Newspapers / Newbern Weekly Progress (New … / Oct. 2, 1860, edition 1 / Page 1
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BY J; L. PENNINGTON. Urates of f advertising ' THE WEEKLY PROGRESS. . . - Aw The following arer the only Rates of Adrertirtin in the Weekly Progress, to all save those who eou tract by the year and advertise in both weekly and daily papers : ' One square (12 lines i minion) one insertion, SI w. Subsequent insertion, each, frf) cents. Any number of squares will be charged m pro portion. All advertisements marked (tf till forbid-? will be continued till ordered out and charged a above. A CHEAP NEWSPAPER FOR THE MILL10N.-SINGLE COPIES S2.00 ; TO CLUBS. OF SIX OR JIORE ONLY S1.50 A YEAR IXVARIABLY IJT ADVANCE. . . " t ' VOLUME III. NEWBERN, NC, TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 2, 1860. NUMBER 5. . - ' THE :. v. ; KETVBERN WEEKL Y PROGRESS, AN INDEPENDENT NE VVSPAPERt IS ISSUED FROM THE PROGRESS BUILDINGS, Every Tuesday morning, at TWO DOLLARS a year for single subscribers, and only ONE DOL LAR AND A HALF to clubs of six or more. The Paper will not be sent to any one till the money is received, and all subscriptions will be discontinued when the time paid for expires. Money, if mailed in the presence of a Postmaster, may be sent at our risk. . WEEK! ,Y PROGRESS "WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPT. 26, 1860. Will our lcop!e Have It. " Several gentlemen have- recently suggested to us the propriety of establishing a Public Reading Room, or Merchants' Exchange, or something of that kind, in connection with the Progress Office, and after deliberating on the matter we have thought it prudent to call pub lic attention to it. In the first place there are but few commer cial towns in the country with the business and population of ours that have not established something of this kind, and if our merchants, professional men, gentlemen of wealth and oth ers will reflect for a moment on the pleasure and benefit which they derive from reading rooms when they visit other places they will at once realize our deficiency in this respect ; for when strangers visit us they have no place to spend their evenings or other leisure hours but in tramping around our streets' and lounging around our hotels, and if they are so lucky as to pick up a newspaper at all it will most like ly be some of our home publications in which they feel no sort of interest. Hence a well con ducted Public Reading Room would not only be an ornament to the town would not only elevate us as a community in the eyes of stran gers, but would be of incalculable benefit to a large number of our people. In the second place it would furnish reading for that class of our people whose condition in life prevents them from having access to the well stored libraries which are so indispensable with those who can afford them ; and too it would keep our boys and young men, many of them, from lounging around the bar-rooms, loafing in the streets and visiting other places fatal both to body and soul. We cannot make old men outof young ones, nor need we attempt to shut young America up in the closet he will " knock around," and in the majority of cases if you do not afford him some rational, intellectual, healthful employment he will run into all manner of temptations and dissipation. What one thing will do so much to elevate and save from dissipation and debauchery our young men andbo'sas a good Reading Room, kept open day and night and well filled with papers, periodicals, books, maps, and other works that tend to enlighten and refine the mind. Now it is with our business men and the citi zens to say whether they will have this much needed improvement or not. Owing to the fact that vvc have a large exchange list we can tit up a Reading Room in which we can have filed, on (he arrival of each da-'s mail, the leading daily papers from all the leading cities in the Union, together with the leading literary weeklies, monthlies, &c. These with the addi tion of a few choice works would afford an at tractive place for citizens and strangers, and would be the means of giving a partial educa tion to many who will never get it from schools. The labor necessary to keep such a place we would he willing to perform without compensa tion, for as a citizen we feel that it would be our duty to contribute our proportion towards sin object so desirable, and hence the only cost would be rent, fuel and lights, which items would not amount to more than $-2."0 a year. "We have the rooms in the new building ad joining our office, and if those of our citizens who ought to take an interest in such matters will have a meeting, form an association and establish rules and regulations, and guarantee the amount necessary to save us from loss we will at once have it fitted up and opened. We would suggest that an association be formed, officers elected and rules and regula tions established for the government of the rooms, and that a nominal tax be levied on ev ery citizen who desires to avail himself of the privileges of the Reading Room. Merchants and professional men could be taxed three or four dollars a year, mechanics and clerks one, laborers fifty cents, &c, and let those who arc not able to pay amthing have the benefit of it gratuitously ; and of course let it be kept open free to all strangers. Actuated by nothing but our pride as a citi zen we throw out these suggestions, and leave the matter with our citizens who have more interest in it than we have. More Iiunioii Treason. Senator Brown of Miss., a milder type of the fire-eater, made a speech in that State a few days ago when he used the following lan guage : "In the event of Lincoln's election, he might be asked, What will the South do? He would answer, I do not know. But he would tell what she ought to do do. He would have the Southern States, or so many of them as could be induced to act in concert, say Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi and a few others meet in joint convention, through delegates chosen by the people. Withdraw your representatives from a Con gress uniciling to protect your rights. But so far as the laws upon the statute book are con cerned, he would see ' them faithfully executed. lie would return the delegation to Congress when the Xorth should give sufficient guaran tees; but if she refused his mind teas made vp. Jle would hare the Southern States unite in a Southern Confederacy, and thusbrcaTc vp the Union. He knew that in saying this he was lay ing his own political head upon the block, with the knife suspended over him, But-iet it fall. He had carefully, calmly, deliberately consider ed what he said, lie was proud of the honors his State had conferred upon him ; but he would not insult his people by saying that he would wait for an " overt act." Those of you who think that Lincoln will turn a stark mad fool, and turn you all into subjection like so many Camanche ponies, mistake the man. He will treat you as you would a wild young horse pat you first, mount the seat, ply the lash, and drive you seventy miles a day. You cannot submit if you would. The present census will show that there are in Mississippi 400,000 slaves to 350,000 