The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-04-26
THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY.
Extract from Essay by the Rev. j. HI.
Thornweu, ID. D., Theological Seminary,
Columbia, SC,

When it was perceived that the tendency o
events was1nevitably driving the South to dsunion
condition from which she at first recoed witt
horror, then she began to cast about for consdera
| tons to reconcile her to her destiny. Then, fo
| the first time, was it maintained that instead O
being lesser, she might be gamer by the measur
which the course of the Government was forcins
| upon her. 1t was alleged that good would sprinl
| from evil; that the prospect of independence wal
! brighter and more cheering than her present con
dition-that she had much to anticipate, and little
to dread, from the contemplated change. But these
considerations were not invented to justify seces
slon-they were only adduced motives to econ
cle the mind to its necessity. Apart from that ne
cessty, they would have had as little weight in de-
termlnirg public opinion, as the small dust of the
balance. We do not believe, when the present con-
toVersy began, that the advocates of what is called
disuni0n per Sc, men who preferred Southern
Contederacy upon the grounds of its intrinsic su-
peri2rty to the Constitutional Union of the United
States, could have mustered a corporal's guard,
The people of the South were loyal to the country
| and II the country had been true to them they
! would have been ready TODAY to defend its
honor with their fortunes and their blood as when
they raised its triumphant flag upon the walls oi
! Mexico.
1t has also been asserted, as a ground of dissa-
tlstaction with the present Government, and OF
desire to organize separate government of their
| own, that the cotton-growing States are intent
upon reopenng, as means of fulfilling their ma G.
e.
The agitation of this subject at the South has been
! grievously misunderstood. One extreme generates
another The violence of Northern abolitionists
gave rise to small party among ourselves, who
| were determined not to be outdone in extrava-
| gance. They wished to show that they could give
Rowland for an Oliver. Had abolitionists never
denounced the domestic trade as plunder and rob-
| bery, not whisper would ever have been breathed
| about disturbing the peace of Africa The men
who were loudest in their denunciations of the
| Government had, with very few exceptions no
more desire to have the trade reopened than the
rest OF their countrymen but they delighted in
leasing their enemies They took special salisfac-
ton IN providing hard nuts for aboIitionists to
crack. There We're others, not at all in favor of
the trade, who looked upon the law as unconstitu.
tionai which declared it to be piracy. But the
great mass OF the Southern people were content
! with the law as it stood. They were and are on
posed to the tradenot because the traffic in slaves
| Is slmmoral-that not man among US believes
but because the traffic with Africa is not traffic in
slaves. 1t Is a system of kidnapping and man
stealing, which is abh0rrent to the South as it is
| to the North; and we venture confidently to pre-
dict that shoulda Southern Confederacy be formed
the A1rtcdn staue trade Is much likely be re-
opened 6y the old Gooernment than the neU. The con-
science Of the North tcU be less tender auhen 1t has no
Southern SINS to be0a, and idle ships will naturally
look to the Government to help them in finding
| employment.
The real cause of the intense excitement of the
South, is not vain dreams of national glory in a
| separate Confederacy, the love of the filthy
ucre OF the African slave trade; it is the profound
conviction that the Constitution in its relations to
slavery, has been virtually repealed that the Gov
ernmeDt has assumed new and dapperous a ttitude
upon this subject; that we have, in short new
terms OF union submitted to our acceptance or re-
lection. Here lies the evil The election of Lin
coin, when properly interpreted, is nothing more
nor less than proposition to the South to consent
to Government, fundamentally different upon the
question of slavery, from that which our fathers
established. If this point can be made out, seces-
sion becomes not only right, but bounden duty
Morally, it is only the abrogaton of the forms Of
contract hen its essential conditions have been
abo lished Politically, it is measure indispensa-
BILE to the safety if not to the very existence of the
South. 1t is needless to say that, in this ISSUE the
personal character of Mr.. Lincoln is not at ali in
volved. There are no objections to him as a man.
or citizen of the North. He is probably enti-
tied, in the private relations of fe to all the COM
mendations which his friends have bestowed upon
him. We, at least, would be the last to detract
from his personal worth. The issue has respect
not to the man, but to the principles upon which
be is pledged to administer the Government, and
which, we are significantly informed are to be i'm
pressed upon 1t in all time to come His election
seals the triumph of those principles, and that tri
umph seals the subversion of the Constitution, in
relation to matter of paramount interest to the
South.
