North Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1850-1852, 1851-03-05


associations, interviewer with the history of the Faith
er of our Country-may We not all unite in a COM
mon invocation to Heaven that double portion of
his spirit may rest upon US people. and animate
by all the bright memories of the past the fruition
of the present. and the promise of the FUTURE pre-
serve with unfading luste this constellation in the
armament of political hope-this city of refuge for
the way-worn and down-trodden of other climes-his
holy gathering-pace Of earth's oppressed and home
less children!
Through the favor of my feow-ctizens, it has
been my fortune to have Witnessed the
al which our institutions have ever experienced-to
have observed from conspicuous public station the
rise, progress, decline and fall OF the most fearful agi
ation which has threatened the integrity of our
conederacy since its formationto have seen the ga
lhering storm in the distance from its faint and early
murmurings to the zenith Of its fury-to have with
stood with others its "pitiless peitings, and to
have awaited with the faith and devotion of eastern
idolatry the bow of promise which has finally beto-
kenPd its termination.
The public mind has long buffeted, and hope at
last successfully, the or the dark and turbu
lent which this conflict of elements produced,
swollen with the honest errors, blind preudices, and
Jepraved passions of half century, and bearing
along with it the counterfeit philanthropy and genuine
fanaficsm which, for humiliation, permitted
to dsfgure and degrade humanity. The struggle has
been momentous and desperate. Times there have
been, my fellow-ctZens, since lis commencement,
when the Esprit of evil seemed to predomnate and
the Genius of Darkness held his court unmolested;
when madness ruled the hour; when the good fell
worst of the Caesars, prepared to chant their demon
notes of triumph the ruins of disjointed and
falling confederacy. The obligations of law and the
supremacy of the constitution alike openly de-
fled and derided and the infatuated voaries OF dis
ion WED with each other in such open, systematic
and wan,on violations of the compact, that had the
uesti arisen between foreign States the agrees
sion would have been held just Cause of war through
out the civilized world.
Ii the corrupt and runous monarches of earth had
been commissioned to let loose upon evil spirit,
scourge and distract for having epudated their
impous theories of divine right, their Office would
have been successfully accomplished by casting
among the dscord of anli-slaveTy agitation. But
the sentiments of aroused and indignant people,
der the guidance of the bene6cent Being who
has sustained and preserved Us from the fields OF Lex
ington to the present moment, rolled away the stone
from the sepulchre of crucled and eDombed constI-
tution and brought again to light and life the genial
spirit in which our confederacy was founded. Wide
spread and terrible as has been the desoatIon, like
adversely it will bring its 1t will teach how
delicate is the framework of federative system,
and that the sacred rights and best interests of indie
pendent sovereign States cannot be invaded with i'm
punty it will root the tree of liberty more firmly In
soil, and by arousng the feelings of the qui et
masses, will to lay the foundations of tree
dom broad and deep in the structure of society
and above ALL like epidemics which revisit those
who survive them, it will not again curse
| and afflict the present generation
The measures of adjustment passed at the last ses-
sion of Congress were calculated and intended to
equal and exact justice ALL to restore fraernal
ations throughout the confederacy. Although these
measures were not in all respects acceptable the
Southern people, assured that they will stand
by them to the letter, long they carried ou
in truth and spirit by the free Stales-and they should
be required to do longer. Upon the North,
then, depends the future prospects of the Union. Its
destiny is in her keeping. Ii be denied that
the South has been the injured and aggrieved party
nor it ought it to be expected that she vii
cherish the cold remains OF Union in name, when
all its constitutional life and vgor have departed
Lett then, the North her otcious and mpe rti-
ment interference with the institutions Of her sister
States in the South; let her repeal her of hostile
and aggressive Legislation, and provide by stringent
laws for aiding the efficient execution of every arti-
Gle of the compact; and no dscordant notes, save
those of the demagogue and the fanatic, will be heard
throughout land. We shall then have obeyed the
| parting injunction of him whose Birthday cee-
brate, and Heaven will again favor with the bless
! ings of fraterna peace
| l shall be warmly with you this occasion, in
spirit and sympathy, and in prayers for the perpeuy
of glorious Union, in the tre spirit OF the
| stltution and remain with sincere regard,
/ Your friend and felInw-citizen.
| d. S. DICKINSON.