whites. The purpose of the Repub lican party is to emancipate this people ; and the same power at the North which sets the negro free, will defend him when he is free. If you haven't the pluck to meet the enemy at the door-sill, he will drive you from the hearth stone through the back door. Better resist now ; better go out of the Union at mid-day, than be lighted out of it at midnight by the burning of your own dwellings." A Campaign Document. The leading cam paign document which fills the columns of the Opposition press in this State, seems to be the Speech made at Raleigh by Stephen A. Douglas. Even our venerable and quiet friend of the Hills boro Recorder has .got it in with a puff equal to Cherry Pectoral or the "Big Indian.' Wil. Journal. It is a good campaign paper, nevertheless, neighbor. Very Proper. In all the free States the pa pers and orators in the service of the Republi can party are denouncing S. A; Douglas as the defender of slavery and as having assisted in the acquisition of slave territory. His bold defence of the right of the people of the South being the burden of their song the only weapon with which his abolition enpmies North fight him, it is eminently proper that the fire-eating dema gogues in the South should liken him to Lin coln, and abuse him as unsafe and unsound. But the conservatism of the country will swal ow up all these creatures and our country willl go on prospering and to prosper, and the Union will outlive all the traitors who are en deavoring to destroy it. A Suggestion. We would suggest to the fire-eaters South and the abolitionists North, that they fast at least one day in each week and devote it to the reading of Washington's farewell address and in praying for light to en able them to emerge from the darkness which surrounds them. This continued till the No vember election will be of service to them es pecially will the farewell address to beneficial to such of them as can read. In it is some thing about frowning down every attempt to alienate one section of our country against an other. We fear that many of those about whom we speak have never read that instrument. Appropos. We have been assured by the editor of a Bell and Everett paper, that he, the editor in question was solicited during the Douglas Convention to take charge of the "or gan" before Mr. Busbee's services were engaged. Is this true ? Tarboro1 Southerner. No ! We say emphatically no, it is not true, and we can make good our assertion. The in dividual to whom you refer was not " solicited" by the Convention or the Executive Committee to do any such thing, nor was he ever ap proached by either to take charge of the organ. They have no work whatever for the employ ment of any such talents as lie possesses. Is This So i We find the following ,in the True Democrat, Petersburg, Va. Is it so ? We cannot see how it could be otherwise when we put Gen. Cass' Nicholson letter and Douglas' non-intervention doctrine together : Gex. Cass for Douglas. The Detroit Free Press, Gen. Cass' home organ, announces that Mr. Buchanan's Secretary of State stands for Douglas in the present crisis. Gen. Cass not only supports Douglas now, but he was actually an advocate of his nomination. Jones Court. The County Court for Jones, Fall Term, commenced Monday. We learn that speeches were made on that day by F. 1). Koonce, Douglas elector. J. II. Haughton, Esq., Bell and Everett, and Hon. Thos. Ruffin, for Breckinridge and Lane. The case of W. F. Htiggins was to come up on Tuesday. " - 1850 1860. Ten years ago, Henry Clay, Lewis Cass, Daniel Webster, Stephen A. Douglas, Millard Fillmore, and many others in Congress of very opposite politics, united to enact the Compro mise Bill, a cardinal principle of which was leaving to the Territories of the United States the self-government of their own settlers, in the matter of Slavery, or Anti-Slavery. Hen ry Clay sacrificed his life in the great effort. In 1S60, the successors of Clay and Web ster, the men trained in their school, unite, practically, to keep the subject of slave agita tion as much as possible out of Congress. The creed of Douglas, as in 1850, so in 1800, is their creed. Douglas did not invent it. The paten t was with Henry Clay, in his u Omnibus-." We are sadly abused, though, especially " we" of the Express, "we" who have been con sistent, who have not erred or wandered a step from the great compact of 1850, but who have clung to it, and are clinging to it, to the end ! In 1852, both parties nominated their Presi dents upon the principle of quieting Slavery agitation, and of withdrawing it from Congress, as much as possible. To do this, they - both agreed to abandon to the Territories their own government that is, to give them, on this sub ject; self-government; to treat them, in this respect, not as Colonies, but as a People capa ble of governing themselves. Winfield Scott accepted the nomination on that principle. Gen. Pierce did the same. But it is said "Douglas disturbed that com pact," "and you act with Douglas." Grant, that Douglas did disturb it the results of the disturbance have been alike in Kansas and Ne braska what he contended for, the establish ment of self -government and with "free soil," we may add what Congressional legislation never could have given. Grant that he did disturb it yet in resisting the Lecompton Bill, in the very face and eyes of a powerful admin istration, he manifested the sincerity and puri ty of his conviction in insisting upon self-government and fair play for the people both in Kansas and Nebraska. Grant that he did dis turb it again, he was but carrying out for the Kansas-Nebraska Bill the principle of non-interference and non-intervention with Kansas and Nebraska, as agreed upon in 1850, and all ending in making the Territories " Free Soil." 1860 Ten years ago, then, presents the same issue, the same principles that were pre sented when Henry Clay acted with Lewis Cass, Daniel Webster, and Stephen A. Doug las, and why should not we vote now, as Clay voted then, all together ? Why should the po litical compact of 1852, made by both parties in Convention at Baltimore, not be kept ? Why, in 1860, should we try to do by Wilmot-Pro-visoing the Territories, what we declared should not be done in 1850, and what we all agreed not to do in 1852 ? Slavery the negro must be withdrawn from Congress, if the white man is ever to be atten ded to there. . The Republicans, with no terri tory needing the Wilmot Proviso slavery re striction, yet insist upon it, it may be only to insult and degrade the South, it may be only to excite passion and fanaticism in order to get office in the North. But why should any old Whig or old Democrat aid them ? Xew Tori: Express. Consistency. The following1 handbill, from the Vigilance Committee, which has been exten sively posted in Evansville, Indiana, a thorough ly Black Republican town of that "Free" State, furnishes a forcible but melancholly . illustration of the utter hollow ness of Black Republican pro fessions of sympathy for the negro : Notice to free Negroes. The laws of Indiana provide th.it after a certain date no free negro shall emigrate to this State. Other cities and towns in Indiana are expelling the negroes from among them, and owing to the laxity exhibited by our authorities and citizens generally, Evans ville is being overrun and cursed by the worst class of this lazy, worthless, drunken and theiv ing race, and to such an extent that those who have suffered from their bad conduct are resolved to suffer no longer, and will take the law in their own hands. This notice is therefore given, that at the end of five days from the date hereof, every negro, of either sex, who is not by law entitled to a residence among ns, must not be found in the city, else he will be dealt with in a summary manner by the VIGILANCE COMMITTEE. Evansville, Aug-. 