The Cadiz Democratic sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 1854-1864, 1861-03-13

condition from whi n she al first recalled vii
horror, then she began TO cast about tor eonsi ders
tions TO reconcile her 10 her destiny, Then lC
he hrst time, was il maintained, that. instead
being the loser, she might be gamer by III
measure which the course OF the Government wa
forcing upon her. Ii was alleged that good woul
sprung from evil; hHt the prospect OF independents
was brighter and more cheering than her preser
! condition - that she had much to anticipate, an
little to dread, from the contemplated change bu
cohsloeratlons were not invented 10 JUSTIFY seces
SION they were only adduced as motives 10 rec
onclle the mind to its necessity Apart from tha
necessity, they would have had as little weight il
determining public opinion, as the small dust O
the balance. We do not believe, when the pres
eht controversy began, that the advocates oi wha
10 calied disunion per So, men who preferred
sou'hern confederacy uoon the grounds OF It's in
trlnsic superiority TO the constitutional Union G
'he United States; could have mustered a corpo
Il raIs guard. The people OF the South wer
ioyai to the country, and II the country ha
oeen true TO them, tNey would have been as read
to-day to defend Its honor with their fortunes AM
their blood. when they raised Its triumphan
flag upon the walls of Mexico,
| Ii has been asserted, ground OF issatl1tac'
tion with the present Government, and OF desire tt
organize a separate government OF their own, tha
/ the cotton growing states are intent upon reopen
ming, as means Of fulfilling their magni cen
visions of wealth, the African slave trade. Th
agitation of this subject at the south has beeI
grievousy misunderstood. One extreme gener
ates another. The violence of Northern aboi
llonlsts gave rise to a small party among our
selves, who were determined not to be outdone ii
IN extravaganza They wished to show that they
could give Mland for an Oliver. Had aboil
tlonlsts never denounced the domestic trade a
plunder and robbery,n mot whisper would ever hav'
been breathed about disturbing the peace OF Atm
ca. The men who were loudest in their denuncl
i ations OF the Government had, with very few ex
cephons, no more desire 10 have the trade reopen
ca Than the rest OF their cuntrymen; but they de-
lighted in teasing their enemies. They took specla
satisfaction in providing hard Tuts TOR abolitionis
! TO crack. There were others MT at all IN iavlr
/ OF tride, who looked upon the law as unconstilu.
| tional which Declared 1t to be piracy. But the
great mass of the Southern people were content
with the law as 1t stood. They were and are oppo.
sed to rade-not becah the traffic in slaves is i'm
| mortal - that not man among us believes - bu
| because the traffic with Africa Is not traffic ir
slaves 1t is system oil kidnapping ana man.
stealing, which is as abhorrent to the South as i
is to the north; and confidently to predict, tina
should O southern. contederacy be formed, the AT
| rican sluve trade is much more likely to be REQ
pened by the old Government than the new The
conscience OF the north will be less tender when il
has no southern sins to bewail, and i'd lie ships Wi
naturally look to the government to help them in
fin ling employment.
The real cause of the intense excitement o.
the South is not vain dreams of national glory
in separate confederacy, nor the love of the
filthy lucre of the African slave trade; it is the
profound conviction that the Constitu ion, in
its relations to slavery, has been virtually re
peeled; that the Government has assumed a
new and dangerous attitude upon this subject;
that we have in short, new terms of union sub
mitted to our acceptance or rejection. Here
lies the evil. The election OF Lincoln, when
properly interpreted is nothing more not less
than proposition to the South to consent to a
Government fundamentally different upon the
question of slavery from that which our fathers
established. II this point can be made out, Sc
cession becomes not only right, but boun-
den duty. Morally, it is only the abrogation
of the forms Of contract when its essential
conditions have been abolished. Politically, it
is measure indispensable to the safety, if not
to the very existence, Of the South. 1t is need
less to say that in this issue the personal char.
actea of Mr.. Lincoln is not at all involved
There are no objections to him as q man, or as
citizen Of the North. He is probably enti
tied, in the private relations of life, to all the
concentrations which his friends have bestow-
ed upon him. We, at least, would be the last
to detract from his personal worth. This is
sue has respect, not to the man, but to tie
principles upon which he is pledged to admin
istrate the Government, and which, we are sig
nificantIy informed, are to be impressed upon
it in all time to come. His election seals the
triumph of those principles, and that triumph
seals the subversion of the Constitution, i'll re-
lation to matter OF paramount interest to the
South.
This we shall proceed to show, BY showing,
first, the Constitutional attitude of the govern
ment towards slavery, and then the attitude
which, after the naugura ion Of Mr.. Lincoln,
II ic IN oecuYnn ul I'M tain for evar.
l. What, now, Is its Constitutional attitude?
We affirm it to be one of ABSOLUTE INDIFFER
ENoE OR NEUTRALITY, with respect to all ques.
tions connected with the moral and political
aspects of the subject. In the eye OF the Con-
stitution, slaveholding stand upon footing of
equality The sl@ veholding and nor slave
holding citzeus are the same to it as the non
slaveholding. 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 it allow the South to say 10 the
North: You must &c ommodate yoursel o. to
u.s. 1t says to both Enjoy your own opinions
upon your own soil, so that you do not inter-
fere with the rights of each other, To me
there is no difference betwixt you. Formed
by parties whose divisive principle was this
the Constitution, with self condemnation 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 complete impartialty. This is what the
South means by equality in the Union, that
the General Government shall make no diff
ference betwixt its institutions and those Of the
North; that sIaveholding shall be as good to it
nc nan oil ayabnId;un Tn othar monde tha Gn,
ernment is the organ of neither party, but the
common agent Of both; and, as their common
agent, has no right to pronounce an opinion as
to the merits OF their respective pecuiarities. -
This, we contend, IS the attitude fixed by the
Constitution. The Government is neither pro
nor anti slavery. 1t is simply neutral. Had
it assumed any other attitude upon this sub
jeot, it never would have been accepted by the
slavehoIding States. When Mr.. Plnckney
could rise up in the Convention and declare that
"i slavery be wrong, it is justified by the ex-
ample 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 vindication
O. its righteousness, it is not to be presumed
that he ever would have oned in the construc-
ton of Government which was authorized TO
pronounce and treat it as an evil. 1t is not to
be presumed that the slaveholding States un
less they seriously aimed at the ultimate ex
tinction of slavery, would have entered INTO an
alliance which was confessedly to be turned a.
gainst them. That they did not aim at the ex-
tinction of slavery is clear from the pertnaci
ty with which some Of them clung to the con
tinuance Of the African slave-trade, until for.
eign supplies should be no longer demanded. -
When Georgia and South Carolina made it a
s;ns 1,,o ,,o, far entatinc the nn;o, th.. az,