This we snail proceed to show, by showing, first
the Constitutional attitude of the Government to-
wards slavery, and then the attitude which, after
the inauguration of Mr.. Lincoln, it is to assume and
maintain for ever
|. What, now, is its Constitutional attitude p
We affirm 1t to be one Of ABSOLUTE INDIFFERENCE
OR NEu TRALITY, with respect to all questions con-
nected with the moral and political aspects of the
subject. In the eye of the Constitution, slave
holding and non-slaveholding stand upon footing
of perfect equality. The slaveholding State and
therslavehodng citizen are the same to it as the
non-savehoding. 1t protects both; it espouses the
peculiarities of neither. 1t does not allow the
North to say to the South, your institutions are
inferior to ours, and should be changed; neither
does 1t allow the South to say to tAe North YOU
must accommodate yourselves to u.s. 1t saws to
both, enjoy your own opinions upon your own SOIL
that you do not interfere with the rights of each
other To me there is no difference betwixt you
Formed by parties whose divisive principle was
this very subject OF slavery, it stands to reason
that the Constitution, without selfcondemnation
on the part OF one or the other, could not have
been made the patron of either. From the very
nature of the case, its position must be one of COM
plete impartiality This is what the South means
by equality in the Union, that the General Gov
eminent shall make difference betwixt its insi-
tiOns and those of the North; that slaveholdipp q
shall be as good to it as non-siaveholding. In 9th
er words, the Government is the organ of neither
party, but the common agent OF both; and as their
common agent, has no right to pronounce an opip-
ION as to the merits their respective peculiarties'
This, we contend Is the attitude fixed by the Con-
stitution. The Government is neither pro nor an.
ti-siavery. 1t is simply neutral. Had it assumed
any other attitude upon this subject, it never would
have been accepted by the slaveholding States
When Mr.. Pinckney could rise up in the Convan-
tion and declare, that ''if slavery be wropp II s
justified by the example of all the world" when he
could boldly appeal to the unanimous testimony of
ancient and modern times-to Greece and Rome to
France, Holland, and England in yindication of
its righteousness it is not to be 0aesumed that he
ever would have joined in the construction of a
Government which was authorized to pronounce
and treat it as an evil 1t is not to be presumed
that the savehOdng States, unless thev seriously
nF clo
would have entered into an alliance which was
confessedy to be turned against them. That they
did not aim at the extinction of slavery, is clear
from the pertnacity with which some Of them
ciung to the continuance of the African saye-trade
until foreign supplies should be no longer demand
ed. When Georgia and South Carolina made it a
sine qua non for entering the Union that this traffic
should be kept open for a season. to saw that these
States meditated the abolition of slavery is gross
y paradoxical 1t is remarkable, too that the time
fixed for the prohibition of this traffic, was time
within which the representatives of those States
were persuaded that the States themselves, if the
question were left to them, would prohibit it,
These States conceded to the Government the ri
to do, as their agent, only what they themselves
would do, as sovereign communities, under the
same circumstances. No presumption, therefore,
| OF an attitude, on the part of the Constitution
hostile to slavery, can be deduced from the clause
touching the African slave-trade. On the contrary
| the presumption is, that, as the trade was kept
open for while-kept open, in fact as long as the
| African supply was needed-the SlavehOldinp
States never meant to abolish the institution and
never could have consented to set the face of the
! Government against it. No doubt, the fathers OF
the Republic were many of them, not all, opposed
| to slavery. But they had to frame a Government
which should represent not their personal and pri-
vate opinions, but the interests of sovereign States
They had to adjust it to the institutions of South
Carolina and Georgia, we'll as those OF New Eng
! land. And they had the grace given them to I'M
| press upon it the only attitude which could con-
ciiate and harmoniZe all parties-the attitude of
| perfect indifference.
This, at the time, is the attitude of Justice
| We of the South have the same right to our opin-
| ions as the people of the North They appear as
| true to theirs appear to them. We are as
! honest and sincere in forming and maintaining
them. We unite to form a government. Upon
! what principle shall it be formed? Is it to be
asked Of to renounce doctrines which we believe
! have come down to us from the earliest ages, and
| have the sanction of the oraces of God? Must we
give up what we conscientiously believe to be the
truth? The thing is absurd. The Government
in justice, can only say to both parties: ! will pro.
tect you both, will be the advocate of neither.
In order to exempt slavery from the operation o
this plain principle OF justice, it has been contend
ed that the right OF property in slaves is the
ture of positive statute and consequently, of force
only within the limits of the jurisdiction of the
law; that it is a right not recognized by the Con
stituton of the United States, and, therefore, no
to be protected where Congress is the local legis
| lature. These two pI opositons contain everything
that has any show OF reason for tue extraordinary
| revolution which the recent election has consuIn
! mated in the Government of the United States
They are both gratuitous:
a. In the first place, slavery has never in an
country, SO far as we know, arisen under the oper
alton of statute law. 1t is not a muncipaI nstitu
tion-lt IS not the arbitrary creature of the State
1t has not sprung from the mere force of legislation
Law defines, modities and regulates it, as it doe
every other species of property but lao never crea
ted it, The law found it in existence, and being il
Al n