Year: 1861

particular trust assigned to such people
become the pledge of Divine protection,
and their fidelity to it determines the fate
by which it is finally overtaken. What
that trust is must be ascertained from the
necessities of their position, the institutions
which are the outgrowth of their principles
and the conflicts through which they pre-
serve their identity and independence. If
then the South is such people, what, at
this juncture, is their providental trust. 1
answer, that it is TO conserve anil perpetu.
ate fhe institution IF domestic sIave,y as
no7c eGeSt'ng. 1t is not necessary here to
inquire whether this is precisely the best
relation in which the newer of wood and
drawer of water can stand to his employ
er; although this proposition may perhaps
be successfully sustained by those who
choose to defend it. Still less are we re-
quired, dogmatically, to affirm that it will
subsist through all time. Bafllcd as our
wisdom may now be, in finding solution
of an intricate social problem, it will new
erthcless be the height of arrogance to
pronounce what changes may or may not
occur in the distant future. In the grand
march of events, Providence may work
out solution undscoverable by us. What
notifications of soil and climate may
hereafter be produced, what consequent
changes in the products on which we de-
pend, what political revolutions may occur
among the races which are now enacting
the great drama of history all such inqui-
ries are totally irrelevant, because no pro.
phetic vision can pierce the darkness Of that
future. If this question should ever arise,
the generations to whom it is RENTED will
doubtless have wisdom to meet it, and
Providence will furnish the lights in which
it is to be resolved. All that we claim for
them and for ourselves is liberty to work
out this problem guided by nature and God,
without intrusive or obtrusivc interference
from abroad These great questions of
Providence and history must have free
scope for their solution and the race whose
fortunes are distinctly implicated in the
same is alone authorized, US it is alone
competent to determine them. 1t is just
this impcrtinencc of human legislation, set
ting bounds to what God can only regulate
that the South is called this day to resent
and resist. The country is convulsed sim
ply because the throne of iniquity frameth
mischief by a law,


Without, therefore determining the ques
ton of duty for future generations, l sim
ply say, that for us, as now situated, the
duty is plain of conserving and transmit
ting the system of slavery, with the freest
scope for it's nqtural oeyclvpmcnL ana eA-
tension. Let US my brethren, look our
duty in the face. With this institution
assigned to our keeping, what reply shall
We make to those who say that its days are
numbered My own conviction is, that
we should at once lift ourselves Intelligent
| ", to the highest moral ground and pro-
claim to all the world that we hold this
trust from God, and in its occupancy we
are prepared to stand or fall as God may
appoint. If the critical moment has ar
rived at which the great issue is joined, let
us say that, in the sight of all perlls, VIC
will stand by our trust; and God be with
the right!


The argument which enforces the sol


einnity of this providential trust is simple
and condensed. 1t is bound to us, then
by the pripcip5e Of SELF preservation, tha


"frst law" which is continually asserting
its supremacy over others. Need paus'
to show how this system of seryltude un


deries and supports cur material interests


That our wealth consists of our lands ant


in the serfs who till them That from tn


nature of our products they can only b
cultivated by labor which must be con
trolled in order to be certain I That an
other than a tropical race must faint an
wither beneath a tropical sun! Need
pause to show this system is iuterwoVe
: with our entire social fabrick! That thes
t slaves form part of our households, eve
as our children and that too, through
t relationship recognized and sanctioned





the scriptures of God even as the other
Must | pause to show how it has fashione
I our modes Of life, and determined all OF
habits of thoughts and feeling, and mou
ded the very type of our civilization ?
. How then can the hand Of violence be la
upon it without involving our existence
., The 50 called free States Of this count
q are working out the social problem und
l. conditions peculiar to themselves. The
d conditions are sufficiently hard, and the
,s success is too uncertain to excite in us t
/. least jealousy Of their lot. With teer