of .seventy ball before the Convention saw how futile their efforts were inatioa. I have every reason to believe that were it not for the few i seekers and demagogs who drew the wool over the eyes of the Lou;.- Democracy in having themselves nominated as delegates, that the harm of the Convention would ha\ stored. These men rayed their constituency were old I erats, and personal enemies of Mr Slidell. By misrepresent] they encouraged his friends from t] e Northin their i liile, in open Convention backed by Ids fellow intrigues, pledged Louisiana to cast her vote for Douglas by an overwhelming majority. The sequal has proven that he has scarcely a corporal's guard of political frieu and that the influence and standing of these men at home, are anything but dangerous or enviable. The Delegations from seve coming disgusted with the arrogance and obstinacy uglasites, with- drew from the Convention andappi i 9th of June for the assembling ol a Southern Convention at Richmond, Va.. which for some obscure reason aever convened. Thefriends of Douglas seemed to labor under the delusion that the South might eventually acquiesce to his nominati adjourned to meet at Baltimore on the 18th of June. No better si at tended the eilbrts of this convention, and after exhausting the; and influence the Southern Delegates withdrew, bes from the Northern States, and formed themselves into as ouvention. This body represented every Democrat and its nominees should certainly have been regarded by all good Democrats as having the claims upon thfcir stffferages. John C. Breckenridge cf K nom- inated for President and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice I The Douglas wing of the Convention of course chose their idol as their bearer, and awarded to Senator Fitzpatriek. of Alabama, the I ce on the ticket, an honor which that gentleie 1 eagerly accepted by Ilershel V. Johnson, of Georgia —a "liber and less good sense. In the meantime, the Black Republican Convention had ass Chicago in May, and nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, for President, and Hanibal I'lamhiin, of Main, for Vice President Tb form purely seeional in its tenor, and red upon the rights o South. A total disrespect was manifested in all its proceedings iov the Fed- eral Constitution; and their candidates pledged themselves in accepting nominations tendered them, that if elected, they would efcfori - y un- derstood it, and not as the Supreme Court had construed it. In short un- compromising hostility to slavery and everything Southern, main plank in this party's platform. The succ .principles would pi the rights of the South at the mercy oi her eu ■ ed her to unite upon one candidate and by the aid of her friend.- at the X be enabled to overthrow the abolition myriads who men privileges, and who would certainly destroy them should the power be ever placed in their hands. But having been victimized and deceived by unprin- cipled men, her people become devided and mistrustful of e -nd, following in the wake of their respective leaders, they oontrit it as largely to their own defeat as did the sup Lincoln. "A "new party rose from the ashes of the old lin . Noth- ing, alias American, alias Opposition, and dubbing themselves the Constitu- tional Union Party, met in Baltimore early in June, they adopted 10 stitution of the United States, as their platform, and nominated the old fogies and Free Soilers, John Bell, of Tenn., and Edward Everett, of Mass. . fo°the offices of President and Vice President. The evasive manoeverings of the men who composed this convention recall to mind many of the sharp dodges of Whiggery, and one is constrained to suggest the substitution of the ' 'Fox" for the "Coon" as the true emblem of the new party. What assurance had the people of the South from these men that they would place the proper construction upon the Constitution and Laws ? Their political history made them friends and allies of Seward, Chase, Sumner, Wilson, Giddings, Wade, &c., &c, and pending the recent campaign John Bell declined to an- swer a few' simple questions propounded to him by a gentleman from Miss- issippi, touching the subject of slavery. As for myself, I was convinced of Mr. B's anti-slavery proclivities in a conversation I had with him last Summer. He said that slavery was a great moral and political evil, and that we must do the best we can with it. He was also opposed to its further extension ; and from the general tone of his conversation he seemed to regard it as a great moral and political wrong. I heard him deliver himself of a speech the following day, after which I pronounced him to be a Black Republican in feeling and principles, and opposed to the South and her interests as much as Seward and Lincoln. I have used all honorable means in my power, to enlighten the people as to his real sentiments on this issue. After the result the late election became known, a gentleman of New Orleans called upon Bell at Nashville, Tenn., and after transacting some private business with him, he asked, if there was any truth in the rumor, that Lincoln had tender- ed him a seat m his Cabinet, and if so, did