The weekly Anglo-African., 1860-01-07
GOV. MORGAN ON THE OUTBREAK
IN VIRGINIA.

In NxhO4H 1&ds
in his recent message, Gov. Morgan
makes allusion to the Harper's Ferry affair
as follows:
Without wishing to give undue import
ance to the subject, which, for so many
years has agitated the country, L neverthe-
less am constrained to say that it continues
to maintain such proportions, that l do not
feel at liberty to disregard it inmy annual
message. 1t is not to be denied that there
is an apparent determination on the one
hand to extend and strengthen the institu-
ton of human slavery as political power
on this continent, and on the other, an
equally determined spirit to resist its ex-
tension and influence. SO long as the
leaders of opinion in all sections of our
country were substantially agreed i'll the
sentiment that slavery was an anomaly
and an evil to be restricted and endured
until time and opportunity should indicate
the means of its peaceful and gradual ex-
tinction, it was not source OF traternal
discord and sectional strife, and could not
have been made one But the novel doc
trines which affirm that slavery is no evil
at all, but positive good-a good to be
commended, diffused, perpetuated = and
which logically require the conversion OF
our present Federal Territories into new
slave marts, and the acquisition of addition
al provinces and islands, expressly to for
tify and increase the power of this social
evil. are plainly incompatible with that
perfect amity and concord, which it is the
interest Of all, and the desire Of the people
of this State, at least, to maintain through
all time.
New York yields to none of her sister
States in her devotion to the Union. She
reyeres it as the fruit of long -protracted
contest for liberty and independence, and
she cherishes it for its present benefits and
its guarantees for the future. Her citizens
discovered at very earl y period that slav-
cry was an evil, and prompt and consider
| ate provision was made for its extinction.
So far as our example was worthy of imi-
tation. the other members of the Confeder-
acy had the advantage of it; but we never
claimed that we had the the right to inter-
fere, directly or indirectly, with slavery as
it existed in the other States of the Union.
We were satisfied with the solemn and ear
nest declaration recorded upon our statute
book that we regard slavery as a govern
mental and social evil, and treated it ac-
cordingly. New York still maintains the
same position She emphatically disavows
all sympathy or cooperation with those
misguided men who, no matter under what
| provocation, have sought in the past, or
who may seek in the future, unlawfully to
interfere with the institutions of any of her
sister States.
That the offenders in the recentinvasion
of Virginia intended to subvert the existing
Government and establish in its stead an
other more conSOnant with their notions Of
Justice and equal rights, is not certain that
they proposed to liberate and arm the
slaves of that region and aid their escape
to foreign country, is beyond dispute.
And that purpose, it need hardly be OBJ
served. was unlawful, and certain to be re-
sisted at all hazards. Bloodshed thus in
cited, rests, in the eye Of human law, on
| the heads of those whose violation Of laws
| provoked or caused it. We may admit
| that their aims were unselfish and even
philanthropic-th they honestly believed
and felt that they were rsking liberty and
life in behalf of the wronged and oppressed
but we must never forget the obvious
truth. that social order can only exist
through general recognition of the sane
tity of law, and that tranquility and security
must vanish from that community wherein
every one shall feel at liberty to redress
whatever he deems grievous, by raising his
arm against the authorities and the laws"