University of South Carolina Libraries
THE CAMDEN WEEKLY JOURNAL, I VOLUME XVI. CAMDEN, SOUTH-CAROLINA, TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 14,1855. NUMBER 33. S'elcrtci) Poetry. HUMAN LOVE. ^ Oh! if there i? one law above tho rest, Written in Wi3dom?If there is a word That I would traco as with a pen of fire Upon the unsullied temper of a child? If there is anything that keeps the mind Opon to Angel visits, and rcprls The ministry of ill?'tis Human Love! God has made nothing worthy of contempt. Tk<* omnllnof nbliKla in tkft tvoll nf Tflllll *"? 0'u""vcl .U - Has its peculiar meanings, and will stand "When man's best monuments wear fast away. The law of Heaven is Lore?and tho' its name Has been usurped by passion, aud profaned To its unholy nsoa through all time, Still the external pmciplo is pure ; And in these deep affections that wo feel Omnipotent within us, can wo seo The lavish measure in which love is iiivcu. And in the yearning tenderness of a child; For every bird that sings above its head, A n/1 awam* Ai>AAtiiPA r<>A/1?n/v rtn tV?n ln'llu * * **VA VlWiJ WIVU^UIV IWVUill^ VM HIV wmaj And every troo and flower, and running brook We aoe how everything was mado to love, And how they err, who, in a world like this, Find any thing to hate but human pride. JHisrcllnnroits. Dr. Breckinridge on Slavery. Letter to Hon. Ci'ias. Sumner of Muss. Sir : I have read with great attention a discourse of yours, published in the New Yoik Tribune of the ISth of May, which, according to the statements of that paper, was pronounced at Niblo's Theatre, in the City of New York, a few davs before, to an immense and delighted assembly of the people. I will add that it is my hahit to read carefully whatever I find in the newspapers of the day proceeding from you. For I observe in what falls IVoin \ou a more serious conviction, a deeper tincture of scholarship, a larger intelligence, and a more earne.-t manliness, than I have been able to discover it) the utterances of those who seem to enjoy your confidence and share your labors. It is no disparagement to you personally to add that representing tin; Commonwealth of Massachusetts, sitting in the seat Daniel Webster, discouisii.g of the duty of the Northern States on the most dangerous topic of our day, and pleading eloquently for the necessity, practicability and dignity of an enterprise whose success involves the ruin of the country?your words have, for all considerate I men, mi interest and an importance whi.-h all your high qualities won id fail to impart to them if you spoke as a private? itiz? ti. It may b? possible, also, that the words of a private j?erson like myself, and a total stranger toy<-u, by connecting themselves with the stirring and dangerous words spoken by you from the great position \ii? have won, may obtain an audience, winch, hot for that, it were idle to expect for them. And vou \vi 1 yourself, perlui|*=, admit that I have (somewhat t<> vay worthy i -erious consideration, ami that my life-long conueciio'i, in many forms, wish most of ti:e topic.- \ ou discuss entitles me, without undue pn-suicption, to give utterance to some of the thoughts e*ci ted y your di-curse. Allow me, sir, to utter, in one sentence, the substance of my whole thought lou-lung the madness of the limes ai-mii tins whole qtu-s lion of negro slavery. Ueic we a e. a great people, w ith a gloiiou- mission set before us. .Moie than twenty millions of us. with whose destiny the de-tiny of three or four miiiious of blacks is feaifully combined. One way or other we must solve their de-tiny when we solve our own. This is wholly unavoidable. Hut the madness is that every seven white Americans must needs cut each other's thro its concerning the fate of one black African ! Is there no solution of the problem of their destiny and ours, hut that solution which destroys us, without benefitting them? And can state-men, such as I do not see sufficient reason to doubt you are, and patriots such as I have not the heart to deny yon to be, find no better solu i tion of this terrible pr??l?iem, no nobler issue of I our sublime hopes, than mutual destruction by the men of the North and tlie men of the South, for the sake of the African^ slaves, Tattered thinly over the continent ? Are we not able to bear through, by our invincible strength, even such a parasite as this black rat e, carrying them h*ward far beyond an\ thing they could have re-u-hed without us, and set mounting up ourselves, fat beyond anything they may ever reach ? Shame upon every American patriot, who is insensible t:> the gl'?ry of such a result! Infamy to every one who conspires to defeat it! y And yet, sir, you, an American Senator, speaking in the name of that great Commolpwealth in whose bosom stands Bunker Hill~ and sitting in the seat of that great statesman and patriot who saw no hope tor public liberty higher than that which rests upon the Union of these States?you an