Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1861-01-24
COMMUNICATED. I

deep and abiding conce IN in the crisis of our
country, l beg leave to offer few remarks.
which think accord with the necessities of the
times. Without arrog4ting to myself any SUI
perlor wisdom, | shall speak only as every man
Is entitled to speak,--as a man to his fellow
men-submitting my views and opinions to
their calm and better judgment. Politics, in
the sense of party is or ought to be totally ig-
nored in this day Of trial. Consideration vast
reflections of honest, men. The disease ,,f the
country, as said by Senator Hunter, is deep-seated
and radical amt none other than radical feme-
dies can reach it,-and even for such remedies
there is no ground for strong hope ); for the pa
hent SO to speak. seems to be almost IN a,ticulo
morris. do not propose to offer any remedies,
but leaving that for wiser heads, to inquire into
some of the causes Of this condition of things,
and to endeavor to ascertain some of the effects
likely to result from them. In the first place,
then, | will say that there is in every human
heart an inmate desire for happiness, both in tn is
world and the next, and every man, and com :
munity proposes some plan false or true) for
the attainment Of this very natural desire-a
desire, which no one { an get rid of, if he would
1t Is one OF the principles of his nature. From
considerations of this sort, which have degene-
'ated into religious .fanahcism, l maintain that
the great slavery agitation is now. and has for
so long time, been kept up at the North
They have read and thought about it so long and
intensely, that they have come to look upon it
as part of their religion to persecu!e tor it,
deed as substitute for the religion of the Bible,
by which, they can ''woRK out their salvation
not by 'tfaith'-that old fashioned and hunaizi-
attng condition Of acceptance with the Most
High-but by maeriting it, by their superior
holiness, and their hearen-deserriag efforts to
prosecute somebody for conscience stsAe. They
do not stop to inquire whether it is sanctioned
or condemned by that great standard of moral
law, the Bible,-but finding it most prolific
source of contention, and persecution, they are
blind and deaf to every consideration, but tbe
idea of DOING something to proptiate the favor
OF Heaven by setting in bold relief their superior
claims to favor, by showing that ''THEY are not
as other men are" Can any one doubt this
solution of the abolition problem at the North :?
They go about to establish their own righteous
ness. If they firmly believed it repugnant to
the Word of God, can they find any authority
therein for the use of the means they propose
for its extinction? No sir but tlex haze some
ururS17Ecy rec01rectT0n of salvation offered in
the Gospel, and by false teachers. and prejudiced
minds, they have come to think the battlements
of Heaven are to be stormed and taken by a
devoted course of nerttorious acts,-against what
hey conceive to be the errors and crimes of
others-that they are ''doing Gods. service" in
prosecuting for conscience sake. Is this an I'M
fair picture Judge them by their ,0orhs, and
l believe it is not, but true to the life. And
this state of morals has been produced by host
Of an1fdel isms-and sects and divisions amongst
themselves-so that the honest minds amongst
them seeking after TRUTH, have been so puzzled
and perplexed that they have finally given up
search, and relapsed into infdelay-or made
for themselves their own alta1s and snrifces-
which as matter of course has resulted in the
offering of the sacrifices of acoaks Of merit, which
is the natural prompting of the human heart
This believe is the great cause of this agita-
tion-of course, there others {political) which
have had their influence. And here let me say,
that [ do not in my heart believe, that there is,
in any portion of the South, one man in hu,a-
d,ed, who would maintain, continue or sustain
the institution of slavery, if it was not recognized
in the Word of God-not one, firmly believe
and this to my mind is proof of the strong
hold that the Gospel has upon the South. When,
sir with this institution sanctioned by local, con-
stitutional, and divine law, might not the South,
after the example Of the Declaration of indie
pence, make out a long list of grievances against
the North, something like the following:-They
have denied and trampled upon our rghts-by
their personal liberty bills-by opposing and
numbering our citizens in pursuit Of their pro-
perty-by aiding and encouraging raids upon
our territory-by exciting insurrections-by
scattering broadcast incendary documents and
speeches-by-but forbear, Mr.. Editor, to 60
on with the black catalogue, simply remarking
that the grievances of the Colonies against the
Mother Country sink into insgn6cance by the
side of them. And in the face Of all this and
more, the Block Republicans in Congress oppose
compromise and with affected innocence, COM
placently, and insolently ask ,chat hare they
done? Only, they say, elected their President
in regular way! Yes, they have elected a
President regular or Irregular by as bold a
stroke of usmpation as the history of the world
affords-a President in whom is concentrated
all the odious doctrines Of abolitionsm and OPP
preston to the South. If you think | make a
bold charge of usupation | would ask you to
allow me to suppose case for illustration. Sup
pose Mr.. Buchanan, or any other President re-
guarly and legally elected by the achole country
should inaugurate.in his administration policy
of open and fragrant hostility to the institutions
of the South, or any other section, would it not
be an act of usupatios, and SO regarded and
resisted by that section? And where Is the
difference of being elected, on the ground and
with the purpose and intent to carry out such q
policy, contrary to the Letter and SPIRIT OF the
Constitution | am unable to see the difference
the one is as much usu1pdtiOn as the other-lr