Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-01-20
For the Enquirer.
Southern Union.

Mcssrs. Editors-The present times call for
the most sober reflection, the coolest Judgment.
and SterReSt resolution Of the slaye.holdinp
States. 1t is high time to prepare for the
worst and he is q sanguine man who can hope
for the best 1t may be, that Almighty God,
who has so signally blest this confederacy in
the past, may interpose special providence to
deliver this country from bloodshed; but with
that august purpose of God, if it exists, human
reason cannot deal We are men, and must
reason rs men, and deal as men with the facts
that present themselves to us. The great fact
stares us all in the face, that controlling party
"a ruling majority-in the hireling States,
have resolved to use brute force to tramplc
upon our constitutional rights, to wrest from
us our property, destroy our social system, and
force upon us another social system-one that
is distaseful to us, and destructive to the moral
and material interests Of the whole country
What ought the South to doi Ought it to sit
still, like the BOBBY, until it is knocked on the
head in its own nest? Or, shall We arouse
ourselves from our fatal naction? We delibe-
rately believe that the hour is now come for
action-and there is but one efficient and safe
action in our Judgment (and We are neither
excited by passion not impelled by choice,) and
that safe action is the immediate withdrawal Of
the slaveholling States in body from the pre-
sent Union.
We should at once soberly calmly and rcso-
lutely form Union Of slaveholding States,
and declare ourselves an Independent nation.
If We await another Presidential election, 1T
VIII. DE- TOO LATE! 1t is bootlcss to speculate
upon our ability to withdraw from the Union,
or the ultimate destiny Of either fragment Of
the present Union. With that We should not
concern ourselves for it is beyond the horizon
of human reason. Like the throne of God who
rules it, the future is surrounded with clouds
and darkness, through which no mortal eye
can penetrate Degradation with insult added
to injury, or immediate and manly resistance,
are the only paths left US to walk in.
Honor and safety alike demand of us an i'm
mediate and absolute withdrawal from union
with our relentless and ruthless foes
The Devil never does his work so we'll, so
efEectually, as when he assumes the garb Of
an angel Of light; and 10 sensible man, the
canting hypocrisy and pretended religious zeal
only render the malignant and iiendish assaults
Of our enemies the more loathsome and dis
gushing 10 butcher our citizens, murder in
noccnt women and children for the love Of God
and Freedom may sound Us softly and sweetly
as music to abolitionsts' ears, for aught we
know; but there is a gibberng of fiends about
it that makes manly heart pant for ven
geancc, and long for day Of reckoning.
This present Union, as it is Illustrating it.
self, would be subject for mirth and satire, if
its glossy exterior did not cover the poison
Of asps p" and harbor the fell spirit Of wrong
and murder.
1t smells Of blood it thirsts for blood, and
blood it will have; and our blood, unless We
smite it with q deadly blow-that blow we
will strike, and strike at once, i ne arc Wise.
10 expect the spirit of Northern aggression
to halt, or its black waves to be staid by pro-
tests OF by braggart bullying, is to brave the
Tightening and to make truce with death.
Force immediate and resistlesS, will alone
exercise that spirit and roll back that turbid
and deadly stream.
Fanaticism knows no halting, takes no step
backward, but creeps and crawls along with its
serpent eve fixed upon its prey, while its sibi-
liant tongue utters glozing words Of peace and
fraternity. The Union, as our fathers formed
il, does not exst-it is dead and he who
dreams il lives is like the fond child that cares
ses corpse and calls it mother.
The Union was the offspring Of necessity
and awoke into life under the fraternal hands
that had gasped each other in deadly perils,
and together battled for life and sacred honor.
The great men who won our freedom formed
our constitution; they knew and ilonored each
other-and each respected the others rights
they did iustice-watchcd over domestic tran
guilty and struggled for the general welfare
those men are gone, and that high principle is
not common now.
Like Rome, in the days Of lawlessness and
faction, our country is given over to the spoil
ers, and liberty here, as then and there, is
being stranglcd in the strong grasp Of mcrclless
and unprncpled demagogues.
What boots it to US though our flag floats
OH every sea and our commerce has the world
for market, if our homes, our rights, our
property and our lives share not that flags
protection? What though our banner may
faunt gaily and our eagle soar proudly, if that
flag bear no star of hope for us; and that
eagle turn upon us no kindly glance? If it
be to us the standard Of oppression and the
harbinger Of degradation we say, down with
it and let it perish forever.
IS not the measure of our wrongs full!
Many of our co.Statcs, who claim and receive
all the benefits of union with the South,
have, by the most solemn legislation, made it
penal for any one to aid in enforcing consti-
tutional law of Congress, made to protect our
rights, rights guaranteed by the most solemn
compact between States.
Our citizens Of the South, in attempting to re-
capture their property, which if good faith and
honor had been observed by our confederates,
should have been quietly and cheerfully dcliv.
cred to them, have been shot down in a neigh
boring State-and who has been punished
for il?
Not content with these shameless and out.
ragcous violations of our rights, the citizens oil
the hireling States tolerate the open avowal and
practice among them of systematic thefts oi
our property, and the open preparation Of their
citizens to invade our soil, for the purposes o
robbery, murder, insurrection and open wa,
upon us, and neither warn us Of impending
danger, nor suppress these open and avowcd hos
tlities-and so far from furnishing these thieves
and bandits checrfully and openly give them
countenance and material aid and comfort
Nav, more, in the wild and blasphcmous
| words of their own using, they worship
God in the living rather than in the dead
in the living slave rather than the dead Jesus !!
They canonize the bloody thief and relentless
murderer, John Brown. And those claiming
to be Christian ministers and civilized men
citizens of this great Republic declare it to bt
"the right and duty Of the slaves toresist thell
masters; and the right and duty of the North
to incite them to resistance, and to aid then
in it." They OF the North tell US in trumpet
tones that they will rob us of our property, ano
they do lido it and boast of it-and their
journals in jubilant words record the fact; and
in all the North there is neither honesty, virtue
nor patriotism enough to make even pretense
Of arresting these fragrant wrongs.
They boldly proclaim that they will, the mo
ment they have the brute force, so constitute
the courts and regulate the government, as tc
wrest from fifteen States Of this Union then
constitutional rights, and turn them over shorr
of every defence, hopeless prey to theil
spoilers.
They cry aloud in all their streets for violen
and lawless men to make war upon us, oul
| &c ,-f,, opI n,,,