<1, <- re -CC d'co CC CC "d'Cc ccc c:= l^c: ^icc cCiCl CC ^^-'^^ ^^<3C yi:^'cc d. d'c ;C!? ^^ <:..ci: c:<^::: ccr-c: ^r" cr '^ ^L,c<: ^rsij:^^ cjC^cc <^i^^v, ^I C^. :^Gr^ ^ -ex:, r c - c^;-^ c • ^^.ccits^cc <3r:<-c c^^vrcr- ^xrr^ter^f <:c::;cccs: ^CI_C «l^7 «;. cc -^^^-^^^-^ CC dc^c c c^sr^t... c' 'CLC7 crcr' - ^ ^^c■^c^e %.^ ^^ c:. c. c-c^cl'C" <" ^c-c:^ c d -^ cc _ _ W'^ co^.oc^d .c£cci<^ct<:c .- x:c3t^ d'^;^ C' British Crown, and licked like dogs the'hands of their British masters. And can it be. that there is still a party of this sort in the State? ('an it be 1 hat tifty years has not buried in oblivion this hate- ful band, their relics and tiieir p>rinciples? If not, sati-sticd we are that the third class, the "stur- dy old Democracy"' of the country, when once awa- kened to the fact of the existence of the machina- tions of such a party, will crush withaGianCs grasp, tliis puny monster of treason and discord. We trust in God, that there is no such party ac- tually organized in that State of bold and talented freemen. But if there be, we know enough of the people of that State to know, that long before they would suffer the ark of our safety to be touched, they would pour out their best blood, as their fath- ers did before them, in its defence. Some folks are disposed to feel alarmed at those manifestations of disaffection. If it were n»t for the respect v.hieh we have for so many good and true men in that State, we sLciild rather be dispo- sed to laugh. Is this the first time that we have lieard the cry of wolf? Does any man believe that those terrible, lamentable eviis which call forth so much pathos and prophetic eloquence, are really felt in this free, happy, smiling land — where Corn and Wine and Oil abound — where not only all the necessaries, but most of the luxuries of life and the jneans of opulence, are produced in lavish abun- dance withiu her wide borders? Where taxation oppresses not even the poorest man, and the ma- ehinery of government is hardly seen, or the jar of it felt, it runs so lightly — where the will of the ma- jority is cherished and regarded as the main-spring and prime moving power of it? In fine, does any man suppose that one State, even if unanimous, can sway twenty-three others to her partial views, and imbue them with her folly, and persuade them to beg back of George the 4th the yoke that they hurled into his father's face? Really, it is hardly worth while seriously to argue with tliese prophets of evil, who are as sensitive on this stibject as if thoy esteemed our 'well established' Government a rope of sand. I.s there not something striking in this old commentary ? AVhat are the natural reflec- tions arising from its perusal 'I That account for it Iiovr you may, tiiere las always been a want of kindly American feelln g among the leading men of that singular .'State. There has been so much i^tate- JHght feeling, as ti> make the State wrong in her position. \M}at is this owing to? Why should South Caro- lina at this time, with sullen, unyielding and urifraternid spirit, be seeking to sever the ho- ly band that binds the States together? Wer^' the old Federal party right in tlieir views that this band was too weak"/ — that the centrifu- gal would some day overcome the centripetal force of the political system ? Is it not cu- rious that South Carolina should now, now be mourning over the ConsoUdatory tendency of our Federal institutions, when she is in her own case exhibiting the very reverse — the dangers to be dreaded from State jealousy and discontent — and when at the North mis- chievous fanatics are advocating secession and acting so as to produce it, for the very oppo- site reason — on the same question — both complaining of, and assailing the General Go- vernment — the one Pro- Slavery, the other -.-irt/i- Slavery : South Carolina because Con- gress will not legislate/.^/' Slavery — !Massa- chusetts, because Congress will not legislate against the interest! Can both- be right".' Can either be right ? Neither — the state- ment of the case shews it. Both are wrong — both are out of their duty — both are run- ning into extremes — both are jeoparding Lib- erty, Union, Republicanism, Prosperity, and Honor. Yes, uonor — the honor which springs from a chastened, faithful, truthful patriotism which looks beyond present imaginary or the- oretical injuries, or wrongs, to a glorious fu- ture, made certain by an adherence to the fraternal bond — made sure by an honest ad- herence to the political Federal Compact ; even if the apparent working of the Confede- racv sometimes seejns to work injustice. ^\ e say sec77is, for who is it that cannot see that Congress are not to blame — the Constitution is not to blame — the bargain is a fair one, and how has the Federal aovernment broken it? But say the gloomy spirits of the South, who march to the funereal notes of that