Newbern weekly progress., 1861-01-15
TFrom the y. y. Herald
The innovations Which Have EDrRf-
ted the Country Away from Old
Landnaarks-The Remedy ill the
Ep,nSo,,t 6Nr.SsiS

"Whcn my eyes" exclaimed Daniel Web
stcr. shall be turned to behold, for the last
time the sun in heaven, may | not see him
shining on the broken and dishonOrcd frag-
ments of a once glorious Union The sublime,
colossal thought which was commlngled with
and beautitied every sentiment OF the great
"expounder of the constitution" was that the
musical cadenccs which once fell upon the
souls of Americans, rising to heaven in Cassan-
dra-like chant in favor of national unity, in the
farewell address of the Father of his Country,
ought to find their re-ccho in every pulsatlon
of orr future history But halfa dozen years
have passed since Mr.. Webster died, and the
har of sectional discord, which he lived to sec
unfurled have triumphed, and threatens to car
ry dessoation to every hearthstonc IN the land
In place of indignantly frowning upon the
first drawing of every attempt to alternate any
portion of our country from the rest, or to en-
feeble the sacred ties which link together the
various parts :" instead, as George W Nashlngton
counsel led. of g estimating the immense value
of our national Union, watching for its prescr-
vation with Jealous anxiety, and dscountcnan-
cling whatever could suggest even suspicion
that it can be abandoned" by slow and small
degrees the people of both North and South
permitted g the main pillar III the cdtice of
their independence' to be undermined, until
Nthe result of the common dangers, Sutterngs
and successes of eighty-seven years seem
about to crumble into dust.
The cloud that has cngendercd tempest,
raging more furiousl Y every day-out of winch
the calamities of civil war, national bankruptcy
commercial and financial chaos, general distress,
and vague, horrible foreshado"lngS too fearful
to contemplate may emanate-waS, only thirty
wears ago, not larger than mans hand. 1t
was almost imperceptible in the sunrise of our
countrv's prosperity. Nobody thought about
slavery as q public question. 1t was under
stood that. at the time the constitution
was framed it had existed throughout the
! length and breadth Of the land, and was a part
| of the common law of the Union. Bondsmen of
Massachusetts and New York were held by
the same tenure that slaves arc now owned IN
South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida
and Louisiana. No Fugitive Slave law was
needed because the requirement that "fugl-
tives from labor" should be delivered up was
no more advantageous to the master in Georgia
than to the possessor of negroes in Pennsylva-
mia and Connecticut. Slavery was portion OF
the basis upon which the constitution rests
/ Not until twenty years after its ratification GER
| tain Northern States insinuated the right to
/ exclude slaves from the common territory. 1t
! was but a whisper, and excited little attention.
! Then the right was assumed to confscate the
property of Southern citizens sojourning at OF
/ in transit through the North. About the same
time sprang up the Colonization Society, in a
year or two its bustard offspring, small com
mittee, headed by Thompson, Delvan, Levi:
and Arthur Tappan, Garrison, Hale, Halloch
and others, demanding immediate slavery abo
lition They were laughed at as crazy, bu1
were the legitimate fathers of the mischief tha
has befallen the Union since This brought
the country up to the period of Texan annexa
tion when new epoch was inaugurated-
In 1917 an unprecedented agitation upon th
IF cla q
gress of the Mexican war. Extreme ground
began to be taken by North and South witt
reference. to the States that might, at futur
times, be admitted to the Union. Parties wer
split into fragments, and heads of cliques; ;b@ega @
to Look out for elements more vital than tn
old differences between Whig and locofoco t
administer to their strength. Nearly at tn