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

brace the occasion of few moments
leisure to give you faint idea Of what J
saw and heard on that occasion.
Until now, 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 behal
of our beloved country, and brought us
J safely through every ordeal. Nothing ex'
cept Divine interposition can save us from
destruction now, should Lincoln be elect.
ed. am no alarmisi but 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 recoTded-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
full fears and alarms that exist among our
Southern brethren, they fancy that all is
well that this storm, like all its prede.
cessors, will pass away, without material
harm. ] hope and pray that it may be
so; but J. 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 privileges in the Territories--tho COM
mon property of the Government--with
the people Of the North and rather than
submit to surrender of that equality Of
rights, which they BELIEVE they possess,
they will shed their last drop of blood.
The election of Lincoln will be notice to
them that they MUST SUBMIT. Submission,
they say, is dishonorable, to which an
honorable death, in defence of that glo-
rious charter of liberty and equal rights
lbequeathed 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-indeed, might say all of
/ Ithem-belieYe thai all the friends of Lin.
coin are rank Abolitionists, and that they
are ready to ignore State rights, Constitu-
tions, compromises, laws, and everything
that is in the way of the total abolition Of
slavery. Nor is this all. If il were, we
might still have hope; for an attempt to
do SO would be resisted in the North, as
well as in the South-as the free States
would then be overrun with hordes of
idle, lazy, thieving, worthless negroes. But
the chief, the greatest and most threaten
ing danger is in the fact that tie neqroes
themselves 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 Their
deliverGs; not only that they are to be
liberated from bondage, (for that is con.
dition that but few of them request, but
that they are to be elevated 10 an eg,,a social
condition ,eith the lohits There is no mis-.
take in this. And it is The certain knowl,
edge of this fact that causes me TO ssy that,
without some certain interposition of the
Ruler of Nations, the days of our happy
Union are numbered.
That this state of feeling exists among
the slaves is manifested in various wavs.
You see it in the increased watchfulness
on the part of the owners in the numer-
GUS attempts at insurrection, conhagra,
tion, poisoning, &C.; in the general cons
duct of the negroes but above all, in the
ctthat among the thousands of Southern
antilles who have been spending the sum.
D.. er North, mary Of them yet remain, the
men only returning, until itshall be known
VIII ether that most horrible of all strug-
les-a Serriie ins,trTection-is to curse the
land. -E.
l believe the Southern people love the
Union with greater ardor, and truer af,
fection, than the people of, the North
This memories of Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, jackson, &C.. lire in
their affections with a much greater in,
tensity and real glory than does the mem :
ories of Franklin, the Adamses, Ham ilton
&c, with the people of the North. And
| believe that the Southern people are
ready to sacrifice everything-except their
honor--ir 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-
tion could add to their present horrors, as
they are now in constant dread of thair