Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-12-08
IN. Standard.
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
Ellop.eitisens Of Mt 3Sematel


country has been eminently prosperous in all Its
materaiinterestSs The general health has been cx-
cellent our hsrvests have been abundant and
plenty smiles throughout the land Our commerce
and manufactures havebeen prosecuted with energy
and industry, and have yielded fair and ample re-
turns In short no nation in the tide oil time mas
ever presented spectacle of greater material pros
perity than have done until within avery recent
period
Why is II, then that discomfort now so extensive
" urefails aud the Union Of the States, which Is
the source of all these blessings is threatened with
destructiont The long-continued and incorporate
interference Of the Northern people with the ques-
ton Of slavery in the Southern States has at length
produced its natural effects The different sections
of tie Union are now arrayed against each other,
and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the
Father of his Couatry, when hostile geographical
parties have been formed have long foreseen and
often forewarned my countrymen of tile now m
pending danger. This does not proceed solely from
the claim on the part Of Congress the territorial
legislatures to exclude slavery from the Territories
nor from the efforts of different States to defeat the
execution of the fugitive slave law. All or any of
those evils might have been endured by the South
without danger to the UnioR Gas others have becn)
in the hope that time and reflection might apply
the, remedy The Immediate peril arises not so
much from these causes from the fact that the
incessant and violent agitation of the slavery ques-
ton throughout the North for the last quarter oil
centnry has at length produced its malign influence
on the slaves and inspired them with vague notions
of freedom Hence sense of security no longcr
exists around the family altar. This feeling OF
peace at home has given place to apprehenslons OF
SerFiie tnsurrectien. Many & matrOn throughout
the. South retires at night in dread OF what may
befall herself and her children before the morning
Should this apprehension Of domestic danger,
whether real imaginary, extend and intensity
itself until shall pervade the masses OF the South
ern people then disunion will become Inevitaole-
Selfpreservation is the first law OF nature, and has
been implanted in the heart of man by his Creator
for the wiSest purpose; and no political union,
however fraught with blessings and benefits in all
other respects long continue, If the necessary
consequence be to render the homes and the hre-
sides Of nearly half the parties to 1t haoltuay ana
hopelessy insecure. Sooner or later the bonds OF
such Union must be severed 1t is my CONVICTION
that this fatal period has not yet arrived; and my
PRAYER to God is that He would preScreve the Con-
stitution and the Union throughout all generations
But let us take warning in time, and remove the
cause Of danger 1t cannot be denied that for i've
and twenty years the agitation at the North against
slavery in the South has been rncessant In 1850
pictorial handbills aud inHammatory appeals, were
circulated extensively throughout the South, OF
character to excite the passions of the slaves and
in the language of General jackson, Ito stimulate
them to Instruction and produce all the horrors of
a serviIe war" This agitation has ever since been
continued BY the public press, by the proceedings
of State and county conventions, and by abolition
sermons and lectures. The time OF Congress has
been occupied in violent speeches on this never
ending subject; and appeals in pamphlet and other
FORMS endorsed by distinguished names, have been
sent forth from this central point andspread broad
: cast over the Union. -....-
How easy would it be for the American people to
settle the slavery question forever and to restore
peace and harmony to this distracted county.
They, and they alone, can do it All that is ne
cesssry to accomplish the object and all for which
the slave States have ever contended, is to be let
alone, and permitted to manage their domestic IN
stitutions in their own way As sovereign States,
tbey. and they alone are responsible before God
and the world for the slavery existing among them
For this the people of the North are not more re-
sponsi5le and have more right to interfere than
with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil
Upon their good sense and patriotic forbearance
confess still greatly rely. Without their aid 1t Is
beyond the power of any President, no matter what
may be his own political proclivities, to restore
peace and harmony among the States Wisely limit
ed and restrained as is his power, under our Con-
sttution and laws he alone can accomplish but lit
tie for good or for evil such a momentous ques-
ton.
And this brings me to observe that the election oil
any one of our fellow citizens to the Office of PreS
dent does not of itself afford just cause for dissoving
the Union This is more especially true if his cleo
ton has been effected by mere plurality, and not
majority of the people, and has resulted from tran
sient and temporary causes, which may probably
never again occur. In order to justify resort to
revolutionary resistance, the Federal Government
must be guilty Of "a deliberate, palpable, and dan
gerous exercise" of powers not granted by the Con-
stitu,ion. The late presidential election, however,
has been held in strict conformity with its express
provisions How, then, can the result justify rev.
oution to destroy this very Constitution? Reason
justice, a regard for the Constitution, all require
that we shall wait for overt and dangerous
on the part of the President elect before resortng
to such remedy.
1t is said however that the antecedents Of the
President elect have been sufficient to justify the
fears of the South that he will attempt to invade
their constitutional rights. But such apprehen-
sons of contingent danger in the future sufficient to
Justify the immediate destruction of the nobest sys-
tenn of government ever devised by mortals From
the very nature of his Office and its high RESPONSE
bilities, he must necessarily be conservative The
stern-duty of administering the vast and compcat-
ed concerns of this Government affords in itself
guarantee that he will not attempt any violation of
a clear constitutional right After all he is no more
than the chief executive officer of the Government
His province is not to make, but execute the laws
and it is remarkable fact in history that not
wthstandng the repeated efforts of the anti-sayery
party no single act has every passed Congress- I'M
less We may possibly except the Missouri Compro-
misc, impairng, in the slightest degree, the rights
of the South to their property in slaves. And it
may also be observed judging from present indica-
tons, that no probability exists of the passage of
such an act by majority of both Houses either in
the present OF. the next Congress. Surely, under
these circumstances we ought to be restrained from
present action by the precept of Him who spake as
never man spake that Sufficient unto the day is
the evil thereof" The day of evil may never come,
unless we shall rashly bring il upon ourselves
1T is alleged as one cause for immediate secession
that the Southern States are denied equal rights
with the other States in the common Territories =
But by what authority are these denied? Not by
Congress, which has never passed, and believe
never will pass, any act to exclude slavery from
these Territories and certainly not by the Supreme
Court, which has Solemnly decided that slaves are
property. and like all other property their owners
have right to take them into the common Terrific
res and hold them there under the protection of the