Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1861-05-08


of any designs present or future; but on
the contrar", there is an upright and an
outspoken desire to adjust all existing
troubles, and if possible TO secure the iu>
ture, upon terms of perfect equity and e.
quality, such as ought to satisfy true mon,
and as such true men ought TO grant. Now
it is not 10 confirmed AboltioriSts of the
North, nor is it to confirmed Secessionists
of the South, that any suggestions Of peace
need be made, nor any terms Of hOnora-
BILE composition need be propounded,
which look to the preservation of coun-
try which they do not profess to love, and
the salvation of institutions which they
own they abhor. But it is to the great,
true, and faithful people of the glorious
American Nation that must not be des-
troyed, no matter of what sovereign State
they may be citizens, and no matter how
much they may now appear to be scatter
ed and disorganized, that suggestions OF
peace, AMI justice, and fraternity, looking
TO endless and boundlesB glory and pros
perity, may be offered, with good hope
through God, that they may enter into the
mass of human thought, and be felt ac-
cording to the wisdom that may be in
them.
2. Let it be observed, that the free
States and the slave States occupy in some
respects totally different positions, reia-
lively to the difficulties about slavery, and
to the ground on which those difficulties
are to be adjusted. With the North, the
whole affair is a sentiment-an opinion.
With the South, it is an affair Of life and
death. The North has not one dollar OF
estate at stake-the South has four thou
sand millions Of dollars invested in slaves.
The North has not one dollar of income
directly dependent on slavery the South
has an annual income of two hundred and
fifty millions dependent directly on slave
labor. Moreover, there are no negro
slaves among the nineteen millions OF
people in the eighteen free States-so
that all questions Of a national aspect
tending to influence slavery, are perfectly
| void of force as to the einterior peace, quiet,
and security. of all these eighteen; whcre-
as the fifteen slave States have four mills
, lions OF slaves dispersed throughout their
| eight millions Of white people, and every
natiO nal question that can, in any OF its
bearings, either agitate or quiet this vast
slave population, is o. itself a question,
between, different nations. OF war
or peace. Still further, the institution of
slavery has no necessary bearing whatever,
upon the social. economical. personal or
political condition Of any State OF individ-
ual at the North whereas it is thoroughly
interviewer with every fibre Of society at
the Southland as an institution is so
pervading in its effects wherever it exists,
thai community long trained in the
forms of life connected With it, does
not incur the change involved in
its destruction. except under some
most powerful impulse. And again, this
nation was once a nation compos ed eXclu-
siVely Of slave States-and if in the pros
gress Of events the greater part OF the
States become free StateS-everv conslde-
ration of decency and good faith obIiges
those thus changing their condition to be
more and more, instead OF less and less,
observant Of the duties and even the pro-
prieties thev owe to those who remain IN
| tie condition once common to all. And,
to suggest nothing more, the prepondera-
! ting power of the free Statesin the Union,
added to the unscrupulous and diSloyal
principles avowed and propagated, to a
greater or less extent, in every one OF
them during the last thirty years, obliges
the North, by every consideration Of pru-
dence. ofequity, and Of magnanimlty, to
concede to the South all that the spirit OF
their n utual engagements require, instead
Of striving to rob her of every security
which is not expressed in the narowest
letter of the law. So clear is this con-
trolling aspect OF the subject, and so deep.
| Is does it enter into the convictions OF all
| Just men, that, on the one hand, the whole
feeling Of LOYALTY to the Union in the
! South, is connected with an abiding con-
fderce that the North will act as be-
comes her in this emergency; and on the
other hand, with an mistaken purpose,
in the Union or out OF it, to vindicate the
security, the equality, and the rights, OF
slave States. 1t is upon these two points
can the South rely upon the North
and can the South maintain her vital i'll
terests in union-thst public opinion in
thN slave States which have not seeded,
is struggling at this moment. For our
own part, thoroughly convinced that both
of those questions ought to be answered
in the affirmative, we must not disguise
that the thousands of loyal and patriotic
men who have reached an opposite con-
] CluSlOil, anu lilutl " bdNO pNNh B'SS'B'"
ted, by the force of trained and long or
ganized conspiracy unto fatal proceedings;
are able to render reasons for their want
Of confidence, to which coming ages will
say, the North ought to have given ear
lier and more considerate heed. 1t is idle
to attempt here, statement of particular
aggressons, uron a case so large, so long
continued, SO aggravating, and so palpal-
bic. If there is one sentiment perfectly
cordial, and unanimous throughout the
fifteen slave States. it is that they have
just cause of complaint; q sentiment in
which it is extremely probable, that the
ectual majority Of the entire North would
to some extent concur. Nay, the very
form of any amicable settlement that can
ever be made, reveals the true nature OF
the case-as every possible statement OF
1t must show.
D. There are two points upon which
the South has made up its mind, and
which are decisive, one way or the other,
OF the whole matter; and upon which
the course which tho Na,9l, oil