23, 1860. ' PROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS. Salisbury, N. C, Sept. 17, 1860. Dear Progress : This is a great time in Salis bury. . In fact, the lest time that possibly could be, or ever has been '. There now, I know you are nervous to learn "what'd out." "What's the cause of this felicitous time V you ask. Well, it is simply caused by its being the present time because it is because it is something; whereas all other times are nothing. "Simply but to be "To live, to breathe, is purest ecstacy." The time present, therefore, is essentially bet ter than any ntber time, in the proportion of some thing to nothing- I hope you consider this logjc if not, why, you may "kill time'' as you please. But I assure you, that if you are inexperienced in the art of "killing timeprou will find the "list less idieness " of the employment beyond all ex pression. I have tried " the delicious repose of one's own study" with'jnind unmolested, indul ging in its own reflections, till they lapse from thought to reveries of future bliss, or retrospec tions of repining regrets, and I have found that 'the thing don't pay" if prolonged a few mo ments. Moreover, if "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," (by a parity of reasoning) why not "sufficient for the day the good thereof?" A disposition to look on the bright side of things, coupled with the ability and the necessi ty to earn a livelihood by continual, mental and bodily exertion, is certainly more conducive to happiness and pleasure, than a large inheritance. But to those who can look on things, Just as they are, "All things work together for their good." "Whatever is, is right." To such, the present time is all sufficient or rather, it is all ; for we cannot enjoy any other, because no other is sus ceptible of being enjoyed, except through the me dium of the present. But, "Ye Gods, how I prate. While bits of news sit by unheeded." However, you and your sage readers should not complain if we anonymous writers occa sionally insinuate into our lucubrations a few lines that are directed to our exclusive sat isfaction. For I think that no pecuniary emolu ment, would be equivalent to the privilege of writing nonsense now and then. Indeed, if I was compelled to write nothing but sense and reason, I might as well be an "author" at once ! (I con sider this last hit, a settler.) The merchants are returning from New York, &c, variously elated or depressed, by their con tact with northern politicians, Cpoly tickers. ) The piles of goods boxes ranged before the seve ral stores, eclipses all former displays of the kind; and would be a "caution" to the iimbs of "noc turnal perambulators," were it not for the gas light. Besides, Dr. Hall has nearly finished two new stores, which will be occupied as soon as ready, bv parties from Wilmington. Mainly de pendent, as this place is, on a local trade, it is as tonishing how the immense semi-annual relays of dry goods disappear. But the well known taste of Salisbury merchants, induces the really fash ionable people of all the neighboring towns, to do their "particular shopping" here ; which, partly, accounts for the extensive retail business of this place. There will be a Breckinridge Democratic Mass Meeting here on the 4th of October and a Bell and Everett ditto on the 11th of October. I will give you a faithful synopsis of each as soon as they are over. I forgot to say iu my last that over the spacious market house, now erecting here, is to be a lofty Town Hall, 55 feet long by 50 feet wide. It will be elegantly fitted up and adapted to theatrical and concert purposes. Plenty of public halls and parks are of incalculable benefit, to towns, and Salisbury certainly has a full share of the former, at least. The Salisbury Band is employed by the State Agricultural Society to play for the State Fair in Raleigh next month. A fire broke out in Mr Wm. Murphy's kitchen at 8 o'clock on Sadurday night last. The rire completely consumed the kitchen, and was very near being communicated to his dwelling house. Nothing but the almost superhuman and well di rected exertions of the fire company and a few other public spirited citizens prevented It. The kitchen being so large and so near the house, (a very combustible wooden structure) and being completely enveloped in flames before the engine got there, added to all which, was the difficulty of getting water, made the preservation of Murphy's residence appear to me almost like a miracle. There are many people who attend fires here, men of property too, who strut about and view the spectacle with that sort of speculative and philoso phic indifference, which people manifest at a py rotechnic display in a public garden. This may all be well enough to a certaiu exteut, for the scanty supply of water may be an excuse for many who run to a fire without taking buckets with them ; but there is no excuse for such individuals selecting the most eligible points, from which to watch the progress of the conflagration, and thus impede and often completely obstruct the passage of the water carriers between the well and the engine. Of course they do not intend this, and as soon as any of them are aware that a water carrier is trying to pass they will jump nimbly out of his way, but, very often, only to run against the bucket of another, spilling half of its contents. Officers should be appointed to keep the way clear for water carriers, at least. An artesian well, or some other provision, for supplying wa ter at fires is very much needed here. I think it would be a good town law that would levy $100 from every one who had a valuable house clearly saved by the fire company. This would soon pro duce a fund sufficient to get an artesian well and reservoir with, or else there would be no more fires. A desirable contingency, either way. Bailey's Theatrical Troupe opens here to-night and plays all the week under a canvass. In my next you will find my opinion of their perfor mances, &c. COSMO. Goldsboro', Sept. 24, 1860. Dear Progress: Our citizens were awakened by the alarm of fire about 12 o'clock last night. Many persons proceeded in the direction of the fire, which appeared to be in the suburbs of the town, but was soon ascertained to be several miles distant in the country. 