The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-07-05

So Chal NOu ol II SOQJH nave as InHrh
tight to receive fugitive slaves as the
North has to any of its rights and priv
IeSeS OF navigation and commerce"
And yet Charles Sumner. speaking
for a great party growing in strength
ana dominance with the rising sun Of
every day, said the North could not
and would not obey the law. William
H. Seward declared that there was
"a higher law than the Constitution
which would be the rule Of their poll
teal conduct.
Now the insistence of Mr.. Davis and
his compatriots was that the Constitu-
ton and laws should be obeyed; that
the individual sovereign States must
regulate Their own domestic affairs
without Federal interference: ~>>l that
their property, Of whatever kind, must
be respected and protected. They
resisted any invasion of the States
right to control its own internal af-
fairs as q violation Of the sacred Fed
eral Compact. over that one funda-
menta question an irresponsible con
fict' was Waged for many stormy
years. The advocates of State SOW
ereignty were charged with disloyalty
to the Union, while the F~ederalistS
we're denounced as enemies of the
Constitution II usUrpers Of the rights
OF the States.
And by the way, our p~resent-day
political discussions are ~eloquently
lIic pau JSa1oOSJ VI
Mr.. Davis for the rights OF the States.
The most significant fact Of these
times is the solemn warn
ings, in endless iteration and from
both political parties, against the omi-
nous encToachment OF Federal au-
thority. More and more the nation Is
seeing hat jefferson Davis was not
an aIarrnist or an academical theorist,
but a practical, sagaciOus, far-seeing
statesman. When he contended SO per
s%istently for b rights and uncon-
strained functions Of each member Of
the Federal Union.
Sectional agitation and alienation
continued, with Slight interruption
and increasing violence, for many
weary years. Every lover of the Union
deplored it, and every patriotic Ameri-
can sought some common ground on
which all could stand, and the rights
Of each be preserved. But with every
Congressional debate and political con-
vention and Supreme Court decision,
this min osity was kindled into fiercer
flame. On both sides the bitterness
was intense. Political differences
Tipened into personal hates and hos
tilities. Encounters between
men, over sectional issues. were a
daily dread in Washington. One Sena-
tor said: Il believe every man in both
houses is armed with a revolver
Fourteen Of the Northern States
passed so-called personal liberty
laws designed to nullfy the Consti-
tuition, and encourage the people to
disregard the bred Scott decision OF
the Supreme Court. State officers
were prohibited from assisting in the
arrest Of fugitive slaves. while States
attorneys we're required to daIend
them. and provision made for paying
the fugitive's Expense out OF the State
treasury. Charles Sumner openely de-
ola rod that the Mort h would not obey
the fugitive slave laws William IL
Seward. 1t was said, contributed money
to John Brown which was used Tor
pillage and murder. John Brown
midnight raid on Harpers Ferry was
a~ppIauded to the echo throughout the
North. And when the old assassin
was executed, according to law, bells
we're tolled In many places, cannon
were fired, and prayers offered FOR
him as if he were the saintllest OF
martyrs. BY fervid orators he was
placed on the same canonized roll with
Paul and Silas.
On the other hand, the South was
equally fntolerant and aflanne with in
tense excitement. Comm eTcial con-
ventions in Charleston, Montgomery,
Memphis. and elsewhere adopted re-
taIiatory measures against the agrees
sions of the North. Southerners de-
clared that non-intercourse in business
was the one prescription for North
ern fanaticisrn and political villainy.'
Southern parents were condemned for
~patronizing Northern colleges. n
urged to enlarge and equip their own
institutions and to use only Southern
textbooks. IF our schools are not
| good enough they said, let them be
improved by a more hearty support:
if this is not enough, let them patron
ize the universities OF Europe rather
than aid and abet in any way the blt-
+or o-o~iaS Of the Sonthland'
And as further evidence that North
ern leaders had determined no longer
to uphold the Constitution and give
the South what she considered her
rights and equality in the Union, we
have only to re-read the extreme ana
inflaned u~tterances of their chief men
What could the nation hope for, when
men in authority declared that the