i .. .1. 4 .% . . . 4 . . . . ' . , <>.‘ , • . ..• A .. ... .. ... .. . . : 4 • . 10, . . ... . . . .. .. . . . . -. ......- ~ . . .. . .' . . .. . . •. :.. .. d- • ... C - 11 1 . . . ..... .. • ~:•,',,,...',... -: ~_. t 4.,, . _ .. .. . ~. 4, ..1 0 ., ,„, N - . • ... . ... . ‘. ',.... ..%:: ••••.. r .'" ,„, :::' ' ::: .to '' .:. ''' . . . . ~. .. , . . C **ll\ . • . ' O r ' . . . . . . ~. .... . r :•...... ' ~ . . GENESEE EVANGELIST.—WhoIe No,. 770- fotitg. THE PALSY OF THE HEART, BY RICHARD MONCKTON MUMS. I see the worlds of earth and sky, With beauty filled to overflow; My spirit lags behind the eye— I know, but feel not as I know: Those miracles of form and hue I can dissect with artist skill, But more than this I cannot Enjoyment rests beyond the will. , Round me in rich profusionne Neotareous fruits of knolent mind, The thoughts that have HQ power to die In golden poesy enshrined And near me hang of later birth, Ripe clusters froin the living tree, But what the pleasure, what the worth, If ail is, savorless to me? ' I bear the subtle chords of sound, Entangled, loosed, and knit anew; The music floats without-around— ;Bpt_L,ill w not eniez an 'W d imbue: • hile harmonies difter still, Sweet greetings, appellations dear, That used through every nerve to thrill. I often hear, and onlytear. Oh dreadful thought t if by God's grace To souls like mum there should be given That perfect presence of his face, Which we, for want of words, call Heaven, And unresponsive even there This heart of mine could still remain, And its intrinsic evil bear To- realms that know no other pain. Better down nature's scale to roll, Far as the base, unbreathing clod, Than, rest a conscious reasoning soul, Impervious to the light of God. Hateful the• powers that but divine What we have lost beyond recall, The intelleotual plummet-line That sounds the depths to which we fall. ivotqattbmet. For the American Presbyterian. THE JVSTIOE OF GOD.—No, 2. Men have hard thoughts of God for sending the sinner to hell. I hive often heard them uttered;: and who has not? Bat, through sin, every sinner will be his own tormentor. Why then should he not have hard thoughts of himself, and harder thoughts of sin? Despite of all that God has said and done, he will drink the poisonous gall that will torment, him in eternity. The. Judge of all the earth does right. He lets the obstinate, determined rejecter of Christ, and despiser of sal vation, eat of the fruit of his own ways, and be filled with his own devices. He lets, him reap what, in his own desperation, he would sow. God would have snatched the cup of death from his mouth, even after his lips had tasted the poison, but be impiously dashed the hand of mercy from him; and, with, contempt, turned' his back upon him who would have been his Saviour. He even treads under foot the Son of God, and does despite to the Spirit Of .grace. Mercy would have saved him, but mercy;was despised. Mercy was• abused and Set at naught. Hell is dreadful, but he would not let God save him. Heaven fs glorious—indelsoriOkbly ea—but the bleeiting, Weeping, pleading Jesus could not persuade him to go there. Hell is dreadful in' the extreme; bill he makes it 80, and would go there. Again, Christians are afflicted, plagued,. and absetened in this life—is it right? It is . the very best thing God. can do for them. I know , it is not joyous to them now, bat it is often• very grievous; yet it is' working out for them the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It is refining and preparing them for the heavenly jerusalem. The hotter the furnace, the purer the gold which has been tried in it. The most precious metals are not refined without the most intensely hot fires. So, he who is to be refined and fitted for the city of OUT God, and to be great in the king dom of our Father, must pass through fiery trials. No ordinary trials will suffice. The great charac ters of earth and of heaven are tried characters. -It would have been needful for man to be an en tirely different being from what he is, in order to be great without trials. Man untried could never have been bettellAthan a great heavenly babe l —an almost good-for-nothing. While I-fear and trem ble, I bless God that he has permitted the intro duotion of sin, and all the trials consequent upon it. Through all the temptations and trials of this world, is the royal and the glorious way to hea venly and eternal greatness. It is a way that is worthy of the only wise and merciful God. Peter says: "Beloved, think it, not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but re joins, inasmuch as ye are partakers of the suf. forings of Christ; that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." Again, he says : "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be' fund unto praise and honor and glory at the ap earing of Jesus Christ." James can add: "My rethren, count all joy when ye fall into divenr emptations [trials;] knowing thia, that the trying of your faith worketh patienee." Paul also says: "Whoin the Lotirloveth, he ohasteneth; rind scourgetb every son whom he receiveth. .If ye. be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." Men ()hasten and correct their own sons whom they would save from folly and sin. They act kindly and wisely in doing so, So our Heavenly Father, in love and mercy, corrects and chastens all his children. God often makes the wrath of men and deVils praise hiny, by securing the spiritual and eternal good of ' his afflicted ones. Satan may bind a daughter. of Abraham eighteen years; but God only permita him to do so for her good, and when the best time