The Portland daily press., 1862-11-05
Wednesday Morning, November 5, 1862.
Rebellion the ssIrresistible Impulse'' of
SLAVERY.

Rebellion the ssIrresistible Impulse'' of
Slavery.
We commend the following extracts from
DIR. Bellows late autumnal address, to those
"weak kneed" men of the North who are ''for
peace at any price," with the South:
The existence of chatte slavery, in the pros
porous form it took on in America-of domes-
tic slavery, ever growing in commercial, social,
and political Importance, till it became recog-
nized as the corner stone of the whole fabric
of the civilization of half our territory--the
existence of an institution offensive at all
times, even TO aristocratlc and feudal govern
ments, and to the darker ages of Christianity.
but here, dourshing with unparalleled vigor
and arrogance, in the midst of great demo-
cratic republic, founded ON the essential equal
ity Of all men-a republic claiming specially
Christian origin, and representing the most
advanced ideas of political ethics and Chris
tian liberty-this is the great fact, which in
itself is the mighty necessary cause of the an
ti-slavery feeling of the North TO which Abo-
litionism has merely given shape and direc-
ton. Christian thinking and feeling must
either have stopped altogether at the North,
or must have eliminated in an inevitable in
tolerance towards such hateful and wicked
anomaly. Morality apart, the intellectual in
congruty OF slavery fattenng on the vitals of
model republic, was enough TO destroy the
Union on its old basis.
On the other hand, slavery, in soil con-
genial TO it. favored by mechanical invention,
human wants, and the habits of the people,
once fairly brought, as 1t was by onr Constitu-
ton, under the protection however guarded)
OF the nation at large, was certain to grow and
just as certain TO develop state of society
such as we behed at the South. Sheltered bv
the power OF the Government, the general
prosperity OF The nation at large contributed,
strict proportion to the increase and ad-
yancement of it; and the more it fiourished
and the more powerful it became the more
dominant 1t was over the ethics, religion, polit-
ical philosophy, economical theories, industry,
tastes, mental habits, and total character of
the Southern people, until it had destroyed ev-
cry barrier which poetry, literature, and reli-
gion originally erected against it, and turned
to its own complexion the intellectual aud
moral mind of the Southern people. Let us
not suppose that this extraordinary conver-
sion OF a whole population to an immoral con-
cluson, and an inhuman policy was brought
about wholly by pecuniary interest, or even
the love of political power.
Every state OF society, the most savage and
barbarous, has its peculiar virtues and recon-
mendations. Absolute monarchy and ieudali-
ty possess charms which honest minds and
pure hearts have enthusiastically confessed
Southern slavery has most of the virtues of an
aristocratic state of society, increased in zest
by democratic pretensions and machinery 1t
is picturesque, patriarchal, genial; it makes
landed gentry; it POUNDS families; it favors
leisure, and field sports; it develops special
class of thoughtful, responsible, guiding, and
protecting minds, who grow upon their duties
and cares, who are bound tn each other by
common interest and anxiety, and who dis
cuss political questions with familiarity, con-
sistency and zeal. such as we are mostly igno-
raut of at the North. 1t makes special class
of gentlemen and ladies, as distinguishable for
their peculiar appearance, manners, and cul-
ture as they are commonly fascinating and in
fiuential. In my judgment, no vir-
tue, no graces or charms, no exalted gifts or
qualities of a governing class compensate in
any degree for the lack of essential equality.
or for the violation of fundamental principles
OF political ethics and social morality The
South has political and moral falsehood at
her heart, a social and economical curse over
her head, a spiritual cancer in her blood. Her
charms are hectic; her vigor is inflammation
Cleopatra drinking pearls with an asp at her
bosom. is not more fated beauty: but who
can deny the interest of the doomed creature?
Whatever there is good or spirited, inteec-
tual or moral, at the south-her religious
teachers, her high-toned women, her innocent
chldren-quite as much as what is bad selfish
and ambitious, is pledged to the war, is living
i
and confess it. 1t shows us equally what sla-
very can do and has done to change its sup
porters into its own likeness; it accounts for
the complete absence of any Union sentiment;
it enables us to understand the untiring reso-
luton and determination of the people in ear
rying Oh the war. There never was people
animated by greater unanimity, or willing to
make greater sacrifices to demonstrate their
sincerity and achieve their purposes.
But the more sincere and earnest the South.
the more entirely united, the larger the
measure of its political talents, or even the
graces of its governing class, the more The
present rebellion is the result Of irresistible
impulses, and the less it is due TO personal or
class conspiracy, the more trnly it can be seen
to be foregone conclusion of a people with
domestic slavery at the bottom of their eco
nomieal, social and political life-the more
closely are we shut up to an unyielding and
uncompromising opposition to her cause to a
decisive and final removal of the grounds of
this controversy. When every virtue and
grace in the South. as well as every weakness
and vice, is pledged to the support of state
of society directly at war with the political
morals and Christian principles of the nine
teenth century, there is as little hope of saving
ltIrom the providential sweep of neighborng
ana superior civilization, representing the ever
accumulatlng forces of truth, Justice and liber-
" oil. Ill. L - llR