he intend to accept it? Bell replied that he would accept the office, as he believed Mr. Lincoln to be a sound conservative man, and that he was about to correspond with h ; m upon the subject. This circumstance is known to Bell's friends in New Orleans, and they do not doubt its veracity. The people should be acquainted with the precise opinions of all men who aspire to political honors, and if they decline to furnish such information, they forfeit all claims to the suffrage of the people. John Bell would be the last man in the United States whom I would trust to preside over a free people, without having him bound by the most sacred pledges, to a written code of principles ; and even then I would be doubtful of their faithful fulfilment. I am better satisfied with the elec- tion of Lincoln, than I would have been had Bell been the successful man. True, our financial and commercial affairs are somewhat embarrassed ; but they will brighten and improve when the present " gust " has subsided. The campaign fairly commenced, the foresight of a prophet was not re- quired to predict which party would triumph. Our enemies in the North were united as one man upon Lincoln, while the South was rent into three distinct factions, and each claiming the palm as her true friends and cham- pions. Many well-meaning men were deluded by the spread-eagle stumpers of Douglas and Bell, to abandon the cause of the true Democracy, and to enlist under the Ding-dong and Squatter banners — thus furnishing the whir) which now scourges themselves, and the rope which is to hang them. All attempts to unite the South upon Mr. Breckinridge having failed, his friends calmly awaited their defeat. The North, with 183 electoral votes, went for Lincoln ; while the South, with only 120 electoral votes, was divided : — For Breckinridge, 11 States, or 73 electoral votes; Bell, three States, or 39 electoral votes ; Douglas, 1 State, or 8 electoral votes. Thus it will be seen, that had Mr. Breckinridge carried all the Southern States, he would still lack 32 votes of having a majority in the electoral college. The friends of 11 Slate Rights, North and South, had they united, they could have elected their man, and saved the country all the present trouble. The Douglas and Bell men are responsible for the results. Douglas, who impudently asserted throughout his late stumping tour that he was the regular nominee of the Democratic party, and that Breckinridge was a bolter, has had his ambitious pretensions nipped in the bud by being the worst-whipped man that was placed in nomination for the Presidency. And John Bell must also feel hi'jhty flattered at the decided endorsement his love for the Union received from the people. Mr. Breckinridge, though defeated, has the proud consola- tion of having received the cordial support of all true national and Southern men — showing their confidence in his political honesty and statesmanship. Lincoln is elected, and the question is pertinently broached as to the pro- per course for the South to pursue. South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ala- bama and Texas are making active preparations to secede, and companies of Minute Men arc being formed in all the slaveholding States. While the latter precaution meets with my hearty approbation," I think the States above-named are too hasty in their movements. It will be as easy to secede four months hence as to-day ; and it is no more than right to give the pi time for reflection before precipitating them into a bloody revolution — father against son and brother against brother. Even I have not yet discerned the benefits which immediate secession would best,w upon the South. When they are shown to me, I say, by all means, let us secede; but until then, T shall advise moderation. I thing our rights are more secure iri the T than (hey would be were we a separate confederacy, depending upon our r sources for protection. I judge that about one to every five of those blue cockade gentry would "come to the scrath," if summoned. The loudest boasters ace the poorest fighters. In the event of secession, Canada will at the very doors of the border Slave Slates, and to protect tJ na invasions, we would have to station armed forces along the frontier — more than iwo thousand miles in length; and our boundless sea coast would also have to be guarded by a large and powerful navy. To carry i tral Government, together with its necessary and precautionary appendages require an enormous annual outlay. I fear the experiment would would only be of a few years' duration, and would finally explode in irrc- trevable bankruptcy of the whole South. We have not yet experienced the burthensomc taxation, or galling dospotism, of European governments ; and though we may escape the latter evil, the former is bound to fall upon us, if we secede. Free Trade with all nations has ever been a favorite principle with the cotton States, and if the contemplated Southern Confederacy ap- prove of it, the sugar planters will be ruined, as they cannot compete with the West Indies. Believe me, we can better repel the encroachments of the Abolitionists as we are