Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1850-03-01

considerations and the half has not been told) su-
Gent to induce every sound head and honest heartto
pray for the perpetuity of this Union And who de-
sires its dissolution Not we of the South, for our
ardent love for it has enabled us to bear much
very much. At first we were annoyed by the out
cries of religious fanaticsm against institution
interviewer with the very texture of our existence ;
and while we pied the short-sighted folly of these
fanatics, and felt under the Inscriptions of moral
nfamy they disposed to heap upon us, we could
not but respect the motives that prompted them
Religious fanaticism may do much mischief-it may
involve whole nations in moral confagraton, but
the spark that kindled it from Heaven; and
while we mourn over the consequences, we cannot
but respect the source from whence they proceed
But from different does danger now threat
The lust of civil power, and the desire of po-
litical triumph now the impulses that prompt
these attacks upon our property-our peace-and
our domestic quiet. The religious fanatics are but
as torchbearers for the political ncendiaries, and
only here and there in the antisavery ranks found
bosom burning with religious zeal, while the fires
of hell itself the hearts of the masses of those
who constitute the anti-slavery army at the North
1t is time, then, that should speak; it is time
that we should warn one another ere we find our
selves entirely surrounded that we cannot
and closely pressed upon by the foe that arms
cannot be welded to advantage. Political strategy
is dangerous the strategy of war, and there
is period in both when you rendered powerless
by your adversary, and it is the part of wisdom to
act before that period arrives We must not wait
until every post has been seized by the enemy, and
nothing is left but to surrender at discretion or
fight at disadvantage. But by taking our position
IN time, within the yet mistaken fortress ofthe Con-
stltution, and manfully defending it against the first
Entertainments of the foe we may be able to
both it and ourselves. If we must perish let us per-
ish under its ruins. To give it up or to suffer one
fragment of to be destroyed without resistance is
the most certain way to consummate that disunion
that we so much dread. It is to cry aloud against
encroachments upon the Constitution and to declare
our determination at every hazard to maintain it
that we meet and not for the purpose of plotting a.
5ainst it. By thus acting if dsunion is forced upon
usf the fair fields of these States must be fatten
ed with the blood of their sons-if the swords of
brothers must pierce the vtas of each other-f the
ties of blood must be disregarded and the bonds of
political association be dissolved let us at least amid
all the sorrows and troubles that must follow have
the comfort OF good conscience, and, looking upon
the desoaton that may surround us, be able to say
OF our Northern brethren-they would have it So
But never let surrender the Constitution and the
Union it secures until we can with truth say-thev
will have it But when that awful period arrives
it come it must let be prepared for the duties it
shall demand, and with manly hearts, to crifce ev
cry thing else for domestic affairs, the rights of
our posterity and our sacred honor.
MIR. President, I rejoice once more to see meet
ings holden in our State without respect of parties
1t IS almost the only cheering circumstance growing
out of this sectional question: that brings us nearer
to each other at home. The sense of common danger
wakes up within those kindly feelings which
party bitterness had subdued. The danger which
we are now contemplating and against which we are
endeavourng to provide, is in part the bitter fruit of
party strife Year after year for many years has
party spirit been increasing in bitterness it has even
Inarred the relations of social life Tt has destroyed
those safe standards by which fitness for Office ought
properly to be tested-capacity and integrity. And
men Of all parties have come to make availability,
the only question in elections This is the same
spirit, which leads on at the North the heteroge-
neous army now making upon Southern rights.
In conclusion, permit me to say, that we of the
South, not altogether clear in this matter. To
some extent, our blood will be upon heads,
if the worst should come. We have in a good de-
gree pandered to the actious spirit of local dstnc-
tons. In many respects have acted most unwise-
ly and uni Justly to brethren at the North, we
have not made proper allowances for the position
public men in that part of the Union. We have
been unreasonable in our demands upon them, and
have greatly diminished our moral force in the
present controversy We need not wonder, that the
opinions of men, take their hue from surrounding
circumstances and that there is tide in the opin-
IONS as we'll as in the affairs of men, and that both
these tides have their ebb and flood. No incident
so much affects the opinions ofmen, their interest
This matter of slavery stands upon the same footing
with every thing else. If it to the interest Of
the greater part of mankind dispense with the use
of horses, and very small portion of men were left
who found it to their interest," to continue their use
they would likewise continue as the majority now do,
to think that their use was altogether right, and
| proper-perhaps even praise worthy. But that ma
| jority would soon to denounce it as most
! fragrant injustice to that noble animal which God
had made to enjoy his freedom in the boundless
plains, and the trackess wilds: and not to he sub
ected to the drudgery of the plough, the cruel in
Fiction of the whip and spur. And so we who hold
slaves in the strict of that term in very
small minority although slaves in fact more
free and happy than the larger portion of the SC
called freemen who are more truly slaves. The ma
ority of mankind have not found it to their interest
to hold slaves in the strict sense of that term and
as might be expected very ready to denounce it
in those who do, and especially in those who I'M
der the most irresistible moral necessity to continue
to hold them. This very moral necessity under
which we live makes their denunciation the more