The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-08
From the ps,er.hurs w.. ) Press.
From the Petersburg (val Press.
WILL A DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION
STOP THE INCENDIARISM OF THE
ABOLITION FANATIC2 &


4 ABOLITION FANATIC2
4 We answer, briefly, it would, and that only
will. The Abolitonist is not fhbustering
fanatic, seeking universal emancipation OF
slaves. He is not disturbed at Slavery in Cuba
or Brazil; he is only interested in it in his own
Government, and will not cease to attack 1T, In
obedience to bis fanatical conscience With
this conscience there can be no reasoning; no
questions of interest win make him pause.
A separation of the States of the Union sep
srates the institution from his conscience, and
makes Slavery as foreign to him as it Is IN the
countries named. lie but a hundred men make
Abolition question of their souls salvation,
and disunion would content them, or discon-
meet those high considerations from the subject,
disunion becomes imperative. The Union, in
their opinion, makes them responsible for Sla-
very before God. Should we not release them
from even this imaginary danger to their souls
salvation? a g AN INQUIRER
4 We are surprised that any intelligent man
should take this view of the matter. disso-
luton of the Union could not fail to exasperate
the people on both sides of the line, and the
South would be subject to tenfold irritation in
consequence of the senfold increase in the num-
Der of fugitive slaves. 1t is now very difficult
to recover fugitive slave who escapes to a
free State, with the whole force of the Federal
Government and the fugitive act on the side of
the STAKEHOLDER. But if the Union were dis
solved, the law would be on the side of the
slave, and against the stakeholder. Can any
rejecting man doubt that this circumstance
would powerfully stimulate the fugitive spirit
From the Atlantic to the Rio Grande, the slave
would only have to step across the frontier line
to place himself under the protecting @gis of
the Northern Confederacy and it would beim-
possible to hold slaves within one hundred
) miles of that line, unless they are to be kept
literally in chains. AS consequence of the
frequent and Wholesale stampedes, the slave
holders would be kept in a state of constant
irritation and excitement, and would often be
tempted to cross the line in pursuit of their
escaping property. They would thus become
aggressors and invaders, and the insult would
be resented by the bordering free States. Blood
would flow, and the two Republics would be
constantly on the eve of war.
There could be no peace between the two
fragments of the divided Union, in consequence
Of this standing cause of irritation. 1t is very
shallow reasoning Of An Inquirer" to sup
pose that the Anti-Slavery sentiment of the
North would cool down, if the Union were dis
solved. If dissolution had taken place thirty
years ago, that suggestion would have force.
The remoteness of Caba and Brazil will ex-
plain the comparative indifference of the North
ern Abolitionists to the fact that they maintain
Slavery, while the contiguity Of the South to
the North will be as close after dissolution as it
is now.
The South set fatal example of aggression
upon the North in the effort to force Slavery
into Kansas. That example has been initiated
in the recent affair at Harper's Ferry. North.
ern men who emigrated to Kansas, as they had
a right to do, even with the assistance of the
Emgrant Aid Societies, were cruelty murdered
and expelled from the Territory by Missouri
ruffians They we're not permitted even to hold
elections, but the polls were seized by organ
lied mobs from Missouri, and thousands of
votes were cast in violation of all law and de-
cency-" Legislatures " were elected by these
intruders from a neighboriDg State, and the
most diabolical laws were enacted. In the
mean while the Federal Government rendered
insignificant, in comparison with these outrages
the events which took place at Harper's Fe rry ?
Virginia raised men and money, to arm the
rufhans who invaded Kansas, and she now is
made to feel the enormity of the outrages she
assisted to perpeuate, by having them family
retaliated upon herself. She, in common with
other Southern States, has invoked the spirit of
lawless invasion and border warfare, and she
will IN vain attempt to escape the dire conse-
quences by dissolution of the Union. That
is not the way to restore peace. Her security
lies in preserving the Union, and returning to
the maxims and policy of her earlier statesrn en-,
who attempted to check the diffusion of Sla.
very which they regarded as curse and
prayed for the period of deliverance from its
evils.
Southern statesmen will remember that per-
petual border war existed between England and
Scotland while they remained independent
kingdoms; and that peace and safety were Sc
cured only at the price of union under one
Government. There is perhaps no portion o
the world blessed with greater security to life
and property at the present day than the border
land between those countries, where for centu.
ries the Rob Roys and their rufian bands laid
waste the fields of their neighbors, and rendered
life burden.
In like manner it might be shown that the
union of the great feoffs in France, under
Louis XI, was the salvation of the country,
and his reign, though despotic, marks an inn
portant epoch in the progress of its civilization
The same remark may be made with reference
to England, which, in early times, was divided
into several petty Kingdoms, which maintained
perpetual war with each other.
1t is true that the United States is vastly
larger than the European countries to whose
example we have pointed, but the difference in
size is more than Offset by the modern facilities
of travel and intercourse, including, of course,
the interchange of thought by means of the
press, the telegraph, and universal education.
The counties of England and France, five
hundred or even two hundred years ago, had
nothing like the intimacy of intercourse, wbeth-
er commercial or intellectual, which now exists
between the States of this Union. They had
no railroads--scarcely any roads at all they
spoke differents dialects, there were no newspa-
pers, and indeed the inhabitants of different
counties and provinces had fewer ideas in COM
mon than the people of our most distant States.
The South cannot escape Northern ideas by
going ont of the Union. For veal or woe, the