Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1863-01-31

c velopmcnt of the spirit of intermeddling
whose children are strife and MURDER
Cain troubled himself about the Sacrifices
e of Abel, and slew him. Most ol the wars
contentious, litigation, and bloodshed
, from the beginning of time, have been it:
fruits. The spirit CT non Intervention i,
the very spirit Of peace and concord.
3: do not believe that if slavery had never
existed here we would have had no section
al controversies. This very civil war
might have happened Fifty, perhaps hun,
dred years later. Other and stronger
causes of discomfort and of dsunion, il
may be, have existed between Other
States and sections, are now being devel =
opod every day into maturity. The spirit
of intervention assumed the form of abe
lltionism because slavery was odious in
name and by association to the Northern
mind, and because it was that which most
obviously marks the different civilizations
OF the two sections. The South herself,
in her carly and later efforts to rid her.
self of it, had exposed the weak and often
Sive parts of slavery to the world. Abo
lition intermeddling taught her at last to
search for and defend the assumed social
economic, and political merit aud values
OF the institution. But there never was an
hour from the beginning when it did not
seem to me as clear as the sun at broad
noon, that the agitation in any form in
the North and West of the slavery ques-
ton must sooner or later end in dsunion
and civil war. This was the opinion and
prediction for years of Wing and Demo-
cratic statesman alike and after the un-
fortunate dissolution of :hc Wing party in
1904, and the organization of the present
Republican party npOn an exclusively anti.
slavery and sectional basis, the event was
inevitable; because, in the then existing
temper of the public mind, and after the
education through the press and by The
pulpit, the lecture and tie political canvass
| for twenty years, off generation taught 10
hate slavery and the South, the success of
that party, possessed, as it was, ef every
en- inc oi political business, social and
religious influence, was certain. 1t wos
nnly Il question OF time, and short time.-
Such was its strength, indeed, that | do
not believe that the union of the DEMO-
cratic party in 1860 en- any candidate,
even though h had been supported also
by the entire SO called conservative or anti
Lincoln vote of the ooantry, would have
avaiIed to defeat it; and if it had, the sue
cess Of tho abolition party would only have
been postponed four years logger. The
disease had fastened too strongly upon the
system to be healed until it had run its
course. The doctrine of the "irropressibe
conflict had b'cn taught too long aud
accepted too widely and earnestly to die
out, until it should culmiuate in secession
aud disunion; and, if coercion were resort,
cd to, then in civil war. believed from
the first that it was the purpose of some
Of the apostles Of that doctrine to force
collision bctweou the North aad South,
either to bring about a separation or to
fnd vain but bloody pratoxt for abolish,
ing slavery in the States. In any event,
| knew, or thought / knew, that tte end
was certain collision, and death to the
Union.
Believing thus, | hive for years past
denounced those who taught that doctrine
with all tho vchemence, the bitterness, if
you choose-I thought it righteous, Il
patriotic bittern9ss--of an earnest and im.
passioued nature. Thinking thus, / fore
warned all who believed the doctrine, or
followed the party which taught it, with
sincerity ana depth OF conviction as pro.
found as ever penetrated the heart OF man
And when, for ci.ht years past, over aud
over again, have proclaimed to the pqo-
pie that the success of a sectional anti
slavery party would bo the beginning of
di3lmon aud civil war in America, | be-
lievcd it. did. l had read history, and
studied human nature, and meditated for
years upon the character of our instjtu-
tons and form Of government, and of the
people South as well az North and
could not doubt the event. But tho peo-
pie did not believe me, nor those older
and wiser and greater than L. They re-
lected the prophecy, and stoned the proph-
cts. The candidate of the Republican
party was chosen President. Sccossi on
began. Civil war was imminent. 1t was
no petty in>urrcctioni no temporary COM
bination to obstruct the execution OF the
laws in certain States but REVOLUTION,
Systematic, deliberate, determined, and
with the consent of majority of the peo-
pie of each State which seeded. Cause
less it may have been; wicked it may
have been; but there it was, not to be
rallied at, still loss to be laughed at, but 10
be dealt with by statesmen as a fact. No
display of vigor or force alone, however
sudden or great, could have arrested it
even at the outset. 1t was disunion at
last. The wolf had come. But civil war
had not yet followed. In my deliberate
and most solemn Judgment, there was but
one wise and mastery mode ofdealing with
it, Non coercion would avert civil war and
compromise crush out both abolitionsm
and secession. The parent and the child
would thus both perish, But resort to
force would at once preciptate war, has
ten secession, extend disunion, and, while
1t lasted, utterly cut off all hope OF COM
pponi5, III; AkoI