Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-01-12

Of their rulcrs, and that gentle hearted DANES
and damsels, in shedding tears and ink upon
the crimes and horrors of the age, see no single
thing so deeply dcplorable as the crime and
horror of mans dominion over man.
! But while this Union is a democracy, the
South is not I democracy. 1t is SO in its cX-
ternal character, and so in sentiment perhaps,
for there ale very many of lis who yetsymfa-
thise in the feeling that eqpaluy is the right Of
man, but in its social condition the South is not
q democracy. On the contrary, it is perhaps
the purest form of aristocracy the world has
ever seen. Elsewhere aristocracies have been
forced and artificial lere it is natural and ne
ccsSary, and the cases are rare as comets, that
individuals of the one class have passed into the
other The principle that equality is the right
OF man, is true to a: extent, and to that extent
we have adopted it. 1t is true that men of the
same race are equal and they are not divided,
therefore, by any political distinction. Bnt it
is not true that men of all races are net equal.
1t is not true that the negro is the equal of the
white man. He has never been able to rear a
structure Of civilization in his native land lie
has not been able to sustain the structure pre-
pared for him in the West Indies. lie has not
been able TO stand up to the structure sustained
over him at the North and neither III his native
land, or in 4 foreign land in a savage or civil
lzed condition, has he ever yet been able to
illuminate one living truth with the rays Of
genius. Not so equal, he hasnot been admitted
to all equality. lie has not been forced to
position which nature has fitted linn to claim.
The South has been content to act rather on
fact than theory. She has assigned him to his
true condition-sLe has ineXorably held him to
| it, and in doing so she has announced in social
practice, despite the teachings of philanthropy,
what now would have her proclaim to the
world, that "eQualHy is mt The right Of aaea,
dmisthe right Of equals, Oaiy."
Such being the social attitude Of the South,
would ask whether We shall not affirm it and
proclaim it? and whether it is not now the time,
demand Of the General Government the recoS-
milton Of our right to be supreme upon the
questions which affect it?
Shall we not affirm it ? And why shall we not
affirm it? Is it for the reason that Democracy
is right? There is one sense in which it may be
right. 1t is right, where one section Of peo-
pie is elevated aLuve another by political dis
tinclions, merely that those distinctions should
be done away with. 1t WAS right that the dis
tinctionS between the p!ebean and patrician
should have given way in ltomc-that the v::.-
sal should have risen 10 the level of the la:il in
France, and it is right, perhaps, that the Com
mons should advance upon the hereditary Peers
OF England, and tell them even, as upon the
passage of the reform bill, that they must pass
their measures, or that the king should make a
House of Lords to pass them and so it is right,
-perIlaps. ssstz peer and neasant- -alSthG same
race, and Tfrd ~ m natural INTrv Is
distinguish them, should collr ut length to the
same horizontal plane of Il democracy. II is
right at least III this, that it is natural and ne
ccsSary that it slluald hc 50. But is the social
condition !.atre$ults lron, t!n! Democratic plane
thing to be connieli;lcd2 Let the enquirer
look 1t the fearful vibrations from anarchy 10
deSpotisln in Rome. Let him look ut the rivers
OF boot that lowed from free anil equal France
along tht Streets Of Paris Let him look nj the
briganaye that rules in MpXicn Lrt lin lon!l
1T the fearful purtcntS at the North. Let him
look at the prostration Of all that is elevated
at the rise Of all that is low. Let Him look at
the reptiles that crawl from Tie sinks o. vice TO
braniSh their fDrkcd tongues about The pillars
Of the Capitul-at the hands ol 4 Thousand pa
triots that MARCH the streets Of New York, with
banners Inscribed with "iibcrty" OF one side:
eve will have bread" upon the other, and then
sly whether, if equality be indeed the right Of
man, there be not conditions in it that render il
illuSory, and whether inequalities OF some sort,
whether distinct social orders, 10 matter how
Objectionable in theory, are not of necessity III
social practice.
Is it Tor the reason that slavery is wrong; that
we are not to Affirm our attitude? That tic
slavery Of one man to another, no better than
himself, is wrong may be admitted. 1t is 4 coli-
dition that can only bc maintained by force, and
no condition may bc right when force Is neces-
Sary to sustain it. But is the slavery Of the
negro to the white man wrong? To that as
little force is necessary to hold oil and water at
unequal levels. Is it Of injury to the negro?
venture to affirm that no negroes that were ever
born have been so blessed in themselves and
ther. postcrity, as tie four hundred thousand
Africans imported to this country. Is it OF i'll
Jury the white man? | venture TO affirm that
there arc 40 men, at any point upon the surface
Of this earth, so favored in their lot, so elevated
in their natures so just to their duties, So up to
the emergencies, and SO ready for the trials Ct
their lives, as are the six million masters i'll the
Southern States. Is it Of injury to society?
lii every state of society that is artilicial-and
all are artificial where classes arc placed in
unnatural relations TO each olhcr-tliere must
be collisions of conflicting interests, and the
thr0cS of an irrcgula;cd nature 1t is so, that
social revolutions have disturbed the collSlitu-
ton ol alnln$t every nation. 1t is so, that the
props of social order have been stricken down
in France. 1t is so, that Democracy advances
upon the conservatiSms of every European Con
SttutiOn.
But from this source Of evil the slave society
is free; there can be IN march of slaves npon
the ranks Of masters. They have no rcachingS
TO higher sphere. There rs no contest Of
clSSr, for tho same position; each is in its or
der balanced, and have Il perfect confidence
that when France shall fall again into the deli
rum Of lberty-when the pccrage Of England
snail have yielded to tine massrS--wlcn demo-
cracy at the North shall llotl its ca.nyal--whcn
all that is pure and holy shall have bccn drag
ged 'lown--whcn all That is low and vile sh III
have manllc;l to the SurCacc--whra woman
shall layc taken the places and habilimcntS
of mall, and ,lan shall have taken thp places
AMI llabi ilimculs ti w0ni;ir--wlbn Free Love
unions and plalanstcrics shall peWaie the
land-wlcn the sexes shall -consort without
the restraints OF marriage, and wien youths
AMI maitlclIs, drunk ut nooll-tay, and half
naked, shall reel about the market places, the
| Sulth will stand serene and erect rs she stands
Iluw-tlc slaves will be restrained by power,
the master hy the trusts of a superior position
she will move OIL with 4 measured dignity
OF power and progress as conspicuous as it is
now and il there be Il hope for the North
a hope that she will ever ride the waves Of bot
tonlcss per,lition that roll around ller-it is in
the fact that the South will stand by her and
lend = helping hand to rescue and to save her.
Why, then, shall we not affirm and proclaim
the nature Of our institution And why not
demand of the Government the recognition Of
our right to be supreme upon this question? {? Is
it that such legislation docs not injurc US? 1t
may be that to some, il not TO all, the Southern