Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1855-07-18
SLAVERY AT THE NORTH.

SLAVERY AT THE NORTH
The New York Times: in m article under The
above caption, conctudes with the following
language:
The events, moreover, that are daily occurring
on the field where this great contest must oe
decided-the armed invasion OF free Kansas oy
u slaveholding crusade and the forclble lmposl-
tion of Slavery upon its soil,-the mobs, mur-
ders, and wholesale violence by which the slave
power seeks there to overbear the rights ana 10
trample on the interests of the Free States,
only prove still more clearly the absolute ncces-
sity of firm and resoute resistance. we re-
ioice ut every days indications that such resls,
tance will be made-that the free States VIII
demand and enforce the renewal of the prohlbl..
ton of Slavery from Kansas and Nebraska, and
that no Slave State will. ever. be admitted into
the Union from within their limits. And we
ask those Southern journals which arm to dis
cuss this subject upon its true grounds, to bear
in mind that the object of such action is not
the Abolition of Slavery in the Southern States
but the protection of our own political rights
under the Constitution and in the Union, from
The argressions and encroachments OF the slave
holding interest. ~
This last sentence is decidedly COOL The
North does not intend TO abolish slavery in the
Southern States; it only desires to protect its
political rights from the aggEessions OF slavery.
And Southern journals should, in their discus
sions upon the subject, hold up this mild and
Just demand to the consideration of the South.
Now, when we cast our eyes back upon the
history of Abolition, we are lost in wonder at
the seeming simplicity and honesty with which
the Times thus invokes the South to submit
meekly and cheerfnly to its threatened assaults.
When Clarkson and Wilberforce, thoes hrst
apostles of emancipation and woe, began their
crusade, they distinctly told the people Of Eng
land that the abolition of the Slave Trade was
their;only object, leaving slavery in the colnies
intract. Urged on by the appeals of fanaticism'
and trusting to their professions, Parliament in
an evil hour passed laws abolishing the Slave
Trade. The crevasse in the embarkment was
thus made, the tide rushed in, and finally eman-
cipation swept over the British West Indies,
leaving behind desolation, ard misery, and bar
barism, perpetual monuments to the trlumphs
of fanaticism on the one hand, and the folly OF
submitting to its first encroachments on the
other.
In the United States, it has waged the same
insidious war. Who, in 1885, of its foremost
. champions, dared promugate the doctrine which
now rings throug gh the North, of "No more
slave States?" 1t WAS then the simple right OF
petition that was claimed. There were, even at
thai dav, some Southern Statesman, who, in
lanruage which now seems to have been clothed
with prophetic power, warned the South against
the danger of yielding. They were not deceiv-
ed, either b. the hypocritical assertions of the
North, nor the seeming insigni6cancc of the
point, into acquesccncc But, as in the British
Parliament, 50 in the Congress of the United
Stales-the crevasse WAS made when the Twen-
ty-frst Rule was repealed, and the South SUBJ
mitted Since then the game has gone on.
In 1916, for the first time in the history of the
Government, tbs right was claimed for Congress,
as step towards abolition, to exclude slavery
from the Territories, when Mr.. Wilmot introdu-
ced his famous proviso, and it passed the House
of Representatives. 1t was tremendous leap
toward the end secretly nursed in the hearts of
John Quincy Adams and his incendiaries in 1886.
Indignation, deep and loud, echoed throughout
the length and breadth of the South But in
spite of it all, California was admitted, and the
Wilmot proviso was enforced. The crevasse
was widening and deepening, and the demands
Of abolition growing more and more lmperlous.
We stand now upon the eve of = struggle
more vital than ever. 1t involves not merely
the right of Congress- to exclude slavery from
the Territories, but to intcrneddlc with the In
sttutions of sovereign State, and place her
admission into the Union upon the alternative Of
her abolishing slavery, when the Constitution oi
the United States expressly fixes but one test
republicanisu-to the admission of new States
The North demands another-abotionism!
Nay, more, the restoration of the Missouri
Compromise line, now watchword all over the
North, what does that involve, but the right 10
abolish slavery in State? Yet the Times tells
us "that the object of such action is not the ab.
olition of slavery in the Southern States" We
thank it for the assurance. But the story of the
past is too fresh before u.s. to permit it to swervc
US from the course, or blind our eyes to truths
which an experience, far better than words, holds
up before us. We know well enough the sig
nificancc of the words, "the South must remem
Der that the slavery question has assumed 4 po
litical aspect, and that its decision involves
the entire character and tendency of the Fedora
Government" 1t is the announcement of the
momentoas results which are ut stake in The
coming contest between the North and the
South; contest which will settle the question
whether the latter will hcnceforth sink into inc.
quality, inferiority and final annihilalion, or, ri
sing to the full possession of her powers and
her rights, shall move onward in the high, homo
rabls and glorious career to which God hath
appointed her. We hold that emancipation is
the grand object Of abolition, and that the same
hypocrisy under which it marked its designs fol
the destruction of the West Indies has lurked
in its professions 10 the South, waiting only fol
the power "to do unto us likewise" Thus
judging, we reject the counsels of the Times
Charleston Mercury.