American Senator, who have studied the past and who fear God, allow yourself to bring the whole force of your cha meter, your position, and your- great guts, 10 hear directly upon tho point at which alone it is possible to wreck the country, and to destroy us all together! The very madness of thetimes assumes in you its most frantic aspect, and you openly avow that slavery in America is a wrong so giievous and unquestionable, that it should not be allowed to continue?nay, that it should cease to exist at once?nav, that a wrcng so transcendent, so loathsome, so direful, must he encountered wherever it can he reached, arid the battle must he continued without truce or compromise, until the field is entirely won. Such are your words?piof.iundlyeloquent?unspeakably frantic ! Now, sir, this means, neither more nor less, than the edge of the sword. Lay aside the rhetoric, and the simple sense is, grape and canister, cold steel and stricken battle. Relieve me, Mr. Sumner, when I stHto two facts, one of which you ought to know, better perhaps than I do. The fact which I know better j !- .1 ?i.?........ .t? ....... tftan JOU ao 18, Ul<ll nnrmtci hid icij iiiiiiiv.1^ indication of the settled purpose of the men of the North to follow your advice becomes appro rent to the men of the fifteen slave States of this Union?a million of armed men will be ready to receive you and your followers ; and if you come not speedily thereafter to execute your threats, your coining will not be waited for?but they will seek yon on the soil where you now vainly suppose no danger will ever comc. The fact which you ought to know better than I .do is, that alter two or three hundred thousand men are arrayed in battle on each j Bide, it mattes no sort or tnnercnce, sb to me probable result, whether one or the other party has the greater reserve of physical force left out of battle; because, after two or three hundred thousand fighting men, in the present state of the art of war, every thing depends merely on brains. The sum of these two farts is very clear; namely, if the North wants to settle the slavery question by the edge of the sword, the North is in a very fair way to be - " ? I ?I -l I pcrlecliy gratincct; anu wueu aue geui wuut j she wants, there is at lea-t an exceeding great j probability that the North will see reason to j change her mind very materially as to the | wisdom of that method of settling the queslion. Moreover, let it not escape your attention, that many circumstances aggravate the conduct of the men of the North, and exasperate the hearts of the men of the South, in this whole business; all of them tending to strength* eri us, and to weaken you, at every stage of the j bloody struggle to which you are driving the I country. For, in the first place, let slavery he I oil tlmf von -lcufnf it to he?the time is lom? , .... ".i" J " ? ? - ----- ? ^ p | past when it was either honest. wUp, or patri I otic, for you to take that ground, even in nti I argument having merely ordinary bearings, I much less in one looking to bloodshed and con* 1 quest. All that was settled^ between us before l the old confederation was formed; it whs settled again in the common danger and common ! glory of our great revolution; it was settled ' again in the Federal Constitution. 1 say noth j ing about the unspeakable folly of a-going as : a statesman, that a slave State and a free State | cannot tolerate each other in ore confederacy, ; supposing the question to be now lor the first time considered. What I say is, that it is no ' longer possible for the men of tho North to ; open that question, without revolution, and i without disloyalty to every national act and movement of our past bUtory; and what I ! mean is, that they cannot do this, without so : weakening and disgracing themselves, and so j strengthening and ennobling us, that God, pos1 frtritv fnrlmii> sm/l flit* llM.-iit of tlifl romh.lt I ants, must feel the effects of the opposite con! duet .ind position of the parties. To which ! add, in the second place, that this conduct of the I men of the North, besides being a base politi! cal afterthought, is a deliberate breach of faith, | connected by the blond of our fathers; an igj noble retraction of plighted honor and truth anil justice; a calculated sacrifice of those of i their own race and lineage, and house and j blood, for those of a strange kindred aud clitr,e ' ?without any new circumstance or additional reason for so atrocious a perfidy against nature and agaiii6t plighted troth. Add again, in the third place, the atrocity of that state of heart j in w liieh the North presses this bloody arbij t'ametit, under the settled belief that she risks I nothing thereby, aud that we risk everything, and the fervor of that state of soul in which the South, roused by so much insult, injustice and damage, really does iisle all, with a sul>lime purpose, to the last man, to win all. And then, in the fourth place, add the sort of con -* !