The Oxford intelligencer. (Oxford, Miss.) 1860-18??, 1860-12-12

the tribes of this ,confederacy, our industry
has been concentrated upon agrienlture To
the North we have cheerfully resignrd ell the
profits. arising from manufacture and com
.meree. Those profits they have, for the
most part, fairly earned, and we have never
lbegral gei them. Weshave sent them Jour
sagsr, and bougllt lit back when refined; We
have sent them our cotton, aud bought it
back when spun into thread or woven into
cloth. Almost every article We use, from
the shoe-latehet to the most elaborate and
costly article of luxury, they have made and
we have bought; and both sections have
thriyen by the partnership, as no people ever
thrived before since the first shining Of the
sun. So literally true are the words of the
text, addressed by 0bodiah to Edoln, "All
the men Of our confederaey, the men that
were at peace with US, have eaten our bread
at the very time they have deceived and laid
around under us" Even beyond-this the
enriching commerce, which has built the
splendid cities and marble palaces, Of Eng
land as web as of America has been largely
established upon the products of our soil |;
and the blooms uppn southern fields gather
ed by black hands, have fed the spmdles and
looms of Manchester aud Birmingham not
less than of Lawrence and Lowell. Strike
now blow at this system Of labor, and the
world itself totters at the stroke. Shall we
permit that blow to fala DO we not owe it
to civilized man to stand in the breach and
stay the uplifted armi If the blind Samson
lays hold of the pillars which support the
arch Of the worlds industry, how many
more will be buried beneath its ruins than
the lords of the Philstines Who know
eth whether we are not como to the king
dom for such time as this" 49,.
Last Of all, in this great struggle, we de-
fend tie cause Of God and religion. The
abolition spirit is undeniably athcistic. The
demon which erected its throne upon the
guilIotine in the days Of Robespierre and Ma
rat, which abolished the Sabbath and wor-
shipped reason in the person of a harlot, yet
survives to work other horrors, of which
those of the French revolution are but the
type. Among people SO generally relig-
ious as the American, a disguise must be
worn; b It it is the same old threadbare dis
guise of the advocacy Of human rights
From thousand Jacobin clubs here, as in
France the decree has gone forth which
strikes nj God by striking at all subordina-
ton and law. Awaiting itself Of the morbid
and inisdirectcd sympathies of men, it has
entrappcd weak conscences in the meshes
Of its treachery; and now, at last, has seated
its high priest upon the throne. This spirit
r Al. a. III yh.N t.,Ia
rates evil, no Bible which sanctions law,
and no conscience that can be bound by oaths
and covenants, has selected US for its VIC
tim, and slavery for its issue. Its banner
cry rings ont already upon the air,-"liberty,
equality, fraternity" which simply interpret
ed means bondage, confiscation and Inassa-
ere. With its tri-color waving III the breeze,
it waits to inaugurate ITS reign Of terror. To
the South the high position is assigned of
defending, before all nations, the cause of all
religion and of all truth. In this trust we
are resisting the power which wars against
constitutions, and laws, and compacts,
against Sabbaths and sanctuarics, against
the family, the state, and the church ;
which blasphemously invades the prerogi-
tves of God, and rebukes the Most High for
the errors of his administration which, if it
cannot snatch the reins of empire from his
grasp, will lay the Univcrse.in ruin at his
feet. Is it possible that we shall decline the
onset! t-. t.. .....
This argument, then, which sweeps over
The entire circle of our relations, touches the
four cardinal points Of duty to ourselves, 10
our sltres, To ne worii, and 10 1imighty
IL "A 81,
nifty Of orr present trust to pressrre and
transmit orr existing system Of domestic ser
raade, Nth he right, unchanged by man, TO
90 and root itself whereOer Providence and
nature may carry Il. This trust we will dis
charge in the face of the worst possible per-
il. Though war be the aggregation of all
evils, yet, should the madness of the hour
appeal to the arbitration of the sword we
viii not shrink even from the baptism OF
fire. If modern crusaders stand in serricd
ranks upon some plain of Esdraeon, there
shall we be in defense of our trust. Not
till the last man has fallen behind tho last
rampant, shall it drop from our hands and
then only in surrender to the God who gave
it. .... .. r......t ... ....t ..r.f. ....
Against this institution system of aggres-
sion has been pursued through the last thirty
years. Initiated by few fanatics, who
were at first despised, it has gathered
strength from opposition, until it has as
sumcd its present gigantic proportions. No
man has thoughtfully watched the progress
of this controversy without being convinced
that the crisis must at length come. Some
few, perhaps, have hoped against hope, that
the gathering imposthumo might be dis
pcrsed, and the poison be eliminated from
the body polite by healthful remedies. But
the delusion has scarcely been cherished by
those who have studied the history Of fanati-
cism in its path Of blood and fire through
the ages Of the past. The moment must ar
rive when the conflict must be Joined, and
victory decide for one or the other. As it
has been a war of Legislative tactics, and not
ofphysical force, both parties have been ma
neyering for a position; and the embarras-
ment has been, whilst lodging amidst con-
stitutioual forms, to make an issue that
should be clear, simple, and tangible. Such
an issue is at length presented in the result
of the recent presidential election. Be it
observed, too, that it is an issue made by the
North, not by the South; upon whom,
therefore, must rest the entire guilt Of the
Il, L