shall oome, that daughter shall be free. God will loose her from her infirmity, in spite of Satati As God reigns, when Satan has done his Worst, lie can only further the highest interests of Christ's children. "All, things work together for their good:" Rom, viii. 28. There are no exceptions to this promise: To the eye of sight, all things may seem to be against them, like Jacob: Gen. xlii. : but really they are all for their , good. The wrath Or men and devils will only furthir God'a great purposes of love. Millions may be grievously oppre.ssed, every right may be strieken down, the virtuous may be in want, while vice goes in silver slippers, and with the wrong-doer and the oppressor there is power•,' does the Judge of all the earth do right? Yes; though we can only see it through a glass darkly. We may only ace the wrath of man combined with Satan. We may think and say many bard things; and had we the power, we would suddenly hurl the wrong-doer and the oppressor from his seat of power In our zeal for the right, in the spirit of James and John, we would, like Elijah, "command fire to come down from heaven and consume them." The man Who tramples down the rights_of his fellow, or who pours out liquid poison and death to a fallen bro ther, should instantly be blakted. When we of what bribed judgei and legislators do, our indig nation may scarce.know any bounds; and had we the power, they should speedily be hurled from the offices which • they disgrace. Had we the power, right should be done to nations and to individuals, and tyrants Should no longer be known on earth. But the Lord is doing all things well. He needs none of our wisdom, our counsel, or advice, and certainly he is just as merciful as we._,:He knows the best time to arrest all evils, and when that time arrives it shall be done. No sooner—no later. God is accomplishing greater ,good by per mitting the evils, which we so sadly deplore, than if he had stayed them. AIL! he is wiser than we. The wrath of - man; We - lever or however it niay be exhibited, will never be permitted to de any thing more than accomplish the great purposes of his love and goodness. God will see that exact justice is meted.out. .He is not in so great a hurry as we, but it shill be done at the very best time. ".The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice." But why have so many nations been left in all the darkness of heathenism for more than forty centuries? Why have so, many generations passed down to the world of spirits unwarned and un saved ? Is it justice ? Is it right? I acknow ledge that this is the darkestchapter in all, the book of God's providence; cannot even see through a glass darkly; and yet I believe that eternity will throi light on this chapter; yes, eternity will make it all light •' But for the pre sent, we can only say: "Even so, Father, for•so it seemeth good in thy sight" Bat we know that it seemed good in his sight, because it was, really the best. But how? We 'know not; and shall not attempt to penetrate the veil, and reveal what God has not revealed. Filth Wyk: - it 'is best; . "its is tight; and -rt what thou knowest not 'now, thou shalt know hereafter." As God , has invariably done right in all the eternity that is past, so he will do right in 'all the eternity that is to come. As the Judge of all the earth, he will mete out exactjuStice to every one. All shall receive right at the Judgment No one will have cause to fear there, unless he'fears right, Ind is unwilling that it should be done. The holy have nothing to fear, but every thing to expect from their Judge: The unholy will have every, thing to fear, and nothing to etpect, for in vain will they hops for any injustimf to be done. The sinner has cause to be alarmed only on account of his sins; and not because God is Judge. "The reward of his hands shall be given him"—nothing -more— nothing less. That which he sowed, that shall he also reap. He who has taken Jesus for his wisdom—his righteousness—his sanctification—his redemption -his all and in all-L-has nothing to fear. He now iiiTs to t;vii, and - he - can leek-forward to all etel , . pity and fear no evil. The dark clouds which seem to threaten the world alarm him. not, for•; he knows that his Father is on the throne. He dwells on high—his place of, defence is the munition of rocks—hence, like the eagle perched above the storm y , he ean.,look down with perfect composure, for he knows that it cannot come nigh him. steadrsoul can fear no more Than solid rocks' wheis billon"s roar." He can with all his heart rejoiee - that God is just; for in and through Jesus . he fears not jus , tine; no, he only wants, justice. But the poor rejecter of . Christ, and despiser of salvation, has every thing to fear, and nothing to hope froth justice. Justice will overwhelm him. To him right is truly fearful. DR. R. J. BRZOKINRIDGE'S FAST- DAY DISCOURSE. Nir.e give the greater part of this discourse-which was delivered' at Lexington, Ky., on the 4th. of January. The first and greatest of these evils that we be seech God to avert, and that we should strive with all our might to prevent, is the annihilation, of the nation itself, by tearing it into fragments. Men may talk of rights perpetually and outrageously violated; they may talk of injuries that are obliged to be redressed; they may talk of guarantees with out which they can submit to no further peace; and there is doubtless much that has force and ranch more that is captivating to ardent minds in such expositions of our sad condition; for what problem half so terrible was ever agitated upon which it was not easy to adVanoe much