The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-09-15
Gbe Weeklq MinnssotiuIl.



Aside from the actual evils, rabid, uncom-
promising Abolition spirit is calculated TO
bring upon both the black and white races in
this country, and in the world at large, wi
dening of the breach between the North and
South. and creating simply factious, geo.
graphical division of parties, which must
certainly eventuate in dissolution of the
Union, and with this the destruction of our
strength and prosperity as a nation, and the
forfeiture of our internal peace and hap
piness.
Men of sound, rational, minds, dislike to
be "mixed in" with fanatics who rant upon
one idea, and who are so edited with this,
they seem incapable Of looking at anything
else. The following extract is illustrative of
this truth. DR.. Breckenridge, as appears
from his letter, is what in the Slave States
is called an Emancipationist. In 1S4S he
was a candidate for the Convention to form
a new Constitution, nominated by the Anti
Slavery men of Fayette Co., Ky,-the home
of HENRY CLAY. He has since been elected
Superintendent of Common Schools, and is
now President of Danville Theological Sem
mary. See how the former champion of
Anti-Slavery in Slave State, now views the
remarks of Mr.. Sumner, made at Niblos
Theatre in New York, upon the occasion of
his great Anti-Slavery speech:
"Allow me, sir, to utter in one sentence,
the substance of my whole thought touch
ing the madness of the times, about this
whole question of negro slavery.
Here we are, great people, with a glo-
rious mission set before us-more than
twenty millions of us-with whose destiny
the destiny of three or four millions of
blacks is fearfully combined. One way or
the other we must solve their destiny, when
we solve our own. This is wholly una
voidable. But the madness is that every
seven White Americans must needs cut
each others threats concerning the fate of
one black African! Is there no solution of
the problem of their destiny and ours but
that solution which destroys us without
benefitting them? And can statesmen, such
as do not see sufficient reason to doubt
you are, and patriots such as l have not the
heart to deny you to be, find no better solu-
ton of this terrible problem--no nobler issue
of our sublime hopes, than mutual destruc-
ton by the men of the North and men of
the South, for the sake of the African slaves
scattered thinly over the continent? Are
we not able to bear through by our invinci-
BILE strength, even such a parasite as this
black race, carrying them forward far beyond
anything they could have reached without
us, and yet mounting up far beyond any
thing they may ever reach? Shame upon
every American statesman and every Ameri-
can patriot, who is insensible to the glory of
such result! Infamy to every one who
conspires to defeat it!
"And yet sir, you, an American Senator,
speaking in the name of the great Common
wealth, in whose bosom rests Bunker Hill,
and sitting in the seat of that great states
man and patriot who saw no hope for public
liberty than that which rests upon the union
of these States; you, an American Senator,
who have studied the past and before God,
allow yourself to bring the whole force of
your character, your position, and your
great gifts, to bear directly upon the point at
which alone it is possible to wreck the
country and destroy us all together!
"The madness of the times assumes in
you its most frantic aspect and you openly
avow that Slavery in America is wrong SO
grevious and unquestionable, that it should
not be allowed to CONTINGENCY, that a
wrong so transcendant, so loathsome, so
direful, must be encountered wherever it can
be reached, and the battle must be contin-
ued without truce or compromise until the
field is entirely won. Such are your words;
profoundly eloquent -unspeakably frantic
Now, sir, this means neither more nor
less than the edge of the sword. Lay aside
the rhetoric and the simple sense is, grape
and canister, cold steel and stricken battle. 4
"Believe me, Mr.. Sumner, when state
two facts, one of which know better than
you do, and the other which you ought to
know better perhaps than 1 do. The fact
which l know better than you do is, that
whenever the very faintest indications of the
settled purpose of the men of the North to
follow your advice becomes apparent to the
men of the fifteen Slave States of this Union,
a million of armed men will be ready to
receive you and your followers and if you
come not speedily thereafter to execute your
threats, your warning will not be waited
for, but they will seek you on the soil where
you now vainly suppose no danger will ever
come. The fact which you ought to know
better than do is, that after two or three
hundred thousand fighting men are arrayed
in battle on each side, it makes no sort of
difference as to the probable result, which
one of the parties has the greater reserve of
physical force left out of battle; because
after two or three hundred thousand fighting
men in the present state of the art of war,
everything depends on brains. The sum of
these two facts is very clear, namely, if the
North wants to settle the Slavery question
10y the edge of the sword, the North is in
very fair way to be perfectly gratifed; and
when she gets what she wants, there is at
least an exceeding great probability that the
North Will see reason to change her mind
very materially as to the wisd dom of that
method of settling that question. +
You will have battle, and that without tr,co
or compromise-andt that whenever YOU can
reach us-and that until the field is entirely
won!
For my part, sir, would gladly shun
that battle; gladly give my blood to avert
it if it were begun. But there mingles with
this profound dread ofshedding my brothers
blood not one apprehension of the result of
the conflict. For whoever lives to see that
battle fought, will see one more example
ADDED TO the multitudes which already crowd
the annals of mankind, that they who boast
themselves when they grid their harness on.
are apt enough to wall when thew come tn
put 1T OFT. do rs,s ro,soIf
Deheve that servitude, in this particnlar
form, is an original question either noo..a-