Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-11-08
SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN SOCIETY.

ingtOn.
SOUTHERN AND NORTHERN SOCIETY.
The Abolition press of the North is always
engaged in assailng Southern society. Every
personal collision in the Southern States, and
every isolated instance of violent conduct in
those States, is seized upon by such reckless
men as Horace Greeley and held up to the
world as evidence of the degrading influence Of
slave institutions Such miserable panderers
toadepraved morality really exult with extrav.
agant Joy, whenever they can chronicle an act
ofviolence in the South and holding up their
hands in pretended horror, they exaggerate
every circumstance in order to stigmatize the
Southern people and gain praise or profit for
themselves
The newspapers of the North are continu-
ally filled with announcements which are cal
culated to freeze the blood. Crime has be-
come rampant there. Even in the city of New
York we see that property, and life ITSELF is SO
insecure that respectable journals recommend
the formation of vigilance committees, like
those of California, to prevent robbery and as
sassination. But the abandoned men whom
we have mentioned take no notice of these
things. Almost any morning one may find
every species of crime known to man recorded
in the columns of the New York Tribune; yet
Horace Greeley, the editor of that unprinci
pied sheet, passes them by as matters which
throw no light whatever on the social condi-
ton of the free States. A young girl may be
seized and outraged in q populous city-arson
and murder, of the most atrocious character,
may be committed in the very heart Of New
York; barrel Of gunpowder may be fixed to
destroy the principle hotel of the city crowded
with guests-miscreant may break down rail
road bridges in the highland Internal ma
chimes may be conveyed on steamers to send
hundreds OF men, women, and children into
eternity-any or all these things may happen
in the North, and be recorded in the columns
of the New York Tribune, yet Horace Greeley
win direct attention and point to duel be-
tween two Southern gentlemen as proof posi-
tive that slavery has degraded Southern So
ciety.
1t is not our purpose to assail the society of
the North, nor to draw invidious comparisons
between the North and the South. If we were
instigated by the same mean purposes which
regulate the conduct of the pharasica crea-
lures who are constantly attacking the South,
every fair minded man in the North knows,
that we could ell columns every morning with
announcements of crimes committed beyond
Mason and Dixon's line. =. Our belief is, how
ever, that each and every community should
attend to the purity of its own morals, before it
undertakes to regulate the morals of others.
And we believe, further, that, when men un-
dertake to perform the duties that appertain
to others, they neglect those which appertain
to themselves. We do not entertain much
respect for cosmopolitan charity and philan-
thropy. They almost always spring from n.y.
pocrisy, and are attended by a cold-blooded
disregard of real obligations and pressing re-
sponsibilities. Whenever man is found at
the street corners raising subscriptions for suf-
fering afar off, and speaking in a loud voice of
the beauty of charity and the deformity of vio-
vence, the chances are ten to one that he gives
nothing himself and treats his own family with
cruelty and neglect.
The abolition philanthropy of the Tribune
school prevails extensively in the North and
we firmly believe that the fact that it does prevail
extensively, accounts for much of the demo-
ralization which exists there. We believe that
it is owing to that fact that Tom Hyer was re.
ceived with an ovation when he returned from
his fierce encounter with Yankee Sullivan.
We believe that it is owing TO that fact that we
have read in the same paper that virtuous
lady Of high genius committed suicide in New
York, because Of absolute want, and that a
man refused fortune for the copyright of
his humbug career. We believe that it was
owing to that fact that the New York Express
affirmed that the demand for the papers which
contained an account of a pugilistic encounter
was greater than for those which contained ac-
counts of the loss Of the Arctic and the reputed
fall Of Sebastopol. Let the philanthrophy Of the
North attend TO the suffering and crime of the
North. Let il lend its energies TO ameiorate
Northern society, and cease to grow frantic
over the imaginary expressions Of the South,
and it viii be better for all Spurious sent.
mentality and pretended purity always seek
distant objects. They cannot bear the test Of
domestic scrutiny. They deal in words, and
nothing but words. Their charities consist Of
high sounding sentences and loud exhortations
in public places. The whole brood should be
speedily crushed out for the good Of the coun-
try.