now situated, than when we have released them from the com- pact entered into over 70 years ago, between the patriots of both sections of the Confederacy. Many who now feel themselves bound by this compact to respect our rights, will then be at liberty to operate as they please. I say, while we have them muzzled, let us keep them so, and if any succeed in getting it off, and try to bite, let them be shot down as dogs. It appears to me that the advocates of secession are the real submissionists after fairly balancing the profits and losses of the movement to the South. They wish a majority to surrender to a minority the most improved and wealthy portion of the Union; we wish to give this minority nothing but kicks and blows, for assailing our rights and committing treason against the 12 Ponstitution. Ail white persons, born or naturalized under IL S. lawSj a,-. citizen?, provided they have ■not hcen guilty of treason,- felony, or Wee criminal offenses, or become citizens or subjects of foreign nations. Now, I contend that Abolitionists are not citizens of the United States, because they are traitors to its laws; and the idea of giving into their hands the great cities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco, on the sea-board, and Buffalo, Chicago. Detroit, Cleveland, Mihvaalki, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, &c, scattered along the lakes, rivers and railroads of the North, is too ridiculous to admit of expostulaton or argument. As a citizen of the United States, I am opposed to submit any portion of it to abolition, tory or alien rule. All of these cities have been built up and enriched by Southern capital, and the South by leaving the Union, not only looses the principal and interest of this investment, but she furnishes her enemies with the means and power to injure her ten-fold more than ever. I do not view secession as treasonable or unrighteous, and never justifi- able; on the contrary, I think it impolitic and uncalled for as things now stand. But when we ascertain that we cannot maintain our rights in the Union, it becomes the imperative duty of the Southern States to harmonize and withdraw en masse. Unanimity must precede secession, and if this cannot be gained we may well dispair of ever succeeding in organizing our- selves into a unit, for our common protection and prosperity. Let none insist on this dread alternative, that will not also insist upon taking every inch of slave territory along with us. Let us run a boundary line from the mouth of the Ohio at Cairo, up the Mississippi, and along its tributaries which divide Wisconsin from Minnesota,, until we reach lake Superior and the British possessions, and all the territory, including the river, on the west side, shall be ours — this being the original Louisiana Purchase, Then let the Ohio river, including it, be the boundary between the slave States, Vir- ginia and Kentucky, and the free States, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and all the territory on the eastern side shall belong to us. Then let us break off all commercial and social relations between the two sections by prohibiting the free navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by steam- boats laden with northern pruduce, manufacture, &c. Forbid our seaports to their ships, and themselves to traverse our territory. Thus we can oper- ate upon the ran 'It point in the Yankee character, and make them curse the day they first meddled with our rights. ~ There is no object gained in trying to convince these whining agitators that the condition of the negro is better as a slave in the South than as a freeman in the North, or in Africa. This they all know as well as ourselves. Therefore, it is obvious that they have no sympathy with the slave, and that they seek only to deceive the masses at the ballot box, and to overthrow our present liberal form of government, that they may rear up a more intol- erant one, thereby making the aristocratic and wealthy more powerful, and the poor and destitute more dependent and abject. Nations and individuals of all ages have had to sacrifice part of their natural rights, for the benefit of society and their own safety; and pray, why should the negro be exempt from a rule so ancient and universal In his own country he is but one de- above the brute; and it takes a life time of ceaseless watching and tui- ion to fender him passive and useful. That nature has placed the stamp of 'ority upon the blade race, is admitted by all; that they are incapable govern and otherwise act for themselves, even when educated in the highest branches of civilization, lias been conclusively proven in the attempt ■Ionize Liberia; that the disposition, customs and habits of the whit* 13 and biack races differ so widely as to rend'T i( necessary, for the wehai both, that one must govern the other. T fttellect, intelligence an^ moral culture, declare that race the raosl tt to rule. Having an interest in hi " s, and being .1 slaveholder my whole life, I will give my treatment as a sample of how they are treated in the South. I feed* clothe and lodge them better than are thousands of poor