-l 1 t .? * iL A-. viciion wnn which me iwo panics mus annually range themselves in that deadly strife; and if you he ns wise as you are eloquent, : you may comprehend, what as yet you seem to j have wholly overlooked?namely, the settled j confidence of the entire slave States, that th* ! are fully nhlu to make the men of the North | repent that ever they broke constitutions, and forgot ancestral ties and outraged national ob ligations, in order to ruin ten millions of the most elevated race on the face of the earth, upon the hazard, if not the pretext, of benefitting the third part of that number, of one of the most degraded races in the world. You I will have battle ?and that without truce or compromise?and that whenever you can reach us?and that until the field is entirely won!? For my part, sir, I would gladly shun that battle ; gladly give my blood to arrest it, if it were begun. But there mingles with this profound dread of shedding my brother's blood not one apprehension of the result of the conj flic-t. For whoever lives to see that battle | fought, will see one more example added to the i multitudes which already crowd the annuls of mankind, that they who boast themselves when they gird their harness on, are apt enough to wail when they come to put it otf. So far, then you may perceive, that according to the fixed unanimous conviction of the fifteen Commonwealths you propose to conquer, your whole North, if it were united as one man, could no more do that deed than it could m?ke a world; and that, unless it were lost to every glorious inspiration of the past, and every sacred impulso struggling for birth in all true hearts, the North would no more think of making such an attempt, upon such pretexts as you array, even if those pretexts were all true and real, than it would think of parricide followed by self| murder. But think sir, I beg you to consider what I shall add to show that those pretexts are neither true nor rea'. The very foundation of your discourse, as you distinctly state, is the grand principle?univer...I ?? 4 ,i... U.? tl..t nil! *13 JUU iisaci HI blio IrtW VI PlilTVl man created in the image <>f God, is divested of ] his human character, and declared to be a mere chattel. Now, Mr. Sumner, you cannot fail to be aware, that both parts of this statement are absolutely untrue, and by consequence, your whole plea for our conquest is based on a douj ble perfidious quibble. There is not a single ' slave State, in this Union, whose laws divest the slave of his human character. There is not a single one whose laws declare a slave to be a mere chattel. No doubt, many of the rights which I believe, with you, to be inherent nature are wholly incompatible with any state of alaverv fl/inKt if Rlfive-v exists at all. the riffbt of property thus recognized by the local law, may be made analogous to the right one has to a chattel, just as it may be to the right one has to a reality. But you have far too much sense and knowledge not to know that these arc widely different truths from the abominable untruths upon which .your whole discousse proceeds. Do you not perfectly understand, that every slave State in this Union shapes its entire slave code upon the grand truths that a slave is not a mere chattel, and that bis human character is not divested ? Do you not know that by the universal law of slavery, the slave is held to innumerable accountabilities, overriding all claim of his master? and that he is nrotected. not as a chat tel, but as a man, at the peril and profit even of bis master's life ? And yet, upon precisely opposite allegations, you construct an argument whose logical issue is the subversion of our National Union; and upon that argument you construct a code of morals, whose highest obligation is civil war! Sir; whatever may be my opinion of the fairness of such reasoning, I easily perceive its dialectic skill. But fo- your sweeping allegation, y<>ur argument had nothing on which to rest; for if the relation of master and slave l>? once admitted to be gcnerically a rela tion of power and subjection analogous to those of ruler and subject; guardian and ward, parent and child?then it demands far higher power than yours, to show that as a mere relation it has any moral quality at all; and then your duty of murder on account of it comes straightway to an end. Slavery, Mr. Suinner, is not a thing which even in its fundamental nature, much less in its more revolting aspects, I have any purpose to defend. But it is not. either in its nature or its manifestations, the thing you pronounce it to be; and this you c??uld hardly fa i- Vnow. How then, can i avoid saying, that the n texts on which you counsel such insane procr?u.