Weekly national intelligencer., 1850-03-02

consignino them 10 certain and ndescrbable wretch
edness, was a sufficient offence, in the view o
these fanatics, to authorize them to preach desola
ton TO every freside south of Mason and Dixon's
| line.
In the free States these people he Abolitionists)
worked at their meditated purpose in open day,
not only unmolesed by the authorities, but even
unrebuked. In truth, they were wholly disregard
ed by the communities in which they lived. II an
occasional reproof of their worst designs was found
in some portions of the Northern press, it was not
very emphatic nor very severe. No one, however,
who is acquainted with the people of the North can
believe for moment that this little school OF in
cendiaries ever found sympathy support or fellow
ship in the opinion of any sober-minded person OF
that region. The great body of the Northern
people-and the same may be said of the West
scarcely noticed them at all or, if they did notice
them, regarded them crack-brained enthusiasts,
whose ignorance nsignfcance, aud msdlrected
zeal rendered them mere subjects of ridicule. To
bring them into the range of serious public COM
ment il was thought, would only give them i'm
portance and to attempt to restrain them by law,
would but multiply their numbers, enlarge their
capacity for mischief, and aggravate their sef-con-
sequence as objects of fancied persecution. North
ern society has had ample experience in the treat
ment of those docrinal eccentricities which have
been supposed to impart more than one grotesque
feature to the development OF mind in that section
of the Union. That experience has taught them
the policy of leaving all such freaks of opinion to
the silent counteraction of their own extravaganza
| The abolition phrenzy was not allowed to en-
counter this trial. If it met no opposition in the
region of its birth, it naturally aroused in the slave
States quick and sensitive Indignation. Upon
this Southern excitement it has been fed and nursed
into growth which, although not formidable, has
greatly increased its means of annoyance and rrl-
taton. 1t has lived upon aggression, and redoubled
its activity upon every manifestation Of pain in
ficted upon its adversary.
From being in its origin fanatcal prepossession
of the mind Of few zealots, who had wrought
themselves into the belief that they were engaged
in work of duty and religion, it was not long be-
fore itfell under the notice of demagogues, and was
taken into the political field. Bad men, and some
of them talented and dexterous men, found in this
pernicious sentimentality the means and oPportu-
nifty for political distinction. To them we owe the
embodiment Of the fanatics into political assocla-
ton and all the perverse dexteriyy with which they
have disturbed the natural, and, may say wholes
action of the two great parties of the country
To them owe this constant agitation OF the slave
question, the s!udious zeal with which they have
sought for new means Of annoyance, the inces-
SAINT promugation of new tactics OF offence: to
them we owe the constant increase of numbers by
fresh recruits, and the magnifying of the visible
force of their array to them owe in great part
the strange leagues the strange domestic quarres,
the reconciliatons, the frequent conventions, and
the new platforms which have during few years
past impaired something of comic vivacity to the
progression of public events. Abotionism, which
began in the foul dreams of a few morbid doctri-
naires, is able now to boast in its crusade against
slavery the glories of having annexed Texas; of
having brought on the Mexican war; Of having
~ ,bo TTpio
and, in these achievements, to have done more for
the extension Of slavery than the utmost ingenuity
of its most effective friends could have hoped 10
accomplish in century. 1t is another of its
triumphs that it has done more than ever evil
inclined men did before to put in peril the Union
Itself and to sow discord over the surface of
peaceful land. =.
Demagogues thrive on popular prejudice. The
worst man, beyond all comparison, is he who fos-
tiers noxous sentiment in any portion of the
people that he may use it for his own preferment
He brings the stimulus of a corrupt personal in
terest to the labor of seducing his fellowmen from
their fealty to peaceful Government, and setting
them upon their work of destruction. Through
this contest and admixture, aboli,ionism has risen
to be political monster in the Union, and, under
the guidance of false men and hypocrtcal pleas of
conscience, has meditated and consrived the most
atrocious crimes. ".... ... .."...
1t was scarcely to be expected that the South
would preserve its equanimity under this incessant
aggression. Naturally enough, it has been aroused
into an indiscrimnate disrust of the whole North
ern populaton-even to sentiment of hostility.
With some few exceptions, the people of the South
ern States have suffered themselves to be misled
into the belief that the schemes of the aboitonsts
approved and aided by the entire population Of
the free States. This mistake is greatly to be de-
plored as it is the source of the chief difficulties
which belong to the subject. 1t is grievous in
justice to the North and calculated to force that
section of the Union into an adversary position
Yet it should not surprise any one who reflects
upon the incidents which are constantly brought to
the notice of Southern men, They see portions
of the Northern press descanting with ceaseless
assiduity and in tone Of severe comment upon the
condition of Southern society. They perceive
hostility to the social laws of the South made a
standard topic for the discussions of the hustngs
They observe Congress continually assailed by
offensive petitions and remonstrances having refer
ence TO the most delicate concerns connected with
their own peace and safety. And, above all, they
see State Legislatures becoming the volunteer
agents to promote agitation in which, from first
to last, the theme of aggression is treated in terms
Of actual insult to Southern feeling. In the con-
temptation Of such facts we may readily compre-
hend how the sensitive mind Of the South islashed
into a temper which leaves neither inclination nor
ability to weigh the nature of the offence with
steady hand, nor to discriminate between the poll
tical agtators who con,rive and the people who
| .Ix~