The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1902-05-16

sale for the best price to be had, the
very constitution which they helped us
to frame declared it to be lawful, and
provided safeguards designed to prevent
it's destruction The thousands of stur-
dy emigrants, who aocked to our shores
being white men and unaccustomed to
the institution of slavery, naturally
swerved from the South and swelled
the population Of the states and wide
spreading territories Of the North.
From time to time efforts were vainly
made to preserve by compromise, to
some extent at least, the balance Of
power between the slave states of the
South and the free states Of the North.
''The irrepresslble conflict" as Mr..
Seward called it, soon began to mani
fest itself in earnest, The bloody strife
in Kansas; the John Brown raid in Vir
ginia, which, if those who planned it
were sane, vas the most infamous
crime of the century; the triumph at
the presidential election of 1860 of the
Republican party, which had been born
but few years previous, made it plain
to all that a supreme crisis had come
upon u.s. No language that | can use
can portray the intense and wild ex-
citement which swept like storm over
the land. Mr.. Lincoln and his adher
ents protested in vain that the institu-
ton Of slavery being lawful under the
constitution, no war would be made
upon it by his administration, and that
the rights os the people Of the South
would in allrespects be preserved invio-
late But this could not outweigh the
famous and portentous declaration OF
this great leader, that the Union could
not survive half slave and half free.
The leaders of the Southern States
were convinced that the state of affairs
had become such that it could no long
er be tolerated Con
Secession ventions were called
Materialzed. in all of them to take
into consideration ex-
listing conditions, and after due deliber
alton. they resolved that withdrawal
from the Union was the only remedy
which could puG an end to the strife
and apprehension, Which, for long, had
been growing IN ferceness and intensity
and secure that peace and quiet so es
seutial to their prosperity and safety
The Southern States, one by one, passed
ordinances of secession, and solemnly
declared that they were absolved from
all further allegiance to the United
States. The New York Tribune, then
as now one of the ablest and most po-
tential Republican journals, declared
that IF the cotton states wished tc
withdraw from the Union they should
be allowed to do So" that, "Any at
tempt to compel them to remain. by
force, would be contrary to the princi
Piles of the Declaration of Independence
and to the fundamental ideas upon
which human liberty is based;" and
that eff the Declaration of Independ
ence justified the secession from the
British Empire of three millions of sub
Jects in 1776, it was not seen why il
would not justify the secession of five
millions of Southerners from the Union
in 1861"
Let it be remembered and craven on
the hearts of our children, and our chill
drens children, even unto the end Of
time, that these ordi-
Secession nances Of secession
No were not enacted in
Treason. pursuance of a the
ory, then invented
and contrived, as a cloak behind which
to conceal rebellion and treason, but
that they merely enunciated doctrine
which had been boldly and openly de-
clared to be warranted by the true con-
struction of our constitution from the
very moment of it's PRONUNCIATION, more
than seventy years before. There was
no treason or disloyalty in the minds
and hearts of our people, nor did they
essay the severance of the ties which
had so long bound them to the Union,
in a spirit of levity, or without just ap-
probation of the solemnity Of their
deed Not only this but for many rea-
sons they contemplated the rupture
with supreme sadness and regret. They
had grown up under the old flag, and
had beed taught to revere it as the sym
bol of a great and free and generous
government. The policies of that gov
ernment, under which it had achieved