dis- tinguished but discontented man. Mr. Cal- iiou.v, the Northern people break the Consti- tution in their fanatical zeal to break down Slavery, We have no heart to defend these fanatical fools, who sport with fire-brands, ar- rows and death — nor those who tolerate them — nor those who have not the courage and the manliness to put them down ; but we again say, one wrong don't justify another, one madness don't make right aaotbcr; — the geographically at least we bold the golden way to meet and oppose presumptuous and mean. Alas! this has become a g-eooropA- pretentious interference with your rights, is ical queotion — one of those that our father not to jump to reprisals. The way to meet Washington in his Farewell Address warned and counteract an incendiary, is noi to put a us to beware of. He knew enough of the torch to his dwelling too, and thus burn the country, and the people of the country, to see town; but to stand upon your civic privilc- with a prophet's vision, that if any thing was gcs and bring him to justice — to remain on to break the holy bond of political brother- the side of the Zfiii' and ^oo(i orJer, and ^ruif hood — if any thing could ruin the glorious yomething to the sense of right in the com- compact between these iStates — the last, best munity — to rely hopefullj', calmly, and reso- effort for rational liberty und human happi- lutely, upon that returning sense of justice uess; it would be this unhappy sectional jeal- and love of right, and hatred of injustice in ousy which has marred hitherto every labor the human heart, (^the hearts of men in the of the patriot and lover of bis race, by making aggregate, as a community, which is as the those enemies, who should be brethren and lieart of one man,) which will in the course co-workers: merely because they are some- of human events inevitably stand by and sup - limes divided by a narrow frith, or an imagi- port the right. Then\et South Carolina stay nary line. in the Confederacy and insist upon her char- And while the nations of Europe are shew tered rights — these can, in the end, protect ing to us that in spite of their antiquated go- her interests, which will go to destruction vcrnments, and institutions encumbered with out of it. old abuses, that they even are gradually ob- Shall we go into a detailed argument to literating these absurd feuds: while England shew that the present state of the i'^lavery has made "Tweed's silver stream" a bond question is the inevitable consequence of the instead of a barrier: and France now compri- Te:^as movement and Texas Annexation — ses Eurgundy, Langue d'oc, and Navarro the cherished and favored scheme of the late within her borders :'^ while Paissia has made distinguished statesman of South Carolina? herself an empire of many nations and races, Of the Mexican War, with its its predicted and with this Union has risen from an obscure results of conquered territory — complicating existence a century and a half ago, to be a this most to be dreaded subject? Cui bono? mighty, and a civilized, and invincible Nation : — let by-gones be by-gones, but not forgot- while Prussia can hold the track of progressive ^f/i when they come in as elements of Truth, greatness; and the whole Germanic people Yet again, we say, what has the General are panting for a wider and a grander I'nion : Government done to make South Carolina we here, who pointed them to the true path — bid "good bye to (_>ld Virginia ?" If she se- u-e, the pioneers of the great and true system cedes — as shethreatens to do — she does this, of separate State governments for all domes- depend on it, in the name of the PEOPLE tic and municipal purposes, with a great Fed- •if this Commonwealth, who will soon have the eral United Government for general and for- Cunstitutional i-ight to say so, we proclaim it eign relation.s — we are doing our utmost to —and without a new Constitution, recogni- undo our own work, like a crazy inheritor of •/ing them as the people with power to say so a valuable model, containing the secret of a --we know that the old Commonwealth never noble jirinciple, breaking it to pieces even, as will consent upon this issue, to tear her sym- a silly child would break a toy, in sport, boledstar cut of the Flag of our Union, and What madness — what a humiliating spec- throw into chaos again the beautiful and tacle of human weakness — what a satire upon blessed ^Constellation of free United States, free institutions — what a gratifying exhibition Let South Carolina beware. She may do to the tyrants and aristocrats of tho Old much mischief, but she can do no good by her World—what a desecration of the inheritance present desperate course. She is now "be- of the fathers of tho Piepublic— what a dis- tweeii the acting of a dreadful thing and the grace to the children of Georgk Washt.vgton. hrst motion." Oh let her pause