The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-12-12

d. the activity of Jehovah or compel his adde's
n ton. In their furious haste, they trampl
Is upon obligations sacred as any which ca
v bind the conscience. 1t is time to reprodnc
b the obsolete idea that Providence must COVER
y man. and not that man should control Prov
It dence In the imperfect state of huna
}, society, it pleases God to allow evils whic
Il check others that are greater. As in th
4 pt ysical world, objects are moved forward
{ not BY a single force, but BY the composition
q of forces so in his moral administration
5 there are checks and balances whose intimat
t relations are comprehended only by himself
, But what rick they Of this-these ferc
zealots who undertake to drive the chariot o
the sun? working out the single and falls,
: idea which rides them like a nightmare, they
dash athwart the spheres, utterly disregard
ing the delicate mechanism of Providence
which moves on, wheels within wheels, witt
pivots and balances and springs, whieA the
great designer al6ne can control. This spir
OF atheism, which knows no God who tolerates
evil, no Bible which sanctions law, and nc
conscience that can be bound by oaths and
covenants, has selected US for its victims, and
slavery for its issue. Its banner-cry rings out
already upon the air-'1iberty, equality, fra
ternity,' which simply interpreted mean
bondage, confiscation and massacre With its
tricolor waving in the breeze,-it waits to
inaugurate its reign of terror To the South
the high position is assigned of defending,
before all nations, the cause of all religion and
of all ruth. In this trust, we are resisting
the power which wars against constitutions
and laws and compacts, against Sabbaths and
sanctuaries, against the family, the state and
the church; which blasphemously invades
the prerogatives of God, and rebukes the
Most High for the errors of his administra-
I'tion; which. il it cannot snatch the reins Of
empire from his grasp, will lay the universe
IN ruins at his feet. Is it possible that we
shall decline the onset
This argument, then, which sweeps over
the entire circle of our relations, touches the
| four cardinal points of duty to ourselves, to
our slaues, to the tcorid, and to Almighty God
1t establishes the nature and solemnty of our
present trust, to preserue and transmit our en-
| istiag ayste1tAof domestic segpitude, Wtth the
right, unchanged By man, to go and root itself
| ,oheTerer Providence and nature may carry IL.
This trust we viii discharge in the face of the
worst possible peril. Though war be the ag-
gregation of all evils, yet, should the madness
Of the hour appeal to the arbitration of the
sword we will not shrink even from the bap-
| tism Of fire. IL modern crusaders stand in
serried ranks upon some plain of Esdraelon,
there shall we be in defense Of our trust. Not
| till the last man has fallen behind the last
rampant, shall it drop from our hands; and
then only in surrender to the God who gave it.
Against this institution a system of aggres-
| sion has been pursuccd through the last thirty
years. Initiated by Stew fanatics, who were
at first despised, it has gathered strength from
opposition until it has assumed its present g-
| gantic proportions. No man has thoughtfully
watched the progress Of this controversy with
ont being convinced that the crisis must at
length come. Some few, perhaps, have hoped
against hope, that the gathering imposthume
| might be dispersed, and the poison be eiim-
mated from the body polite by healthful rem
edies. But the delusion has scarcely been
cherished by those who have studied the his
tory of fanaticism in its path of blood and
fire through the ages of the past. The mo-
ment must arrive when the conflict must &c
joined, and victory decide for one or the other.
