The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-08-21


And, of course" said Frank, "you found
that the ieadings of Providence didn't indicate
that they are to be martyrs! You have their
prayers in secret, presume; and if Won ever
get the cause on the upper hillside, they'll come
out and preach sermon for YOU. Now. CLAW.
ton, I'll tell you what I'll do. If Tom Gordon
attacks you, I'll pick quarrel with him, and
shoot him, right off the reel. NV stomach isn't
nice about those matt ers, and that sort of thing
wont compromise me with my party"
THANK YOU" said Clayton, ~ shall not
trouble you"
My dear fellow" said Russell, "you phlos-
ophers are very much mistaken about the use
OF carnal weapons. AS long as you wrestle with
flesh and blood, you had better use feshly means.
At any rate, a gentlemanly brace of pistols
won't hurt you; and, in fact, Clayton, am Sc
nous. You must wear pistols-there are no
two ways about it. Because, if these fellows
know thata man wears pistols, and will use them
1t keeps them off. They have an objection to
being shot, as this is all the world they are likely
to have. And think Clayton, you can fire off
pistol in as edifying and dignifed manner
IS you can say grace on proper occasions The
fact is, before long there will be a row kicked
up. I'm pretty sure of it. Tom Gordon is a
deeper fellow than you'd think, and he has
booked himself for Congress and he means to
go IN On the thunder-and. blazes principle, which
will give him the vote of all the rabble. He'll
go into Congress to do the fighting and slash
ing. There always must be a bully or two
there, you know, to knock down fellows that
you can't settle any other way. And nothing
would suit him better, to get his name up, than
heading crusade against an Abolitiohist."
"Well," said Clayton, off it's come to that,
. oS "a l.
own State, where are we?"
"Wbere are we, my dear fellow? WHY, I
know where we are and if you don't, it's time
you did. Discuss freely? Certainly we can,
on one side of the question or on both sides OF
any other question than this. But this ' YOU u,
can't discuss freely, and they can't afford to let
you, as long as they mean to keep their power.
Do you suppose they are going to let these poor
devils, whites, get their bandages off their eyes,
that make them so easy to lead now? There
would be pretty bill to pay, if they didl Just
now, these fellows are in as safe and comforta.
BILE condition for use as party could desire
because they have votes, and we have the gui
ding of them. And they rage, and swear, and
tear, for our institutions, because they are FOOLS
and don't know what hurts them. Then, there's
the niggers. Those fellows are deep. They
have as long ears as little pitchers, and they
are such sort of fussy set, that whatever is
going on in the community is always in their
mouths, and so comes up that old fear of insur-
rection. That's the awful word, Clayton! That
lies at the bottom of good many things in our
State, more than we choose to let on. These
negroes are a black well; you never know
what's at the bottom"
"Well," said Clayton, "the only safeguard
to prevent this is reform. They are O patient
set, and will bear great while; and if they
only see that anything is being done, it will be
an efectual prevention. If you want insurrec-
ton, the only way is to shut down the escape
valve; for, will ye mill ye, the steam must rise.
You see, in this day, minds soiM grow. They
are growing. There's no help for it, and there s
no force like the force of growth. have seen
a rock split in two by the growing of an elm.
tree that wanted light and air, and would make
its way up through it, Look at all the aristoc.
racies of Europe. They have gone down under
this force. Only one has stood-that of Eng.
land. And how came that to stand Because
it knew when to yield because it never con.
fined discussion; because it gave way graceful
ly before the growing force of the people. That's
the reason it stands to-day, while the aristocra.
cy of France has been blown to atoms"
My dear fellow" said Russell, I" this is all
very true and convincing, no doubt: but you
won't make our aristocracy believe it. They
have mounted the lightning, and they are going
to ride it, whip and spur. They are going to
Lord knows what, and have a great and splen-
going to be what Greece was to Rome. We
shall govern it, and it will attend to the arts of
life for US. The South understands governing.
We are trained to rule from the cradle. We
have leisure to rule. We have nothing else to
do. The free States have their factories, and
their warehouses, and their schools, aad their
internal improvements, to ELL up their minds !;
and, if we are careful, and don't tell them too
plain where we are taking them, they'll never
know it till they get there"
"Well," said Clayton, there's one element
of force that you've left out in your calculation"
"And what's that? ' said Russell.
"God |" said Clayton.
az don't know anything about him." said
Russell.
you may have occasion to learn, one of
these days. said Clayton. 81 believe he is
alive yet"
The Hon. Josiah Quincy, sen., now IS years
of age, and still young man, has published
the address which he delivered in Quincy, last
June. We copy from the Boston Atlas the
dedication-a word of fire:
"The question to be decided at the ensuing
Presidential election, is, who shall henceforth
rule the nation-the slave States or the free
States? All the aspects of our political atmos-
phere indicate an approaching hurricane.
Whether it shall sweep this Union from its
or whether it shall be prosperously
weathered, depends, under Heaven, on the man
whom the people shall choose to pilot them
through the coming storm. In my judgment,
that man ia John Charles Fremont. have not,
and never had, any connection with the party
that selected him. Personally, know him not :,
but have read the history of his life, and l
believe him to be a man as much marked out
by Providence for the present exigency of our
nation, as Washington was for that of our Amer
lean Revolution. He comes from whence great
men generally do come, from the mass of the peo-
pie. Nursed in difficulties; practiced in sur
them; wise in council; full of re-
sources; selfpossessed in danger; fearless and
foremost in every useful enterprise unexcep-
tionable in morals with an intellect elevated by
nature and cultivated in laborious fields of du-
ty-I trust he is destined to save this Union from
dissolution; to restore the Constitution to its
original purity; and to relieve that instrument,
which Washington designed for the preserva-
ton and enlargement of Freedom, from being
any longer perverted to the multiplication of
slave States and the extension of Slavery"
GBRRIT SMITH AND FREaoNT.-Gerrit Smith
stopped in this city yesterday, on his way to the
late Kansas meeting at Buffalo. While here,
the following colloquy occurred between him and
another gentleman:
Are You acquainted with Mr.. Fremont, Mr..
Smith 2"
"Very well-he dined with me several times
at Washington, and he is great favorite in my
family