Newbern weekly progress., 1861-01-15

! hounism, and Northern demagogues anti
slavery which had gradually leavened the ru-
raj districts of the non-slaveholding States, and
fuel was hcaped upon the fire by Mr.. Wimot
in his famous unconstitutional amendment to
an appropriation bill, to the effect " TINT as an
express and fundamental condition to the &C
quisition of any territory from the republic of
Mexico by the United States, neither slavery
nor involuntary scrvitudc shall ever exist in
any part of said territory" This was the clo-
ven foot, for the first time openly, boldly, ag
grcssively displayed 1t was the "irreprcSsi-
bic conflict IN tiiHiHP, ready to march over
the rice fields of South Carolina and the cot
ton and sugar plantations ofLouisiana, so soon
as it should possess the power. State acts be
gan to be passed soon after impeding the
! right of + clamation of fugitivcs from service
which the constitution had explicitly guaran-
teed: next, an active system of propagandisln
was inaugurated for the purpose Of preaching
a crusade against the social institutions of the
! Southern States. The pulpit was dcsccratcd
and the press prostitutcd, to incite to murder
| insurrection and rapiue Last of all, with the
! downfall of Whggely under the auspices of
! Mr. William II. Seward, and with the eX-
pressed object to raise him to the Presidency,
! a sectional party was created, in order to CON
summate the acts of aggression which had been
! carried so far.
This party has succeeded in cecting "A Prcsi-
!
/ who, although not the New York Senator, ap-
pears fully prepared to -" finish the battle, and
! fill up the measure of disaster to the country
| Yet 1t can be demonstrated that, in spite of
this disastrous result of the labors of politicians
in the non -slayeholding States, three-fourths of
! the population Of the North are conservative,
/ Union loving and prepared to restore the rule
Of the constitution throughout the land in its
! fullest pristine integrity.
Out of very contemplate beginnings almost
an involuntary abandonment of constitutional
! landmarks-the evil has grown which has cul-
minated in an aggressive political propaganda
! ism of abolition in the North. Fire-eatcrs at
| the South have contributed their full share
towards the mischief The Rhetts of South
! Carolina and the Wendell Phlipses of Boston
! who regard the Union as "a league with hell
and 4 covenant with death, are the only con-
! SStcnt extremists who can boast that they have
''labOrcd for twenty years to dissever the
bonds which fastcn it together. The real work
has been accomplished by tcmporizing politi-
clans, who have sought for momentary local
success in catering to the appetite ola dcludcd
populace but have ialsc Y calculated upon be
| ing able to control the storm ere it should
prove destructive. Governor Pickens, eX-
Speaker Orr, Howell Cobb, anda host Of others,
were originally Union men. At heart they
may be so still But they have aided, for selfish
purposes, in unchaining giant in their section
OF the confederacy as Seward, Greeley, Chase,
Sumner and kindred spirits have done here
which they can no longer control. 1t was
easy task to loosen the rock from the summit
mountain, but they cannot stay its down
| ward course of destruction. Revolution, like
Saturn, dcvours its children; the Girondc dc
StroyS the mobiles; ,JacObins eat up the Gironde;
! the ultra -Montagnc swallows the JacObins, and
final reign of terror witnesses a bloody
anarchy, which is the logical but always un-
foreseen consequence of a false principle I'M
chained SO it will be in the United States,
unless the people intervene to save the country.
| They still hold the power in their OWN hands,
and a pause of hesitation would appear to
have interviewed, just on the verge of civil war
and rational destruction which augurs favOra-
bly, for an array of the conservative national
sentiment against the politicians, North and
South who have been hurrying the Union on
to ruin.
We have moro than once had occasion to
show, by a careful anal ySiS of the late PrcSi-
dental vote that out of 4, 10, 54S suffrages in
the country S15, 900 of those for the President
elect were whig and conservative, 1887 800
were cast for Douglas, S3G, 800 for Brcckin-
ridge and 742, 800 for Bell 3; so that solid mass
of :, 1881 800 people may be regarded as array
ed on the side Of concession and the preserva-
tion of the integrity of the nation, while but
fifty thousand over million were, even on the
9th of November last, to be considered as
siding with the principle that ''the northern
conscience is irreconcilably opposed to slavery,
because slavery is wrong" And while the
Northern popular voice has proclaimed, by a
majority of three and a half to one its abhOr
renee of abolitonsm, the shrinking OF major
ty of the Southern States from the mad eX-
cesscs of South Carolina proves that, if reason
able guarantees for the South are granted for
the future the attachment of the majority of
the inhabitants to the Union will avert the
dangers of the crisis at which have ar
rived. In fact, in the clear, unmistakeable,
demonstrated love of five-siXths of the popula-
ton of the United States for their native land
rests our only hope of settlement of existing
difficulties Neither abolition fanatics and per-
secutors nor fire-cating mobocrats and logo
Gratis can quench the patriotic fire which was
kindled during the seven years that achieved
our national independence. The ashes Of eX-
pirng fossilism in Congress cannot smother 1t,
nor can it be eXtinguished by either the aggrcs-
sions of South Carolina rebels or the Faneulll
Halrharangucrs who have driven them frantic.
1t is the great cor pOpuli which Daniel Web
ster represented, and which was indellibly
grated into the national heart by the words OF
our first President.
Let the people, therefore, speak Let State
, conventions in the North and the Sonth ap-
proXimate the wishes of the different sections
and amendments to the constitution be adopted
which shall correspond with the cNISencles o
the time. The possibility, nay, probability,
that 1.-The constitution might be changed by al
explicit and authentic act of the whole people,
was recognized by Washington. He appealed
to it as the future remedy against disunion, or
, the basis of 'the right of the people to make
= and to alter their constitutions ofgoyernment.'
6 Let his voice be listened to. 1t behoovcs the
: people of the South to give the key note, anc
to make known their wants. They will insis
, upon the recognition of the property rights o
. their citizens everywhere; upon the -ieedfu
stipulations which intolerance has hitherto de
MED; upon full liberty to carry slaves into tn
common territory, and upon the recognition o
L universal liberation of opinion respecting slave
E " as social institution in the several State
l of the Union We believe that the people o
the North and West will respond, instantly, t.
these rational requirements There will be NJ
= issue of parties. In State conventions it vii
: be the people only, who, like the voice G
l. l. many waters" will overpowcr and drown be
= :. meath deluge of reprobation the anti-Unol
= = heresies which infect the republic. New York
= Pennsylvania and New Jersey will follow tn
a leading of the South, as surely as light follow
/ +bo C,,, ond 81 of IFnion hpalinr fir