Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1860-01-07
Effects of Dissolution on the South.

The Baltimore Eachange condemns the South
Carolina secession movement, and says
"If it is difficult now to prevent Abolitionists
and others from forcibly or treacherously as
sailing in Maryland Kentucky, and Virginia,
political system which they have preposte-
rously determined to be illegal or immoral,
what precautions can be taken to check their
insurrectionary efforts when the limits of these
States shall adjoin those of populous and
hostile Confederacy; The South now counts
much upon the sympathies of our Northern
countryinen the legislation of Congress, and
the importantly of the Federal authorties,and
even though it may have received from these
less countenance and support than 1t was enti-
tied to ask, how will its condition be bettered
by regulating them altogether Nothing
short of the most rigid police surveillance
throughout those States and strict military
guard along their frontiers could prevent them
from becoming, in a few years, what Pennsyl-
vana Ohio, and Indiana are now. Military
posts, and custom houses would be required,
within mile or two of each other, along the
whole line from the Susquehanna to the Mis-
sissippi and these would be comparatively
useless occupied at all times by force inf-
nitely larger than the whole country has ever
contemplated the necessity of maintaining
1t is an easy thing to talk about patrolling our
borders which stretch away for nearly thous-
and miles over mountain ranges and thinly
settled regions, for orators can summon up ar
mics at their pleasure, but it will be found,
when the crisis comes, that these are practical
questions which the sort of defamation we
are most accustomed to will not help us 10 de-
eide intelligently. The three last mentioned
free States contain, by the last census, an ag-
gregate population of over a,OO0,Oo0 peoplh
who. in a comparatively brief period after the
the secession Of the South would be converted,
first into Jealous rivals, and then into bitter
foes Tolerant of our institutions now IL
would not be long before they were ayowedly
hostile to them; and when they offered near
and certain refuge to fugitives from Maryland,
Virginia, and Kentucky, and stirred up sedition
within their limits, and assaulted them, di-
recty and indirectly, from without, it would
appear, we think, that the disunion method OF
avoiding the further agitation Of the slavery
question was worse than miserable failure.
If one section made common cause on the one
side the other would form an equally formi-
dable alliance to oppose it, and the aspect OF
the case would then be doubly hopeless. But
Cotton it is said, lis King and some dream
ers have supposed that its all-powerfnl infiu-
encc will keep the world at peace with the
South forever. They speak as if the mercer
passions of men had never triumphed over their
lust for gold, or their desire for mercantile
and commercial successfully have forgotten
the wars to which civilized nations have con-
tnually sacrificed substantial interests, and the
conflicts into which they have entered,regard-
less of impending ruin. 1t is folly to think
that human events are absolutely controlled by
the laws of trade. These considerations
which we have here SO cursorily glanced at
must be duly and maturely studied in detail
before we can be prepared to take part in such
conventions as the Senate of South Carolina
would call together. 1t is with reluctance that
we permit ourselves to dwell upon the conse-
quences of disunion, and to speculate upon
the destinies of the shattered and separated
portions of the grandest Republic that has yet
existed on the globe. We believe the great
mass of the people everywhere are content to
abide by the compromises of the Constitution,
and that we can safely and honorably remain
members of the Confederation. We prefer to
do So because we arc bound to it by every
tie of love, patriotism, and duty; but if vio-
lent men will compel us to take account of our
material interests in the Commonwealth, we
cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that its dis
ruption would result in irretrievable disasters
to both sections, and most especially to the
South