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

slavery as a moral, social, and political evil !
and that it should be dealt with as such py
the Federal Government, in every instance
where it is called upon to deal with it at ali.
On this point there is no room Tor question:
and there need be no misgivings as to his OIL
fetal action. The whole influence OF the Ex>
ecutive DEPARTMENT. of the Government, WINE
in his hands, will be thrown against the e1
tension of slavery into the new territories OF
the Union, and the re-opening OF the African
slsre-trade On these points he will make no
compromise nor yield one hairs breaoth TO
coercion from any quarter or IN any shape
He does not aceede to the alleged decision OF
the Supreme Court, that the Constitution
places slaves upon the footing OF other proper
ty, and protects them as such wherever us
jurisdiction extends, nor will he be, In the
least degree, governed or controlled by 1t IN
his executive action. He wilfSio all IN ms |
power personally and officially, by the direct |
exercise Of the powers of his office and the IN |
direct influence inseparable from it, to arrest
the tendency to make slavery national and |
perpetual, and to place it in precisely the |
same position which it held in the early days
of the Republic; andfin view of the loun-
ders of the Government
"Now, what enigmas may be couehed in
this last sentence, the sphinx which uttered
them can perhaps resolve; but the sentence in
which they occur is as big as the belly of the
Trojan horse which laid the city of Priam in
ruins.
These utterances we have heard so long
that they fall stale upon the ear but never
before have they had such a significance
Hitherto they have come from ,Iacobn con-
ventIcles and pulpits, from the rostrum, from
the hastings, and from the halls of our nation
al Congress; but always as the utterances of
| irresponsible men, or associations of men. But
now the voice comes from the throne already,
before clad with the sanctiteS of office, ere
the Amounting oil is poured upon the mon
| arch's head. the decree has gone forth that the
| institution Of Southern slavery shall be con-
| strained within assigned limits. Though ha-
| ture and Providence should send forth its
branches like the Banyan tree, to take root in
| congenial SOIL here is power superior to both
| that says it shall wither and die within its
own charmed circle.
What say you to this, to whom this great
! proyidential trust of conserving slavery is as
signed ? "Shall the throne of iniquity have
| fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief
| by law % 1t is this that makes thy crisis.
| Whether we will or not, this is the historic
moment when the fate ofthis institution hangs
suspended in the balance. Decide either way,
it is the moment of our destiny-the only
thing affected by the decision is the complex
ion Of that destiny. If the South bows before
this throne, she accepts the decree of restric-
| ton and ultimate extinction which is made
the condition Of her homage
/ As it appears to me, the course to be pur-
sued in this emergency is that which has al
ready been inaugurated. Let the people in all
the Southern States, in solemn counsel assem-
bled, reclaim the powers they have delegated
| Let these conventions be composed of men
whose fidelity has been aprroved-men who
bring the wisdom, experience and firmness of
age to support and announce principles which
have long been matured. Let these conyen-
tons decide firmly ami so!cmnly what they
will DO with this great trust committed to
their hands. Let them pledge each otheE in
sacred covenant, to uphold and perpetuate
what they can not resign without dishonor and
palpable ruin. Let them further, take all the
necessary steps looking to separate and indt-
pendent existence; and initiate measures for
framing new and homogeneous confederacy.
Thus prepared for every contingency, let the
crisis come Paradoxical as it may seem, if
there be any way to save, or rather to recon
struct, the union Of our forefathers, it is this,
Perhaps a. the last moment, the conserva-
tive portions Of the North may awake to see
the abyss into which they are about to plunge.
Perchance they may arise and crush out for
ever the Abolition hydra, and cast it into a
grave from which there shall never be re-
surrection.
Thus, with restored confidence, we may be
rejoined united and happy people. But be-
fore God, believe that nothing will effect this
! but the line of policy which the South has
beer. compelled in self preservation to adopt.
confess frankly | am not sanguine that such
; an auspicious result will be reached. Partly,
because | do not see how new guarantees are
| to be grated upon the Constitution, nor how,
ifgrafted, they can be more binding than
} those which have already been trampled I'M
der foot but chiefly, because | do not see
, how such guarantees,can be elected from-the
people at the North. It can not be disguised
that, almost to a man, they are anti-slavery
where they are not Abolition. A whole gen.
/. Grafton has been educated to look upon the
sy stem WITH adherence as Il national blot
. They hope and look, and pray for its extinc-
ton within reasonable time and can not be
l satisfied unless things are seen drawing to
that conclusion. We, on the contrary, as It's
constituted guardian can demand nothing less
than that it should be left open to expansion
subject to no limitations save those imposed
, by God and nature. | fear the antagonism is
, too great, and the conscience Of both parties
too deeply implicated to allow such compost
ton of the strife. Nevertheless, since it i:
within the range of possibility in the Proyi-
Z dence OF God, would not shut out the alter
native. al
Should it fail, what remains but that we
say to each other. calmly and kindly, as Abra-
ham said to Lot: "Let there be no strife
: pray thee between me and thee and between
! my herdmen and thy herdmeh. for we be
: brethren. Is not the whole land before thee
Separate thyself, pray thee, from me-ifthou
l will take the left hand, then will go to the
right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then
will go the let.o Thus if We can not save
! the inestimable blessings it enshrines if we
can not preserve the vase, we will preserve the
precious liquor it contains.
In all this, speak for the North no less
J than for the South for on our united and de-
termined resistance at this moment depends
the salvation of the whole country-in saving
ourselves we shall save the North from the
! ruin she is madly drawing down upon her own
head.
: The position Of the South is at this moment
sublime. If she has grace given her to know
J her hour she will save herself the country,
, and the world. 1t will involve, indeed, tenn
porary prostration and distress the dykes Of
: Holland must be, cut to save her from the
troops Of Phillip. But | warn. my country
men the historic moment once passed, never
returns If she will arise in her majesty, and
speak now as with the voice of ore man, she
will roll back for all time, the curse that is
upon her. If she subculnbS now, she trans
mits that curse as an heirloom oposteEity.
We may, for generation, enjoy COMPARE
tive ease, gather up our feet in our beds, and
die in peace but our children will go forth
baggared from the homes of their fathers
Fishermen will cast their nets where your
proud commercial navy now rides al anchor,
} and dry them upon the shore now covered
with your bales of merchandise. Slapped, cir
cumvented, undermined, tho institutions of
your soil will be oyerthrown and within five
and twenty years, the history of St Domingo
will be the record of Louisiana. If dead mems
bones can tremble, ours will move under the
muttered curses of sons and daughters, de-
nouncing the blindness and love of ease which
have left them an Inheritance of Woe
Ihave done my duty under as deep sense
of responsibility to God and man as / have
ever felt. Under a full conviction that the
salvation of the whole country is depending
upon the action of the South, I am impelled
to deepen the sentiment of resistance in the
Southern mind, and to strengthen the current
now flowing towards union ofthe~ South in
defence of her chartered rights. 1t is duty
| which shall not he recalled to repeat, for
such awful junctures do not occur twice in a
century.
Bright and happy days are yet before us
and before another political earthquake shall
shake the continent, | hope to be where the
wicked cease from troubling and where the
weary are at rest"
1t only remains to say, that whatever be
the fortunes of the South. accept them for
my own. Born upon her soil, Of father
thus born before me-from an ancestry that
occupied it while yet it was a part of Eng
lands possessions-she is in every sense my
mother. l shall die upon her bosom-she
shall know peril but it is my periI--no con-
| flict but it is my confict-and no abyss of ruin
into which l shall not share her fall May
the Lord God cover her head in this her day of
battle
1rxw Cas- Dtanc