Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1860-12-12
PRESIDENT -BucHARAEsMEssAGE
FetIop Citizens of the Senate
and House of Re~presentatires.

have been abundant, and plenty smiles thro-
out the land. Our commerce and manufac-
lures have been prosecuted with energy and =
industry, and have yielded fair and ample
returns. In short no nation in the tide Of
time has ever presented a spectacle of great !
er material prosperity than we have done
until within a very recent period.
Why is it, then, that discomfort now so
extensively prevails, and the Union Of the
States, which is the source of all these bless
ings, is threatened with destruction? The
long-continued and Incorporate interference
of the Northern people with the question of
slavery in the Southern States, has at length
produced its natural effects. The different
sections of the Union are now arrayed against
each other, and the time has arrived, so much
dreaded by the Father of his Country, when
hostile geographical parties have been formed.
/ have long foreseen and often warned my
countrymen of the now impending danger.
This does not proceed solely from the claim
on the part Of Congress or the territorial leg
islature 10 exclude slavery from the Terrific
ries, nor from the efforts Of different States
to defeat the execution of the fugitive slave
law. All or any of these evils might have
been endured by the South without danger
to the Union, Gas others have been,) in the
Iope that time and reflection might apply
the remedy. The immediate peril arises
not so much from these causes as from the
fact that the incessant, s2d violent. agitation
of the slavery Aquestica& throughout The North
for the last quarter of a century, has at length
produced its malign influence on the slaves,
and inspired them with vague notions of
freedom. Hence a sense of security no lon
ger exists around the family altar. This
feeling of peace and home has given place to
apprehensions Of service Instruction Many
a matron throughout the South retires at
night in dread of what may befali herself
and her children before the morning. Should
this apprehension of domestic danger, wheth-
or real or imaginary, extend and intensity
itself until it shall pervade the masses ofthe
Southern people, then disunion will be inev-
table. Self-preservation is the first law of
nature, and has been implanted in the heart
of man by his Creator for the wisest purpose
and no political union, however fraught
with blessings and benefits in all other res
poets, can long continue, if the necessary
consequence be to render the homes and the
firesides of nearly half the parties to it ha-
bitually and hopeiessiy insecure. Sooner or
later the bonds of such a Union must be sew
cred. 1t is my conviction that this fatal pc
Rod has not yet arrived; and my prayer to
God is that He would preserve the Constitu-
ton and the Union throughout all genera
tons.
But let us take warning in time, and re-
move the cause Of danger. 1t cannot be de-
MED that for five and twenty years, the agi.
tation at the North, against slavery in the
South, has been incessant. In 1885 pictori
al hand-bills, and infamatory appeals, wcre
circulated extensively throughout the South,
Of a character to excite the passions of the
slaves; and in the language of General Jack
son, 'te stimulate them to instruction, anC
produce all the horrors Of a servile war
This agitation has ever since been continueC
by the public press, by the proceedings o
State and county conventions, and by abolition
sermons and lectures. The time of Congress
has been occupied in violent speeches on thi
never-ending subject: and appeals in pam
phlet, and other forms endorsed by distin
guished names, have been sent forth fror
this central point, and spread broadcast owe
!, the Union.
: How easy would it be for the America
; people to settle the slavery question foreve
and to restore peace and harmony to tn
distracted country.
They, and they alone can do it. All TIL
: is necessary to accomplish the object, and a
: for which the slave States have ever conte
ded, is to be let alone, and permitted to manas
their domestic Institutions in their ON
way. As sovereign States, they, and thu
: alone, a:e responsible before God and Il
world for the slavery existing amongst ther
. For this the people of the North are not mo
Q responsible, and have no more right to int
Q fere, than with similar institutions in Russi
or in Brazil. Upon their good sense, al
: patriotic forbearance, | confess ! Still gre;
a ly rely. Without their aid, it is beyond t
a power of any President, no matter what m
r be his own political prociivities, to resto
!, peace and harmony among the States. Wis
" ly limited and restrained as is his power, U
o der our Constitution and laws, he alone C
y accomplish but little, for good or for evil,
such a mementous question.
And thisb brings me to observe that t
. election of any one of our fellow-citizens
% the office of President, does not of itself
ford just cause for dissolving the Union.
l. This is more especially true if his electi
IL not a majority, of the people, and has res
re ted from transient and temporary caus
ii which may probably never again occur.
order to justify a resort to revolutionary
sistance, the Federal Government must
n, guilty Of "a deliberate, palpable and dang
in Gus exercise" Of powers lot granted by
Constitution. The late presidential electi
ia however, has been held in strict conform
OF with its express provisions. How then,
Nv the result justify a revolution to destroy t
very Constitution? Reason, justice, a
gard for the Constitution, all require t
Ne we shall wait for some overt and danger,
u, act ON the part of the President elect BET
er resorting to such a remedy.
a 1t is said, however, that the antecedent
as the President elect have been sufficient
n justify the fears of the South that he will
lie tempt to invade their constitutional rigl
'm But are such apprehensions of %eonting
at danger in the future sufficient to justify
're immediate destruction of the noblest syst
rer Of government ever devised by mortals
From the very nature Of his office and
10 high responsibilities, he must necessarily
al; conservative. The stern duty of admin
IN ing the vast and complicated concerns of
ose Government affords in itself a guarantee
ere he will not attempt any violation of a c
3 constitutional right. After all he is nc n
than the chief executive officer of the {
ana eminent. His province is not to make,
to execute, the laws and it is a remark
fact in our history, that, notwithstanding
repeated efforts of the ant; slavery party
the single act has ever passed Congress, ur
inc we may possibly except the Missouri {
. as promise, impairing in the slightest de
the rights of the South to their propert
ant slaves. And it may also be observed, j
'ne ing from present indications, that no pl
bility exists of the passage ofSuch an &C
an, a majority of both Houses, either in
ana present or the next Congress Surely,
Out der these circumstances, we ought to /