Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-12-28
RRcrssInH No XII.

ABsoLvEs FROM OArHs-CoURsB OF THE GEN-
ERAL GovERSNENI-A STRANGE SPKcrAcLs-I
sHALL SouTH CAROLINA BE ALLOWED TO RUIN
THE COUNTRY ,-DIsCNIoN THE kNELL OF sLA-
VERY AND OF FRKEDoM-SouTH CAROLINA RE-
PUDIATEs ALL IDEA OF CoNPnoNrsl-DIsuSioS
ISIS As DANGEROUS As ABoLIrIoNIsrs-A
LETTER TO TIE PREsIDEsT-THE UNION MAY
BE SAvYD-CoScLUsIoN. Il
To hs People Of the NORTH asd South.
South Carolina has adopted her ordinance Of i
Secession. A little State with white population !
| about equal to that Of a second rate city, en- |
| bracing hardly seventy thousand adult males, |
with no tax by the General Government on her |
soil or its products drawing large sums from thst
Government for the support Of her custom-houses |
and postal facilities, enjoying degree Of pros !
perity never excelled and suffering nothing her |
/ self from the grievances Of which she complains,
rushss madly into rebellion and Is seeking to In
vove IN revolution th rty three States and thirty
millions of people! She will take no advice and
listen 10 COUNSEL she spurns the circumstances
| Of those slaveholding States which really suffer
from Northern aggresstons; she will not allow
them to consult to the Of their safety;
she will admit Of neither compromise nor delay;
but avowing her long cherished desire to destroy
the Federal Union, she declares her purpose to
| compel her sister States Of the South whom she
cannot persuade, to follow her example.
She undertakes to release her citizens from their
allegiances to the United States and absolves her
own public officers and judges, and the officers
and judges Of the United States within her bor-
ders from their oatbs to support the Constitution
She taunts and defes the Government; she avows
her purpose to destroy; sets guard around Its AZ
senal to prevent the removal Of the arms and mu-
nitions which belong to II; declares her intention
possess herself Of the public forts and her pur
| pose to take them by violence should man be
sent to reinforce their feeble garrison. She is
collecting arms from every quarter, organizing
military bauds tn oughout her territory, and ex-
citing her young men to brave the penalties Of
| treason. .-
And what is the Government Of the United
States doing to maintain its authority collect It's
revenue and defend its forts? Is Il true that our
Executive, though Il had months Of warning, has
taken no step to put the forts In state CT defense
Is it true that 1t has been deferred from
them by threats Of conspirators? Is Ii true that
cannon are now being mounted In one Of them at
the expense of the United States which contains
: not a soldier 10 use or defend them, Is 1t true
I that there Is an understanding between the tx
ecutive and the conspirators that the former shall
not norce the forts and in consideration thereof
| that the latter will not attack them w lille the
e present Administration remains in power? Has
e the commander of the handful Of men occupying
: one Of those forts after being denied reinforce
| ments, been instructed to surrender IL attacked
: IL these things be so, the wealth Of worlds can
II MT outweig the awful responsibility Presi-
. dent has incurred. If they not so, he owes 4,
n to himself and his country to make the truth
:, known.
e strange spectacle our country presents to the
v world Within period Of seventy years under
}, our incompatible Constitution, our states have
increased from thirteen to thirty three, popu
il lation from three millions to thirty our country
, 1 nd d frnu tha asain tb.
e Pacific ocean, and our wealth has accumulated
Is with rapidity heretofore fabulous In the full
enjoyment Of peace and plenty, Of every comfort
y | and luxury which the heart Of man could desire
j. we are suddenly alarmed by the cry of rebellion
and revolution coming from little State enjoying
higher degree Of security and prosperity thar
almost any Of her sisters. The alarm spreads oveI
the whole extent of our broad country; credit 4,
\ Destroyed tie banks stop payment; trade is para
lyzed industry Is Frustrated; want and destitutior
! surround us anarchy is marching in upon us, and
the Government which should save us, Scent
z paralyzed as by the wand Of an enchanter.
All this is chargeabe to the madness of few
politicians, who have already destroyed NOR,
property than all the lands and negroes Of South
Carolina are worth and she is herself one of tn.
greatest sufferers.
Shall this little State be permitted to complete
by the utter destruction of our Government, tn,
ruin she has so successfully begun, The hopeless
disruption Of this Union would be the kntH of IN
black MANS slavery and the tchite man, liberty
y 1t would be the tocsin Of a war which, howeve
delayed In its commemorative from time Il
time intermitted in Its progress will cease onl
with the extinction Of negro slavery In the South
while by its plunderings ana taxes to supper
armies and navies and minister to the cupidit
and Injuries Of military chieftains, 1t would re
Il Anra Tho xvhf tl In 0rf 10Th.
to a condition compared with which that Of tn
present slave il to be envied. There 10 no othe
X property so much put in jeopardy by revolution a
slaves. Look at st. Domingo, Mexico, and tn
Spanish Provinces Of South America. In then
all, slavery perished in revolution, while In Bra
zil and Cuba, which the revolutionary fires hav
never reached, 1t remains intact and unassailable
why but because 1t affords protection to nesr
" slavery do the ultra abolitionists denounce on
v Constitution as a league NTH hsHp' Why 10
70 that they also would plunge into revolution {
ia destroy 1t
e 1t cannot be too strongly impressed on the publ
3 mind, that the arotcsd o6jeef Of South Carolina
not redress Of southern grievances, but the fno
Oh ard irrstrisrdbls dsst,ueiiox ofths Union Ever
State and every man that joins or UNDERSTANDING
sustains her. is an opponent Of all measures {
of redress, and Internationally IN enemy Of Il
Of Union. There is not an intelligent man In th
or states Of Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Mi
70 souri, who does not know that the Losses an
i, dangers Of those States would be inoalculabl
en- increased by their Joining South Carolina an
becoming the frontier of Southern Confederac,
The disunionists Of South Carolina In their rec
AZ less seiashness, are practically the enemies
In those States as truly the ravng fana tics of Ma
en- en- sachusetts. She has already struck down Ii
value Of their property q hundred fold more tina
Ia all the abolitionsm Of the North and the qussto
w comes home to every one Of their citizens, sha
10 she be aHopsd TO eonssmmate ths rsin sac Ans
sHeeesfsIy begun! Shall she rcoercen them
their destruction, or will they .'ooercs her into
decent respect for the feelings. rights and int
.s- ests Of her sister States,
ire HSouth Carolina were an indie pendent natlor
he she would have no right so to nse her liberty ,
seriously to injure the Interests of other nations
w much less, in the relations which she holds wit
her sister States especially those In the South
4 she 8 rig ht DESTROY n1onaYtv ana