I — because And one of the most alarming features of "being done, there is no pause." the case is, that the People are not awake to — • — the danger, and will not speak out and rebuko I%'I"ITIBEK II. the second-rate politicians who foster these — bad feelings, and exascerbate the evil. We are hero betwccr; the two extremes— Yes, second-rate pcliticiar.s~tho£C r.hcna i old Gov. Barbour used to call little boh-tail- Thirdly. — The qunml arises from a cause ed poliliciaits — not the thoruugh-bre(I---not which strikes directly at, and tends to rend those who have walked on a lofty platfurm, in two, that which alone makes us one people and have been long iu the public eye, and First, it is the North against the Sfo«^A- have seen and known enough ofhigh station, the South asawst tho North. There is a to be above the arts of the herds of clnnbers split across the primitive granite of the Con- be ow them, who will clutch at any thing, to federacy, and it is Mason and Dixon's Line, help their ascent. ^^,,^^ ^„j South are wedging it open-if lhcgreatmas3oftho.somenof lofty and once tVvirly opened, there w?ll he a "great expanded views who look over the whole conn- g^iph" yawning in the common Campus, and try.andlnokinto he future are not in office the self-.acriiicin. spirit of no one Curtius. at all, and will not be tempted intothe narrow can close the irreparable breach, and tortuous paths 01 political intrigue---mcn « j, -, it.,, who are not seeking for office or place but . ^^'(^^ndly. It cannot be denied that there content to think that "the post of Honor is does exist a marked diversity in many res- the private station." There are thousands ^^ I ^''''mm .*^>'^,.F'^P^'^ "^ ^he North and ofsuch, true, well-informed, disinterested pa- J'^e ^f";'i- \^^'^ diversity perhaps maybe triots, scattered thick over our whole land: traced back for centuries to the very diffcr- and then there are others who have "winter- P"''''? "^ ^''S'"; ^^'^"^ "^^^'i" ^^'^^ much affin- ed and summered" the cares and toils and ^^J "between the cavalier and the round head vanities of hi,eh station, and who, ripe with "-between the Ilugenot and the cautious knowledge and warmed with an elevated and Jf"'^^''^'^- Neither can there be now between cosmopolite love of country, scorn party and t^e proud, but generous, the impulsive, though sectional politic.^ and soar above demagogue- "^'■*^'«"'; <^aroluuan ^yho values his personal ism. Such men tower before us and battle honor above every thing, and the cautious, like Archangels in the van of Liberty's le- ^nd steadfast, but stubborn \ankee, who can- gions. Such men are Clay, Cass, Webstek "°*^ understand and will not believe, that the J)icKiNsox, FooTE, DoDGK of Towa, Douglass ^'^^-ol^"'^" would readily secede from theUnion of 111, Fillmore, Ciioate of Blass.. IIamil- "P°" *^''^ '^T^ "^ Aonor and risk lands and TONandPoiN-.?ETTof S. C, King of Ala., Cobb "^^S^cs, and peace and Lnion, if he believes c.fGa., Clayton of Del., and many others— ^^"^^ to be involved, without stopping an in- men of both parties, standing shoulder to '^'^"'^ ^'^ calculate the awful and inevitable shoulder, forgetful of all party divisions, re- e?nf quinces to the whole country^ in fact, gardless of nii partv supremacy; fearless of all '^ ^^^ ^""'^^ f:'"^^ °"/:^ ^'"^^^ *^« ^,«"^^' ^*^- party denunciations ; while they battle for their **;!"' ^^'>' '^^'^^^ T* ^''^"''' '' '''''''"° ^'''°' .^^""^ whole country, her Liberty and Union. ^'^T 'f '"' ^^ are even now ^L•antonhJ m- Can the people see this state of things and ^"^^'"S" l^l'' ;^"^^^, , ^""^ "°^'^'"S \^\ ^ fueling not wake xmi Alas! too much prost)eritv "^^ .^^^^« 5\»^^ '^^"^^^ ^^,y,<; Prompted the recent bath made us forgetful that the "price o'f action of A crmont. Ihercis something in Liberty is eternal virrilance " *'"^ '«*=^^ absence of any grievance from tugi- The reason of this apathy is that as He- *?^° l^^'"'"^' '"^^''" ^'"' ^'"/^^^'S- and her secu- publics will always be turbulent, the people "'^ ''^^''^'^ ^'""'f ^">' ^'''^\^}^'^^ '"^-^^cs one al- have witnessed so much noise and tumult in "^^''^ suspect that something of a selGsh and polities, leading apparently to no harmful re- cowardly feeling of security in her geographi- sult, that thev think this present state of cal position, utterly unworthy of her former confusion is onlv another storm of the politi- <^l'^'yf ter, prompted the step. Iler people cal atmo.