1 learned this morhing that a barn upon the plantation of Jas. L. Washington, Esq., was consumed, together with its contents, which con sisted, principally, of cotton. Mr. W.'s loss is about $800. Mr. Thomas P. Willis, a very worthy young me chanic of this place, had his hand dreadfully cut and broken by a planing machine, this morning in the Factory of Messrs. Riggs & Devices. The hickory pole about which I spoke in my last, was duly raised with imposing ceremonies by the Breckinridge democrats. . Then proudly flung they to the breeze A something much resembling unto A sheet, or table-cloth, or may be 'Twas a cover-lid ; and thereunto writ Upon one side, and not on "tother, In letters much like unto print,' The uames of " Breckinridge and Lane." . They didn't torite on 'tother eide " Economy," they say, " is wealth,-" And hence they, wouldn't spile the theet ' " So bad aa all that would amount to. . v . (Some say, that sort o'tcriiin's costly. You see,-tbenamea upon one side Show thro'"on 'tother side when the Breeze springs ap and spreads it out Between you and the sun. Sometimes There aint no natural breeze, and then It haugs so close around the pole, And looks so like a shirt just stuck Upon a bean pole to frighten crows, Thut democrats get sorry for it, And congregate around the pole, And let off wind by whistling, shouting, And various other ways, (you know They are a windy set of fellows,) Until the flag (that's what they call it,) Begins to straighten itself out, And then, by looking on its back side. While sun-Bhine plays upon the other. You may discover letters there Which "those who run " carTt begin to rend ! But which, when standing oa their head?, Cau very easily be did ! Yours, &c, HORATIO. WASHINGTON AND EVERETT. The New York Correspondent of the Bostou Post says : , ' '; . The last link of that golden chain which shall hereafter for many generations, bind together the names of George Washington and Edward Ever ett, has just been fitted into its place. The un selfish labors of the scholar and statesman, of whom we are all proud, and whose successful de votion to the purchase of Mount Vernon has challenged the admiration of the world, are brought to a fitting conclusion in the compeud of Washington's Life, contributed to Messrs. Black's new and revised edition of the Ency c'opaedia Britannica. The enterprising Edinburg publish ers, we understand, had designated the late Lord Macaulay as the writer of the article on Washing ton for the Encyclopaedia, in its new edition, and had made propositions to Macaulay to under take the task. The engagements already pressing upon the great essayist and historian compelled j liio Hprlination of the nronosal. nnrl. at his siio-o-es- I tion, Mr. Everett was invited to furnish the article in questiou. The selection was most fortunate : for in no one's hands was such a task more likely to resolve itself into a labor of love, and to no fitter heart or mind could such a subject be coin- j mended. The result ot Air. Everett s labor is on the eve of publication in this country, by Sheldon &: Co., of New York, in a single volume of ,12'i pages with the appropriate prefex of a portrait of the author, engraved after a marble bust. In this work Mr. Everett disclaims all preten sion to learned research or laborious investigation among original documents and revolutionary manuscripts. He has prepared from the standard works already existing, a comprehensive, and comparatively brief, memoir of our national hero comprising the salient features of Washington's career and character presented in that concise and familiar or necessarily characteristic of Ency clopaedia articles. The biography is a model of condensation, and by its rapid narrative and at tractive style, must commend itself, in its new form, to the mass of readers, as the- standard, pop ular life of Washington. In no respects preten tious or ambitious, as regards competition with the monumental works of Marshall, Spaiks and Irving, this, con amorc biography, by one so well qualified, will fill a vacant niche in literature, and would seem to be destined to a circulation among the people of both England and America, such as no previous life oi the Father of his Countiy has ever attained. Iu audition to the historical and biographical incidents of Washington's life, which arc con cisely narrated by Mr. Everett, this volume is en riched by a contribution by Dr. James Jackson, upon the nature of the disease of which Washing ton died ; the inventory of the personal property at Mount Vernon at the time of the General's death: and the Will of Martha Washington. It may also be stated, that in the preface, Mr. Ever ett pays a passing tribute to the memory of Ma cauly, which is a model of beauty and eloquence, expressed with rare terseness and kindness Correspondence between Kx-Speak-er Orr iintl Hon. Amos Kendall. EX-SrEAKEK OKH TO HON. AMOS KENDALL. Andeksox, S. C, Aug. 1(5. My Dear Sir: I have received your favor of the 9th inst. Your age, experience and abili ty, entitle your opinions to great weight on ev ery reflecting mind, and I regret to learn from your letter that you dissent from my recom mendation that the honor and safety of the the South require its prompt secession frtun the Union, in the event of the election of a black republican to the Presidency. You say your "mind is equally clear that the South has long had a peaceful remedy within her own reach, and has it still, though impaired by the recent conduct of some of her sons." You would i greatly oblige me by a full exposition of your opinions upon that point, as well as the remedy to be resorted to by us, should the government, in November, pass into the hands of a party whose declared purposes is to destroy our prop erty, amounting in value at the present time to not less than three billions one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. Can it be prudent, safe, or manly in the South to submit to the domination of a party whose declared purpose is to destroy such an amount of property, and subvert our whole social and industrial policy? In glancing at the evil and remedy, I invite specially your attention : 1. To the persistent refusal of many of the free States, and to large bodies of men in all of them, to execute the fugitive slave law. 2. To the untiring efforts of fanatics who come to the slave States under the guise of preachers, teachers, &c, in inveigling away our slaves and to the general sympathy with their nefarious purposes, evinced by the facilities furnished them by the underground railroad in spiriting away our slaves beyond the reach of their owners. 3. To the raid of John Brown, and the sym pathy which his well merited execution evoked. 