Weekly North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1858, 1850-12-04

ted, though cannot believe it wassintended, G sl
long the war. @ 1. XNsA3s
The Wimot Proviso, until near the termihad6 ! n 4
the last session of Congress, defeated every f
to form territorial governments for our Mexiodns s5f
QUESTIONS. Had such governments been estabIjs q E
at the proper time, California would have ohanre
her territorial into State government, and wouloa
have come into the Union as naturally as young
enters upon his civil rights at the age of twenty
one producing scarcely ripple upon the surface of
public opinion.
What consequences have resulted from the Pnyi. I
so! 1t placed the two divisions of the Union inhos-
tile array. The people Of each, instead of consider
ing the people of the other brethren, began to view
each other as deadly enemies. Whilst northern leg
slatures were passing resolutions instructing their
senators and requesting their representatives to vote
for the Wmot Proviso and for laws to abolish slave
ry in the District of Columbia, southern legislatures
and conventions, prompted and sustained by the in
dgnant and united voice of the southern people, were
passing resolutions pledgng themselves to measures
of resistance. The spirit Of fanatcism was in the
ascendant. To such height had it mounted, that
bill introduced into the House of Representatives by
Mr.. Giddings, during the last session of the last
Congress, authorizing the slaves in the District of
Columbia to vote on the question whether they them
selves :hould be free men. was defeated, on the mo-
ton of my friend, Mr.. Broadhead of this State, by
the slender majority of only twenty-sx votes.
Thus stood the question when the present Congress
assembled. That body at first presented the appear
ance of Polish Diet, divided into hostile parties,
rather than that Of the representatives Of great and
united people, assembled in the land of Washington,
Jefferson, and Jackson, to consult and together
brethren in promoting the common good of the whole
republic.
1t would be the extreme Of dangerous infatuation
to suppose that the Union was not then in serious
danger. Had the WiImot Proviso become law, or
had slavery been abolished in the District of Colum
bia, nothing short of special interposon of Divine
Providence could have prevented the secession of
most if not all Of the slaveholding States.
1t was from this great and glorious old Common
wealth, rightly denomnated the s. Keystone of the
Arch" that the first ray of light emanated to dispel
the gloom. She is not conscious of her own power.
She stands between the North and the South, and
can lay her hand on either party and say, Thus far
shalt thou go, and no further" The wisdom, mod
Grafton. and rmness of her people calculate her eni
nently the just and equitable umpire between
the extremes.
1t was the vote in our State house of representa-
tives, refusing consider the nstructng resolutions
in favor of the Wilmot Proviso, which first cheered
the heart of every patriot in the land. This was
speadily followed by vote of the House of Repre-
sentatves at Washington, mailing the Wilmot Provi-
SO itself to the table, And here ought not to forget
the great meeting held in Philadelphia, on the birth
day Of the Father of his Country, in favor of the
Union. which gave happy and irresistible impulse
to public opinion throughout the State. and, ] may
| add, throughout the Union.
The honor of the South has been saved by the
Compromise. The Wilmot Proviso is forever dead,
and slavery will never he abolished in the District of
Columbia whilst it continues to exist in Maryland.
The receding storm in the South still continues
dash with violence, but it will gradually subside,
should agitation in the North. All that is me-
cessary for to do is the fugtive-slave
law, and to let the southern people alone, suffering
them to manage their own domestic concerns in their
| own way. Virginia farmer once asked me if there
were two neighbors living together. what would |
think If of them should be eterna!ly interfering
in the domestic Of the other? Could they
possibly live together in peace2
Without reference to the harmony and safety of the
Union, what blessing would this policy of non-;n-
reference be, not only to the slaves and the free
groes, but the cause of constitutional eanc
patton itself!
Since the agitation commenced, the slave has been
deprived Of many privileges which he formerly en-
joyed, because of the stern necessity thus imposed
upon the provide for his personal safety and
! that of his family. The free negro, for the same
overulng reason, is threatened with expulsion from
the land of his nativity in the South; and there
strong indications in several of the northern States
that they will refuse to afford him asylum.
The of emanci patton itself has greatly suffer-
ed by the agitation. If left its constitutional and
natural course, laws, ere this would most probably
have existed for the gradual abolition of slavery in
the States Of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky. and
| Missouri The current of public opinion was ranging
strongly in that direction before the abolition excite
ment commenced. especially in Virginia. There a
measure having directly in view the gradual abolition
of slavery-offered, too by the grandson of Thomas
Jefferson-came within one vote, 1t my memory
me, passing the house of delegates. Through
out Virginia, as we'll as in the other three States,
which hay mentioned, there was then powerful,
influential, and growing party in favor of general
emanci patton, cheered exertion by the bright
est hopes Of success. What has become of this
party? 1t has gone it is numbered with the things
that have been. The interference Of northern fanat.
les with the institution of slavery in the South has
excited and exaspsrated the people. that there is
man in that region bold enough to utter senti-
ment in favor of gradual emancipation. The efforts
of the abotonists have long. very long, postponed
the day of emancipation in these States. Throughout
the gran-growng slave states, powerful causes were
in operation, which must, before many years, have
counteracted by the violence and folly of the abo-
li,ionists. They have done Infinite mischief. They
have not only brought the Union into imminent peril,
bn, they have inflicted the creates evils both the
slave and on the free negro--the avowed objects OF
their regard. --
entail meeting. as they value the Union Of these
States, the greatest political blessing conferred
by bountiful Providence upon man-as they value
the well being OF the slave and free negro--as they
value even the cause OF regular and constitutions
emancipationto all their energies to put dowr
!. the loug-eontinued agitation in the North agans
slavery in the South. Is it unreasonable that tn,
: South should make this demand! The agitato,
has reached such height that the Southern people
their persona security to be involved. It has Iiea
the minds of the slaves with vague notions Of eman
cipa,ion, and in the language Of General Jaeksol
threatens Z" to stimulate them to insurrecton ant
produce all the horrors Of servIe war;" Although
any such attempt their part would be easily an,
speedily suppressed, yet what horrors might not ii
h the mean time be perpetrated! Many mofher nov
retires to rest at night under dreadful apprehension