on every side of it? I will not consume the short time al lowed to me in examining such views. What I assert in answer to them all, is that'We have ovei who:dining duties and,incalmilable interests which, dictate a special line of conduct, the chief aim , of which should be the preservation of the Ame rican Union, and therein of the American na tion. To be more explicit, it seems to me that' there are inestimable bleisings connected with the pre servation of our National Union, and• that there are intolerable .evilsti t tivAved. in its destruction.. For the blessings—there is the blessing of 'peace: amongst, ourselves; there is the blessing of free dom to ourselves and to our posterity; there is the blessing . of internal prosperity secured by that peace and.freedom.never before excelled if attained by any people; there is the blessing of our na tional independence, secured by our invincible strength against all the powers of the earth com bined; there is the blessing of our glorious ex ample to all nations and 'to all ages; there is the blessing - of irresistiblepower to do good to all peo ple, and to prevent evil over the , face of the whole earth; - there is the blessing of an unfettered*Gos pel, and an open. Bible, and a divine Saviour, more and more manifested in our whole national life as that life deepens and spreads, subduing and pos sessing the widest and the noblest inheritance ever given to any people, and overflowing and fructify ing all people besides. It is the problem sought io be solved from the beginning of time, and, to say 'the least, the nighest approximation made to its • solution, namely, the complete possession of freedom united with irresistible national force, and all directed to the glory of god and the good of man. And this is that glorious estate now de clared to be in fearful peril, and which we are called tipon to beseech God to preserve unto us. On the oilier hand, the evils of rending this nation: Which of the blessings that I have enume rated:---and I have enumerated only those which appeared to me to be the most obvious—which of these is there, peace, freedom, prosperity, independ ence, the glory of our example, the power to do good and to prevent evil, the opportunity to give permanent efficiency all over this continent, and in a certain degree all over this earth to the Gos pel of`God; which of these blessings is there that may not be ntterly lost to vast portions of the na tion; which of them may not be jeoparded over this whole continent;' which of them is there that may not , depart , for evermore from us and our pos- . terity in the attempt to destroy our oneness as, a people,. and ,in the results of that unparalleled self-destruction? Besides all this, how obvious and how terrible are the evils over and above which the,very attempt begets, and which our af ter progress must necessarily make permanent if that attempt succeeds. I. We have already in curred the perils of 'universal bankruptcy before the first aet is achieved by one of the least im • - portant of the thirty-three States. 2. We have al ready seen constitutional government, both in its essence and in its' form trampled under foot by thee op/Lib/di/id of that State; and all the powers of sovereignty itself, both ordinary and extraor dinary, assumed...by it in such a manner thsi •life, liberty and property have no more security in . South Carolina than anywhere under heaven Where absolute despotiini or absolute anarchy pre vails except in the personal characters of the gen tlemen who hold the power. 3'. We itage'already seen that small' community preparing to treat.with. foreign nations, and, if need be, introducefareign armies into this country, headlong in the -career in which shedisdains all counsel, scorns all con sultation and all entreaty, and treats all tieS, all recollections; :all existing engagements and oblige tions as-if her ordinance of secession had not only denationalized ; that , community, but ...had ex tinguialied all its past existence. 4. We see the glorious flag of this Union. torn down and a Colo mid flag floating in its plate; yea, We see that cold munity thrown into parokysms of, rage, add the cabinet at Washington thrown into confusion be cause in the harbor of Charleston our national `flap. instead of being still further dishonored ; yet - floats over a single tower. What then, did they expect who 'sent to the harbor of Charleston ? to occupy the national for tresses there, the son of a companion of Wash ingtotik a hero whose veins are full of revolution ary blood and whose body is covered with honor 'able scars,'won in the service of -his country? Why did-they send that: Kentucky hero there if they' did not intend the place they put into his hands to be kept to the last extremity? But I need not enlarge upon this terrible aspect of what is coining to us all if the. Union is de stroyed. These are bet the beginnings of sorrows. The men and parties svho initiate the reign of law less passion,Jarely escape destruction amid the storms they. -create, but are unable' . to . pontrol. Law comes from ,the depth of eternity, , and in its sublime sway is the nexus of the universe. •In stitutions grow; they are not made: Desolated empires are never restored; all history furnishes no such example. If we desire to perish, all we have to do is to leap into ,this vortex of disunion. If we have any just conception of the solemnity of this day, let us beseech God -that our country :shallnot be torn to pieces; and Under the power of these so lemnities let us quit• ourselves like men, in order to avert that most horrible of all national