families at the Nortjj. Every Northern man who visits my plantation de? elares so. and my own observation, when North, corroborates with this declaration. They arc never inhumanly punisl | : by Northern over- seers, who are always discharged when the fact is known. When'sick, they have good medic:.! attendance, and are nursed with all possible care, ii married. I furnish them houses and gardens, and various kinds seeds. A\. to raise for themselves. Their respect and attachment to myself and family arc the best evidences of their happiness and contentment. The sympathy which exists between master and slave, is contrite and pure; and the incar- llers who try to mar it. must be related to Attn who first drove man to sin. and a just God will doom them to as lasting a punishment. If " Passing events cast their shadows before," the Abolitionists might as well try to prevent the sun from rising on the morning of the 4th of next March, as to prevent the secession of the Southern States. All that we ask now. or ever did ask is. that our eights must be respected by the people of the North. "We not only respect theirs, but ouf delegates to Coiv_ have invariably voted for laws protecting them-. All their industrial pursuits Bach as ship-building, cloth and cotton factoring, iron working, cod fishing, Ac., Ac. arq pi ,d Government, at an enormous expense to the South, and yet avc have never complained. If Abraham Lincoln is allowed to be inaugerated President, with a majority of over 300.000 of the popular vote against him. before we are >st healthy and desirable places to live on this continent, by establishing a strict quarantine to exclude the Yellow Fever, &e. Her inland commercial resources excel these of any other city on the globe. All the produce, &c, of the Ohio and Mississippi Vallies must be brought to this city, as it is the nearest and most accessable market and sea-port to these fertile regions. And further, the vast extent of Southern territory yet unoccupied, must, in time, increase our wealth, influence and importance among the nations of the earth, beyond the most extravagant calculations of the present generation. That portion of the old Whig party which refused to affiliate with the Abolitionists or Know Nothings, but joined the Democracy in defending the rights of all < >ur citizens, native and adopted, have changed the preju dice and mistrust I formerly harbored againt them into sincere admiration and re- spect. Their alliance enabled us to postpone the present conflict, and now, as it has come, I hope they will stand shuulder to shoulder with us through- out the struggle, and enable us to rescue the good old ship of state from the clumsy, and unscrupulous politicians that are now commanding her. This age will be as celebrated in American history, for office-seeking demagogues and traitors, as the preceding one was for patriots and statesmen: and this, I think, fully accounts for the present, distracted c mdition of the nation. A statesman like Jefferson, Madison, or Jacks. >n, could yet save the Union; but, alas, wo have none such! Therefore; I would beseech the people to take the matter into their own hands before it is too late. The supporters of Bell and Douglas, that is, the wromineut ones, will never receive from me the right hand of fellowship, until I am fully convinced that they have re- pented for suppling these men. I shall always view them as snakes in the grass, ready to inflict a poisonous wound whenever they catch us nap- ping. The mode of initiation is laid down in my platform, and if they pass through that ordeal unscathed, they may with safety be admitted. Against the masses, who were deceived into the support of Douglas and Bell, I en- tertain no enmity whatever, but I would suggest to them to be on their guard in the future, and not permit themselves to be decoyed from the fold by wolves in sheeps' clothing. ] have noticed several disgusting and insultiag paragraphs, taken from Abolition papers, ridiculing the idea of the Soiithfsrn-States seceding and insinuating that we dare not resist the aggressions of the North or the army and navy of the federal Government when at the disposal of an ab- olition President, and used by him to enforce the traitorous and damnable decrees of his party. Let us see from which side comes this 'buncumb' and bravado, which these Bcurrolous sheets assert as being characteristic of Southerners. I distinctly remember when South Carolina equipped and armed her citizens, in 1S33, to resist an unjust tariff which actually reduced the price of cotton nearly $40 per bale. The people bore without a murmur the exorbitant extra taxation of over $500,000, to help bear expenses and would not ground their arms until a satisfactory compromise was agreed upon. And pray, will not a united South, composed of fifteen South Caro- liuas, be equally willing to undergo a similar taxation, to resist an unprin- cipled abolition Executive ? Most certainly she will; and to subdue her it will require more forces than the government at Washington can summon to its aid, including the swarms of Wide- Awakes, that have pledged them- selves to guard