4-. To the recent insurrectionary movements in Texas projected and carried out by aboli tion emissaries, where the incendiary torch of the slaves, lighted by abolition traitors, has re duced to ashes one million of dollars worth of property, and where the timely discovery of the hellish scheme alone saved the lives of tliuu sands of men, women and children. These are the natural and necessary results of the teachings of black republicanism ; and if we have such developments under an adminis tration which profess to guard our constitution al rights, in the name of Heaven what may we not expect when a great party takes the gov ernment and its machinery under its control, avowing openly its purposes to be the extirpa tion of African slavery wherever it exists ? Is it wise, if we do not mean to submit to such consequences, to allow a black republican President to be inaugurated, and put him in possession of the army, the navy, the treasury, the armories and arsenals, the pubic property in fact, the whole machinery of the government, with its appendants and appertenances ? If the South should think upon this subject as I do," no black republican President would ever execute any law within her borders, unless at the point of the bayonet, and over the dead bodies of her slain sons. In your letter you say that you have not taken me to be of that class of men in the South who for years past have been making and seek ing pretexts for destroying the Union. You have not misjudged me nor my designs. I have a profound and abiding effection for the Union of our fathers, and deeply deplore the existence of the causes which are rapidly tend ing to its destruction. During the whole of my Congressional career, I sought to tranquil lize sectional strife. When I first entered the House, ihe abolition party, headed by Giddings and Wilmot, numbered eight ; ten years have rolled away, and now the party is a majority of the whole House. Is it not time that the South should begin to look to her safety and independence? I trust that the impending 6torm may be averted ; that our rights and the Union may be saved ; that fraternal regard may be restored ; and that our country may go on in the high- I way of prosperity that it has so successfully ! trod lor the last seventy years. This is the aspiration of my heart, and yet I am painfully impressed with the conviction that it will nev er be realized. I am,, very truly, your friend and obedient servant, JAMES L. ORR. lion. Amos Kendall, Washington, D. C. MR. KENDALL S RErLV. Washington, Sept. 10. Hon. James L. Orr My Dear Sir: Your let ter of the loth ult., reached Washington while I was absent in the North. Though I did not contemplate when I wrote you on the 9th ult., anything beyond a limited private correspondence, yet having no opinions on the portentous condition of public affairs which I have a motive to conceal, or am ashamed to avow, I cheerfully comply with youv sug gestions. You quote from my former letter the declar ation that " my mind is equally clear that the South has long had a peaceful remedy within her reach, and has it still, though impaired by the recent conduct of some of her sons." and you ask of me a full explanation of my opin ions on that point as well as " the remedy to be resorted to by us the South should" the government in November pass into the hands of a party whose declared purpose is to destroy our property, amounting in value at the pres ent time to not less than three billions one hun dred and fifty millions of dollars." You ask, " can it be prudent, .safe or manly in the South to submit to the domination of a party whose declared purpose is to destroy such an amount of property and subvert our whole social and industrial policy ? In a subsequent part of your letter you call my attention to certain grievances endured by the South, and conclude your commentary thereon as follows, viz : "Is it wise, if we do not intend to submit to such consequence.?, to allow a black republican President to be inaugurated, and put him in possession of the army, the navy, the treasury, the armories and arsenals, the public property in fact the whole machinery of the government, with its appendants and appertenances ? If the South should think upon this subject as I do, no black republican President should ever exe cute any law within her borders, unless at the point of the bayonet, and over the dead bodies of her slain sons." I shudder at such sentiments coming from one whose sincerity I cannot doubt. The time was when 100,000 men tendered their services to the President to aid him, if necessary, in executing the laws of the United States; the time will come when 200,000 will volunteer for a like purpose, should resistance be made to his le gitimate authority, no matter by what party he may be elected. There seems to me to be, in the course re commended to the South, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency, a fatuity little sort of madness. Would you pull down the canopjr of heaven because wrong and crime exist beneath it ? Would 3-011 break up the earth upon which we tread because earthquakes sometimes heave it and pestilence walks its sur face ? This Union, sir, is too precious to the people it protects, North and South, East and West, to be broken up, even should a black re publican be elected President next November. Should the attempt be made, an united North and three-fourths of a divided South, would siuing to the rescue. No, no, the remedy for the evils of which youjustly complain are to be found within the Union, and not among its bloody ruins. 1 admit that the grievances which you enu merate are hard to be borne ; but a few South ern men are not without responsibility for their existence. The general sentiment of the country North and South, at the close of the revolution ary war was anti-slavery. It lias changed in the South, but remains unchanged in the North. There, however, it has been roused to unwon ted activity by the preachings of fanatics and the denunciation of political cleinagouges, aided not a little bv the arts, the language, and the violecc of Southern uisuionists. It is needless to give in detail all the causes which have brought the politics of the country to their present deplorable condition, fcjufiice it to say thot you have long had in the South a small party of able men whose aim has been to destroy the Union ; that as a preliminary to their main design, they have sought to break up the demo cratic party : that their means for accomplishing this end were to act with it, and force upon it every possible issue obnoxious to the general sentiment of the North : that they have, dragged after them the true Union men of the South, partly through their fears of being considered laggard in their devotion to Southern interests, and partly through ambition for political distinction ; to make the democratic party as odious as possible at the North, they became the advocates of slavery on principle, justified the African slave trade, and denounced the laws prohibiting it. By these acts, and frequent threats of disunion, they ena bled the enemies of democracy in the North to de nounce them as pro-slavery men, and to all this they added occasional taunts that they were no more to be relied upon for the. protection of South ern rights than their opponents By these means the democratic party was reduced before the last presidential election to a minority in most of the Northern states, and in the residue had the utmost difficulty in maintaining their ascendency. In the meantime, the union men in the South had measurably ceased to consider the democratic par ty as friendly to the Union ; and the union senti ment, in the border slave states, whose interest iu its preservation is preeminent, sought expression through the American party. To such an extent had the democratic party been weakened by the insiduous policy of their disunion allies, that they had the utmost difficulty in electing an old practi cal