Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1860-01-06
SAVE THE UNION.


distract our country are giving cause for
joy to all the enemies Of rational freedom
in the world The time was when voice
for disunion would have almost endan-
gered the life of him who uttered it; at
all events, his political influence would
have been totally lost. Now, thousands
of voices, North and South, speak of it
as a probability, and not few as some
thing to be desired Such parties have
certainly not calculated the inestimable
advantages derived from this Union of
States, nor the years. perhaps the ages
of horrors that would follow its dissolu-
ton. 1t may be considered certain, that
dissolution aud civil war would 90, or
rather come. together. Can any mortal
man foresee the day when any eoufp@5,.
sation would be rendered to any pdrties,
North or South, victorious or conquered i.
for the evils that would be Inflicted before
anew order would be established? When
or where could one look for the estab-
lishmcnt of new order Wsn TIE
North and South draHk Hines upgn ds-
tinctve political platforhs, will lie api-
mosities between ndIg hboring States
strongly prejudiced against each other,
without any common centre of authority
without any common and supreme judici-
airy, without any common legislative body,
be less than they are with these conserva-
tive influences in full operation? No
sound man can believe it. Aggression
and retribution would, be infinitely null
tipIied both parties would have to keep
up great standing armies, harrassing
each other in war, and exhausting and
exasperating their own people in peace.
"Whom the Gods wish to destroy,
they first make mad" Perhaps it were
better to say God destroys those, who of
their own will, become mad. There is
no real difficulty in the way of our ma
tional amity If slavery be crime, let
him who thinks so keep his hands free
from it; lie. him say before God and man
that he will have no part in it. If a
slave-owner, let him emancipnte his
bond-peoplc, and bid them 20 and pros
per his sacrifice for conscience sake,
would do him honor, and perhaps would
bring upon him and his the benedictions
of heaven We say, perhaps for it is
even possible that he might be doing a
wrong. Circumstances might make it
such. In Virginia, there is law that
no man shall free slave after the age Of
forty-fve years. This is humane law,
and, VIC believe. a conditional one. 1t
is obvious why it is humane provision.
that master cannot Internationally free
slave in his declining years. The slave
Of forty-fvc in the South is approaching
the age when he becomes pensioner -
There are thousands of elderly negro
men and women in the South, who do no
hard labor, and many no labor at all,
for their masters, aud yet who expect
and receive from them adequate support.
These poor creatures would owe little
gratitude to their masters to free them
for an old age of drudgery. ending per-
haps in restitution, or absolute starya-
ton. Without law, bad master might
free his slaves under conditions that
would induce a good master to hold them
for their OWE advantage.
The Shareholder and the non-slavc-
holder have, respectively, under our OK
sting constitution, liberty Of conscience
and libcrty~of action, but neither has
any right Of aggression. This simple
reAexion is enough to keep the peace
among us forever. The South does not
ask OF the North to approve of slavery
does not even ask any of her own deni-
zens to approve Of it. Every man who
has travelled through the South, has
heard the free expression Of southern
sentiment in regard to slavery. II il
generally spoken Of as an inherited evil,
not crime, however, that mus: be borne
until such time as the people concerned
can manage without violence. or shock,
to rid themselves Of IL. This sentiment
may be in allegiance during the present
excitement, but it exists, nevertheless,
and 10 the end, if not thwarted by out
side intermeddling or violence, will do
more to solve most difficult problem
than can possibly be effected by exterior
Influences The raying violence Of the
North is most injurious to all tho inter
ests and hopes Of the slave. 1t makes
the laws more stringent against him; il
makes the master more severe. The
South will neither be driven nor led in
this mattcr; she will judge and act for
herself, be the issue what it may. We
are not speaking as partisans, but as OBJ
servers. 1T is evident to us that outside
pressure can do nothing for the slave,
but that it can, and does, do much against
him.
1t is madness, or worse than madness,
for outsiders to attempt to put down the
institution Of slavery in the Southern
States. AS well said by distinguished
son Of Massachusetts at late great I'M
ion meeting il Boston, none Of the agi-
tators in any quarter have suggested any
rational disposition Of tho slave question.
They have not looked beyond tho immc-
date act Of releasing the slaves, per Jos
ant netas, from bondage. What would
become Of this four millions Of freedmen
suddenly emnncipatcd How would they
be distributed, and what kind Of relations
would they bear with the white race ~
Would shoy become Industrious, merito-
rous citizens, or would they 60 70 swell
the ranks-of paupers and the thriftlcss
and vicious classes getting already too
nu,neeoue ovor the land What uould
become Of the cotton and sugar interests 2
Are the free negroes as body in this
coilnlrv and In the Wei Indiea. In a