Lincoln at the Capital, and to quell all attempts' made at secession by the South. Compel the South to recognize Lincoln as her le- -/'iuiate ruler! is the cry of such abolition sheets as'the Chicago Democrat —the organ of Lincoln and the Illinois Wide-A wakes, and edited by the notorious libertine and vulgar scribbler. John Wentworth. mayor of the mushroom city of Chicago, and the originator of licensing houses of prostitu- tion. In a recent editorial article, this Shanghi cockatrice wants to know if the South "won't eat dirt," by retracting all she has said regarding seces- sion, her rights, &c. If "Long John" will cross Mason & Dixon's line and repeat his interrogatory, he will be answered after the manner Virginia served his double— John Brown. But the cowardly braggart dare not°risk his ungainly carcase upon our soil; no, nor dare Abraham Lincoln even visit Kentucky— his native State— lest a similar "hospitality " might await him there. His position is without a precedent in the history of civilized nations. Elected by a fanatical minority, through the imperfection of our federal election laws, to preside over a people, two-thirds of whom would hang him on sight as a traitor, he will have the impudence, no doubt, to make good his pretensions to the Presidential chair, and thus bring revolu- tion and ruin upon his country. If he is for the perpetuation and peace of the Union, as his friends allege, why does he not resign in favor of some conservative Northern man ? The fact is, he is the originator of the " irre- pressible conflict," — "a house divided against itself cannot stand," is his motto— an 1 he will surely put it to the test the first opportunity offered him after his inaugeration. " The South must sul unit to abolition rule or secede," is the prevailing opinion among the friends of Southern rights; but it never has been mine, because I think both these calamities can be averted. Yes, when the tongue and pen have failed to convince these dogged and merciless less antagonists to our just demands, let us resort to the sword, and face to face upon their own soil, and at their own thresholds, let us confront them. If unanimity of purpose, and a determination not to submit, prevail among us we must succeed, though not one Northern friend should come to our°aid'. The liberty of the press was never prostituted more basely than in the recent Presidential campaign. The Washington Intelligencer, for instance, after pursuing a lake-warm course for thirty years, has at last taken a stand among the rank and file of our enemies. It has several imitators in the Southern States, but more especially in Louisiana. The N. O. Picayune is i -iiake in the grassland the Bulletin, Bee, and Crescent, jia\c openlj though indirectly, contributed their influence to insure Lincoln's election. The Crescent, however, has recanted since the election, but T Question the motives which now actuate it, or those whose mouth-piece it is - If t.iu-y unite with us to resist our common enemy, it Is well; but if their inveterate hatred to the Democratic party has prompted them to act with us now, that they can more eifectually break' up our party hereafter, and Strengthen! their own, they will find themselves cheek-mated the first move they make. You are watched, gentlemen, and the first false step you m'ike, the docts of our party will be closed against you forever. You iray shriek disuion of the States until you grow black in the lace, (and 1 think you do that now on account of its popularity,) but the first whimper you breathe derogatory to the Southern Rights Democracy, overboard you go. Are the Abolitionists, mock-philanthropists and nigger-worshippers aware of the fact that in case the South secedes from the Union, she will immediately open the African Slave Trade? Are they aware that they will be denied the free navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi river, Hon. John Slidell's word to the contrary, notwithstanding? Are they aware that we can live without them, and that they cannot without us? The Black Republican leaders have known these things all the time, but their uncon- querable avarice and ambition have made them blind to the true interests or their section and constituents. I firmly believe that a majority of the peo- ple north are opposed to interfering with our rights, and that ii the question was fairly submitted to them to-day : " Shall the constitutional rights of the South be recognized by the repeal of all obnoxious State laws," that they would decide the question in the affirmative by a large majority. They commence already to taste the bitterness of their folly, and would now un- do what they had done last November, had they the power. See Boston; the home of Burlingame, Sumner, Phillips; Garrison, and a host Of other notorious Abolitionists, a couple of weeks ago elected a Democrat mayor, by over 3000 majority. If they are sincere in this reformation, it is wrong that the many should suffer for the few. But I do not mean by this that the South should submit to Lincoln, or be less determined in maintaining her rights. I mean that we should give the northern