The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1860-11-07
The True Issue before the South.
7Tere has been no Presidential co,

has excited the high degree of iaterest in
every quarter Of the country and among all
classes of people, that the election which
we are in the midst of elicits and there has
been none before this which has threatened
in its bare results The existence of the Uuiun.
We should not, however, in the excitement
OF the present struggle, amidst the very
natural sympathy which we feel for the sue
cess Of the candidate of our choice, suffer
ourselves to lose sight Of the true issue be.
fore the country. Tie question before the
people of the South is not whether Breck-
inridge or Lincoln, or Bell or Douglas, will
be elected Presi dent of these United Stutes;
but whether the institution of slavery, upon
which is based all our hopes of prosperous
independence, shall be perpetuatcd or abol-
ished. This is the grand issue before the
South, absorbing in its magnitude every
thing else, and we should not suffer our
minds to be diverted from it by matte of
| infinitely less consequence.
| The election Of Brcckiurdge, however desi-
| rable it may be to the people Of the South,
cannot cure the evils by which they are
| threatened; it can Only serve to protract for
| few years an excited and dangerous existence
| The Federal Government cam much long,
er afford us protection against the encroach-
ments of our enemies. A few years ago
| there was some evidence of healthy change
of sentiment at the North in respect to sa-
| very. Many of their first citizens took the
| ground that slavery, ns it exists in the
Southern States, is blessing 10 the whole
| country and 10 the world, and that the in
tcrest of all, rs well us the cause Of human
ity and religion, required the perpetuity of
the institution. The hope was held out
that these sentiments, SO just in themselves,
holding up the mutual advantage of the in
stituton to the two sections, would ulti-
mately produce III entire change Of North
ern sentiment the rights Of the South would
be respected and the veycd question finally
suffered to remain at rest. Some oc our
best staiemen entertained hopes like these,
| and among them Senator Hammond of this
State but it is proven to have been delu-
sion. The VOICE that WAS family raised for
the South at the North has been slilled by
the overwhelming sentiment against ns and
the mass boldly proclaim tnat they intend
nothing short of the total abolition Of sla-
very.
No intelligent miud, who il willing
to scrutinize The condition of things, can
fail TO comprehend that the issue Of slavery
or no slavery must DO met and the question
may well be asked, whether we are not as
well prepared to meet il now as we will be-
four years, or eight years hence ? In our
judgment the South can gain no advantage
worth contending for by the election of
Breckinridge. Entertaining these senti
notwithstanding that the dissolution Of
the Union is the only hope tor the South,
we are ready to apply thst remedy irrcspec-
tive of the nres mt contact fo- DraSid.ni-
II the South can be united in the purpose
to dissolve the Union, it is immateriuI how
this unity is effected, and if the election of
q Black Republican President will produce
the desired result, we do not hesitate to
say that the election Of Lincoln, instead of
being \ subject Of dread. ira matter to be
desired If Lincoln s elected the whole
question will be solved at once the South
will resist then, If erer, and after strug.
gle, whether it be long or short, peaceful or
bloody, n Southern Conrederacy will be
formed and the quietudc, prosperity and in-
dependence Of the South secured.
The whole question, We insist, will be
solved in the election of Lincoln !; for should
the South quietly submit to his administra-
ton, then she nerer WW resist, and there are
many who will read this article and live 10
see the day when the cotton States of this
Union, with al! the wealth which they now
possess and ail the Influence which they
now, in their might aud vigor, are capable
OF excrting, REDUCED 10 II condition of DESC
lniion and ruin, at which even our enemies
who will have precipta'ed it upon us, will
look with horor and the civilized " would stand
aghnst. 1t requires no extraordinary gift
Of prophesy 10 toresee that we are drifting
to this extremity unless we, through II res
oute and united spirit of resistance, avert
the impending danger whilst there is yet
time. The necessity for action addresses
itself particularly TO the cotton States of
the South; it is here that the horrors of
submission will be felt in their full ntensi-
ty, and it behOoyes them to take the inila-
tive in the proposed measures Of resistance.
If they but act in gpncert the result cannot
be doubtful
Mr.. Douglas and the Doctrine Of Co.