The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-12-12

Il
soil and climate NAV hereafter be produce
; what consequent changes in the produces
which we depend, what political revoIu.lo
NAV occur among the race which are NJ
q enacting the great drama Of history all s'lS
.. INQUIRIES are totally irrelevant because no pr
phetic vision can pierce the darkness OF ~
future. II this question should ever aris
2 the generation to whom it IS remitteu WI
douhsless have the wisdom to meet IL al
y Providence will furnish the lights IN Wnleh
$ is to be resolved. All that We claim ior laei
!, and for ourselves is liberty TO work OUT snl
! ! problem. guided BY nature and Cod Wl IL,
obtrusiye interference from abroad. mes
great questions OF providence and hlstor
must have free scope for their solution an
/, the race whose fortunes are distinctly ifnpica
!, ted in the same is alone authorized, as lt
alone competent, to determine them IL
, inst this jmpert;nence of human Legislation
sattinr hounds to what God only can regulate
that the Smith is called this day to resent ant
resist The country IS convulsed simply be
cause .4he throne of iniquity frameth mIschie
by law" Without, therefore, determining
the question OF duty foo future generations,
simply saw, that for US, as now situated, thu
duty is plain of conserving and transmitting
the system OF slavery, with the freest scoops
for its natural Development and extension
Let us, my brethren, look our duty in the
face. With this institution assigned to oul
| keeping, what reply shall we make to those
who say that its days are numbered Ny
own conviction IS, that we should at once liit
ourselves, intelligently to the highest moral
ground and proclaim to all the world that@we
| hold this trust from God, and in its occupancy
we are prepared to stand or fall as God may
appoint IL the critical moment has arrived
at v ich the great issue is joined, let us say
that, in the sight of all peris, we will stand
be our trnst and God be with the right
The argument which enforces the solemnity
| Of this providential trust is simple and con-
densed. tis bound upon u.s. then, by the
| principle of selfpresergatioa, that first law"
which is continually asserting its supremacy
over others. Need pause to show how this
system OF servituae underlies and supports
our material interests That our wealth
consists in our lands and in the seris who till
them ? That from the nature of our products
they can only be cultivated by labor which
must be controlled in order to be certain ?
That any other than tropical race must
faint and ither beneatha tropical sun ? Need
pause to show how this system is interwo-
ven with our entire social fabric +? That
these slaves form parts of our households
even as our children ; and that, too, through
relationship recognized and sanctioned in
the scriptures Of God even as the other
Must pause TO show how it has fashioned
our modes of lie, and determined all our
habits Of thought and feeling, and moulded
the very type of our civilization How then
can the hand of violence be laid upon it with
out involving our existence The so-called
free states of this country are working out
the social problem under conditions peculiar
to themselves. The conditions are sufficiently
hard. and their success is too uncertain, to
excite in us the least jealousy of their lot
With teeming population, which the soil
cannot support-with their wealth depending
upon arts, created by artificial wants-with
an eternal friction between the grades of their
ssociety-with their labor and their capital
grinding against each other like the upper
and neither mill -stones-with labor cheap
ened and displaced by new mechanical in
yentions, bursting more asunder the bonds of
brotherhood amid these intricate perils we
have ever given them our sympathy and our
prayers, and have never sought to weaken
the foundations of their social order God
grant them complete success in the solution of
all their perplexities We, too, have our
responsibilities and trials /; but they are all
bound up in this one institution, which has
been the object of such unrighteous assault
through five and twenty years II we are
true to ourselves we shall, at this critical
juncture, stand by il and work out our des-
tiny.
This duty is bound upon US again as tie
constituted guardians of he slaves themselves.
Our lot is not more implicated in theirs, than
is their lot in ours in our mutual relations
we survive or perish together. The worst
foes of the black race are those who have IN
termeddled on their behalf We know better
than others that every attribute Of their char
.acter fits them for dependence and seryitude-
By nature the most affectionate and loyal of
all races beneath the sun, they are also most
helpless; and no calamity can befall them
greater than the loss Of that protection they
enjoy under this patrarchal system. Indeed
the experiment has been grandly tried of
precipitating them upon freedom which they
know not how to enjoy and the dismal re-
suits are before US in statistics that astouish
the world. With the fairest portions Of the
earth in their possession and with the adyan-
tage of long discipline as cultyators of the
soil, their constitutional Incidence has CONVEX
ted the most beautiful stands of the sea into
a bowling waste 1t Is not too much to say
that if the South should, at this moment,
surrender every slave, the wisdom of the en-
tire world, united in solemn council. could not
solve the question Of their disposal. Their
transportation to Africa, even if it were FEAST
bic, wonld be but the most refined cruelty );
they must perish with starvation before they
could have time to relapse into their primitive
harbarism. Their residence here, in the
presenceof the vigorous Saxon race, would
be but the signal for their rapid determination
before they had time to waste away through
listlessness, filth, and vice. Freedom Would
be their doom and equally from both they
call upon us, their providental guardians, to
be protected. | know this argument will be
scoffed abroad ~ the hypocriticalcoyer thrown
over our own cupidity and seltishness; but
every southern master knows it, truth and
feels its power My servant, whether born
in my house or bought with. my money,
stances to me in the relation of child.
Though proyideRtially owing me service,
which, proFidentially, am bound to exact,
he is, nevertheless, my brother and my friend;
and am to him guardian and father. He
leans upon me for protection, for counsel. and
for blessing and so long as the relation con-
tinues no power but the power of almighty
God, shall come between him and me. Were
there no argument but this, it binds upon US
the providential duty of preserving the rela-
ton that we may save him from q doom
worse than death.
1t is duty which we owe. further, to the
ciplfzed frorld. It is . remarkable fact that
during these thirty years Of unce asing war
fare against slavery, and while lying spirit
has infamed the world against us, that world
has grown more and more dependen. upon it
for sustenance and wealth. Every tyro
knows that all branches.of industry fall back
upon the soil. Wemust come, every one of us,
to the bosom Of this great mother for nour-
ishment. In the happy partnership which
has grown up in providence between the
tribes of this confedeIacy. our industry has
been concentrated upon agriculture. To ths
North we have cheerfully resigned all the
profits arising from manufacture and COM
merce. Those profits they have, for the most
part, fairly earned. and we have never be-
grudged them. We have sent them our
sugar and brought it back when refined we
have sent them our cotton and brought it
back when spun into thread or woven into
cloth Almost every article we use, from the
shoe lachet to the most elaborate and costly
article Of iuxuSy, they have made and we
have bought and both sections have thriye9
by the partnership, as no people ever thriSed
before since the first shining of the sun. So
literally true are the words Of the text, adj
dressed BY Obadiah to Edom, "All the men
of our confederacy, the men that weres at
peace with Us, have eaten our bread at the very
time they have deceived and laid around under
US" Even beyond the enrichiag COM
meree, which has built the splendid cities and
marble palaces. Of England as well as Of,
America, has been largely established upon
the products Of Our soil and the blooms
upon southern fields gathered by black
hands, have fed the spindIes and looms of
Manchester and birmingham not less than Of
LAWRENCE and Lowell. Strike now blow
at this system of labor and tho world itself
totters at the stroke. Shall we permit that
blow to fall ? Do we not owe it to civilized
man to stand in the breach and stay the up
lifted arm? II the blind Samson lays hold
of the pillars which support the arch of the