The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-02-15

this so.called religious journal infuses int .
the families where it is a weekly visitor,
and of the opinions concerning the United
States government it seeks to disseminate.
The passage quoted has a special signifi-
canoe, however, in view of it's date, SepGen-
Der, 1856. The opinions of the Editors ap-
pear to have undergone wonderful change
in four years. And forgetting that they
have been the violent advocates, not only of
disunion but of civil war, they have become
loud in rebuking secession at the South.
The genius of the Constitution might well
say to such defenders, "What hast thou to
do to declare my statutes, or that thou
shouldst take my covenent in thy mouth?'
But we deceive ourselves, if we suppose
that our present dangers are of q birth SO
recent as 1856. As the questions now before
the country rise in their magnitude above
| all party interests, and ought at once to blot
out all party lines, SO their origin is found
far back OF all party organizations as they
now exist.
An article published twenty years ago in
the Princeton Review, contains this remark
able language:
1.-THE opinion that slaveholding is itself
crime must operate to produce the disunion
of the States and the divisions of all eccle-
siastical societies in this country. Just so
far as this opinion operates, it will lead
those who entertain it to submit to any sac
riice to carry it out and give it effect We
shall become two nations in feeling, which
must soon render us two nations in fact
These words are wonderfully prophetic,
and they who read the signs of the times
must see that the period of their fulfllment
draws near. In regard to ecclesiastical soci-
cites, the division foretold is already in
great measure accomplished. Three of our
great religious denominations have been
rent in twain by the simple question, 'sIs
slaveholding sin?''
1t yet remains to be seen whether the
American Tract Society, and the American
Board of Foreign Missions, will be reyolu-
tionized and dismembered by a contest
which, we are told, is to be annually renew.
ed. In regard to the Union of these States.
there is too much reason to fear that 1--WE
are already two nations in feeling" and to
anticipate the near approach of the calamity
which shall blot out some of the stars in
our ensign, and make us two nations in fact,
And what has brought US to the verge of
this precipice? What evil spirit has put
enmity between the seed of those whom
God, by his blessing on the wisdom and sac
rifces of our fathers, made one flesh? What
has created and fOstered the alienation be-
tween the North and the South, .until dis
uniOn-that used to be whispered in corners
stalks forth in open daylight, and il re-
cognized as necessity by multitudes of
thinking men in all sections of the land? 1
believe, before God, that this division of
feeling, of which actual disunion will be
but the expression and embodiment, was
begotten If Aboli:iOnism, has been rocked
in its cradle and fed with its poisoned milk,
and instructed by its ministers, until girded
l, ocfro rrrfh vxyhi oh
of this upper world, it is taking hold Of the
pillars of the Constitution and shattering
the noble fabric to its base.
There was time when the constitutional
questions between the North and South
the conflict of material interests growing
out of their differences in soil and produce
tiOn--were discussed in the spirit of states
manship and Christian courtesy Then such
men as Daniel Webster on the one side, and
Calhoun on the other. stood up face to face
and defended the rights of their respective
constituency in words which will be Quoted
as long as the English tongue shall endure,
as model of elOquence and pattern of
manly debate. But AbOlitionism began to
creep in. 1t came first as a purely moral
question. But very soon its doctrines were
embraced by sufficient number to hold the
balance of power between cOntending par
ties in many districts and States. Aspirants
for the Presidency seized upon il as a weap.
on to crafty their ambition for avenging
their disappointments. Under the shadow
of their patronage, sincere AbOlitiOnists be-
came more bold and abusive in advocating
their principles. The unlawful and wicked
business of enticing slaves from their mas
tiers was pushed forward with increasing
zeal. Men who, in the better days of the
Republic, could not have obtained the
smallest Office, were elected to Congress
upon this single issue; and ministers of the
gospel descended from the pulpit to mingle
religious animosity with the boiling caul-
dron of political strife. Nor was this pro-
cess confined to one side in the contest.
Abuse always provokes recrimination. So
long as human nature is passionate, hard
words will be responded to by harder blows
And now behold the RESULT In the halls
where Webster and Calhoun, Adams and
McDuffe rendered the very name of Ameri-
can craftsmanship illustrious, and revived
the memory of classic eloquence, we have
heard the Outpouring of both Northern and
Southern violence from men who must be
nameless in this saceed place. and in the land
where such shareholders as Washington and
Madison united with Hamilton and Hancock
i'll cementing the Union which they fondly
hoped would be perpetual, commerce and
and governmental interests, are trembling on
the verge of dissolution. And as Abolition
ism is the great mischief maker between the
North and South, SO it is the great stumbl-
ing-blOck in the way of peaceful settlement
OF our difficulties. Its voice is still for war.
The spirit of Cancellation and compromise it
utterly abhors; and mingling horrid mirth
with its madness, put into the hands of the
advocates of secession, the very fans with
which to blow the embers of strife into a
flame. One man threw torch into the great
temple of the Ephesians, and kindled con-
fagration which hundred thousand brave
men could not extinguish. One man fiddled
and sang. and made his courtiers laugh amid
the burning of Rome, and the Abolition
preacher "teels good" and overfows with
merlment, when he sees our merchants and
laboring men running after their chests and
the bread of their families, Gas if all creation
was after them" and snuffs on the Southern
breeze the scent of servile and civil war.
Oh, shame-shame that it should come to
this, and the name of our holy religion be so
blasphemed Let us hope, in Christian char
ity, that such men do not comprehend the
danger that stares them in the face. Indeed,
who of us does fully comprehend it! In the
eloquent words of Daniel Webster, awhile
the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, graf
flying prospects spread out before us-for us
and our children. Beyond that seek not to
penetrate the veil. God grant that in my
day, at least, that curtain may not rise" I
repeat the noble sentiment; God grant that
in my day the curtain may not rise! Let the
night of the grave envelOp these eyes in the
peaceful sleep, ere their balls are scared with
the vision of dissolution and civil war. He
must be blind who does not perceive that
such vision is just ready to burst upon us.
A kind and wonderful Providence has so
tempered the body of these States together,