Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1860-11-07
s. B. ROW, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
CLEARFIELD. PA, NOV. 7, 1850.
THE wOLF's CRY

During the last week or two, the old bug
bear cry of dissolution has been freely indulg-
ed In by Democratic editors and politicians.
The last Cleaytield Republican was filled with
this sort of stuff. The editor declared that
the Democrats of this county might 'never
have another opportunity to cast a vote for
President of the United States" A cores
pondent, M, whom we suspect to be certain
Daniel, decribes in, vivid colors, the ssalarm
and fears'' that are agitating Southern people,
yet acknowledges that ssone of the largest
and most imposing Lincoln 4 Hamlin banners
he ever seen anywhere, is stretched across
one of the principal streets" of Wheeling,
and that ssa respectable vote for the Republi-
can candidates will be polled in that city and
one or two of the adjoining counties!' Then
comes very learned address, signed by the
ssChairman of the Democratic Standing Com
mittee," in which frightful things are foretoid
in the event of Lincoln's election and finally
another address, of a similar tone, from the
Chairman of the State Executive Committee.
We shall preserve these precious documents,
and give our readers some of the most stri-
king paragraphs after Old Abe's election, for
the purpose of showing what truthful fellows
these Locofoco editors and politicians are.
In the meanwhile, they should read the fol-
lowing article from an extreme Southern pa
per, and learn in what estimation they are
held by sensible men in the South =
. From the New Orleans Bee of Oct. %.
ssFRIvoLoUs sCoMpLAINTs.-Nothing is more
common than for the brawling and excitable
partisans of State Rights to lain vehe-
mently against the North, on account of its al
legged aggressions upon the South. To hear
these factions and discontented extremists, it
might really be imagined that the people of
the North were engaged in perpetual and
systematical effort to bring ruin, disaster and
depopulation upon the South, and that this ef-
fort has proved perfectly successful. Truly
the power of Imagination is wonderful. Our
ultra State Rights brethren swear that ae are
disgraced, humiliated and oppressed; that we
will soon be reduced to condition OF vas
salage and servitude to the north, and that
the only reIaedy left us is to Secede; peacea-
bsy if we can, forcibly if we must. Their pa
thetic pictures of Southern grievances and
suffering, of Southern woe and anguish, of
Southern loss and desolation, are such that
not unfrequently those who listen to them
feel inclined to bewail the sorrowful fate to
which they are subjected, even while frankly
acknowledging that they had never suspected
their mlSfortuneS before.
HWen, it is quite possible that to the clear
and penetrating vision of Disunionist, the
South is victim to an innHnerable catalogue
of calamaties-alt the exclusive result OF
Northern injustice, fanaticiSrn and fraud but
to most other people these appalling evils are
entirely invisible. The friends of the Union
humbly conceive their sight to be quite as
Keen as that enjoyed by the Secessionists !;
vet they peer about very closely, and even
with the aid of ten thousand fold magnify
ing microscope they fail to discern tlse mon
sters which alright the latter. Can it be that
they are not to be seen because they do not
exist-that the blight and mildew which are
said to have falaen upon the south are naught
but the teeming products of the lugubrious
fancies of extremists? We think that mo-
fnent's refec,onswill go far towards demon
strating that this is the sole solution of the
problem.
ssTalk about the ruin of the South Will
the State Rights Soons please inform US at
what period of onr national existence the
South enjoyed so much of positive prosperity
as now? When were the comforts of life
more generally diffused When was it east
er for the humblest classes at the South to
earn their livelihood When were the agri-
cultural resources of the South more unver-
sally developed I? When did the great staple
of our section furnish more prolific yield
command more remunerative prices, and en-
rich our planters more speedily? 1t is when
cotton is selling at a profit OF more than a
hundred per cent. upon the cost value of the
production, or when field hands sold at
fifteen hundred to two thousand dollars apiece,
that we are to be deafened by dismal outcries
of poverty and distress, by stories Of North
ern monopoly and Southern subsection, ana
that the guant and hdeous spectre of Disun-
ion is invoked as our guide to an imaginary
Utopia of independence, opulence and honor !?
Is anything more needed as a practical and
uuanswerable refutation of the false and silly
view of the oppression of the South, than the
story of her constantly progressive increase
in all the elements of material greatness
Really we think the Jeremiahs Of Disnnion,
who are perpetually bemoaning our sad fate,
might discover abundant elements of consola-
tion it they would only take the trouble to
use their eyes and look about them.
essAy, but Southern aggressioDs, free soil
the war upon slavery, are all inSupportable
and If we do not resist once, in the course
Of q few years our domestic institutions will
be inevitable exterminated Such is the
language in which many fiery spirits of the
South are but to prone to indulge. If there
were much truth in this, it would certainly be-
boOve us to pause and provide for the exlgen.
cy, but these assertions have little founda-
ton ia the past, and are not likely to be reali-
zed in the future. People prate glibly of the
wrongs endured by the South. What wrongs (?
We know ct but one real serious wrong, viz !:
the failure in most Of the Northern States to
enfoxcs the Fugitive Slave law, and even with
respect to this it may be pertinent to remark
that 1t always was enforced under the admin
istration of MiIlard Fillmore. But granting
the full force of the argument--admitting that
every year dozen attempts are made to re-
cover q fugitive slave, ,and are thwarted and de-
feated By the Abolitionists is this grievance
so intolerable as to justify disunion and civil
warf May it not be fairly counterbalanced