The North-Carolinian., 1850-03-30
SPEECH OF
MIR JOHN ECCLES.
Before the District Contention, at III
min gtOn, March 12, 1850.

Before the District Conuention, at ItIl-
n,ington, March 12, 1850.
1t is, sir, a moment Of great and pecu-
liar interest when free people feel them
selves imperiously called on by every con-
sdcration of the duties they owe to them
selves, to posterity, and to the great cause
Of constitutional liberty, to take the pre-
paratory steps to prevent encr oac chments
on their privileges, aud to ward off ag-
gressions which threaten their institutions;
and it becomes those to whom, on such an
occasiOh, their fellow citizens entrust the
charge OF expressing their views aud de-
claring their intentions with regard to con-
tempIated or overt acts of wrong or oppres-
sion, to proceed with the utmost circum-
spection and prudence, as we'll as with
great firmness and independence. lest by
rashness they create greater evils than
those they endeavor to avert, or by timidi-
ty, compromise the interest committed to
their care. shall therefore entreat your
indulgence while briefly consider those
injuries of which the people of the southern
section Of this confederacy complain, and
which they seek to redress; and also those
measures inimical to their interests, their
honor, and their rights, which they seek,
if possible, to prevent, and If necessary.
| firmly believe, they intend to resist to
the last extremity, and in regard to which
injuries and threatened measures we are
delegated to express the sentiments of the
people Of this district.
The first cause Of complaint to which
refer, and to which l shall only allude,
consists in the systematic and extensive
dissemination throughout the country of
scurrilous abuse and inf1ammatory ISLANDERS
alike on the institutions aud citizens of
the south. by private individuals and by
organized societies.
1t is an evil great in itself, and the pro-
iltlc source Of many Others. 1t is an evil
which cannot be arrested by the applica-
tion of ordinary means; the law cannot
abate IT; statutes cannot reach it; 1T can
only be controlled by the direct exercise
upon it, in the States in which it exists.
of an honest, well informed, and liberal
public opinion; and if this influence is not
speedily and effectaaIly exerted, it will re-
quire no prophet to predict the result. If
the people Of one section Of our country are
sedulously taught may say educated
to regard inhabitants of another section as
the most abandoned reprobates upon the
face of the earth-as persons entirely with
out the pale Of christian sympatby-as
swindIcrs, robbers. and murderers-as the
habtual perpetrators of vices and crimes.
which my respect for this assembly will
not permit me to mention-as those on
whom it is a religious duty to invoke the
vengeance of heaven, and against whom it
should be part Of their daily business to ex-
cite the wrath of uan-no paper constitu-
tion-no political adjustment Of conflict
ing cIaims-no skillful compromise Of con-
tested rights. can long enable two such
sections to dwell together in amity.
There is, or rather was, another form
Of this species Of abuse. (for believe that
the action Of extreneous causes has nearly.
If not entirely, silenced it.) by means of
which it was sought. with far reaching
malignity. to set dangers in our path, far
in the distant future. 1t was for some
time favorite object with a certain class
Of fanatics, assisted by combination Of
kindred spirits acfoss the Atlantic, to en-
deavor to array against Us whatever there
was Of power in the public opinion Of Eu-
rope, aud to induce the world to look upon
our broad, fair southern land, as one great
moral lazar-house, filled to overfiowing
with every form of moral disease and cor
ruption, with the view of producing an ef-
feet on our domestic institutions. by the
force Of foreign sentiments, and Of causing
US to feel friendless and alone, and with