statesman over a young man who had nothing to recommend him beyond a few successful ex plorations of our wilderness territory. There were those who foresaw that longer affi liation with Southern disumunists would inevita bly destroy the ascendency of the democratic party, and a feeble and fruitless effort was made to induce the President to lay the fonndations of his administration on the rock of the Union, and cut loose from those who wer seeking to destroy it. For reasons, no doubt patriotic, but to me in explicable, the reverse of that policy was pur sued. The support of the Lecompton constitu tion, wfr.ch the country generally believed to be a fraud, was made the test of democracy ; one lead ing democrat after another was proscribed be cause they would not submit to the test, and as if to deprive Northern democrats of the last hope of successfully vindicating the rights of the South an act of Congress was passed for the admission of Kansas into the Union at once, provided she would consent to become a slavcholding State, but postponing her admission indefinitely if she refused. . In your published letter you justly condemn the seceders from the Charleston convention, who, you think, ought to have remained and pre vented the nomination of a candidate who is ob noxious to the South. Do yon not perceive, sir, that the secession was a part of the programme for breaking up the demomacratic party? And is it not palpable that after vacating their seats at Charlston, they went to Baltimore for the mere purpose of more effectually completing the work of destruction by drawing off another detachment? I, sir, entertain no doubt that the secession w-as the result most desired by the disunionists; that the object of the new issue then gotten up was merely to perform a pretext for secession, and its adoption was the last thing they desired or de signed. Glance a moment at a few facts : Alabama, led by an open disunionist, went to Cincinnati, in 1856, under instructions to secede unless the equal rights of all States and Territories should be conceded and incorporated into the platform of the democratic party. The concession wa3 made and they had no opportunity to secede. They came to Charleston under the same lea der again instructed to secede unless the conven tion would put into the platform a new plank, the effect of which, if adopted, would be further to disgust and alienate the Northern democracy In this instance the sine qua non was not compli ed with, and the Disnnioni3ts floated off on the rejected plank into an unknown sea, unfortunate ly carrying with them a large number of good and true Union men. And what i thin principle, the non-recognition of which has riven assunder the democratic par tp, and apparently threatened the dissolution of the Union 7 It is that, it is tin: right and duty of Congress to legislate for the protection of slave pro perty in the Territories. Now, I tak it upon me to say that a more lati tudinarian and dangerous claim ot power in Con gress never was advunced by federalists of the Hamilton school. Look at it in a constitution and practical light. If Congress have the right to legishte for the protection of slave propertyin the territories, they have a right to legislate for the protection of all other property; and, if thev have aright to legislate for the protection of per sons, the assumption that they can legislate for the protection of Flave property leads, logically and inevitably, to the conclusion that thev have power to legislate for the territories in all cases whatsoever. If you can put your finger on the grant of this power in the Constitution, plea.e. put it on its liriitafwr.s, if any can be found. Upon this principle. Congress may acquire an empire outside of the organized States, over which it may exercise unlimited power, governing it as the lio man State did their conquered provinces. And this under a constitution which jealously restricts the exclusive power of legislation by Congress U a few spots of land purchased, with the ?-onsent of the states, for specified objects, a-id grants no poictr of general legislation ocer a territory whatso ever. To verify these positions, we need only advert to the Constitution. Among the grants of power to Congress is the following, viz : " To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such district fnot exceeding ten miles square) as may by cession of particular States and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of tlie U. States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent ot the legislature of the State in which the same shall be. for the erection of forts, innga zines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buil dings." Mark the jealousy with which this power is restricted. For the j r .tection of the government even it is limited to a territory not exceeding ten miles square, and it cauriot be exercised over " the forts, m gazinfs, arsenals, dockvards, and other needful buildings," situated within the states, unless the laud on which thev mav te located shall be tirst purchased within the St'ates, unless the land on which thev mav be Jjcated shall be first purchased with " "the consent of the I legislatures ot those states. Is it conceivable that the wise men who restricted the exclusive power of legislation iu Congress to a terri tory not exceeding ten miles square, did, by any indirection, grant that power broadly enough to cover the whoJj continent outside of the or ganized states, should it be annexed by purchase or conquest. The following pro idion is the only one in the Constitution which lias been chiefly, if not exclusively relied upon to sustain the position that Congress has any power whatsoever to legislate over the territories, viz: " The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations re specting the Territory or other property belong ing to the United State'." The word " territory,"' used in this provision, ohiviously means land, and nothing else. The U. States at the time when the Constitution was adopted, owned an immense amount of land North of the Ohio river, and these lands Congress was aulho ize.l to "dispose of." That the word '' territory menus property, is conclusively shown by its connection with the words "and other property"" territory ami uther property." The territory spoken of therefore, is property ' in lands. "Rules and regulations" are a grade of iegisla tion somewhat below the dignity of laws ; but ad mitting them in this case to have the same effect, on what are they to operate ? Simply on the property, of the United States, not on any other property nor persons, except so far as they may be connected with the public property. To this extent, and no further, is the power of Congress to legislate over a Territory granted to Congress, aud whenever all the lands and other property are disposed of, the "rules and regulations" be come obsolete, and the power of legislation gran ted in this clause is thenceforth in abeyance. -Moreover, this grant of power extends as well to property within a state as within a territory. In a state the general power of legislation is the state legislature; yet the power of Congress to make "rules and