Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1862-01-16
Jhe gatlana 9erala.
MORNING, JAN. l6, 1862
aorr OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS"


excitement of passing events are gwen
anv moments Of calm reflection, II they
take a retrospective view of the road thus
far travelled. and in the light OF expert
ence peer along the road which lies I'M
mediately before them, they must be fllea
with horror at Ethe unnatural crime they
have committed of madly attempting to
break up the Union, and their hearts must
no heavy with dark forebodings OF the
swift coming retributive future 1t was
but the prophetic voice of the "Southern
Confederacy" speaking through one OF Its
destined leaders and prophets, when Sen
ator BENJAMIN of Louisiana, after the
election of Abraham Lincoln, being IN
San Francisco, declared: "Those who
pirate OF and strive to dissolve this glorl-
Gus Confederacy of States, are like those
silly savages who let fly their arrows at
the sun in the vain hope OF piercing II
And still the sun rolls on, unheeding IN Its
eternal pathway, shedding light and ami
nation upon all the world" In language
thus strikingly forcible and eloquent, did
Mr.. Benjamin, now the traitor Attorney
General of these called Confederacy assert
the impossibility of the accomplishment OF
the work in which he is now engaged
He spoke the truth then, and he spoke 1t
bravely, and no doubt honestly. Little
did he think on that day, that he himself
would so soon act the role of tue silly
savage" by striving to destroy this glo-
rious Confederacy of States"
And yet, still the Union "rolls on, I'M
needing in its pathway, shedding light and
animation upon the world" As the grand
forces of the Union, armed with irresista-
BILE thunderbolts OF destruction, are begin
ming to move down upon and hem IN the
traitors like a mighty avalanche, may it
not be that these prophetic words OF
Benjamin CLEAN and flash before his
vision, and fill his heart with terror and
dismay, even as the handwriting on the
wall, purturbed the spirit and blanched the
face of Belshazzar
But South Carolina is not without a
prophet who with equal calmness and pro-
phetic truthfulness, predicted her certain
doom, in the event of secession DO
South Carolinians ever think of it now
With her beautiful harbor destroyed, with
her chief city in ashes, with all her mate,
rial interests Frustrated, with her shore;
invaded by the forces of that power she
has wantonly and traitorously defed, witt
hundreds of her slaves flying within The
lines Of the Federal forces for protection
and the rest on the eve of instruction
in view of all these quickly passing event
and others infinitely worse in store, ma.
it not be that the words of one of her hes
statesmen, spoken in calmness and ear
nestness ten years ago, come back to hel
people with a fearful significance ant
force? Fancy a South Carolinian to-da,
reading and bordering over the follow
ing:
~. Secession, separate nationality, wit
all its burdens, is no remedy. 1t is n
redress for the past; it is no security TO
the future. 1t is only magnificent sac
rifce to the present, without in any wis
gaining III the future"
"For the various reasons / hav
stated, object in as strong terms as
can, to the secession of South Caroline
Such is the intensity Of n1y conosctlo@ o
this subject, that # secession should tax
place-of aohich Ihaue no idea, for l can
not belSege IN the existence Of such a stu
pendous madnesS-I shall consider the n
Stttution of Slavery as doomed, and Tho
the great God, IN our blindness, has nado
as the instruments of Its destruction"
In such utterance did the Hon. Williar
Boyce of South Carolina, address til
people of that State in 1851. And ye
that hour of " stupendoes madness cam
q. South Carolina herself broke the first lin
of the chain that bound the States togetl
err, and in her stupendo~s madness
urged along her sister slave States int
tle same road to ruin. The step has bee
taken which Mr.. Boyce predicted s
solemnly would be the doom " of SLAYER
All that the deluded South Carolinian h
left to reflect upon to-day, if he is capat
&c NATIONAL ranaction is the closing go