As it has been war of legislative tactics, and
not of physical force, both parties have been
maneuyering for position and the embar-
rassment has been. whilst lodging amidst con-
stitutional forms, to make an issue that should
be clear, simple and tangible. Such an issue
is at length presented in the result of the re-
cent presidential election. Be it observed,
too that it is an issue r ade by the North, not
by the South > upon whom therefore, must
rest the entire guilt of the present disturbance
With a choice between three national candi-
dates, VITO, have more or less divided the votes
Of the SoNth, the North, with unexampled
unanimtE have cast their ballot for a candi-
date who is sectional, who represents party
that is sectional, and the ground of that Sec 1
Gonalism, prejudice against the established
and constitutional rights and immunities and
institutions of the South. What does thisde-
clare-what can it declare. but that from
henceforth this is to be a government of Sec
ton over section; a government using consti
tutional forms only TO embarrass and divide
the section ruled, and as fortresses through |
whose embrasures the cannon of legislation
is to be employed in demolishing the guaran-
teed institutions of the South What issue |
is more direct, concrete, ineligible than this?
thank God that, since the conflict must be |
joined, the responsibility of this issue rests not
with US, who have ever acted upon the defen-
sive; and that it is so disembarrassed and SIM |
pie that the feeblest mind can understand it. |
The question with the South to-day is not |
what issue shall she make, but how shall she |
meet that which is prepared for her? Is it |
possible that we can hesitate longer than a
perils Of revolution, and with our clingDg |
fondness for the memories OF the past, we |
may perhaps look around for something to
soften the asperity Of. this issue, for some
ground on which We may defer the day Of evil, |
for some hope that the gathering clouds may
not burst in fury upon the land.
It's alleged, for example, that the Presi-
dent elect has been chosen by fair majority
under prescribed FORMS But need say, to
those who have read history, that no despot-
ism is more absolute than unprincipled democ-
racy, and no tyranny more CALLING than that
exercised through constitutional formulas p
But the plea is idle, when the very question
we debate is the perpetuation of that consti-
tuition nowse6nverted into an engine of op-
preston, and the continuance of that union
which is henccforth to be our condition of vas
salage. say it with solemnity and pain, this
union of our forefathers is already gone It
existed but in mutual confidence, the bonds OF
which were ruptured in the late election
Though its form should be preserved, it is. in
fact destroyed. We may possibly entertain
the project of reconstructing it but it will be
another union, resting upon other than past
guarantees ain that we say q new covenant
we have made the first old, and that which
decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
away''-sias vesture it is folded up" For
myself I say that, under the rule which
threatens US, throw off the yoke of this
union as readily as did our ancestors the yoke
Of King George Ill, and for causes immeas-
urably stronger than those pleaded in their
celebrated declaration.
It is softly whispered, too, that the success
full competitor for the throne protests and
AYERS his purpose to administer the govern
ment in a conservative and national spirit
Allowing him all credit for personal integrity
in these protestations, 10 is in this matter,
nearly as impotent for good as he is compe-
tent for evil. He is nothing more than fig
ure upon the political chess .board-whether
pawn or knight or king will hereafter appear
but still silent figure upon the checkered
squares, moved by the hands Of an unseen
player. That player is the party to which he
owes his elevation; party that has signal
lied its history by the most unbiushing per-
1Tddy.sas.) What faith can be placed in the pro-
tel sations of men who openly avow that their
cd,lsciences are too sublimated to be restrained
by the obligation of covenants or by the sane
tity of oaths? No. we have seen the trail of
the serpent five and twenty years in our Eden;
twined now in the branches of the forbidden
tree, we feel the pangs of death already be-
gun as its hot breath is upon our cheek, hiss
ing out the original lalsehood, Eye shall not
surely de-"
Another suggests that even yet the Electors,
alarmed by these demonstrations OF the south
NAV not cast the black ball which dooms their
country to the executioner. 1t is forlern
hone. Whether we should counsel such
breach of faitlI irnthem or take refuge in their
treachery-whefirer such result would give
a president chosen by the people according to
the constitution-are points / will not dis
cnss. But that 1t would prove cure DOR any
Of our ills who can believe 1t is certain that
It would, with some show Of justice, exasper-
ate party sufficiently ferocious; that it would
doom MS to fourx ears Of increasing strife and
bitterness; and That the crisis must come at
last under issues possibly not half so clear as
the present. Let US not desire to shift the
T., IF trial NV miserable, subterfuees of this