Wabash express. [volume] (Terre-Haute, Vigo Co[unty], Ind.) 1841-186?, 1861-01-16

ost~ebtouf lOtmeu VI CcleSdteQ powers irOtn
the several States. and possessing no pow
era that are not federal in their character, =
necessarily leaves untouched and to be ex |
ercised by the several States alone, ali To-
cal rights Of persons or property. It's
mission is to regulate our intercourse with
foreign nations, and to promote and secure
domestic tranquility. It's strength rests
with the affections of the people Of the
several States. 1t government of affec-
ton, and not OF force, aud the dangers
that now surround US, arise from the fact
that the fraterRal bonds tn at have thus far
held US together as q nation, have been
growing weaker and uatil they arc about
to break assnder. The causes that have
produced this alienation of affection be |
tween tAe people of the different sections
of the Union, in my judgment, are all
traceabls 20 the unwise, and, in many To-
stances, fanatical agitation of the question
Of domestic slavery.
The very form Of our Federal Govern |
ment presuppeses difference in the local
aud domestic institutions of the several
States, and has wisely left each State in the
undisturbed right to costrel it's domestic
policy. At the time the Federal Coastitu-
! tion was adopted. twelve Of the thirteen
\ original States recognized slavery. But
\ the institution was then in its infancy in
| this eountry, and had besu forced upon
the colonies by ths mother county Most
| of the leading meo both North and South,
then looked upon its sxistssce as ephsm-
eral, aud contemplated q dsy,at no great
distance, when it would wholly disappear
from our system. fsr-seeing as the fopn-
dsrs of this government were. they did not
| estimate rightly the future Of this inetitu-
ton. Subsequent developments have Ak
ed the lins of demsrkatisn between the
free and SLAVE iostitetions. This line has
been establishes by self-iateress. AMI rot
by frIneIple Of religion or pk ilanthropy.-
The Northern States relieved them selves
from the bsrthea when they disposed Of
their slave property 10 their Southern
neighbor and abolished the institution,
and the Southern States found in the
growing demand for the peculiar produc-
tions Of their climate and soil, = profit
able field for the employment Of this sps-
cies Of labor, and they have cherished and
maintained it, until it has become the ba-
sis Of their social system as we'll as the
handspring of their wealth, and its pro
auctions now form the staple of the
worlds commerce.
From the time this line was formed q
gradual but perceptible change in the tone
tofsentiment, both North and South, began
TO manifest itself In the beginning of the
agitation of the slavery question in the
free states, the advocates Of anti-slavery
sentiments found but few sympathizers,
and the abolition lecturers met with but
an Indifferent reception at the hands OF the
people. The honest instincts of the mas
ses recoiled from the danger with which
these sentiments were pregnrnt, and the
fear of the popular mind has been fear
fully verified in the events that are trans
lpiring around us. In the change Of pop
uisr sentiment on this subject, the politi-
clan and the demagogue have had much
to do; but their efforts would have been
powerless but for the aid they hsve receiv-
ed from much more powerful .. well as
dangerous class. / refer to that elias. OF
political teachers who belong 10 the minis
try, and who claim to speak by authority
In all ages Of the world, the ministers and
priests Of the prevailing religion have ex-
ercised most potent influence over the
minds and conduct Ofmen and in no coun-
try more than our own, notwithstanding
our boosted independence. Their power
for good or evil is greater than any or all
others. They stand a. the professed repre-.
sentatives of heaven, in attempting to re-
| NOAlQ rll- OlOt4eu Will
this sacred robe, a.: ambassadors from that
high court, they claim to pass the judg-
ment Of heaven upon acts and conduct OF
their fellow-men; and, when this high
mission is faithfully and conscientiously
performed by one capable of understand
ing the true relation between man and his
maker, when the Christian religion is ap-
piled to the world as it is, and not as il
ought to be, no noblsr spectacle can be
presented than that feature of our social
system that is so strikingly exempliied in
in the church circle of which its minister
and pastor is the center, and no class OF
men are entitled to higher regard than
those ministers who faithfully, and in q
spirit of charity, discharge the high duties
of such station. But unfortunately for
us as a nation, too many who have thus
armed themselves with this double pow
err for good or evil, have turned their
, attention to political reforms and in
. woke, in their misguided zeal, al
the fanatical elements by which they are
serrounded. Profoundly ignorant of the
political bearings of questions of social
and political economy, they claim 70
Judge all such auctions from a moral point
!, of view, and to condemn or approve &C.
cording to their standard of moral right
without any regard to the effect of such
decision upon the well-being of society al
! large, and without considering the prob
able result of their pretended moral re-
form upon the political condition Of the
country, and their labors have thrown ev-
cry wave of sectional commotion higher
than the last, until the whole country il
convulsed by it. The slavery agitation
in the free states has naturally produced
ultraism at the South, and, as a conse-
qusnce, the country has become divided
into sectional parties, separated by geo.
graphical lines. Against these ultrasms,
north and SOUTH it is the duty of the con-
servative element of the whole country to
interposs; and this must be done at once,
or disunion is inevitable, if it be not al
ready accomplished. The points of diff
erence between the slsveholding and the
non-slaveholding States are few, and even
those are more imaginary than real. We
are as much interested in the develop
ment growth and posperity of the South
ern States as they are themselves, because
southern productions have become neces-
saries of life. On the other hand, they are
: deeply interested in our prosperity, and
suffer from any cause that retards it. The
Constitution demands that their fugitive
slaves be returned to them. Equity and
common honesty require that they shall
have full and equal rights in all the terri
tories belonging to the general govern
ment. The future condition of the terri
tories, so far as the extension of slavery is
concerned, will ultimately be determined
by the natural laws that have hitherto
controlled that species of property that
is, climate, soil and productions, SO that
any question that can now be made upon
it must be more an abstraction than a liv-
ing, vital principle. Why then is it so
difficult to adjust all differences between
us, and what has caused this fearful polit-
zeal commotion, this panic that has pros
trated all the commercial relations of the
entire Union This state of things fol-
lowed Immediately upon the result of our
late presidential election, and it would be
difficult, Iapprehsnd, to give as reason
for the present condition of things any
other than the result of the contest. =
The South regarded the election o. a
Northern candidate by Northern party
as the consequence of anti-slavsry agita-
Al Il.