Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-11-07
The State of the Country.

L
tional bank and notification, and strangled them;
they were excited in 1850, when the compromise
measures" were adopted and in 1854, when the
Missouri restriction was repealed; but no former
occasion have the fountains of public feeling been
so troubled so deeply stirred they are at pres
ent. On the 9TH of this month nearly five millions
Of voters went to the polls and voted for the most
part on sectional basis, that portion of them pro-
Tossing the true principles of the Democratic party
being for the first time in the history Of the coun-
try largely in the minority, while a geographical
party constructed on principles of deadly antagon-
ism to fifteen States of the Union must have poled
not less than one-third Of the entire popular vote.
The result of this election will soon be known. The
hopes entertained by patriots in all sections that the
termination of the struggle would be fortunate for
the country, have been mingled with gloomy appre-
tensions If the result has been favorble to Lin
coln-if the people have chosen him President, the
excitement, already great will be increased tenfold;
but if no election has been made by the people, the
fact that the contest must be decided by the House
of Representatives will not tend to diminish exist
ing apprehensions In either event we may as we'll
prepare at once for exciting and stormy times be-
tween this and the 4th of March.
At the North we hear threats, and taunts, and
jeers enanatng from the more radical portion of the
black Republicans, relieved, it is true, by the mod
crate and temperate utterances such men as Ewing
and Corwin; while at the South, and especially in
the cotton States the noise of preparation for ress
lance is heard with startling distnctness. South,
Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi are regarded as
already more less committed to secession and re-
sistance. Virginia encourages them by the tone
Of many Of her public journals by the infammatory
language of some of her statesmen, and by the
formation of companies of minute Men," whose
mission it will be to overawe and control public
opinion. North Carolina, though by no means an
Indifferent spectator of passing events, and though
keenly alive to the future is nevertheless calm
and collected any of the middle States, and will
be ready at the proper time to indicate the policy
which in her judgment will be necessary to main-
tain the Constitution in the event of Lincolns cleo
tion and to protect the interests and honor of the
slaveholding States.
The Union of the States has been put in jeopardy
by the aggressons upon the rights Of the South Of
sectional party. That party mainly owes its exs-
tence and its strength to the repeal of the Missouri
restriction, act of simple justice to the South.
The Northern non-slaveholding States have
majority in the Electoral College, and can therefore,
defeat elect as they may choose the candidate of
this sectional party. 1t was for them to say, on
yesterday, whether the present excitement should
be allayed or contnued-whether the people of the
South should have an assurance, by a majority of
their votes, that their purposes friendly and Con-
stitutiona should be left to infer, from contrary
their part that the influence of at least one
department of the common government should be
directed against one of their cherished domestic in
sttutions This fact that the destiny of the country
is in the hands of the North, and the general con-
viction that the day may not be distant when the
entire South must be united as one man, will &C.
count for the absence of bitterness between the
ridge, Douglas, and Bell parties in this and other
middle States.
The Constitution of the United States is the
wisest and most perfect instrument that ever pro-
ceeded from the hands of man. Immortal in its
principles, its trainers seem to have provided by its
checks and balances for its perpetual preservation
One department of the government which it estab-
lished may be in the hands of bad men, while the
other departments, directed by patriotic counsels
may operate as checks to protect minorities until
the people, the source of all power, can be again
consulted and their wishes ascertaned One branch
of Congress can check the other; both branches of
Congress, either can check the President; while
the Supreme Court in the performance Of its high
duties, can in the last resort interpose the shield of
the Constitution between both its coordinate de-
partments and the States themselves and say "thus
far and no farther" 1t by means follows, there
fore, because bad men or bad principles hold sway
in any one department of the government, that the
government is dissolved If Mr.. Lincoln was elect.
ed yesterday, it will be the duty of the Southern
people, whatever he may say in his Inaugural, to
strengthen their defences in the Union and to pre-
pare for any assaults that may be made upon them.
1t will not do for them to abandon their on govern
ment-a government under which they have as
many rights, and in which they have as deep an in
terest as the North-because of its three depart
ments has been turned against them Neither will
it be wise to make threats or give way to passion
Brave men ac-they seldom threaten. Mr. Lincoln
has enough common sense to know, and he has seen
enough of human nature and of the Southern peo-
pie to know, that it would be most daring and
dangerous act in him, or in any President to touch
in the slightest respect the vital interests of the
slaveholding States. Fifteen proud and powerful
States, like those Of the South can incur no risk in
maintaining their places with dignity in the Union,
and waiting to what one department of the gov.
eminent will attempt against the other two depart
ments and against them 3d. ~.
But We still hope for better result than the cleo
ton of Lincoln. 1t may be that New York has
saved the country. We shall soon know the result.
COOP RIDINe.-Whle Albert Edward was visit
ing West Point he and suit were more astonished
at the proficiency in equestrianship of the cadets
than anything else, and admitted that nothing in