* gs, are neither true nor real J What you say on the two vital objections, as you call them, to what you stylo the anti-slavery enterprise, is not equal to the level of your ordinary thought. The distinction of race as an obstacle to indiscriminate abolition, and the sanctions of Christians to the institution of slavery as a plea for its toleration, do unquestionably require to be put aside moie thoroughly thau you have succeeded in doing before the terrible neccss'ty of adopting your principles following your counsel can be said to be obligatory on the conscience of the North. I will venture to suggest somewhat on both topics, which seems to nave escaped your notice. For my part, sir, I wish well to every country in the woild, and the every race on the face of the earth. But 1 frankly admit, I love my own couutry out of all comparison with every other, ihat I cherish my own race, with a fervor far beyond that with which I regard all others.? Some people call this bigotry?some call it fanaticism?some call it narrow mindedness, and the like. 1 call it an exalted duty, l>oih of natural morality and of revealved religion, whose neglect is incompatible with a pure heart or a right spirit in man. It has pleased God to create and established great diversities of race amongst men; diversities which, if we could obliterate theni completely, would, there can be no doubt, be reestablished under the course of Divine Provi dence, whose grand design in that, as in all things eke, w& neither fully comprehend; nor are able to defeat. This diversity of race, extending apparently to the utmost limit compatible with its generic unity, has been one of the most con spicuous elements iu the destiny of mankind, and is so still. I beg you to consider that in all recorded time, but two methods have been found whereby it was possible to solve that great pro blem of the general mixture of races in one community on equal terms. It cau be done, whore all have a common master; that, is, under a form which indiscriminately enslaves nil. Or it can be done, by means of the toleration of polygamy that is under a form where the civil equality is proceeded and coerced by one of blood and household. Except by one or other of these means or by both of them combined; the fundamental demand of your abolition hypothesis, after innumerable attempts, and upon every race of men under every form of civilization, has encountered only universal shipwreck. Your antislavery enterprise therefore, as soon as it encounters the question of mixed races dwelling together must demand that equality which is produced by the indiscriminate servitude of all, or it must demand the toleiation of polygamy, or it must succumb before the irresistible course of Providence and the invincible laws of human nature, as both are attested by the universal experience of mankind. That is, we must renounce our freedom aud pur Actual civilization, to reach one solution of this problem; or we must rcnounco our Christianity, to reach the other solution of it; or we must resist your anti slavery enterprise, with its fundamental clause of equality ot races as tantamount the utter disorganization of society. Sir, I have not one word to say about Shem, Ilam, Japliet, or Canaan. But whether as a statesman, as a philosopher, or at a christian, and with a sovereign contempt for nn infidel theories of man, of society, aud of virtue, I calmly and sorrowfully tell you, there lies one of the grand and insuperable obstacles to that universal freedom and equality of man for which he has panted from the origin of the race but could never attain, and never will, upon such theories as yours. The pretext that the thing is attainable by civil war, or is attainable at all except on the terms stated, or is either possiblo or desirable for for us is neither true nor real. On the other point, your plea for the diasolu tion of society and the ruin of our country is still leas tat'sfactoiy. As for me Mr. Suinner, it has beer, the great business of my life to prench the gospel of God; the great pleasure of my life to do what I could to ameliorate the condition of my fellow-men. And I need not hesitate to add, that while I have won neither Senatorial rank nor national notoriety thereby, I hwve endured more risked more for the sake of the black race, by far, than either you or 1 have done for the sake of the white. Your fierce sarcasm; therefore has no terror for me; nor can your pathos mislead a heart which has felt deeply all the real evils of this pitiable case, to be I susceptible to the influence of the most elo queni exaggerations; nor have I any sympathy with that state of mind in which one can imagine that he is pleading the cause of Christ, while he is counselling the deliberate violation ol the roost sacred obligations. The life and doctrine of tta Lord Jesus affording the on! ly perfect illustration of every truth and every duty; and amongst the rest, of that glorious truth of the universal brotherhood of man, and that immortal duty of quenchless, mutual love founded on it. But how utterly do wo miscon cisve the life and the doctrine of the Son of Got wheu we