Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-02-20
For the St..l

AN ADDRESS 10 THE voT IiI IS Of o'Fa'd; I'd,
- = NANCE COUNTY. ala
= FELLow-G rrnEss: It having been the pleasure =, {
. eonvention Of thesgood people of this county !,
sembled at Grahamen the II th instant, to pacs ~
name before you as . candidate for a seat in NY
State Convention and finding it impossible f., WI
to canvass the county and speak to you face tn f
4 take this method Of making known to Won n,
views entertain in relation to the great nohta s
questions now agitating and dividing our once b.s
py and united people:
First, of secession. The anxious INQUIRY 7 h.
made Of every advocate Of secession have met r
is this: How will secession Operate as a rem WIN
for the evils and aggressions we so justly comn1';
of? And no man can tell me- It is literally ,.p;Na
a leap in the dark. 1t is flying from the ill., ss
have to those we know not Of We NAV reaSon.r We
suppose that if the secessionists of the South Iy
any one great object in view tmust be addton,I's
curity for their slave property. If this be So ~.
a curious fact that the extreme abolitionisS nea
North are advocating disruption of the Unnn "s
paving the way for the overthrow of the nsut;'Ss
of slayery-one of these parties must be in erro.
And herein is presented question of absorbinn;.
terest to the whole saveholding population Of fl,
additional
lection and security for our slave propertv ata e
and beyond what we now enjoy in the Union s's
under the constitution of the United States > ""u
We take it for granted that slavery cannot be ~,
down but by the force Of arms? This heinz t tS'
case, so long continue in the Union wo ns wy
entertain no apprehension of an authorized nv.s;s
Of our soil for the naked object of lberat;nr
slaves, no matter who may be at the helm e O O@
national affairs There may be occasional forass
such as occurred at Harper's Ferry, but those WIZ
engage in them would be treated as traitors bv ,h
national and State governments both North and
South But secession places the seeding States IN
direct conflict with the general government an
energetic abolition President who might tb;nL ha
was doing Gods service to abolish slavery would
want no better pretext to employ the army and n.vv
OF the United States, recruited to any desirable e
tent from the hordes of New England and Cana,,r
abolitonists combined with the free negroes throncb
out the United States and slaves of the South IA
come down upon us with the ostensibe object If
crushing out rebellion, whilst their real object
would be to crush out slavery.
1t may, perhaps, be thought by some, that in this
am appealing to the fears of the South. Far other
wise; Southern men are devoid of fear; and manv
of them am sorry to say, have not enough of that
conservative quality to prevent them from acting
rashly Had it been otherwise there would have
been no secession. The Union of these States would
have been maintained in their integrity and BY the
exercise of wisdom and firmness, all our lust rights
better secured in the Union than out of it. and our
beloved country instead of becoming by word and
kissing among the nations of the earth, would have
gone on as heretofore in career of improvements
that would have commanded the wonder and ADM.
ration of the world.
But suppose the secessionists should succeed in
detachng the whole of the slave States from the
I!nI0rH and yfSv,rpk
W hat then will they have gained in the way of ad.
ditional security for their slave property? We
shall then constitute an isolated slave confederacy
with the acknowledged right of each member to
secede at pleasure; shall have turned our backs
upon $780, 900 of our friends in the Northern States
and made them our enemies; we shall have abroga.
ted the fugitive slave law, and thrown off the shield
and protection of the Constitution of the United
States we shall be exposed to line of 1900 miles
of free State frontier with natural barrier against
the escape Of our slaves into land from whence
they will never return we shall have pulled down
with sacrilegious hands the glorious temple of
liberty which was built upon the tombs and cement
ed by the blood of our fathers; we shall cause the
hearts of the lovers of liberty in every cline and
quarter of the globe, to quail and faint within them
in view of the sad failure of our model Republic
we shall have done all this without adding one iota
to our ability to hold to our slaves that we did
not possess before we dissolved the Union. On the
contrary, we are exhausting resources in making
preparation to repel either real or fancied invasion
as if conscious in our own bosoms that we deserved
the wrath Of Heaven, or the avenging sword of our
enemies But how will our slave nation be viewed
and treated by the balance of mankind? Will the
Northern people desist from their efforts to abolish
slavery? Will they find any difficulty in getting
up crusade against US, embracing nearly the whole
civilised world? Shall we not be placed under the
ban not only the Northern States but of England
and the nations of continental Europe? What will
become Of the Monroe doctrine, if we attempt to
add to slave territory in the direction of Mexico
or Central America? Shall. we not be hedged in
and confined to our present limits by the combined
energies and opposition Of all the enemies of our
peculiar institutions? While all this will be realised
in its full force, another process will be going on
The impossbilty Of holding slaves in safety in the
border States would cause them to be sent south
ward and thus these States would gradually become
abolitonised, while the concentration of the slaves
in the Southern States combined with the impossi.
blity of acquiring additional territory for slavery
expansion would ultimately Africanise the cotton
States. Thus abolition would triumph over slavery
all brought about by the madness and folly seces-
sionists.
the perplexng questions connected with our postal
arrangements payment of the national debt,
the division of the public property, the navigation
Of the Mississippi, and many other questions which
this generation may not hope to see satisfactorily
adjusted. We have left out of view the desoating
wars, the blood and carnage, the sacked cities, the
ruined commerce, the paralyzed agriculture, the
grinding taxes, which will sweep like desolating
tornado over the sunny plains and green savannas Of
the South scourge from which nothing short Of
the hand of Omnipotence can shield us. Every day
since the commencement of the secession movement
has been fraught with imminent peril to the peace
Of our country. Surely, if there be set of mer
upon the face Of the green earth who deserve and
will receive the execrations of posterty they are
the Black Republicans of the North, upon the one
hand and the leaders of the secession movement in
the South, upon the other
One word, fellow citizens, in relation to our pro
posed State Convention. There being no conceiv
able business for such convention to transact saw
only to thrust North. Carolina out of the Uuion
am opposed to convention for such purpose, nov
| and forever.
Most respectfully,