Conservatives one more trial, by joining us in compelling Lincoln to resign, and then let them erase from the statute books of all the free States, those laws which conflict with the Federal Constititution and our rights and privileges as their fellow citizens of a common country. We should know that the Northern people are taught to view slavery as a crime against man and a sin against lie- ven. and whenever they manifest liberal views, it is our interest to encourage them, as nature as made us their neighbors and brethren, and so they will remain, whether we do or do not secede. Were I a U. S. Senator from this State, and I came witliin scenting dis- tance of William IT. Seward, even in the Senate chamber, I would com* mence spitting, as I generally do when I come in contact with a putrilicd carcase of acarion, and if he approached me too closely (three feet) I would, spit upon him, and as Ward says, I would spit all around and about htm ; and if the Senate, in defense of its dignity and decorum, thought proper to ex- pel me, I would cheerfully return home, believing myself and State more honored than disgraced by such an expulsion. 1 consider no man, whether Senator, Representative, or private citizen, worthy of my esteem, who would treat Seward or any of hia Confederates with the respect due to gen- tlemen. A bold, linn and honest political opponent has always redeeming 17 ■■■i elicit our admiration- i ,]j nir rrrectioriary, blaek-hearte ,,„, ]ike ^ ™g ►team the scale of hum; fi e to his conn, SWddefierTf air he 3 - nipt and ) . half of th mciples, or biding up the |» btohed upon earth, , Sontonpki all^enorthemSb = i; ^ c {** n g< ndefroihthe official vote of I enSal vl, ; ,r,i :"- . I?l J: : ' r ,'- ; - - and Bell, combined, receivTdmore ta the South, f] J ' ! - the wbble Imon. they have* Sajo^S l'"r nd1 ' ? ' Lincoln^ majority of 31 in our W Ou ^ther the work of the federal el, • ion hw winch are the most unjust and ^Democratic contained m ourWk^S e f e ; ft »J™ tablet* elect members of Coo< Presidendd J tfnsmanuer, and I think, it would be as honest a re^estntltion '' "• n ' ,!l 'V ,^'"' ' 'to repeal these eS^law^ o^ble «*j ade of our oresen toMfficuS into which they have plunged us,) and adopt new ones en now" he , to vote for electors as they do for Congressmen, and jllacTSenuhh! canism will have received its death blow. Opposition to Southern Sit - bona has reached the summit of its power in the North, and if he U in was wort!, preserving in the days of Calhoun, Jackson, Clav and Weteter certainly it m to-day. Ifa ?ltei , h , ]lt ^ magnet-fheXwS -ground which these sages and patriots rallied when danger ShwSSSdS overthrow, ca Is upon all who prke civil and religious liberty abote priest craft aed regal oppression, to bury their prejudices and wro^ for ! me however pvwus, and to unite under the banner which has wave 1 for more than eighty years over our common destiny, and march to the re4 e The pollu ting bands of traitors are about to seize it, and pervert tThXteaoh logs horn the* ongmal channel. Shall the South be so puerile and £££ as to quietly surrender up this sacred instrument into 1 the USS^S arch enemies r Men of the South, it has kept vigil, like a Saf-aneeL for two-third of a century over your rights, and it 'will continue to ten still, if you will only preserve it in its primative form a* Vnnr f ♦£ framed it and transmitted it to your keeping Bv ever vThint 7 i ^ pa*, dear in the present, and ^i^lh^Tfe^ 1 ^ and i need be, grapple in deadly conflict with the' mutual enemas o t Constitution and your own rights. It is to low and Lav to let f L i us out of the Lnion, without our knowing «wha th ^lo i wi ™ ^ Union is not what I am after-the Federal Constitution and S'n ^ B*ll are * the apples - of my eyes; and if there is t^be a dlvL'n o^^ m Union, let those States wh'eh violate its laws dforrially, and spit upon H§ Constitution on every occasion,, withdraw. The Vermont Legislature have' refused to repeal her obnoxious and unconstitutional enactments, and, coa- gequently, she has ruled herself beyond the pale of the Union. South Caro- lina, having become disgusted with abolition insolence, and the tardiness of her sister slave States, renounced whatever allegiance she owed or formerly acknowledged to the Federal Government, on the 20th of December, She has acted nobly, though, in my opinion, too hasty ; while the puny, steriie and puritanical State of Vermont, has displayed a spirit for agitation, in words only — the Yankee way of settling disputes — which resemble that of a com- mon cur dog barking at a full-blooded mastiff, I love this Union so dearly, that I would rejoice to witness the submersion of all the New England States in the Atlantic ocean, excepting, of course, all the good and upright people residing there, I am grieved to learn that South Carolina could not await the action of the slave State Conventions, which are soon to convene. But as she has hoisted the Palmetto Flag, unaided and alone, she has my warmest sympathy for her prosperity. She had the right to secede, as all the States have, and if the step was unwise, she will be the first to