Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-11-30
From the South Carolinian.
rhe Republican Party and Abolitionisn

The Republican Party and Abolitionisn
Although the easy fall of Harper's Ferry
into the hands of Capt. Brown and his squ"c
of men, and the wild and frantic panic thai
has since prevailed there, must impress out
siders with an unfavoruble and false idea o
the per,nanency and security OF our soca
structure, yet the great results that mu''
grow out Of the excitement will not be with
out its decisive results. The idea OF TIC
South making issues for dsunion or revol'l.
ton, we havo never entertained. We never
have believed she could ever be induced To
come with united front, tn the support oi
any issue either proffered or forced upon her
from within her own fold. We have always,
therefore, approved the policy of moderation
for unity, and unity for successful resistance
to aggression. All accusation OF unsoundnes'
against the border Southern States We have
discountcnanced, believing thst when tue tine
came for action, they would be ready to act,
and that, not until they were reSiy, would
there be any action. This is tho policy we
Shall still adhere to. II is our firm eonvic'
tion that tLis anti-slavery sentiment must
die out, or it must assume the aggressive
phase which the IIarper's Ferry siftir pro.
sents. The Republican party must either
come fully up to it and sustain it, or it mist
he dislnembered and its fragments f''r'"e'i
into other associations. That tue con>crTa-
tive and intelligent portion of the party
embracing those who duly estimste the lie
Of the Union, and those who nre only Re-
publicans from political antipathy to Deniu.
cracy-wiIl recoil from the shurp and decisive
Conflict which the true anti-sluvcry mrn are
forcing upon the North, We do not Doubt.
Not 80, however, with the majority of the
party. What thcn7 Nothing less than ln's.
tile demonstrations, Which will fall III ali
their violence upon the border States, and
urge these 10 point of resistance in which,
whatever it may be, they will be fully and
earnestly sustained by the more Southern
States. This is the complexion to watch
tho anti-slavory sentiment must arrive. The
cuwardly pulpit politicians who prate ab"ut
the spirit of the Pilgrim fathers instea'l OF
that Of Christ and his Apo,tles--these men
who use the pulpit mui the Lords day for
the PRONUNCIATION of IDEAS which they will
never he found acting uut-theso are the mon
who will incte others to self.destructlon and
iinper;l the safety of the Union. These are
the men whose teachings New England fol-
lows whose fuIminations msjority Of her
people trembles before. These are the mn
who will drive the Republican party into &c:
tive Abolitionism, or proclaim its mission
failure. Let Brown and hi. followers, thrn,
be executed. They have been guilty OF mur,
der, of arson, of robbery, of treason; and II
in the opinion of the North these crimes sre
50 redeemed and cancelled by the object they
had in view, that their execution will indame,
and drive majority Of its people into ii.
cy of active Abolitionism, then be it 40. 10
this crisis has tue anti-slavery agitation been
tending from its inception. 1t is utterly i'm
possible for it to remain peaceful and inae.
tive sentiment a moment after its successful
adoption by majority Of the Northern I'eo.
pie, and the South has only to wait with firm
and united front the conflict that reddcns in
the future. She can neither accelerate nor
delay it. She has but the alternative Of ac-
cep,ing the issue when presented. or Of re-
ioicing at the triumph of reason and consti-
tutional conservatism, should they, by Pro-
vidcntial interposition, be again installed in
tue control and goverance Of the Northern
mind