The Oxford intelligencer. (Oxford, Miss.) 1860-18??, 1861-02-20
nIaek RepubIlcan Sincerity.

disruption Of the Union, has ever been remark
able for the porsisteney With which It has pour
ed forth its yoluble assurances that 1t contem-
plated no aggression upon the rights OF the
Southern people. When the declarations OF the
acknowledged leaders of that party, and the
language habitually employed by those presses
which were It's recognized organs, have been CT
ted as proofs Of its inextinguishable hatred to
the institution Of slavery, the reply has been
constantly made, that the party had no design to
interfere with the constitutional rights Of the
South, as connected with that institution. The
| purpose, with which these reiterated disclaimers
haze been put forth, is obvious enough. Had
the objects Of the party been openly avowed,
their naked enormity would have constituted
source of weakness at the North, by repclling
/ from the ranks Of the organization every man
who was not utterly lost to all sense Of moral
obligation while, at the same time, the South
ern people, appraised of the threatened invasion
resist the monstrous outrage In order there
/ fore to secure the widest possible support at
| home, and to transform the suspicious Of the
devoted South into feeling Of security, the ly-
ing pretence was put forward, that the party
had in view no purpose which was not in perfect
harmony with the very letter. and sanctioned,
likewise, by the spirit of the Constitution of
our fathers. Unqucs;ionably, this miserable
pretenee suticed TO swell, to considerable ex-
tent, the wave Of Northern sentiment which
bore Lincoln into the position of President elect
This is manifest from the fact that many North
ern men, who voted for Lincoln in November,
having their eyes now opened to the actual de
signs Of their late associates, have recently ex-
/ pressed the deepest contrition for their guilt.
! That the great body of the Southern people, on
Me other hand, were not deluded by the artful
1 professions Of their enemies, is equally proved
by the actual secession Of a portion Of the South
1 from the Union, and the strong feeling, in favor
of secession, that is known to exist in the per-
! ton yet remaining in the Conltderacy. Still,
there lace been many of our people, even in
Mississippi, and we doubt not that few of them
! yet adhere to their former charitable view, who
believed that Black Rcpublcanism was entitled
to be judged by the selfdecared innoccncy Of
its purposes, without regard to the known otin-
ions which lie at the foundation of its policy.
They turned frsm the bitter denunciations of
the ''slave power" which constituted the most
prominent feature Of the speeches and writings
Of such representative men ms Lincoln, Greeley,
Hale, Seward, Sumner, Wilson, Giddings, and
others Of that stamp, to the more authoritative
exposition, as they regarded it, of Black Repub-
lican aims and objects, which was contained in
the Chicago platform, and bcsought their fellow
citizens TO give the contrvers of that platform
full credit for all the moderation and honesty of
purpose to which they hypocritically pretended.
AS the controversy between the North and
the South becomes more and more intensified
and as the hour of the final struggle sensiby
approaches, Black Republicanism, grown conf
dent and reckless, throws Oh, one after another
the thin DISCUSSES beneath which il has sought TO
conceal its ultimate purposes, and permits the
country 10 obtain an occasional glimpse of its
designs Itstill persists however in affirming
with all its native cifontcry, that it intends TO
DO nothing that IS unconstitutional Mr. Conk
ling, n Member OF Congress from New York, in
speech delivered in the House few days since
said, in reference to the leaders of the South
"Ihcy knew well that the party which had
recently prevaiicd in the country had no idea of
an invasion upon constitutional right, or intend
ed any novel application of IFS doctrines with
regard 10 slavery or any other subject They
knew well that the mission Of that party was to
restore the ancient policy of the Republic
These men well understood the nccdlcSsncss of
all these schemes Of compromise They knew
what harmless things the personal liberty bills
were if they confioted with the Constitution or
with the law. That none pretended to invade
the relationship Of master and slave, these
Southern leaders well knew they knew that the
declarations of all political parties were against
it; and they knew also that il any party desired
any amendment to the Constitution TO give them
this power il could not be effected in any period
Ct time which human prophecy could foresec.
They knew that whatever his intention might
he, the President elect would be harmless to in.
jure thcm-as harmless as a child"
And yet, this same Mr. Conkling, in that
same speech, made the following significant dec
the subject of slavery:
"The true reason, Che said of this revolt was
that, by the sentiment of an overwhelming ma
jority of the people Of this Republic slavery, as
a moral power was outlawcd and ahhorred."
1T was charged TO the North that all its social
assemblies held slavery TO be a moral. social
and political evil. The charge is true, every
word Of it, Ii was true that the vast majority
of the people of the North, all political parties
alike looked upon slavery as monster of the
worst kind, Unsuitable and destructive to the vic
tim, TO the master, and to the land In that
respect the Northag agreed with all the rest Of the
civilized world, that slaveholding was the worst
Of wrongs, this liberty founded model Republic
alone excepted. The Jurisprudence of the world
was against slavery. The civilization Of the
world was against slavery. The literature Of
the world was against slavery. Webster once
said lightning is strong the tornado is strong
the earthquake is strong. but there is something
stronger than all this it is the enlightened judg-
ment of mankind, and that too is against slave
nv. There was no one TO blame for that. No,
it was enc of the enaciments Of that higher law,
which was recognized by the people, and TO
which Coke had given utterance when he said
tina. the law Of Parliament when in conflict
with the law of God, was TO be held utterly as
nanght He affirmed that that love Of liberty,
that detestation of oppression, that unquench-
able hatred Of tyranny, which lay at the fOun-
dalton Of republican institutions, was the senti-
ment of the earth, and was law which could
not be suspended by Congressional compromi-
coS nor raro.Ind cvrert nv that srreaf iaosIatOr