advocate universal treason in order to re dress partiul oppressions; or teach doctrines whicl lead only to universal rapine in order to rectify .:..t 1 r ~:?i. e. a. i._?? pmum nijuoviuc 1 man irum uiu uuiiwui v my heart, that every people were fit to enjoy; and did actually possess, public liberty and fret institutions; but should I theref'tVe urge an in discriminate assault upon all nations which de sire, but are denied, these inestimable, blessings! All duty is founded upon truths and laws both of which are immutable; but every duty is modi fied I7y circumstances which vary ceaselessly; anc it is only as we comprehend both of these great principles, that we can ever attain any rational assurance that we perform a single duty aright As a member of the human race, enlightened by the Gospel, I may have a particular view of the general question of human servititude. Consid ered as a citizen of the United States, with the institution of slavery occupying the precise pos ture it does in Ibis nation, my view of my owr duty must necessarily be modified. Considered as a citizen of Kentucky, where much might be done towards the amelioration of slavery, im duty is modified again. And considered as * citizen of South Carolina, where probably it is hardly possible to conjecture how slavery could terminate peacefully and safely, my duty neces sarily undergoes another and very serious modi fication. The religion of Jesus Christ is com pntible with every condition in which God's pro vidence constrains our fallen race to exist; anc it is aR absurd in reason, and as unfounded it fact, to assert that Christ and his Apostles rc quired the indiscriminate abolition of humai aervititude, as to assert that they required th< inJir/immiuata Ai'oet K e/Mi1 nf antt / ii Vi At* A a iUUIOUUIlll^dbC UHllUlun VI t*ll J IV| 111 \J despotic authority amongst men. For myself my natural heart would doubtless have loved tb< teachings of the Lord all the more, if he ha< preached a crusade for liberty instead of a sacri fice for sin. But with his Gospel in our hand wercan no more keep an honest and enlighten ed conscience, and deny that his teachings tole rated human servititude as njconditon compatihl with salvation, than we can make ourselves at quainted of human affairs, and deny that hi providence has tolerated human servitude as condition compatible with the existence of sock ty. What are we, that we cannot have a littl patience with that, with which God has had p.tience since sin had entered into the world ?And how striking is it to behold the certaint with which men repudiate the power of the Go< pel, as soon as they have fastened on it a powt of their own ; how surely they becomo heretic apostates or infidels when I hey begin to teac Christ, instead of setting down at his feet to lcar of him ! What else can we say, but that a such pretexts, whether for public wrong or fc private iniquity, are neither true or real ? It was my purpose, sir, to have said something on 4he remaining touici of vour discourse?th practicability and diguity of the anti-slaver enterprise, together with your view of the specit duty of tho North with regard to it. In you first topic, however, the necessity of that cntei prise the foundution of all lies; and having d'n cussed, in some degree, your fundamental prir ciples, I pass by what, when I was a younger ma I bhould have been more prompt to utter, toucl ing some other portions of your discourse. Fc the rest, I will venture to add a few word which, if you cared to do so it would be yoi right to demand of me, in explanation of m own views, after having spoken so freely c yours. Slavery, Mr. Sumner, is not h modern inst tution; it is as ancient human society. And y< it is not a permanent institution, in the sense of bi mor riornof n.ntail in nnn nortis?u1*ir ronn r\y r?/\nn*ri i? v v* We have the sad advantage of being able t contemplate it in every age of the world, i every condition of severity, and in contact wit every form of civilization. Wo ought, by thi time, to be able to comprehend it. From tli: point of view I have two statements to mak< both of which I fear may appear to you inac curate. The first is, that nothing conccrnin the structure of human society i? more clearl established by the entire career of nian oti thi earth, than that m some form or other, the sc oial subjugation of one part of every highl developed community to another part of itthat is, seivitude in somo form or other?is absolutely inevitable; just as much so, as th oxistence of crime, or want, or sorrow. Jx;t u bewail this as a badge of our fallen coudilior let us seek its constant amelioration, as one c our clearest duties; but let us respect truth am justice, and honor, and good faith in all our at tempts. The second statement I have to mak is, that the general condition of negro slavery i America, so far from being particularly direfu and loathsome, as you represent it to be, i really, and indeed