Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-10-14

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revenge himself No imagination could depict
the horrors that would be enacted What then
Is TO be dones Are We TO SIT down in aibmis-
sion to the arguments or the violence of the
Siavelhold tEe, and do nothings Are NE TO let
ii se evils Of slavery increase and multiply till
they shall be utterly beyond alienation. No,
certaluiy not. But we are q. use means that
may have some effect, and not those which Kill
surely have none, unless it be to strengthen the
evil we seek to eradicate. We are not to over
come evil with evil but with good. This, IN
deed Is the only way 10 conquer it efectuaily;
and so long as we say to our brother ''Staad
aside, am hoiier than thoun so long as We
undertake TO serve God as If the Devil was in
US, SO long we shall fail to accomplish the object
of our painful struggles. If we will put only a
small portion of the zealand energy we have
shown In the pursuit of victory in the political
struggle, into the calmer effort to free ourselves
from moral guilt, economical paradox, and polit-
icaI inconsistency, We shall accomplish the OBJ
iect with much greater ease than If we set
ourselves TO work to carry our purpose by
torce,-brute fnrce,-as it is the fashion now
a-days to call physical effort. Mere force
of any sort, force of numbers, or of votes.
or of anything but conviction, produces
only contention, and misery. Any power
of majority, unaccornpanied by the power Of
reason which satisfies the understanding and
comedies with the feeling, is as tyrannical and
out OF place III the present age and in our coun-
try, the power of the Inquisitian or of the
Emperor Of Russia. The exercise of such ar
hilrary power by any legislature is as likely to
produce resistance, as if it were practiced by an
antocrat- Mems minds must be convinced that
the reason and the effect of law is not only good
but necessary, before they will submit to If viii
Engiy, or before they will submit to it all in
this country Above all is it desirable that laws
should not be enacted by one class of society
against another, which is equal nearly equal
in number and influence. They cannot be made
etfectual If enacted against particular section Of
the State. A law of Massachusetts against n
peculiar custom or fashion in Berkshire or Barn
stable county alone, would be worth the bleached
rags on which twas printed, and nothing more
1t would be of less value STILL if possible If
passed by the votes of six out of the eleven
counties represented in the Legislature So
must be a law, If such thing be conceivable,
passed by the vote of sixteen States ont of thir-
ty-one. majority of one is not tsworking
majority in slegiSlature consisting of as many
distinct constituencies as our Congress. There
must be something ike unanimity of opinion,
before there can be action upon any such I'M
portant subject involving life and property.
And how can unaniinity of opinion, on the
subjectof slavery, be produced among well-dis-
posed people? This is not so difficult problem
as it would seem at the first glance. Among
Shareholders there are thousands who have long
been convinced by bitter experience of the evils
of slavery, and who do not need tauntS and re-
proaches to make them willing to adopt any
practicable remedy for the appalling calamity.
The influence of such men, who are, of course,
among the thinking, the wise men of the South,
would be immense, if it could be left to the nat
ural efertS of intelligence and sympathy; and if
an alliance between them and men of equal in
teligeuce and liberality of mind ard feeling at
the North could be brought about one great step
would be taken towards u peaceful settlement of
this tremendous question"
There are several exDreSSionS in this extract
on which we would be glad to concentrate the
thoughtful and earnest attention of honest and
intelligent men, though such attentionit is al
most impossible to secure in these days of wild
excitement, and progressive action. Yet this
writer, who is as earnest in his opposition to
Slavery as any other man, has directed his own
powers of mind to a view of the subject rarely
taken, and which it is exceedingly unpopular at
the present day to urge. 1--WE are not to over
come the evil with evil, but with good" This
Is sound doctrine, bnt with many Christian re-
formers the end lustifies the means; and the
Sabbath, the Sanctuary, the Bible, the truth, the
peace OF the country, the Union oftthe States,
the future happiness Of uncOunted millions all,
all, are made of no account Whatever in conpar
Ison with the accomplishment of the immediate
result after Which they are rushing. so long
as we undertake to serve God, as if the devil
was in US, shall fail TO accomplish tie object
of our painful struggles" Never did we read
u more li!eike description ef the style of Gods
service, by which many of our political Chris
tan ministers and philanthropiSts are distin-
guIshcd. They serve God as if the devil was in
them. He Is III them, whether they know it or
not He is driving them down steep places into
the sea- and nothing but disaster and ruin attend
all the Reforms which they undertake to lead
The service of God, the happiness Of man, the
aIneiloration of the oppressed are objects, not
to be accomplished by zeal without knowledge
or carnestneSs without love- Eanaily iudicious
* CErti nf IL, II
mere exercise of arbitrary power by lcgisla-
ture VIII never effect permanent moral reform.
The right to shear wolf, does not prove its cx-
pediency, Prohibition is cminently Desirable TO
remove the temptations of intcmperancc, but
prohibition against the convictions of a large
portion oil tile community may be worse than
license. MEMS minds must be convinced that
the reason and the effects of a law are not only
good but necessary before they will submit to it
Willingly, or before they will submit to it at oil
in this country" When, therefore, we look
back upon the state Of the public mind thirty
years ago, and remember how steadily and in
decd rapidly the work of emancipation was 60
lug forward; when we rccollcct that Maryland,
Virginia and Kentucky were following on in the
steps of New York and New Jersv; that socic-
ties for the promotion Of emancipation were far
more numerous in the S!ave-holding, than in the
Tree states; that incipient legislation was taken
to render such emancipation no less advantage
Gus TO the one class than the other; that this
conSnmation was in the way of accomplishment,
while the harmony Of the North and South was
continued and cemenced; that when one member
suffered, all the members suffered with it. and
this sense of mutual dependence bound the co:l-
icdCracy, as with links Of iron; when we remen-
Der that all these hopes of peaceful emancipation
have been distinguished in the bIackness of dark
ness, and the great question that now convulses
the country has no prospective solution in the
compass of the most far-reaching minds Of our
patriots and statesmen; how can we refrain from
dePlorins with anguish Of spirit, and not un-
manly tears. that fanaticism and political am