The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1855-11-28

Il
own printing press under the laws Of that
free State. They have borne more indig.
mites than we have space to tell, so ,bst
they are now asking each other, even in
their newspapers, 'FWas not the govern
ment Of England harmless, compared to
the tyrannical government Of slavehold-
ers| And now the time for throwing
OH the yoke, evidently near at hand, will
probably be decided by the declaration Of
war against England, If the Washington
Cabinet should perpetrate that act. That
there is nothing in their commerce with
the South which could con- pensate the
North for their freedom Of the seas is clear
enough to those who are aware of a re-
markable fact, duly noted by those most
nearly concerned. There was, in lss5,a
great meeting in Faneuil Hall, in Boston,
the "Cradle OF Liberty,") called by "the
property and standing" of the city to put
down the abolitionists and their action
Ofthe long line of requisitionists on tha,
occasion, there are scarcely any who have
not since been bankrupta, through the ve-
ry trade with the South, which they
pawned their liberties to preserve. Twen-
ty years more Of experience have now
shown them that their foreign commerce,
and that Of the free States Of the West,
are worth moro to them than that Of the
South-impoverished, by her own ac-
count: and impoverished, as they have
good reason to know, by slavery, which
allows no wealth to grow beneath its hot
and heavy tread. Whatever trade there
may be with the West Indies is worth ms
much to them now as it would be if own
ed by the South and they will be slow
to risk their other foreign trade by COLI
sion with the great naval power Of tue
world.
Again they truly revere the act Of Un-
ion framed by their fathers, as they have
shown only too well by their exaggerated
and coatly dread OF danger, to it during
twenty years Of political subserviency.--
They kno~-every man woman and child
in the State-that the founders of the
republic exerted their utmost ingenuity,
to limit the area Of slavery, and that the
republic would never have been founder
if its builders had supposed that slavery
could become national in its spread and
influence. Now, that the free States find
the vast northwest territory thrown open
to slavery, by the repeal of the Missouri
comPromise-now that they see the free
settlers Of Kansas, who are actually the
majority of the population there, deprived
Of their political rights by sheer violence.
and subjected to Territorial government
which sets all law and order at defiance.
they are hardly likely TO join the despotic
power which thus wrests their rights, and
their prospects, in war against their best
customers, their relatives by blood, their
comrades in political privileges and social
views and aspirations. The alliance be-
tween New and Old England in a crisis
tests the very principles that are the life
blood OF both, must be stronger than the
Union which the Northern and tie South
ern States are alike and simultaneously
threatening to dissolv,. Massachusetts,
will never ann a stab at Europe to make
South Carolina Queen.
Again, the men Of the North are re-
nowned for their prudence. Whatever
else may be said Of them. nobody ques-
tions that quality. Prudent as they are,
they know as well as we do that their
fortunes in open war mus. depend on the
sOundness Of their cause. They are not,
and never can be, in this age of the world
a military nation. Brave they ars;. ca.
pable Of endurance, enthusiasm, sch: de-
nial, selEsaerfcc, everything that can
glorify good cause and render il victo-
rious, bet their origin, their institutions,
and their national temper raise them a.
bove that professional military training
and ind viduai 'uilitsry proficiency which
alone can render bad or doubtful cause
successful. They have not men, diseip-
line, or experience which can enable them
to succeed in aggressive warfare In Eu-
rope. The men Of the NORTH know this.
And IL they know that the iiibusteting
order Of warfare is the one proposed, and
the one which they must assent to, ifthey
assent at all, win they help to make their
great country the chief pirate-lair of the
world, or uphold its rsnk among the for
most nations Of t5e earth This Is the
alternative. If there are any who toabt
the reply TO this mighty question se. them
remember that the American nation d
not truly and pernanently represented by
any number Of unscsppuious men who
climb into Office on the towsring passions
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