of necessity, in all respect mitigated and regulated after the pcrvadiu; spirit of our protcstant civilization, and is grailu ally acquiring a more endurable position, as th power of the Gospel gradually extends its in fluence, and as the slave States Gradually settl iuto the conviction, that their duty obliges then to accept this institution as a permanent part o their social system, I do not myself believi that servitude in this particular form, is, as ai original question, either necessary or desirable and I am well convinced, that in many of ou slave States, it might be gradually abolished with great advantage; while in all of them i might bestill further ameliorated without regar< to the question of its ultimate solution. Nor ii it my opinion, that the permanent continuant of this servitude, in its present form, is possibli though its endurance may bo protracted. an< the methods of its termination extremely civer | sificd, over the immense area covered by it Your duty and mine, air, as American philnn thropists each in his own sphere is to accept tliii great problem as we 6nd it, and by all the mean In our power assist its final outworking, in i ninnner most compatible with tho interests o humanity, with the true progress and glory o our country, with those internal principles o nature and of providence which our puny effort may in some degree assist, but aro wholly itn potent to control. There is an aspect of this whole question o negro slavery in America, extremely broad, ant which you do not seem to have examined. I is not merely n question of slavery and th negro population on this continent; nor yel merely a question of bloodshed and conquest o your ftorth against our South. It is a quostioi 1 affecting all of the black race throughout the - earth and nil those vast interests of the whole i earth, which the final destiny of that immense ] r race involves. As yet the Clack race ha# never f had a nationality. As yet there has never been I a civilized State within the tropics. A hundred ; millions of the human race and nearly a fourth , - part of the earth s habitable surface around its very centre, await the issue of this question of ] ? negro slavery in America, and must be influenc i ed greatly if not controliingly by it. Rest as- , sured, Mr. Sumner, whatever'dignity you inav I persuade yourself to ascribe to your anti-slavery t enterprise, and to your stirring speech at Niblo.s I Theatre, nay even to your Faneuil Hall eloquence, and your Massachusetts agitations over some poor fugitive slave?there is an eternal logic in events, and there is an awful majesty in the sublime course of Providouce, in the face of which, posterity will say, that men endowed like you ought to have been ashamed to par ..._!. : .... i l ui'ijjaci; in mu.ii 4iiwui| i.tiiiiiM.u :uiu igvuiu l revels. ; However difficult (.he question of human ser,* vitmlc may be to solve, after slavery has been i once fully established in tho bosom of the Com* monweaith?or however men may differ as to ! I the m>raI aspect of the actual question* now! - agitating the minds of our country so deeply?it ] - seems to me that as a more topic of national politics and national legislation, the whole ques tion of American slavery is otic environed by no 1 other difficulties than such as have been created i by our evil passions, and so far as the powers of - the National Government are concerned?has l not Massachusetts the unquestionable right to b create slai cry in her bosom, if site sees fit to do so, f and Louisiana to abolish it in hers, if she thinks proper? And is not this true of every State? o What need then is there, iu all soberness, for j frantic contentions about territorial settlements, i- which, in their own nature, can be only tempo- I 1, rary? Suppose Missouri should abolish slavery? . Suppose Illinois shuuld create it? Suppose .. Kansas should decide tho question, first oue way e and then the other? Moreover, what essential difference docs it make, whether it is upon a | is basis of fifteen slave States, or sixteen slave ) a States, that the great problem of our national destiny is to be worked out? And as to its ! ;e true bearing on the infinite mission of our coun-! i- try, what consequence can a rational mind attach ' _ I to the temporary result of a fierce conflict for ' y I supremacy between madmen iu one of our 5. territories \w*t of the Missouri River? Wli-if i,.hU illicit ni-llro ?i?iv U'H' .k.i iinfinrt- ! '? I ?