regulations" respecting the pub lic property, i.s the same in a state as in a territo ry. The scope of the grant cau, of course, be no greater in a territory than in a state, and it nec essarily follows that this clause of the Constitu tion confers on Congress no general power of legislation, either within states or territories. It is not a satisfactory reply to this argument to say that such power has to some extent, been exercised. Is it better to acquiesce in and extend the usurpation than to put a stop to it, as in the case of the United States bank, by bringing the government back to the constitutional test ? Which is the safest for the South, the constitu tional principle that Congress shall not legislate for the territories at all, or the adoption of a prin ciple unknown to the constitution, which, in its general application, would not only defeat the object it is advanced to promote, but would en able the free state majority to urronnd the slave-holdln-; states nd encircle the Union with an empir." outside of t lie organized states, over which the majority should exercise the power of un limited and exclusive legislation 7 If such an idea be chimerical, the apprehension is not chi merical that the black republicans, should they acquire the control of all branches of the govern ment, will use the claim now set up for Congress ional legislation over one species of property in the teritories, as an apology for assuming the pow er of general legislation, involving the power to destroy as well as to protect. It by no means follows that the people who may occupy a territory of the United States con stitute an independent community with ail the attributes Of sovereignty. Though the Constitution of the United States does not. apply to them, they live under another constitution of powers perhaps more limited. I mean the paramount law of ne cessity. They are in the conditon of bands of hunters or miners located in the wilderness, who may adopt such rules and regulations as may be ab solutely necessary for the protection of persons and property, until Congress acknowledges their in dependence by admitting them in the Union on the same footing with the original States. At that moment, and not before, the powers of a limited sovereignty accrued to them and may be exercised to protect or destroy local institu tions which may have grown up while the legislative power was limited to the absolute ne cessity of tho occssion. If it be said, that the Jaw of necessity may be transcended and regula tions adopted to destroy some kinds of property instead of protecting it, I answer that such regu lations would be an assumption of power not jus tified by the law of necessity, analogous to usur pations of power in organized communities, rem ediless perhaps, but for that reason none the less unjust. If this be not the true theory in relation to our Territories, when does sovereignty therein begin ? Is the first settler a sovcriegn ? Does sovereignty accrue wheu there are ten, or one hundred, or one thousand, or one ten of thousand settlers ? Where shall we draw the line and pronounce that on this side the settlers live under the law of neces sity, and on that they become rightfully sove reign ? The Constitution of the United States was not made for Territories but for States, as its name implies. It has, by strict rules of construction, nothing to do with Territories outside of the States united, beyoud the protection and disposi tion of the common property therein. It seems to contemplate that the Territories shall be left to themselves until they have a population adequate to the formation of a respectable community, when their independence should be acknowledg ed and their admission into the Union granted on the sole condition that they adopt a republican government. But if there be a doubt as to the power of Con gress to legislate for the territories, is it not safer and more consistent with democratic principles to deny the power than to assume it? Some of the original states, when admitted into the Union, had not the population of a third-rate city of the present day, and no harm would be likely to arise by leaving tlie territories to themselves until they have doubled the population of Delaware or Rhode Island in 1T80. But would it not be in comparably better to admit them into the Union as states, with a much less population, than to leave them to ho a bone of contention among demagogues and disunionists, disturbing every essential interest of the country and jeopardizing the union of the existing states? Let us briefly consider the practical workings of the remedy for Southern wrongs, which you suggest, in case a black republican is elected to the presidency. You ask. "is it wise, if we do not intend to submit to such consequences, to allow a black republican President to be inaugu- rated," &c. and you say, "if the South should think upon this subject, as I do, no b!ack repub lican President should ever exicute any law with in her borders unless at the point of the bayonet, and over the dead bodies of her slain sons." 1 know there are men in the South who ttouH sacrifice their lives and endanger the communi ties fn which they live, upon a point of honor, and that such men often fire up with nnwounled tierceness if reminded of the probable conse quences of their own rashness. But the time has come when consequences should be looked in the face, not for purposes of defiance, but that we may consider whether the policy which would lead to them is required by Southern interests or honor. How do you propose to prevent the inaugura tion cf a 'Black K-publican President, should such an one be unfortunately elected ? Will you come to this city with an armed force, and attempt to prevent an inauguration by violence ? In that event force would be met by force, and there would be instant ciTil war. in which the country nnd the world would declare the South to be tha aggressor. He icoutd be inaugurated.' here or elsewhere, in spite of you. Weil, suppose you then attempt, to secede from the Union and resist the execution of the laws ? Every lawyer in the South knows t hat every citizeu of every state is as much bound by the laws of the United States, constitutionally enacted, as by the laws of his own stite, nnd that it is impossible for the state, to relieve its citizens from allegiance to the United States as it is for the latter to relieve them from allegiance to their own state. And it is tlie sworn duty of the President to take care that the laws of the United States shall be faithfully executed upon every citizen of every state, and as long as we have a faithful President they will be so ex ecuted, if the courts, the marshals, the army and navy, remain faithful to their respective trusts. I know that much has been said in the South about reserved rights and nullification, secession, and not coercing a sovereign state, Xc, when in fact the conventions representing the people of the several States which adopted tho constitution made no such reservations, but bound theircoDt; tuents, one and all, to to allegiance to the Const: c tion of the United States, as lirmly as siralli-. conventions bound them to tha State constitut: And although