Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1865-03-08

1t IN measure lloiti Jul iOep'S grasp, au'
welded it with terrible effect against US, Will
we have stood still and locked on, if not wit
stolid indifference. yet with dogged sullen
ness, content with uttering nugatory plat;
tudes about the inequality of the races anc
the heaven-born institution of slavery.
Fourth. that We can arrest the danger O
having this great power thrown in the scale
against us, only by recognising the fact tha
+shsrpest logic and lofticst eloqucnce abou
the divinity of slavery and the blessings whicl
it cenfers alike upon slave and master, arr
idle words :casted apon the listlesS eaS OF th
negro. who, if be have not the poetic genius
of Pope, yet by his actions, tells us
"And reason thus on instinct as you can,
In this tits God Directs, in that the MANI
i. am no rharisee that 1 should say,
am holer-than thou" yet as one who has
withheld nothisg of the labor Of q Lifetime
may not add without offending the seasi
bilities of any one, that upon this subject we
! must put aside every consideration thet-con
hicts with On honest search for tuth, and
when we have found it, acorship IL as Tie only
Deity ,uho can SAGE as from impending dssaS:
ter.
Fifth. We, have SO long. accustomed our.
selves to judge of the negro by what he is, as
a,sldve under the powero of the master or over,
seer, that we bring ourselves with, difficulty
to the belief that.h is other. than what hc
seems to U.s. In combating TIE error of the
abolitionist who has just laid down his theo-
~, his general principleS (the unity and
equality of the races and of all men and
from thence reasoned to details, aoe have look
ed, however unconsciously, for such facts and
arguments only. as TO confute and conioand
our adversary: 1t is not too much to say, nor
should it be regarded as any dispatagemeht
of. those whose every interest has been so
bound up in the institution, that sitting as wit
ness, advocate, judge aud jury, the scales Of
Justice in our hands, no more than they would
have been in others, have not always been
evenly balanced. -
We-have still to sit in judgment upon the
same question, but with this difference, that
whereas,the interest whicS we once bal in
the adjustment made US Kick the beam
wherein it seemed likely to turn against us,
yet.now our very life hangs upon the deli
cately adjusted balance, even to hair. But
if pride OF opinion, obstinacy, hauteur, CON
tempt for the slave and the opinions of 9TH
ers, or a jaundiced view Of our present inter
ests, should stilfblind us to truth-should
our decision still be against the judgment Of
our adversary, he may, at least with tairest
prospect Of success, appeal TO ahigher court
a court in which the cause is already prejudg-
ed, decided against as, and achere might alone
becomes the final q,biter.
Sixth. Every step We advance in the pro:
gress Of this war dimi.ishcs, our hoM 6f tie
negro, uutii our past policy shall have been
revised. The South has become the graat re-
cruiting field of the enemy. Every negroho
adds to his army, as it deducts ore from our
numters counts as two. Nor is this all; eve
~ day but increases the moral difficulties of
our situation. The slave becomes every day
more restless. In proximity to the enemy
he hardly eognises, even now, the authority
of the master. Even at remotcr points, the
master and mistress,kpow what | say to be
true, ttat the reins Of sutlority cannot be
held so tightly. nor with so firm a grasp as
formerly. That he is still submissive evipcas,
no: that there is no slumbering volcano With:
in his own untutured breast, but only, that
Will him, as with all men, habit has become
second nature-tbat he is still unconscious oi
a power, concerning which, every day that
dawn, trings new light to his long bcnightea
vision, and slat soorer-or laer it viii burst
upon him with the dazzling splciaor of tie.
nounday sun, lighting up the pathway of h:s
life to e that paradise oil sunshine and rcst"'
to which alone We have said his aspirations
soar.
Seyenth. Iti' still, perhaps, within our
power, if We act promptly, boldly and erer-
-at;o,1'- Nv ,,nTtir,, sourSeynS in harmItly.
WITH nature, by finding out truth and clineing
to it as The only sure ark OF safety, to turn
this mighty engine Of power against the ene-
nv, anu secure for Ourselves that indepen-
dencc which can alone save us and our pos
terity from humi!iating vassalage to those
who will mock at our calamity aud laugh
when ol.- fear cometh. For, making due al
lowauce for the restraining causes to which
allusion has just been made, it c.nnot be de-
nioi that there are mauy who still cling with
cliiidlike affection to the old and young !nas-
ter and mistress, at whose hands tley have
received all the kindness duo to their pen
dent condition. Nor WI! it be denied tha'
even with verr many Of thsse who have lied
to th: enemy, il has .becn.a struggle between
the cnieareicnts Of tie old homestead and
its humble ss:ociations, and the rosc-colorcd
pictures of freedom which the enemy have
held up before his newly awakened vision,
the Soutberner has in his character, when
divested of the arbitrary authority of master,
that warm, sympathetic, genial, unselfsh ma:
ture, which charms alike the child and child
like; and with virtue and intelligence super
added, make him the perfect type OF agcr.
tlersn, natures true,nobleman.
IL. n
vantage of possession. which the .hackneyed ed
phrase does not exaggerate, is nine points OF
The law; we may not only avail ourselves OF
what is left to us, (no:thanks TO our sasacity
that it Is lett to u.s. Of this balance Of power,
But zoe may cin bacL many very many OF
those who now swell the rauks of tic enemy,
trained soldiers with arms in their hands,
who will hail with rapture the call from Nelr
low blacks, "Comc, help US fight the battle
of freedom to our race. and for home with
our kindred, The North with its cold winds
and colder hearts, is no home for US. Free
dom in the sunny Scush, if such thing could
be, withoutA kindly relations towards tho white
&. ~ L., ,,,c,a t1on lloySrv Home