Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1860-10-31
The Feeling in the South.

brace the occasion Of a few moments
leisure TO give you a faint IDEA of what |
saw and heard on that occasion.
Until now, l never lost hope of the
preservation of the Union. We are taught
to believe that God in His wise proyi-
dence, has frequently interposed in behalf
I of our beloved country, and brought us
safely through every ordeal. Nothing ex-
eept Divine interposition can save us from
destruction now, should Lincoln be elect
ed. am no alarmist hut have been
hopeful and confident in the midst of
those who were filled with alarm and
fears. This is not in the nature of things,
or consistent with human nature, when a
fearful and horrible crisis-such as history
has never yet recorded--is staring US in
the face.
am aware that your readers will not
fully realize the danger; that being secure
themselves, and far away from the dread
ful fears and alarms that exist among our
Southern brethren, they fancy that all is
well that this storm, like all its prcde-
oessors, will pass away, without material
harm. | hope and pray that it may be
so; but ] see no rational grounds for hope.
The Southern people may be wrong
in many of their notions and
prejudices, as doubtless they are; but,
whether right or wrong in reality,
THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE RIGHT in claiming
equal priciIges in the Territories-tho com.
mon property of the Government-with
the people of the North and rather than
submit to a surrender Of that equality OF
rghts, which they BELIEVE they possess,
they will shed their last drop of blood.
The election of Lincoln viii be notice to
them that they MUST SUBMIT. Submission,
they say is dishonorable, to which an
honorable death, in defence of that glo-
rous charter of liberty and equal rights
bequeathed TO us by our revolutionary
fathers, is preferable. ....... .........
But this, as bad as it is, is not the worst
feature in the dark future. Many South
ern people--ndeed, might say all oi
| them-belisye that all the friends Of Lin.
coin are rank Abolitionists, and that they
are ready to ignore State rights, Constitu-
tons, compromises, laws, and everything
that is in the way of the total abolition OF
slavery. Nor is this all. If it were, VIC
might still have hope; for an attempt to
do so would he resisted in the North, as
well as in the South-as the free States
would then be overun with hordes OF
idle, lazy, thieving, worthless negroes. But
| the chief, the greatest and most threaten
/ ing danger is in the fact Hat tie ncqrocs
hCmSelrcs have learned that they are the
subject of fearful commotion between
the North ana the South, and very many
Of them have everywhere betrayed unmis,
taxable signs that they look upon the
election of Lincoln as the COMING Of He1
/ Rcl'rryS; not only that they are to be
liberated from bondage, lfor that is a con.
dition that but few of them request. bat
J that they drs 70 Be c,sratd to an cg,,a Soeio
/ condition ,cah the wht1S! There is no mis-,
take in this, And It's The certain kmowl,
edge of this fact that causes me to ssy that,
without some certain interpostion of the
Ruler of Nations, the days of our happy
Union are num- cred.
That this state of feeling exists among
the slaves is manifested in various wavs.
You see it in the increased watohfulness
on the part of the owners in the gunner.
Gus attempts at insurrection, conhagra,
ton, poisoning, &C.; in the general cons
duct of the negroes but above all, in the
ct that among the thousands of Southern
antilles who have been spending the sum-
er North, mary of them yet remain, the
men onlyreturnimg, until it shall be known
wh ether that most horrible of all strug.
les-a scribe mSurrectioa-is to curse the
land.
! believe the southern people love the
Union with greater ardor, and truer af,
iection, than the people of the North
Tbs memories of Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, jackson, &c.. Ire in
their affections with much greater in
tensity and real glory than does the mem
ories of Franklin, the Adamses, Hamilton
&C., with the people of the North. And
| believe that the Southern people are
ready to sacrifice everything--except their
honor--in the support and defence of the
Union, Rather than sacrifice their honor,
they prefer separation and disunion, and
at least nine out of every ten men YOU
meet in the South, has made up his mind to
separate from the North. They say that
they are abundantly able to take care of
themselves, and that no probable condi-
tioneoul1 add T., ibeir ,,roso,,t bo,.rorg q.