The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1860-02-09
LFrom the Amesbury "Nlagcr'
THE LESSON OF THE DAY.


ic events at Harper's Ferry has affected |
us, in common with every right-minded |
man, with profound sorrow and regret. |
With our natural loathing of violence |
and bloodshed, and with the stern and
emphatic condemnation which we are
compelled to pronounce upon this and
all similar attempts to promote the good |
Of freedom by the evil Of servilo strife |
and civil war,-is mingled a deep pity |
for the misguided actors in this out |
break In condemning the mad scheme, !
we cannot forget the wrongs and out
RACES which caused It, Our adherence
Of human slavery is only deepened and
intensified by it.
For ourselves, from the very outset
Of the anti-slavery movement we have
relied upon no other iustrumentalities
than moral and political action-the
one in accordance with the peaceful pre-
cepts of Christianity, the other in con-
formity with the Constitution Of the
United States With DR.. franklin we
have been prepared to 90 to "the very
verge Of our constitutional power" to
discountenancc and limit the great evil
Of our land but with slavery in the
States we have never intormeddled our.
selves, nor countenanced others in so
doing. Our arguments and appeals
have been addressed to the white man
, and not to his slaves. Holding as we
do that the destruction of one human
life would be too great price to pay
for any social or political change, we
regard with horror all attempts to pro-
e mote a servile insurrectiOn. Nor would
s we, under any circumstances, encour-
age forcible resistance even to q law as
unjust and cruel as we regard the Flu
gitive Slave Law. Where duty to God
, and man required us to refuse active
, obedience to such enactments, we would
D submit, as good citizens, to the penalty
q incurred.
We arc well aware that our sentiments
on the subject of non resistance are not
I shared by the great majority of pro-
Tossing Christians. We know that it is
- the popular doctrine that bloodshed is
justifable in defence of life and prop
erty, or in the assertion Of liberty
! This doctrine lies, indeed at the found
alton of our government. Our Fourth
n of July OratlOns-Our monuments, our
j. literature-are all revolutionary. The
> right of revolution on the part of an
c oppressed people is taught in the school
= room and the pulpit Virginia faunts
e in the eyes Of her slaves, the incendiary
Il picture on her official seal, of Liberty,
3 armed to the teeth, trampling on the
Is decapitated body of a tyrant, with its
j. motto, $50 ahcays to tyrauis" In this
- view of the matter, the wonder is, not
a that occasionally an insurrection or
o outbreak like that at Harper's Ferry Oc-
20 ours, but that revolt, in one form or an
e other, is not the normal condition of
s. States embracing within themselves the
- eztrCmes of liberty and slavery. None
l. saw more clearly than Jefferson and
i Madison the dangerous character Of the
7, institution of domestic slavery. "The
l. hour of emancipation, said the former,
'- and his words have now a striking sig.
l. nifcance, sis advancing in the march
of time. 1t must come: if not brought
ID on by the generous energies Of our own
& minds, it must come by the bloody
'r process Of st. Domingo" In all ages
D. Of the world, the deprivation Of per
TO sonal freedom has been regarded as
OF sufficient excuse for bloody resistance
. All history is monumental as a grave
yard with warnings Of this inevitable
tendency Of oppression. The serfs Of
as Europe have often signalized their man
c. hood by rebellions. Ten years ag
he there occurred a servile insurrectiol
d, and massacre in Poland. Every islant
r. Of the Antilles has been burned owe
y, by the fiery track Of revolt. A viola
he tion Of natural law and divine order
e. slavery contains within itself the ele
ments Of perpetual unrest.
nd The slave needs no incentive fror
r. without. 1t is noteworthy and ver
Mt suggestive fact that the only rcall
so formidable Instructions at the South
he those of South Carolina and Virginia
ng originated among the slaves themselve
IRE and took place previous to the preseI
us anti-slavery movement lnterterenC
from without has proved a signal fai
nd ure; aud the folly and madness of th
ng tlarper's Ferry experiment will not /
ng likely to be repeated in the present Gel
ty tury If the slaves are ever to be froe
Is by violence-(whioh we do not believe
lit must be dono by themselves, an
not by white sympathizers, howev,
he brave or self,sacrifcing, The prayr
ed Of every friend Of humanity should /
for that Peace and Freedom may 60 han
Pc in hand together that patience, forbea
ne, ance, and Kindness, may keep pace vii
led fidelity to FREQ principles that no vi
ith justidablo and illegal act may be pc
.he mitted to embarrass and retard a NOV
Inc meut which looks to tho welfare ar
his happiness, not Of the slave alone, but
OIL the master also. Wrong aud violenC
hat fraud and conspiracy are tho expet
ents Of conscious weakness and errC
not Of truth and justice. The Nor
&c, owes it to. herself to see to it that h
lgo South has no good reason to compla
on Of secret and Illegal conspiracies.
the What she does should be open as 4
cen day-irank, honest and aboye-boar
nd, without conCealment and without col
ist' promise.
The lesson Of this event should u
be lost upon our Southern noighbo
ma II odds anothor to the MANY nrooFa ,