learn the fact. You gabbling, unprincipled politicians, behold the commencement of your office-seeking " buncumb," and hatred to Democracy, and tremble S The people of the South, in their respective vocations, have made a dis- play of their hatred to Lincoln, since his election, never before manifested toward any other man whom the people thought proper to elevate to the? office of the chief magistracy of this republic. But the reason is obvious, and clearly defined in the foregoing pages. The most pathetic and eloquent one I have yet read is the sermon of the Rev. Dr. Palmer, of the First Presby- terian Church of New Orleans. He pictures the magnitude of our wrongs, in poetic, impressive and well rounded periods. One would suppose it the the production of the great Scotch reformer, John Enox, only it fails in point- ing out the means to meet or evade the danger which surround us as a na- tion — a desideratum the great clerical Demosthones never failed to give, and that, too, in the most forcible manner. However, I regard it as a fair declara- tion of his opinion of the institution of slavery, and a candid exposition of his political sentiments and sympathies, generally. I cannot join in the rabble cry against the clergy of the South speaking on politics in the pulpit, especially on the present occasion. Dr. Palmer's sermon was delivered on Thanksgiving Day, and, in my opinion, he would have overlooked his duty had he abstained from referring to our present precarious state of affairs, I admire him for his devotion to the South, and most heartily do I approve of most of the sentiments which his learned discourse contains. Certainly his motives were the most pure and patriotic that could actuate a man of his calling, and none but the jealous and craven-hearted would censure him for the a :;t. If the Union remain as it now is, the people of the South must be allowed the privilege of appointing men to fill all the federal offices within the juris- diction of their respective States, which they can do either by holding an election, or through their legislatures. No true Southern man will accept office from Lincoln; and if he and his party ever rule this country as it now stands, they will have to make more important concessions than the one aforementioued. They will have to cease retarding the business of Con- gress by harping against slavery and vilifying their betters. They must re- peal all local or State laws which forbid the slaveholder to travel through the free States with his slaves ; and they must also acknowledge that we 19 the right to settle in the territories until they are admitted as State! into the Union, with constitutions positively excluding slavery. They must give us a guarantee that they will not aid or harbor fugitive slaves, or resist the execution of those federal laws which have been or may be hereafter enacted for the prstection of our rights. They shall not instigate insurrec- tion among our s'aves , or harbor, aid or sympathise with such cold-blooded murderers as old Brown and his raid, who may in the future set at defiance all human and divine laws, and attempt ! <» 'Miry out these traitors' hellish designs, which were as rapacious and brutal as the St Domingo massacre. Upon these conditions, and these only, can the people of the Soutli honor- ably submit to the inaugeration of Lincoln ; and if these pledges are made in good faith, and kept accordingly, Abolitionism will have no more than a nominal existence, even where its influence is now all-potent and overwhelm • ing. An honorable and peaceful adjustment of all questions now under dis- pute would be more preferable to the people of both sections than an irre- concilable separation, or the horrors of civil war. However, at the forth- coming election of delegates to the State Convention, which is to determine for or against secession, I shall vote for the secession candidate, because I believe that those who are generally opposed to it to be tainted with Abol- itionism, and, consequently, would sacrifice our rights and honor to pre- serve the Union — an act which never could win my approval The experience of thirty years of active life has taught me that rash and hasty conclusions must always succumb to calmness, moderation and firm- | ness. If the " bell-sheep " rushes head-long over a precipice, should not the balance pause upon the brink to learn the fate of their fellow, before they hazard tc follow? Most certainly they should. So think I about secession. If the insensed and ambitious politicians of the South are not satisfied that the people should judge for themselves in this matter, let them endeavor to help themselves, and they will find out that they have counted the wrong host. Because our enemies taunt us with insults and wrongs, are we such timid children as to draw away from them, aud beseechingly cry — " Now let us alone, aud take all you wish of our treasure, lands, &c, so you spaje our niggers?'' I hope we have not so degenerated as to thus humble our- selves to them, either for protection of property or life. Let us convince them once that we do not fear them, and they will acquiesce