Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1861-02-07
An Able and Interesting Letter

h.
public mind of Pennsylvania in the present crisi,
1t proceeds from the pen of one of those gallant
fifteen hundred thousand men in the non. slavehod.
ing States who are standing by the Constitutions,
rights of the South. Read it, and then hand # 70
your neighbors. 1t will be found much more ;nto-
esting and useful than any thing which we corla
pen for our readers
My DEAR FRIEND: For several wears T h,ro h.,
in view trip through the Southern States my
ing on my way to call and partake of your Offer os
tered hospitality. have now to grieve that tbe ~
portunlty is past, and not likely soon TO return r.
all appearances, the gates on Southern routes .ro
closed against me, unless go as "a foreigner" With
passport in my pocket, and with the not over
agreeable conviction that will be watched at avor
corner as suspected abolitionist preSproo 7
must give up the hope Of seeing the sunny Sontb
for some years to come If ever our political dis
cultles should be healed, it will be long time before
the mob will forget the harangues of the demapogo
and cease to regard Northern men as incen6er;oo'
and learn to greet them again as countrvmen an
friends This is sad and mortifying reflection
How easily may the seeds of evil tie sovn Al,
how long will it take to root them out Susnicion
and hate are noxous weeds of wild and rapid growth
While love and affection are tender and domestic
plants requiring the hand of care and time
1t is equally sad and bewidering to contemnI,+o
| the present position of our country Where do wo
IN the North stand? Our friends and brethren in
the South are leaving US, and denouncing us as enc
mics. In moment of anger and under the mnnIso
OF singular fanaticism, they are severinp tbe to
that bind US together as one of the greatest and
certainly the happest and most prosperops n,t;o,
on the face of the earth. Offended pride without
any suffering, and the hope of avoiding distant and
future evils, which might never be realized. have
caused them to cut loose from the great anchor Of
our mutual SAT- tv, to drift for themselves on an nm
explored ocean, God only knows where
On the other hand, while our brothers and sisters
and the longtried friends of years are leaving lis
strangers to us from Canada daily counting our
| alliance They say to u.s. let the South 90 if
you do, we will immediately fill up the gap in your
family, and make you stronger than ever While
you have any alliance with slave States we can form
no part OF the Union but cut loose from them and
we will Immediately join you" These are our daily
| assurances from the North. Foreigners say to rs
IRE will be your brethren. The members of our own
family declare will be to you strangers and aliens
What is in the future? Is this dream, or is it
some horrd reality? What would be the result of
such strange alliances and feuds? Would it be
peace, or would it be eternal war? If the expert
ence of the world is worth anything, it would be
war, until one or both of the great powers thus Gre
ated would be exhausted If this should be So would
we rise up from the struggle again free people, or
the subjects of a military despot? History gives US
no example of brethren rising up from the deadly
strife of civil war as friends as free and happy
people. 1t teaches us, the contrary, that no en-
nifty is so bitter that of brethren who have been
engaged in a civil feud.
Do You ever ask yourself what is the necessity
for our separation? Has passion smothered this in
quiry? Certainly, neither the North nor the South
can possibly gain anything by it. Yet without anv
substantial benefit to be derived, many of your
Southern leaders wantonly instruct your people
that we hate them-that we are all aboltionists
| o,1lf hat =
line, holds himself ready to off with your slaves
on every favorable opportunity. 1t is not two
weeks since, read in a religious journal of the
South, long and inflammatorV article headed Gan
APPEAL TO THE SOUTH" 1t denounced the citizens
of the free States Unfortunately ranting abo
toniSS, and 5raZenly declared that all our Churches
refused fellowship with Shareholders and that the
doors of courts barred against their claims
Surely there must be vast amount of credulity in
the South. such infamous wholesale falSehoods
would not he published to the people. Can YOU
wonder at the progress of revolution, when such
poison is administered to the multitude BY those
on whom they rely for instruction You ask for a
change of public sentiment in the North. What is
the use of a change of public sentiment when the
truth is concealed and fasehood spread broadcast?
There is no change OF public sentiment required
far regards slavery in the States Tt is all right
that subject, and ultra you could wish it to be-
The rawlings Of few mad abolitionsts scattered
mere ana Inerc Is TAKEN IN the SOUTH however, as
public sentiment in the North, when in truth, they
obnoxious to us as to you Thus it is, the
North is slandered by designing enemies in the
South and the South is sandered in the North, and
hatred is the result of too much credu}ty. What
are some of your complaints in the South?
1st You complain Of the election of Mr.. Lincoln.
| regret that election as much as you can possibly
debut cannot look upon it as any cause for Sc
cesson. fought against it with all the argument
and persuasion | could command. But he was
elected, and deem it the duty of every good citizen
to submit. Revolution can only be justified, when
evils too great to bear crowd upon If the cleo
ton of President is for revolution to the de-
feated party, we have no government. If
government must quietly submit to secession when
anything diSagreeabe occurs to particular
section, then Union is but rope of sand, and
not worth preserving. / can then see no difference
between situation and that of the despised peo-
pie of Mexico, who really have no government, and
have no knowledge of what individual security and
protection is. All that the defeated party need do,
is to have some one of its Chiefs put forth "pro
nunci0mento," and we are in the midst of revolu
ton and civil war. The doctrine is fearful one
With it we can no longer be the formidable nation
abroad, or the united and happy people at home
that we have beehive will be almost necessarily
involved in deadly feuds, and be regarded every
where as a weak and distracted set of petty sepa-
rate republics.
I'd. You complain that the election of Mr. Lin
coin contains expression of settled hostility to-
wards your institutions.
On this point am satisfied the plain truth does
not reach your people. They are told that all Re-
publicans ere abolitonists, and thus great enmity
is excited in the South towards them and their can
didate. In such crisis this, at least where the
existence of the government depends on the know
ledge and cool forbearance and judgment of the peo
pie, they ought to know the candid truth The
man that would conceal it from them at such time,
would murder. Let the truth be known, and let it
aay all the animosity that falsehood has excited
1t is very far from being true, that all Republic
cans are abolitionists. | know hundreds of them
in this county, and among them l certainly do not
know six abolitionists. As body, they are as
radical as any other set of men, in wishing to have
all the constitutional guarantees which have been
given to the South on the subject of slavery where
it now exists, strictly enforced There was no diff
ference in the discussion the Stnmn hptXeen