the general government cauuu; technically coerce a state.it can rightfully coeic ail the citizens of a state info obedience to its con stitutional laws. The pretended reserved righn of nullification nnd secession, therefore, aro :u effect nothing more nor less than an outspokei right of rebellion, wheu wrong and oppression become intolerable. But when tho crisis come 1 there are two pai ties who must necessarily decide, each for itself, whether circumstances justify thu act the seceders and the government of the United States. And do you conceive that tl- t mere election of a President entertaining oh nox ious opinions, or even entertaining hostile de signs against the institutions of the South, check ed, as he must necessarily be, by a Senate and ju diciary, if not a House of Representatives, with out one overt act, can justify any portion of the South, even to their on n consciouces, in au act of rebellion. There is one notable featur e iu the attitude cf the South. The cry of disunion, comes, not froi: those who suffer most from Northern outrage, but from those who suffer least. It comes from South Carolina, aud Georgia, and Alabama, and Missis sippi, whose slave property is rendered compara tively secure by the intervention of other siave holding States between them and the free states, and not from Delaware, and Maryland, and Vir ginia, and Kentucky, aud Tennessee, and Missou ri, which lose a hundred slaves by abolition thieve? where the first named States lose one. Why are, not the States that suffer most loudest in their cry for disunion 1 It is because their position ena bles them to see more distinctly than you do, at i. distance, the fatal aud instant effects of such p. step. As imperfect as the protection w hich th-a Constitution nnd laws give to their property un doubtedly is, it is better than none. They lo not think it wise to place themselves in 'a position to have the dobn Browns of the North let loose upon them, with no other restiaints than the laws of war between independent nations construed by reckless fanatics. They prefer to light abolition its, if tight they must icithin the Union, where their adversaries are somewhat restrained bv constitutional and legal ol ligation. No sir ; 1 V-I-awarc. Maryland, and Virginia. lo not intend to become the theatre of desolating wars between tho North and the South; Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, do not intend that their peaceful channels of commerce shall become rivers of blood to gratify the ambition of South Carolina and Al abama, who at a remote distance from present dan ger cry out disunion. 1 have said that the South has all along bad a peaceful remedy and has it still. The union sen timeiit is overwhelming in all the middle hv. I western States, constituting two thirds of tho re public. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illi nois are as little inclined to become frontier States as Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky Had the present administration cut loose from the disunionists, instead of virtually ministering to their designs, and planted itself lirmly on union ground, the secessions at Charleston and Baltj more would never have occurred, the "constitu tional uniou party" would have been an impossi bility. the democracy would have recovered its ascendaucy in the North, and an united part v. embracing two thirds of tho North and the South would now have been marching to certain victoi y next November. What ought to have been tho preventive, must be the remedy. Should Lincoln, in November next, secure a majority of the electors, patrioti.-. men, North and South, without waiting for his inauguration, irrespective of party lines and throwing aside all minor considerations, must, band together for the triple purpose of preventing any attempt to break up the Union, checking th Kcpubliean party while in the ascendant, and ex pelling them from power at the next election. Let the toast of General Jackson, "The 1'cdcrul Union it must be preserved," become the motto of the party, while strict construction of the Con stitution and a jealous regard for the rights of the States shall be its distinguishing principle and unwavering practice. Let the constitutional principle be adopted of no legislation by Congress over tlie territories, or throw aside altogether tho mischievous issues in relation to them, of tut practical utility, gotten up by demagogues aud disunionists. as means of accomplishing their own selfish ends. Let them refuse to support for any Federal or State office, any. man who talks of dis union on the one hand, and " irrepressible con flict" on the other. Throw aside all party leaders except such as " keep step to the music of tho Union" and are prepared to battle for SUte rights under its banner. Be this your 'platform: let the South rally upon it as one man, and I would pledge all but my life that at least oue half of the North will join you hi, driving from power the reckless assailants of your rights and institutions. But whether tho United South come up to the rescue or not, I fore see that in the natural progress of events, the cen tral States from the Atlantic to the far West, will band together on this ground, leaving the Aboli tionists of the North and the disunionists of tha South to the harmless pastime of belching firo and fury at each other at a safe distance, protec ted by the vatriotism and good sense of nine tenths of their countrymen, against the evils they would bring on themselves. Can you doubt the success of such areun ion? Not an advocate of disunion under any probable circumstances, can be found among the candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. The supported of Bell to a man, the supporters of Douglas to a man, and more than three-tourths-of the supporters of Breckinridge, are friends of the Union, and adversaries to northern interferencn with southern institutions. When convinced of the folly and madness of their warfare on eacli other as they will be after the election if not be fore, they had together in common cause, and that cause the preservation of our glorious Union and its invaluable Constitution, with their atten dant blessings, will they not be irresistible ? How much more hopeful and cheering is a pros pect like this than the contemplation of stauding armies, gnndiug taxes, ruined agriculture, pros trate commerce, bloody battles, ravaged countries and seeked cities. This continent, like the East tern world is destined to have its '-Northern hive.". Shall its swarms be repressed by tho strong hand of the States united or are they by a dissolution of the Union, to be let loose upon our South, like the Goths and Vandals upon Sputhern Europe ? True,- their blood might in that event fertilize your desolated fields, but your institutions, like those 6f the Roman empire would sink to rise no more. These are the thoughts of an old man whose on ly political aspirations are that when he dies he may leave his country united, happy and free. With sincere regard. . AMOS KENDALL. t
Newbern Weekly Progress (New Bern, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 2, 1860, edition 1
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