iustanter to anything we may demand. But what can we expect from Northern politi- cians and demagogues when men of our own section, even natives of the soil, unite in their hue-and-cry against the South and her interests. Every county and parish in the South has its band of wire-pullers that makeit their duty to deceive the people; and to substantiate this assertion, I need not go beyond the parish in which I reside, (Terrebonne). We poll about 1000 votes in this parish, and of these there are at least half uuder the control of twenty-four persons, (and two-thirds of them are " roped in,' : ) whose influ- ence over the ignorant and unsuspecting is almost superhuman. I have been a citizen for upwards of twenty-five years of this parish, and having closely watched the under-dealings of these political gamsters, I must say that they have acted a bloody and unprincipled part in all our elections for years back. They were first Whigs, then Know Nothings, then Americaus, then Oppositionists, and now they are Union Shriekers, or, to speak more to the point, the abettors of abolitionism. A county, district, or State, beset and ruled by such characters can never prosper. I would suggest to all true Southern men to exert themselves in counteracting the influence of these destroyers of peace and concord. Gentlemen, your own and your country's 20 future happiness impose this duty upon you, and you should act indepen- dent of all former party ties and prejudices. We are brought, as it were, to the verge pi an nufat homed abyss by these petty political necromancers, and if we would prevent them from hurling us into its depths, we must be watchful of their manceuvers. • Since the appearance of my letter, in the True Delta of Dec. 15th, in an- swer to an inquiry of several gentlemen, as to my position regarding the immediate secession of the Southern States, I learn that I have been de- nounced by several Southern Rights Democrats as a renegade, and of having renounced my former principles. I pronounce both of these charges false in every particular, and challenge my vilifiers to produce the evidence of my aposiaoy, in language either written or spoken by me. I was courteously asked tor my opinion on a topic which was not involved in the last canvass, and I gave it, not as a partisan, but as a citizen and friend of the South, It operated as a damper upon the anticipations of those who viewed me as one who would sacrifice Southern interest and honor to save the Union. They found out that while I was not an absolute secessionist, I was no cant- ing Union shriekcr or tame submissionist. They asked for a letter, but I gave them a stone, or something as indigestable. I defined my position as being in favor of anything that would he productive of the most good to the South, and believing it impolitic for the South to secede now I so expressed myself, ami in this pamphlet I reiterate and sustain this opinion by facts which defy contradiction. Mr. Breckinridge, during the late Presidential campaign, scouted at the accusation of him or any of his party being dis- uuionists, and Mr. Yancy reaffirmed Mr. B.'s denial, in this city, a few weeks before the election; and yet he receiveel the united support of these very men who would, had they the power, read me out of the party for en- tertaining the same sentiments. Gentlemen, your consistency, Dem,ocracy 7 and liberality, astound me ! I have voted with the Democratic Party my whole, life and God forbid that my declining years should chill the love and veneration I have alwa) s cherished for the land of my birth — the fair and sunny South. I only wish the people to be consulted as to the propriety of withdrawing from the Union, and by their decision T will most cheerfully abide. I am for the Union, if we obtain redress for past grievances, and ample security in the future ; but if we are refused these demands, I do not want another year to witness the existence of the present Fedral Union. Let us first exhaust all the power of the Constitution in attempting to bring our enemies to terms, and if it fails, let us test the merits of the sword; and if fortune again decide against us, then let a final separation take place. And now, I submit the foregoing remarks and ideas to the perusal of men of all parties, and if any are personal, offensive, anti-Democratic, or at variance with the interests of the South, 1 lfope all such will be viewed as the work of the head and not the heart. I have hastily sketched at the origin and cause of the present distracted state of the Union truthfully, and I think, impartially ; and I have also suggested my mode of settlement, without withdrawing from the Union. I consider this as the worst means that the South can adopt either to redress her wrongs or secure her rights; and I would invoke my fellow-citizens of the slave States to weigh well the expediency of secession and its consequences, before it is too late. Rest assured that I will be with you, however contrary to my convictions and advice you may act. Yours, in the cause of the South, ROBERT RUFFIN BARROW. Residence, near Houma, Terrebonne Parish, La., Dec. 22d, 1860.