The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-01-01
THE SECTIONAL WAR.
A Northern Statesman Vimdica res
The Truth of History.
Honorable u. y. Black OfPenmsyI-
vamisa on Adams EulOgy of
Seward
[ From the Gallaxy.-ExrRAcr

he announced that emancipation was near
and inevitable. 1t might be peaceable or
violent, and every effort to hinder or de-
lay it e'would tend to the consummation
Of violence" He would hear of no com
promise and offer no terms to the South
For them there WAS but one alternative:
submission or death This mode of be-
ginning his Senat rial duties persistent
Ily followed up, made him your 5euu ideal
of great statesman; far superior to Clly
and Calhoun, who "equallv reiucted" at
his policy; and towering high above Web
ster, who "never would make up his mind
10 meet it fully in the fac )" because he
saw there the Union broken into dishon-
ored fragments and the county drenched
with fraterna gore.
BY many persons who knew him well,
| these terOclous demonstrations Of hOsiiiIi
ty 10 the public peace, the Union, and
the Constitution, We're regarded as the
clap-trap Of mere demagogue; shims in
tended to cajole the ultra abolitionist, and
httter their cruel rapacity with hopes Of
blood and plumber which would never be
gratltied. Those who held this opinion.
while they did not think him dangerous
man, had amost unspeakable contempt
and detestatlOn for his character But
others took him in q more serious way.
Southern men especially believed il I'm
safe to despise his threats ofpain and ruin.
| They watched his gathering strength with
dread and terror, and when his fortunes
eliminated in the possession Of supreme
| authority they felt that their hour had
come.
You found it easy enough to say ;hat
he was the greatest OF American statesmen,
and that he proved it by proposing such
legislation as this But consider mo-
ment whether it WIS consistent with any
true idea of wisdom or Justice.
You will concede the simple point that
Congress had no jurisdiction over the sub
ject OF slavery in the States What he
contemplated and desired and worked to
accomplish could not be done without ii
frauduientbreacd Of thetrust on which he and
all others he'll and exercised the powers Of
the Federal Government. The practical
biIitv Of carrying out the usurpation was
based on the assumption that the South
ern people would choke down their re-
sentiment and submit tamely to be strip
ped Of taeir constitutional rights, and this
you admit to have been a D'iscdLc,idtiOn of
the passions which would be reused by
the attempt 1t follows that Mr.. Sew
ards political chef d'Gugre consisted mere
ly Of u fraud and blunder compounded
together Have you not proved your
great statesman to be alike destitute Of
principle and prudence?
lie pleaded "the salutary instructions
of economy and the ripening influences Of
humanity" in favor OF his measures. The e
instructions" and ''inhuenees" have
T. = 4
your susceptible heart that you are will
ing to condone both the frald and the
blunder for their sake. You viii not as
sert the infamous maxim that the end
justifes the means, but you have made
up your mind that Mr.. Stewards object in
legIslatng on the internal affairs OF the
South was, in itself, so benefcent rs to
make a breach Of his fidelity To the Con
slitution a venial sin il not virtue. And
YOU think the passions of the South were
{ 50 monstrous and unnatural that to mis-
calculate and ignore them was not Il very
bad mistake after al.
But look ii little further. The South
ern people sprang from race accustomed
for TIVE thousand years to dominate over
all other races with which 1t came IN CON
tact. They supposed themselves greatly
superior to negroes. Most Of them SIN
cereIy believed that, if they and the Al
ricuns must live together, the best ana
safest relation for both that could be eS-
tablished between them was that of mas
ter and servant. They thought Il could
not BE abol shed without revolution dis
astrous to their material prosperity ami
fatal to their social organization. They
did not think it sinful. The Bible fur
nished evidence satisfactory to them that
God himself had framed Constitution
and laws for his chosen people, which
made Isreal Il pro-siavery commonwealth
rs much as Virginia or South Carolina.
Their religious teachers had told them
for many centuries that the canonS OF the
Christian Church di not oppose it, but
would hold them morally responsible only
for the abuse OF the power 1t gave them.
They knew that the fathers of the repub-
lie, and other men, the best and greatest
Of all the ages, had lived according TO this
faith and taken it with them Through the
valley of The shadow Of death. Some OF
them believed it dangerous evil, but did
not see how to get rid of it. This last
class we're especially reseutful OF out
side interference They felt, Is JET
ferson did, that they had the wolf
by the ears" they could neither hold
on with comfort nor let 90 with safety, and
it made them extremely indignant to be
goa,led in the rear. In all that country,
from the Potomac to the Gulf, there was
probably not one man who felt convinced
that this difficult subject should be deter
mined for them by strangers and enemies.
Seeing that we in the North had held
fast to every pound of human flesh We
owned, and either worked it to death or
sold it fer price, our provisions for the
| freedom of unborn negroes did not tend
much u their OBLIGATION. They had no
confidence in that ''ripauiug influence OF
humanity which turaea up the whites OF
It's eyes in horror at the sight OF negro
compelled to hoe corn or pick cotton, yet
goated over the prospect of insurrecson
! and massacre. They were nearly unanl-
nous in the opinion that this Yankee in
trusion into their affJirs was prompted by
rancorous hatred of the white people, or
that II proceeded, at BEST from the monk
ev-like spirit of mischief which is never
content without thrusting its unwelcome
nosein somebody's kitchen or somebody 5
church. They had a tradition among
them that it was not their fathers who
brought the Africans to this country.
! They charged the cruelties of the slave
r trade and the horrors of the middle p 6
e sage upon the English and the Yankees;
+ the planters merely received the savage
], negroes, tanned and 1omesticated them,
4 taught them to work, converted them to
! Christianity, organized them into church
r es, ami generally did more to improv
their condition, materially and spiritually,