February 13, 1861; The Charleston Mercury
South Carolina is but not forgotten. Abolitionists of the North and traitors from the South do not permit her name and fame to pass away from the memory of men. She is the chosen theme of their bitterest revilings. But, albeit she is without a representative in either House, she is not without brave and strong defenders. Foremost of these is Senator WIGFALL – the tenor of whose speech, in reply to ANDREW JOHNSON, has, no doubt, been laid before your readers by telegraph. This speech will bear careful perusal, for it is not only a scalding excoriation of the Tennessee SUMNER, but an able argument on the right of secession.
As I predicted, the Springfield tyrant is going to back down. KELLOGG’s speech in the House yesterday decides this matter conclusively. It is conceded by the strongest Southern men in the Peace Congress, that a compromise of some sort will be made–enough to keep the Border States in, but not enough to bring the Gulf States back. I was amused, though, to hear a Southern Senator’s opinion of this Congress. He said: ‘It will do nothing. If one of the old setting hens who compose it, should get a dozen egg plants, and put on a pair of feather breeches, and set on them, there would be as much probability of his hatching a brood of vegetable chickens, as of this Congress doing anything practical.’
The secession party in Virginia are worse than defeated. They are bound neck and heels to the Abolition Confederacy. They contend that the State has been made to occupy a false position, and that the people at heart prefer the South to the North. Even the worst submissionists agree with them on this point. SANDY STUART boasts that himself and the other submission leaders outgeneralled the secession chiefs. It must be confessed that a coalition, headed by such men as BOTTS, LETCHER, STUART, ALEXANDER, RIVES, JAMES, BARBOUR, and THOMAS, is more than a match for all the rest of the State combined; but the overwhelming vote against reference, which shows the real succession strength in Virginia, also shows the tremendous power of the Union sentiment all over the State, in the East as well as in the West. The only question now to be solved by true Southern men, is emancipation or expatriation.
Much significance is attached to the fact, that the Tennessee delegation to the Peace Congress have moved, in a body, up to WILLIARD’s Hotel, the hot bed of the Abolitionists. Some go so far as to say that a man’s Southernism may be judged by the locality he selects. As long as he does not go higher up than KIRKWOOD, you may consider him sound; but beyond that point you cannot trust him. This rule, like all others, has its exceptions. For example, that incarnation of genuine fire eating, LAWRENCE M. KEITT, never roomed below WILLARD, while HALE and CRITTENDEN board at the National and HATTON of Tennessee, with HARRIS, of Virginia, are at BROWN.