> J ] I al question, whether there are tljrec millions of j h j slaves, or three million aud a fraction over;! n whether six, or ten, or a hundred slaves, more j 11 or less, escape or are reclaimed? The power of; ir the General (Jovertuent over the whole subject is so extremely limited, and transient, and inci_ dental, as compared with the absolute power of c the States themselves; the good that can bedonc v by the exercise of the powers actually possessed jj by Gongress, is comparatively so slight and |r uncertain, and the danger which is obviously incurred is so real aud deplorable, the condition }. in which the nation stands with reference to the whole subject is so distinct and so peculiar, r that 1 must confess it has always appeared to ' . me unspeakably surprising that any national I )r party, and ospicially one at the North, should' s be found capable of permanent ovgnnizatiou in ; ^ connection with such topics. Any honest, mode- I v rate, patriotic consistent exercise of the powers | of the General Government over the question of slavery could hardly have failed to satisfy the nation to the end, as it satisfied it during its '* early and most glorious period. Whatever may have been the sins or follies of Southern statesmen or the Southern people, it would be hard If . _ 1 - -- 1 t Al A ' to produce an example hi onco more u.iyinui, 0 insulting, and unjust than the discourse which n suggested tlieso remarks. j1 After all, I cannot persuade myself that God |8 will allow us to degrade ourselves so utterly, as 13 to break up this glorious confederacy on such a question as this. I do not allow myself to be5 lieve that the mass of the American people are S utterly destitute of the sublime instinct of their y country's mkdou among the nations. Civil war 13 J is not a remedy; it is the most direful of all dis| eases. National strength, in a day like ours, }' j and to freemen, is not so much a glory, as it i3 ~ j a necessity?the grand necessity of their liberty '?! and independence. As to slavery, it is a ques0 ! tion about which men may differ, ace >rding to 3 i the necessities of their condition and the point '? I of view from which they consider it. But tlio ll | cordial and indissoluble Union of those State, i ^ ; is a mat tor concerning which no American, who ! j has a true hoait in his bosom,can possibly have e 1 but one opinion? one purpose. If there be one i 11 ' political duty common to us all, and trail seen* ! '' I dently clear aiul binding, it is that wo should | 3 j visit with immediate and condign punishment s j every public man, uho is not loyal to the Union a . and the Constitution. Your fellow-citizen and obedient servant. ? j It. J. BRECKINRIDGE. Bikedaldase, Ky., June 11th, 1855. C: _ n | Credit is one of the best things man has ue- j if, vised, and about the worst abused. Thousands j e j live on credit who have no right to any such | i thing- None but an honest man ought to be j ; i able to pass his word instia.l of eoiti?a rogue's i r word is uot worth its face, no matter how rich j ,! he may be. No one should have facility to run j t J in debt for the means of ostentatious display, of: I j sensual gratification or of hazardous adventure. ! s' " Earn before you spend," should be the general j r? ! riil.i tliA r>iv'ilit. he ovli>nih,l m.-ii.ilv til 4 those who use it to fit themselves with the means j 1 and implements of useful, productive labor. II. Greeley, j The Columbia Carolinian says:?We learn with much regret, by a private letter received here, the death of Dr. John McMillan, by cholera,, at Sebastopol. Dr. McMillan, was a stuj. dent in the office of tho editor of this paper, c where his intelligence, industry and devotion I to Ins profession, endeared him to all who s knew liim. His proficiency in his studies was beyond that of most students, considering his previous opportunities, and his labors were highly appreciated by the Faculty of the Medical College of the State, by their conferring upon him their highest honors at his grudua1 tion. >, Tt is a good thing to laugh at any rate, if says Prydcn ; if a straw can tickle a inati it is a an instrument of happiness. The decision of Judjje Kane, recently do livereil in the ".Vhceler case, lias met with v? r > general acquiescence, l'assrnore Williamson, who made himself so prominent in the abduclion of the servants of our .Minister to Nioara gua, has been committed to jail, " without bail or main prize," for contempt of court, leaving llic question of perjury, with which n!so stands charged to the subsequent nctioi of a grand jury. Tho Philadelphia papers, f the must part, pubjish tbo opinion of JudpKane in detail, but without any editorial com ment. The Democrat papers, however in va- % riatiiK tni-linna nf ftm oniinlrr nrrt tnunrr fh? no. ........ w. ..... ... , D .... .... Lie stand taken by Judge Knne, for the purpose of getting up a laudation of the General Government. Of Judge lvaue, it is sufficient for us to uy that he has promptly and ably met the issue in the shape it was presented to him, and although the mailt poiuU in the case are yet to come up for adjudication, he has seized the occasion to lay down certain propositions relating to slave property "in transitu/' which cannot fail to place a salutary restraint upon future at tempts of u similar character. "Waving the inquiry," says Judge Kane, "whether the persons, u-?? e or were not, legally slaves, or whether tl.?y were within the territorial jurisdiction o: Pennsylvania, while passing from one State u mnllmr ttnrui tho nnvirr:ifiln iv:itnrs of the IJiii ted States?a p-?int upon which my first impressions are adverse to the argument?I have to env: 1. That 1 know of no statute, either of the Uuited States, or of Pennsylvania, or of Nee Jersey, the only State that has a qualified ju ristlietion over this part of the Deleware, that authorizes the forcible abduction of any person or anything whatsoever, without claim of pro pt-rty, unless in aid of legal process. U. That 1 know of no btatute of Pennsylvania which affects to divest the rights of proper ty of a citizen of North Carolina, acquired and asserted under the laws of the State, because he has found it needful or convenient to pasB the territory of Pennsylvania. 3. That I am not aware that any such statute, if such a one were shown, could be recognized as valid in n Court of the United States. 4. That it seems to me altogether unimportant whether they w ere slaves or not. It would be the mockery ol philanthropy to assert that, because men had become free, they might theref?5ru he forcibly abducted. The Washington Union in a preface to tiie above propositions, remarks that ''it was long ago held by the supreme court of Pennsylv i . that the slave did not become emancipated : " the mere transit or even temporary^sojoo'-t c the master in i'euusylvnnta. it couia n? * > otherwise; for, if it were then that clause ofti.< constitution by which the States stipulate each to the other that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States, would he a mockery and a snare. The State of New Yoik has no more constitutional power to pass a law in a case, dissolving the legal tic of rnaiter and servant, as against a citizen of Virginia or North Carolina, that! it would have to pass a law to dissolve the bonds of matrimony, as a* gainst husband and wife in transit through New York."? Bultimore Patriot. Never Cross a bridge till you Come to it. "Xcver Cron a bridge until you ccmc to it /*' ! was llic counsel usually given by a patriarch in ! the ministry to troubled and over-careful ChrisI tians. Are yon troubled about the future?? ! Do you see difficulties rising in Alpine range j along your path? Are you alarmed at the | 6tate of your business?at the uncertainties : hanging over your life?at the dubious pros ipecb in reseive for your children?at the ! gloomy contingencies which fancy sketches and i invests with a soi l of life like reality?at the I woes which hang over the cause of the Re* ; decmer, or at any other earthly evil ? Do not i cross that bridge until you come to it. PerI haps )ou will never have occasion to cross it; : and if you do, you may find that a timid imagij nation lui9 overrated greatly the foil to be on: dcrgitne, or has underrated the power of that : grace which can lighten the Christain's every 'labour. In approaching the Notch of White i Mountains from one direction, the traveller finds himself iii the midst of conical hills, which sp-mi to 'urrouiul him as he advances, and folded fuither progress He can sco bilt a ?boi? b. tauce along hi-i winding roau; u seems as i. journey nnt.it slop abruptly at tlie base of iln. harries. He begins to think of turning l<?. Ins horse, to escape from hopeless enclosi among impassable barrios. Hot let him ? vance, and he finds that the load curves arour the frowning hills before him, and.leads bin; . to other and still other straits, from which I. finds escape simply by advancing. Every new discovery of a passage around the obstructions of his path teaches him to hope in tie practibiilty of his r.oad. He cannot see far ahend at any time; but a passage discovers it: self as he advances. He is neither required to turn hack, nor to scale the stc? p sides of toweling hills. His road winds along picserving for miles almost an exact level. He finds that nothing is gained hy crossing a Bridge before he comes to it f Such is often the journey of life. How much uf it> toilsome ruggcuncss would be relieved by careful jiitciti?>n So the above admonition ! JVtvcr cross a tndgt until you come to it! Or, to express the same counsel in a form that does not involve th* eiiargo of a Ilibeinirism, "Be careful for nothing; bu: in every thing, by prayer and sappMeation, with thanksgiving, let your reipiests he mad known unto God, and the peace of tiod,'which passeth ail understanding,'shall keep (ga-risnn your hearts and minds through Christ Jvmis " Indcptiuii nt. Next Governor.?-The Spartanburg Erpnss - ?l - I It notices the recent nominations or tne non. i. v. Withorspoon and 15. F. Perry; esq., and sij>: "We have nothing to fay against either cf these gentlemen: but for ourselves, if newspaper editors may be allowed to dabble in snchUmijpi, wo go for Hon. Daniel Wallace, and we bojn? that ho will no longer deny his friends the two of 1:1s L'.tne wLra the proper time comc;.w