Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-08-10
VOL. 5.---N0. so.

than the four States to come out OF Texas IN
the present Territories of the Union. We
suppose that when Northern men resist this
scheme of aggression, they will still be de-
nounced as agitators!
In referring to Mr.. Stephens, We have not
resorted to the frenzied follies of ultra South
ern fre-eaters. He is not of that school. He
has ssmethod in his Madness He is COM
paratively cool in bis temperament, and con-
servative in his views. He entered Congress
a Wing; but fell off to ssthe Democracy
when he fuund-his old political associates un-
willing to assist him in achieving those tri-
umphs of slavery over which he cxults. 1t was
only among northern democrats that he
found the right kind of material, and with
their aid he succeeded. Still he is not salts
fed, and he ssmarshals them the way that they
shall go'' hereafter, not only for the acquisi-
tion OF Cuba, but ssthe increase of African
stock" This has served to arouse feelings of
resistance in the minds of many m oderate men,
whose wish it has been to suppress the agitation
of the slavery question. They wished to have
no more said about ito exclude it from pub
lie discussion. and from the regard of polti-
cal parties. They were content to let it rest
just where it is. But Mr.. Stephens breaks in
upon their policy of frcpose with new agitation.
Having aruged himself into conviction, not
only of the social moral and political rectitudc
of slavery, but also that in all those respects,
it sspromotes the welfare and happiness of the
his master,'.' he is perfectly consistent in re-
commencing increase of African stock by
re-openng the slave trade, and thus, as he ex-
presses it, 'sfulflling great mission in advan-
cling new order and higher type of Chris
tian civilization 1t were cruel, indeed, to
exclude the native African from the prom
of his welfare and happiness, by not bringing
him under the benign influences of ssslavery,
as it exists with us l'' Still this is too hard
strain upon The convictions and consciences of
our Northern conservatives, who are not who'll
Iy prepared to reject the authority and opin-
ions of Jefferson, Madison and the leading men
of the South in our early history, nor to admit
Mr.. Stephens doctrine of the sshigher law
or the analogical argument which he bases up
on it. Thus the North .fmericaa-whose mod
Grafton on this question is known by all read
ing men-sayS -
ssThere was no necessity requiring Mr.. Ste
phenS to speak two hours upon slavery on the
occasion of his withdrawal from the represen-
tation of his district. He wholly mistakes the
age he lives in, and with a thousand more such
to aid him, he cannot cause civilization to re-
turn along its track of thousand years. We
do not want 'sAfrican stock'' for the labor of
this continent, and we have no need of slave
ry as substructive for new free States. The
statesmen of the revolutionary age were not
mistaken as to the right or propriety of slave
ry-on the contrary, Mr.. Rhett and Mr.. Ste
phens are mad on the subject. A diseased ex-
citement against advancing civilization moves
them to do and to say, what they now do and
say, and as certainly as time rolls on, this
morbid slavery worship will die out, and abb
solutely disappear at the end Of brief peri
cd of years.
We conclude this article with the following
remarks from the same paper, having, as we
think, conclusivey shown that aggression and
agitation on the slavery question have not pro-
ceeded from the political friends with whom
it is our pleasure to act, and that it is the
South which will not permit it TO, be ignored
in political issues =
ssMnch as the north may justly be held re-
sponsibe for in this prominence of slavery for
ten years past, the south is responsible for
much more. They will never have done with
it, they cannot speak on the Fourth of July
without talking of it. and from November till
October, on no market day is speaker or
writer there sober on this intoxicating point.
What do they suppose the consequence of this
course will be on the rest of the Union? Who
can talk OF a tariff a line of foreign policy,
without having the words caught out of his
mouth by some vociferouS declaimer for more
s'African stock,' or for or against a slave code
in the territories. The case is in the hands
OF the South, we repeat. Give US something
else than this pet institution as the theme of
hope for the future, when you speak or write.
Slavery is not the corner stone of this repub.
lie, nor the corner stone of single State CON-
posing 1t. Slavery is not to be the goal for
future advancement, and there is to be no hap
py future in which negroes shall be imported
in countless numbers to supply the vacant
fields of the south. If southern leaders can
see no other Elysium than this in looking for
ward, it is better to shut their eyes, and to give
up the world as lost. No accumulation of
strength, no separation of Southern States in
to new confederation, can effect any such
change as that required to revive the slara
trade on great scale, and to permit the south
to measure its prosperity 10y the multitude of
its fresh negroes.
ss1t is obvious that the desideratum we seek
is not to come by mincing phrases of careful
construction upon the slavery question. To
ensure peace We must declare ourselves ready
to fight for it, if need be, and to make a slave
ry test, If We can obtain no heed to reasona-
ble doctrines otherwise''
IOhn Adams heinn called nnou for cOnfri-