^'phere. which will blow over, as oth- f "1^^"°* have been represented fairly in the crs have done. Legislature. I his must have been the work But, not so. This present juncture is far ^^ ^''''' ^^ob-tailed politicians. We desire not more perilous than any other that ever occur- *« irritate, and we know that States like Hi- red— it has elements of dancer in it, that no outh ; we all profess to believe that it is the best that could have been made under the circumstances of its creation and ad(jption, and that we arc willing to stand by it. By it our slaves are to be delivered vp when they ahscond from our sej-ricc. This is a substantive and positive duty and obliga- tion assumed and binding on the Free States, and this is, and was, an essential stipulation in the Conipact. The Northern people do not understand the relation of master and servant, as it exists here between us. They have no idea, and do not believe, how we have to work for our negroes, and how little they work for t^*?— how good servants love and honor their masters, and have good rea- son to do so ; and how this unjust, insulting preference for the runaway (generally a thief, and always a bad negro) serves to rivet the bondage of those who are left :-and how often by the mere wantonness of fanaticism and an intermeddling spirit, the widow and the or- jihan, and struggling farmer with narrow means, are cri]ipled by the loss of valuable servants, who have cost more to raise them than their labor is worth. Well, let the North understand and believe, if they wish to save the Union, that they must enforce this Constitutional guarantee. We stand upon our Constitutional rights in this. Let the fugitive law be what it may — wise or not, in its details — your fathers took the Union and you have thriven under it, on this condi- tion — and rely upon it, you will have blood- shed in your borders, ending in an irremediable breach between us, if you continue to prefer the runaway slave to your political brethren of the same color and origin with yourselves. People of the North ! look to this ! and com- pel your politicians and Legialatures to look this great question in the face, and no longer trifle mth fire-brands, over an open mine of coiiibu.^lihles. .Wc speak this in all sober sadness — deeply convinced from careful re- flection that the whole h'lavo-holding commu- nity will prefer any thing, disunion and civil war, the chance of domestic troubles, and in- ternecine strife, to the continuance of this wanton disregard of our sacred rights under the law paramount of the land. Then peo- ple of the iS^orth — loving the Union — shew in your meetings, your instructions to your Legislatures, your election of Union men, your ready obedience to the law, that your love of country is not ''bounded on the South'" by Mason & Pixon's line. 4. What shall we say to the People of the South — the great multitude of freemen wlio have borne so long and so patiently these wanton assaults upon their domestic peace, and who yet lift up their eyes to the starry symbol of the Union, and who yet hope and trust that we may still live together in peace .' ^Ve say — assert your rights — demand and strive for your Constitutional privileges — claim and reclaim your lawful property under and within the pale of the Constitution : — it is strong enough to hold us — it is potent enough to secure them. Let us resolve too to cling to that which is the ark of our safety, and rebuke by our fidel- ity to every plank and spar in it, the mad ca- reer of some of our Southern brethren. Let each section do its appropriate work, at home. The voice of the mighty host, of Union- loving Southern men, if once heard by those who dare to jeopard your lives and fortunes and sacred libertios, and leave to your children an inheritance of civil war ; would hush them into a shamed silence, now and forever. Then, 5thly and lastly— Let all the PKOPLK speak out- --let them do this privately, pub- licly, through the press, by their letters, in spoken and written and printed words, but above all in their primary County and Dis- trict meetings, all over the country from Maine to the Capes of Florida, from the shores of the Atlantic to the strand of the Californias. The movement should be universal — for tbe evil threatens all. The uprising should bo irmnediate— -for the danger is imminent. — This is our counsel and best opinion. We go back to the source of political power, that the stream may be purified. We invoke the masters to command and restrain their own servants. We call upon the citizens of the country, with an humble reliance upon God's help, to save their own liberties. ^^ * ^1>I> 35> )2> "z>> j>a ":::^ 5> z>>_^5> 3::> i33r>>.^:^^ > 3> 1^ ' "^''^3> jir>^^ ^ J8>' ~y,)j>.J>> *^^^^ r3» SB* -)'~»-^733^ J» 3> :3>^i> !»> ^^>>> ^^ o :> .3>^ ^^ ^'^ ^ "^>^ >:ri>J» ^.^^ ^ < J>3 ^;~t^^'^zs> ^^j>:i> :3> ::>^r^>>» '^> >^.^>>r> 25> '■'I>i)7/),V 5> 1) ^'^"^ 3>i D "T)":>o3 :^:^i>3 2> :5> z> 2> :> s> > ~~> ~r» -§->, ^>i>3' >3':i> :3>;'>30 x> -::> >.^^)' D^12>) )3> .^ :)>5>) ):>> :i> ^")^v ;J) -J^ ^ »^^ • ynyy ^ ■^~f>> 33>T Tf.> ^ > 3 >3> . .^ 3;!> 3o;3 - J ■> 3 :"> - 'yx^ ; ■> 3 13 ■ 3>T Z> 3> ■> 3 O ■ 3>T ^'^3)- >3::3-3r . J>"V3 1 .^, ^•^ ^) l^^ 3^>3> \> •>13 » O ^l> *0^>3 . ^' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 011 898 425