The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-03-18
NopTH AND SOUTH.


been more "noise and confusion IN othe'
controversies, but there seems to De aeepe.
and more general feeling aroused .. s.'
Nebraska question, than we nave e'ei
messed in any other sectional dispute III oui
,;n,. The saads of discord and fanaticism
soxn Inv aemseoeues and agitstors seem at
Last .hou, to hear their legitimate harvest OF
disun;on and bloodshed. Whiie the SCUM 10
united AS she ought to be, as one man. IN oe
fence of her equal rights in the Contederacy'
the North presents, if not an unbroken front
of onnosition. one which combines with its
fsnat;cal instincts more elements of inteliI-
pence and influence than we have ever
known to be arrayed against the oouth
Whilst we condemn unqualifedly the inter
ference of the Northern Clergy in this quar-
rel we are compelled, as faithful chromclers
&c Tho times TO state that the list of clerical
petitioners to Congress embraces names
which we should never have expected to find
in any sectional crusade, and which have
Hitherto been known only for their conserva-
five tendencies When we find the more IN
telligent of the Clergy, the Professors Of
Colleges, and large numbers of the mer-
chants and the working classes enlisting i'll
movement which is cheered on by Theodore
Parker, VIM Lloyd Garrison and FREQ.
Douglass, we may well conclude that times
which will "try men S souls" are close at hand.
As general and strong an anti slavery de-
monstration might have been witnessed III
1850, but the potent voice of Webster stiiied
the elements of Northern agitation Web
ster is in his grave; Clay, the great pacifiea-
for. has passed forever from the scene of &C
tion, and there is no man now on the thea
ire of public affairs, who can bring to bear
upon the existing agitati6ns, the genius, the
weight OF character andthe public confidence
possessed by these illustrious patriots and
statesmen.
But what is the prospect OF permanent
Union, if at intervals of three or four years
it is shaken to its foundations by the blasts OF
sectional discord, and can only be sustained
by the individual exertions and influence OF
two or three leading statesmen? Is not such
an admission fatal to the idea OF govern
ment which possesses the slightest degree of
vitality?
The greatest statesmen of Great Britain
might perish, -Palmerston Russell, and 9th
ers, be called from earth tomorrow; but no
one dreams that their death would have the
slightest effect on the stability of the British
Government. Yet, it cannot be denied that
but for Clay, Cass, Webster, and few others
the Union would have been split to a thou
sand pieces, in the sectional storm which sue
ceeded the Mexican war.
Weneed not say, that the American Union,
80 long as it is the Union of equals, is and
ought to be dear to every American heart
1t ought to last forever, for the sake of the
world, to whose oppressed millions it has
been beacon and guide, and for the sake
of our own people, whose freedom will be
imperilled, and whose national glory eclipsed
when its light is extinguished. If this Gov
eminent, after brief existence, now goes
down; if the patriotism of Washington and
the genius and craftsmanship of the trainers
of the American Constitution, prove abor-
tive, no future race need try the experiment
of self-government But, with all our admi
ration and love of the Union, we cannot blind
our eyes to the fact that it as in danger, that
the only crevice in the noble structure, that
which involves the subject of slavery, in
stead of disappearing with the fight of time,
is opening wider and wider, until it has be-
come a terrible portending disruption and
overthrow; that the people of the two Sec
tions, instead of wearing off their mutual
prejudices by the attritiOn of social and CON-
mercial intercourse, have become more and
more alienated, until now, at every provoca-
ton, the descendants of the men who fought
side by side in the Revolution, are ready to
thrust their bayOnets in each others breasts.
The anti slavery sentiment, which, when the
Government was formed, was a small cloud.
not larger than mans hand, scarcely per
ceptible in horizon bright with our rising
sun of empire, has gathered strength and
blackness as the day has worn on, and is now
lowering over our heads, big with the bolts
of destruction
The only consolation which we possess, in
view of the gloomy prospect, is that if, sooner
prove too stormy for our political fabric, the
South is not responsible for the conse
quences. Her only crime is that she holds
slave population, which was bequeathed to
her by past generation, and which she can
not relinquish without overturning her whole
social fabric and visiting her fertile fields
with the Bosom of desolation. Hence she
guards every outpost to her citadel with the
jealous vigilance with which men protect
their lives, their friends, their affairs. and
their honor. Sooner than suffer the ruin with
which she is menaced by Northern fanati-
cism, she would see the Union blown to
thousand fragments When we observe %,
one hand the aggressive temper of the NORTH
and the steady growth of anti slavery SENT
ment, and, on the other, the heroic shirt Of
men who know theirrights and dare maintain
them. it requires no prophet to predict con.
slant increase of sectional anmosity. and AN
ultimate decision of the controversy in A diff.
ferent theatre from the halls of Congress.