The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-12-19

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bind the conscience 1t is time to reproduce
the obsolete idea that Providence must govern
man. and not that man should control Provi-
deuce. In tie imperfect state of human
society. it pleases God to allow evils which
check others that are greater. As IN the
PHYSICAL world, objects are moved forward,
not BIZ single force, but by the composition
of forces; so in his moral administration. |
there are checks and balances whose intimate |
relations are comprehended only By himself |
But what reck they Of this-these fierce |
zealots who undertake to drive the chariot Of |
the sun I? working out the single and false |
idea which rides them like nightmare, they !
dash athwart the spheres, utterly disregard
inc the delicate mechanism of Providence /;
which moves on, wheels within wheels, with |
pivots and balances and springs, which the |
great designer alone can control. ms spirit
OF atheism, which knows no God who tolerates
evil, no Bib.e which sanctions law, and no
conscience that can Re bound by oaths and
covenants, has selected us for its victims, and
shvery for its issue. Its banner-cry rings out
already upon the air-'liberty, equality, fra
ternity," which simply interpreted mean
bondage, confiscation and massacre. Withns
tricolor waving in the breeze,-lt waits 10
inaugurate its reign of terror. 10 the ootlth
the high position is assigned oil deiendin1,
before all nations, the cause OF all religion anu
of all truth. In this trust, we are resisting
the power which wars against constitutions
and laws and compacts, against Saboaths ana
sanctuaries against the family, the state and
the church; which blasphemously inyades
the prerogatives of God, and rebukes the
Most High for the errors of his adminlstra-
ton which, If 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 tn ourselves, to
our slt1pes, to the ,oorla, and to almighty Col.
1t establishes the nature and solemnity of our
present trust, to preserve and transmit orr er-
listing system of domestic servitade, aoiA the
right, unchanged By man, to go and foot itself
.Chereuer Providence and nature may carry it.
This trust we will discharge in the face OF the
worst possible peril. Though warsbe the ag-
gregation of ali 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. If 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
ramuart. shall it drop from our hands and
| then only in surrender to the God who gave it.
Against this institution system of agrees
| sion has been pursued through the last thirty
| wears. Initiated by Slew fanatics, who were
/ at first despised, it has gathered strength from
opposition until it has assumed its present gi
gantic proportions. No man has thoughtfully
watched the progress of this controversy with
out 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 elimi-
mated from the body polite by healthfai rem
edies. But the delusion has scarcely been
cherished by those who have studied the his
tory of Eanaticism in its path of blood and
fire through the ages Of the past. The mo-
ment must arrive when the conflict must be
Joined, and victory decide for one or the other.
As it has been a war Of legislative tactics and
not of physical force, both parties have been
maneuvering for position and the embar-
rassment has been. whilst lodging amidst con-
stitutie nal 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 made by the North, not
by the South; upon whom. therefore, must
rest the entire guilt of the present disturbance.
With choice between three national candi-
dates, who have more or less divided the votes
of the South. the North, with unexampled
unanimity have cast their ballot for candi-
date who is sectional, who represents party
that is sectional, and the ground of that sec
tionalsm, prejudice against the established
and constitutional rights and immunities and
institutions of the South. What does this de-
-olare-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 emhSasures 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 b
Joined, the responsibility Of this issue rests no
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
Ilaa f..sst;~.- --;tl> tl-e Go,,ti, dry
what issue shall she make, but how shall sh,
meet that which is prepared for her ? Is i
possible that we can hesitate longer than
moment In our natural recoil from tn,
perils of revolution, and with our elingine
|
may perhaps look around for something t.
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.
1t is alleged, for example, that the PreSi
dent elect has been chosen by fair majority
under prescribed forms. But need say, t.
those who have read history, that no despot
ism is more absolute than unprincipled demoe
racy, and no tyranny more CALLING than thai
exercised through constitutional formulas p
But the plea is idle, when the very question
we debate is the perpetuation of that consti
tuition now converted into an engine of op
preston, and the continuance of that unior
which is henccforth to be our condition of vas
salage | say it with soleInnity and pain, this
union of our foreathers is already gone Il
existed but in mutual confidence, the bonds o
which were ruptured in the late election
Though its form should be preserved, it is, il
fact destroyed We may possibly entertain
the project of reconstructing it, but it will be
another union, resting upon other than pas,
guarantees. an that we say new covenan,
we have made the first old, and that which
decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
away"-"as yesture it is folded up" Fol
myself l 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 theiI
celebrated declaration.
1t is softly whispered, too, that the success
ful competitor for the throne protests and
AYERS his purpose to administer the govern.
mept in conservative and national spirit
Allowing him all credit for personal integrity
in these protestations, he 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 GRANDDAUGHTER
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-
juries. What faith can be placed in the pro-
testations OF men who openly ayow that their
consciences are too sublimated to be restrained
by theobligation of covenants or by the sane
tity Of oaths? No. we have seen the trail oil
the serpent five and twenty years in our Eden;
twined now in the branches of the forbidden
tree, we feel the paDgs of death already be-
gun as its hot breath is upon our cheek, hiss
ing out the original falsehood, aye shall not
surely die"
Another suggests that even yet the Electors,
alarmed by these demonstrations of the South
may not cast the black ball which dooms their
country to the executioner. 1t is a forlorn
hope. Whether we should counsel such
breach Of faith in them or take refuge in their
treachery whether such a result would give
president chosen by the people according to
the constitution-are points l will not dis
cuss. But that it would prove cure for any
Of our ills %ho can believe 1t is certain that
it would, with some show of justice, exasper-
ate party sufficiently ferocious; that it would
doom US to four years 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
day Of trial by miserable subtesfuges of this
sort The issue is upon us; let us meet it
like men and end this strife forever.
But some qnietist whispers, yet further, this
majority is accidental and has been swelled by
accessions of men simply opposed to the ex-
listing administration the party is utterly he
terogeneous and must be shiyered into frag-
ment by its own success. confess, frankly,