Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-09-05
.DIEUEI0N.

cred sentiment educated into the hearts and
minds of. yopng men for the preservation Of the
Union, that displayed itself through their liyes
and actions. He who talked idly of the posi-
bility Of such an event; was frowned down by
the reprobation of his fellows, while the grave
and+mOre. matureG shook their wise heads in
holy horror at his sacrilegious sentiments
Those days have gone. What was rarity then
has nov almost become habit. Even newspa.
pers prate as .gGbly of the dissolution Of the
Union as they would describe an Inauguration
ball or grand fete in high life. Nor is this
ALL. These lucubrations are not confined to the
journals Of any particular section of the country
We find Them in the North and in the South
in the East and in the West We see some
that are characterized by most unbecoming
violence, while others are marked by not less
alssmiag calmness and deliberation. To trace
to its source this grevious state of things is no
easy or grateful task. To say when and with
whom it begun, and the causes of it, would ex-
pose US to the censure of being sectionalist, and
yet, at the risk of this, we propose to ourselves
this morning some comment on this subject.
We were bred to value the Union of these
States above all price, aud its dissolution rs the
greatest of all disasters. But this was at pc
rod when, if the rights of the sovereign States
which composed it had begun to be impaired,
there was yet the strongest hope that reason,
justice, and patriotism, would assert their empire
and crush in the egg the foul spirit that would
desperate our Institutions and throw back into
chaos the beautiful order which had been struck
from it by the sages, and patriots, and founders
of the Republic. How vain that hope has pro.
ren--how futile all human effort to realize it
"Dout give up the ship" were the noble words
of. encouragement of one of our gallant cap
tains. Don't give up the Union, until further
effort to save 1t is dishonor. and the persistence
in wrong and outrage upon the rights of the
South would make her a. scof and by-word
among.all the nations of the earth! Don't give
up the Union, until the North, bloated with
greed and fanaticism, shall, like the cruel daugh-
ters Of the old king, continue to abridge the
privileges, 10 insult the dignity, and to destroy
the rights of The South, who has contributed 50
largely to the power, greatness, and prosperity,
Of which she is so justly proud. How near at
hand the fearful consumInation of this wicked
purpose may be, it is not tor US to say. We
apprehend, however, from the signs of the
times, that it is not far distant.
THE REPEAL OF THE FUGITIVE. SLAVE Law
!. The Abolition OF SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA, and the ref uSaI to admit another slaue
Stale into the Unior are given out as the main
objects OF Legislative exerlion by the Freesoil
and Abolition party at the nert Congress !!
When we remember that the next House of
Representatives in composed of verv large
number, if not a majority, of this party, we may
not be considered alarnlsts, for saying that they
arc at least making fearful strides towards the
execution of their dread purposes. Who shall
say that this Union should stand another mo-
ment after the enactment of such laws?
The institution of slavery was inauguratcd
into our system when the thirteen States formed
the confederacy under which we now live. 1t
was inaugurated into it, because in all the
States slavery was not only recognized, but had
M actual existence. If then slavery existed in
The several States which formed the Union, and
the rigM Of property in slaves was,not only mol
interdicted by the Constitution which they
zrgrced upon but absolutely permitted by it,
how shall they interdct it now, either within sis
Ter States or the Territories The common pro-
perty Of all the States? In Boston, the Athens
of America, God save the mark it was coin
mon thing to see slave sales advertised in her
philanthropic newspapers! By what authority,
then is the objection 10 it made now? There is
but one source to which, in tile. very nature of
things, we must look for this authority. That
source is tho Constitution. We'll, we have but
one Constitution from the beginning; and if
that Constitution recognized and permitted slave
ry,where is the power abore The Constitution,
that shall coItrarene it? Abolitionists may
break the Constitution, if they have the po,cer
so may the armed bandit take the treasure
from dcfenceless trareler-but, until that in
stfument is destroyed, we have as much right to
our slave property rs they have to any species
OF their own. A new constitution might be
framed, which, taking the place of the present
one. wou d interdict slavery in States and Ter
ritories; but then a neU union must be formed,
and the States becoming parties to it would
have right 10 80 in or stay out Of it, with this
Rterdielion, rs they might severally please
What is The case now! Simply, that coming
into>tle Union, with this privilege guaranteed
them by tho common instrument that binds
them, they are, by an &c post facto enactment,
prohibited from the enjoyment of this privilege.
There was no Limitation upon this subject speci-
fed in the Constitution, and hence it remains as
firmly guaranteed right to the slaves States
rs any other whatever, rccited or implied
Slavery was abolished in the, northern or free
States because it was not deemed profitable,
aud only because it was not deemed profitable.
Godnnd nature determined this for u.s. Hence
It. exists in every Southern State, because pro-
duce and. soil and climate attract it thilher. DO
the northern people (we speak now of the Doacn
casters, and not of those noble northwestern
people who depend upon their own bold ener-
gies for their livelihood and who keep down
and check tho serpent 6end Of Abolition wher
ever it rcars its head) know that but for slaue
labor their people would be drones and beggars,
aud their cities green pastures? Take cotton,
tobacco, hemp, sugar, and rice-all products of
slave labor, and raised in climate where the
white man can scarcely live 10 see his crops
secured, much less to produce thenl-these sta
PIES abolished and abandoned for the want Of
the proper kind of labor to produce them, and
what becomes Of the North? The lossto' her
shipping interest alone would bo immense by
this abstraction Of their sources Of profit from
II. We are not disposed to estimate the value
of flie Uplon by 4 schedule Of profit and loss to
the North and South. We hope such a catas-
trophe may never come; but does it require
more than single glance ut the result of such
q disaster, to sesLthat the NORTH would lose all,
and the South would gain: everything. And
can any fair-:hinking, right-balanced mind re.
frain, therefore, from giyingthe South the gres.
test credit for her patriotism in this long (al1nost
to her own dishonor, certainly to the sacrifice of
nuch of her dignity for bearing with the source
Of her worst wrongs and 6ulrages? lie. the
North 70 on, apd she will find when it is; too
late, that the very keystone of the sacred arch
has erumtled beneath her sacfiligious touch!
q Id view, then; of the condition Of things
which awaits US, we should calmly, but firmly,
evolve iu our minds the best means of dissipa- !