The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1854-06-13

VenSlnS DlVlnity seems 10 naVe iHceSsaNuy
pursued them, aud punished them through their
Governments. Oppression, insecurity, injus-
tice, perpetual wars, wholesale murders, have
been the constant and sad lot of the human
race If now and then temporary gleam Of
liberty, and peace and justice, light up the dark
pages Of the past, it has almost almost imme-
diatey disappeared, and left the world in more
profound darkness and despair 1t once seem.
ed that a different and better fate was reserved
for our own country, but it appears now that
We are eventual y to run the same career OF fol.
ly and disaster that all nations have invariably
run before US. Enjoying higher degree Of
prosperity, and all the advantages Of good gov.
ernment to a greater extent than has ever
been granted to the human race before, we
have appered to be the especial favorites of
benignant Providence; but our blessings were
too great, and the spirit of discord, madness
and evil rose in our midst to blast our glorious
inheritance. Hencefurth, fearwe are 10 play
the same common place folies. and undergo
the same disasters that all other, nations have
acted and endured. ...-.....-
This anti-slavery agaition has already exer-
cised most injurious effect upon the North.
refer not so much to n material rs moral
injury. 1t has inaugurated fatal principle, at
war with the peace Of society, the higher-law
principle-a principle by which individual con.
viction is elevated above the law. According
to this principle, no laws, 10 Constitution has
any efficacy, when they come in collision with
individual opinions. This principle is destruc.
tive of the social fabric; for the theory upon
which society rests, is that the will Of society,
expressed in its legal form, through the action
of government is the supreme law; but if no
law is supreme but such as meets the approval
of each citizen, then the forms Of government
are but mockery, and society is resolved
into its original elements. This principle
phaving hitherto taken the form of antagonism
to slavery may not be considered by the North
as practical injury. but there is no security
that il will confne itsclfto its present form. 1t
is selfrelying, self:suficieht, and lawless spi.
rit; nothing is sacred from its inroads. We
see already that it has taken other forms, such
as anti-rentism and land for the landless. This
latter cry has already found an exponent on
the floor Of Congress. "Land for the landless''
will yet be terrible cry for the North. With
density ofpopulation, super abundance OF labor
scarcity of wages, will come n time when this
cry will find an echo in the Northern States.
Then property. y.hoders there may tremble.-
The higher law principle, which is now being
established, will pave the way for this cry of
"Iand for The landess." The whole theory OF
property will be questioned, and it will be
found inconsistent with the higher law. The
moment this theory becomes popular among
the laboring classes Of the North, the titles to
estates will begin to be very precarous. 1t is
surprising that the property holders OF the
North do not see the dangerous consequences
involved in the hgher.law principle of the sla-
very agaition.
The North have peculiar interest in the
Government; it is EN- phaticaly their Govern
ment; they mould its legislation to promote
their own interests; they possess the larger
portion Of its patronage. If any people were
ever especially interested in the preservation
of any Government, the people of the North
are thus especially interested in the preserva.
ton of this Government 1t is strange, there
fore, that they should Systematically endeavor
to destroy it, as they are doing. by their sla-
very agitation. This agitation, more than all
other causes, is tending to destroy the Govern
ment; and this agitation they cherish and ca
ress above all things else, as their favorite poll
cy. 1t is not strange, constituted as human
nature is, that men should give in to agitatlons
which'may injure others, but it is strange to
see them agitatins upon a subject, the natu-
raj tendency of which is to njure themselves
1t only shows how blind we become when we
consult our passions and our imaginations in
stead of our judgments. The obvious tenden,
cy Of this slavery agitation is to destroy the
Government. What holds the Government
togelher2 A sense Of its advantages, and a
feeling of romance. The object of govern
ment suggests its most prominent advantages.
The great object OF government is protection
protection from external wrong; but for the
necessity for this protection, government would
not exist. 1t may be said, therefore, that this
is the great primary object of government
The leading advantage Of the government con-
sists in its capability to accomplish this OBJ.
iect The romance which attaches the people
to the Government consists in its past history
and the future before it. This is one OF the
main pillars of government; it constitutes ma.
tionality, and in proportion to the intensity of
this feeling, is the capability Of a nation for
great actions. The want of this feeling is one
Of ,he.principal causes of the present huilia
ton anI dismemberment of Italy. This same
want of nationality has overwhelmed Germa.
ny with innumerable misfortunes. The pres
ence Of this feeling enabled Spain to drive
back the Immense armies ofNap"leon. 1t is
the possession of this feeling in its most ex'
treme form which has designated France as
the great nation. Mankind are greatly under
the influence of their imaginations-under such
an influence nations become great.
Both these bonds of union, the sense of ad-
uontnna md the fesinn of ROMANCE have been