The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer. (Bel Air, Md.) 1862-1864, 1863-06-05
BEL AIR, MD, FRIDAY MORNING.

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Iparatiyrly few men. that broayht the coun.
tryto,the condition in which it was gene
rally believed to be when the peace con.
venrion assembled, a condition which it
was thought would terminate, if not salts.
fart"ri y settled, as solemnly declared IN
the resolutions under which the coaysn.i
ton assembled. Sin a permanent dissolp-
ton Of the. Union" The conservative
members of, the. convention reAecti6e ms
! then believed, and now believe, the Ain
cere wish Of large majority Of The peo.
pie of every State represented eardestfy
desired to satisfy the Snuth that the in
stitution would not be interlered with,
and 90 the contrary. that their ights in
relation to it would be faithfully observed
in the present and securely protected in
the future, Wish this object they wisbrd
70 give the Smth, without imp ,iring any
rights vested in the North, such guarantees
which, although implied as they thought,
in the Constitution as it is, would, if given
in terms. quiet the Southern mind. and
deprive the reasonable agitators North
and South Of the only subjects on which
they could hope tn make themselves what
they were evidently about to b., the ar
chitscts Of their country's ruin. ht. ~
To accomplish this. however. as the
Convention possessed but moral power,
it was obvious that undninsity of opinion
wns uifal. Recon- mendatinns by a bare
majority. it was almost hopeless to be
feve. could produce a happy result In
the Committee. to whom the whole sub
ject was referred, and AT whose head was
placed Mr.. Guthrie, of Kentucky, and Of
which Mr. Field was member, eff,rts to
this end wee made again and again, but
in vain. And what was finally agreed
upon and reported. met with the sanction
of hut'a bare majority If the Committee,
Mr. Field not being one of thai mai rity.
The discussions, in every meeting Of the
COMMITTEE were earnest, and part of the
Southern members I was Of the number)
inp"red their Northern brethren to agree
to something that there was any reason to
believe would be saiisfacto, to the South
L saw then that unanimity could alone
render the propositions of the Committee
"ffrctive. l also saw, and as the result
has proved, that no satisfactory adjust
ment affirmed, an attempt ut least would
b'made to sever the Union. Not that I
helleve for a moment that such an at
tempt could find any warrant in the Con
stituti"n, or be justly maintained on rev."
luti"nary grounds, and still l. ss that if
timely an vigorously met, it could be sue
cessful. Z But l believed that the long
plotting traitors would succeed in inislead-
ing the hnnest masses, and in driving
them on TO destruction, through the mad
ness and wickedness of reasonable rebel
lion, by flliug them with convict n
that the institution of slavery would be,
assailed, aud all the fatal consequences
which they apprehended f.om tensue -
All the Southern and many of the North
ern members of the Convention thouyM
that satisfactory guarantees should be Of
fered the S,uth, and that t., make the
recommendation of the Convention effec-
tive. the proposition should receive unan I
nous support. That done, we were con.
vinced that the South would see that their
ene,nies in the North constituted but
small portion of its people, possessing n"
power .nbe dreaded, and that public opinl2
iou there was sound, and desired to secure
the Southiin albirs rights, and 10 protect
i"g tiIrin aguiunt the VIKINGS and perils
with which they were threatened IuI
this view manv ofthe Northern delegates
Ofthose from New York, all. q
bnta bare mnjhrity, Mr. Field
being, ! regret to say, one Of that m'jori-
fy.a He. and they who acted with him,
advocated, Mr.. Baldwin's prnposal for
National Convention b In vain they were
ibid by ev'ryS uthern member that such
! proposition wonld be insufficient for the
,usis--tIrat it would practically have no !.
healing effect whatever, but ON the contra.
", would, under the circumstances, be
esteemed mere triiingn7 10 che then tenn
per of the Safes; they were also told,
What seemed to US tn beoobyious, that il
was more than doubtful whether such con- n
sontion could be c,nstitatIdually procured, !
md cvrtaiuT if it was had, that no guar
thelSouth would consider SUIT
icieut would be recommended Had the 4
New York delegates adopted diff rent
:oufse--had they spoken with one soiceG
nlsuppurt nftha Guthrie report (so just
yeputsatiabas fhat voice over is) beiievsw
VT then. anil believe, now, that ths dssirt a
iaanimiiy ir!suppcrt oflthe repaft couls
lassifbeeG nbfainedy and that Congress
would have acted upoinit'at ia tle1ses.
ion ar liz M A that H., ,Cn ri IL Ii "a. !.