calami . ties. Let• us consider, in the next place, those rights, as they are called, by means of which, and in their extreme exercise, all the calamities that threaten us are to be brought upon' us at any mo ment; nay, are to he so brought upon us,, that our destruction shall be perfectly regular, perfect ly legal, perfectly' constitutional. In which case a system like ours, a system the most enduring of all others, whether we consider the-history of the past, or thelaws which enter into its composition; ~a system the hardest of all other to be deranged, and the' easiest of all to be re-adjusted when deranged, Such 'a system is alleged to have a secret in it, de signed ekpressly to' kilt*srlihtc cttimi-efl the smallest fragment of :it: I, allude.to:the claim. of the right of nullification, and the claim, of the right of secession; as being Constitutional rights; and desire to explain myself briefly in regard to A.coordin my apprehension, there, is a tho rough and fundamental difference between the two. The power of nullification, supposing it to exist, would be an extreme right within the Union, and is necessarily temporary in its 'effects and promptly tends to the termination of the' difficulty upon which it arises. Bat even in its extremest form, it bears no pro portion mischief to the doctrine of Secession. Considered in its true and original form, I judge it to be- ndispensable to the preservation of our political system; and that the opposite mode of interpreting our political duties, and, rights, and remedies terminates in subjugating the States to the General Government, and in subjugating both the General Government and the exposition of every political principle to-the Supreme . Court of the United- States. The former system is natural and permanent, the latter is absurd, and invites rebellion. this great phenomenon has occurred in this conntry, that, by, reason of the extraordi nary-ability of some of the advocates ot the sys tem which- passed away. in 1801, it has assumed a new form and a. new life in general opinion, and seconded bythe peculiar constitution of the Su "preme Cdurt of the United States, the Old Re publican or Democratic notions upon this great subject, though constantly triumphant in the coun try, have been constantly disallowed in the in terpretations of the Court. I judge that the doc trine of secession is an extreme reaction against, this Federal interpretation of 'the relations of• the States to each other and to the nation. For when you, arrive at an-interpretation-which is final, and hateful to immense - parties and interests; and there is no remedy but arms, secession, or abso lute submission; the expression of the popular will against the interpretation you -have made, brings society to a: condition, that in an excitable rice and amongst afiree people, can hardly be eit peeted to be , safe or easy to be managed: You have, therefore, this perilous and, extraordinary claim of the right of secession under this extreme JAMES KNIRIt !reaction, differing absolutely from the idea of the old State Rights party, and differing absolutely evert.from nullification itself. t --` Secession is' a•proceeding which beginsty tear- bag to pieces the whole fabric of Government; both social and political. It begins by rendering all redress of all possible evils utterly impossible under the system that exists, for its very object is' to destroy- that existence. It begins by provoking war, and rendering its occurrence apparently ine vitable and its termination well nigh impossible. Its very design is not to reform the administra tion of existing laws, not to obtain their repeal or modification; but to annihilate the institutions of the country, and to make many -nations out of one. If it is the Constitutional right of any State to do this, then we have no national Govern ment, and never had any. Then, also, it is per fectly idle to speak of new Constitutions, since the new Constitutions can have no more force than the Constitution already despised and diso beyed. Then, also, the possibility is ended— ended in the very theory of the case, and illustra ted in the utter failure of its practiee--of uniting Republican freedom with national strength in any country or under any form of government. But according to my belief, and according to the universal belief of the American people but a little while ago, no such right, legal or constitu tiortal,'as,that of secession, does or can exist un der any Minn of government, and least of all un der such institutions as ours. And, first of all, no State in this Union ever had any sovereignty at all, independent of, and except as they were, United States. When they ,speak of 'recovering their Sovereigiaty—when they speak of returning to their conditidn as sovereigns in, which they were before they were members of the Confederacy called at first the-. United Colonies and then. the United States; they speak of a thing that has no existence—they speak of a thing that is - hietorically without foundation. They ;were not States; they. were colonies of the Bri- EWLAKL - PtuA,,,..TKRS:DAt;FEERuiRy i _:'g:IsOt • tish, the Spanish, the French;the'llutchGevern ments;, they were colonies , - gritogogity,. Rofel charter to particular individuale Otarticrilar coin , • the property 'ponies. Pennsylvania was theresta , the property of William Penn; Georgia,thistlarger part,Per haps the whole of it, of' Gen: Oethorpe. They Were settled under charters to individuals - and to companies—settled as colonies of, foreign kings and States by their Subjects; as Such they revolt ed; as such, before their revolt; theY,unitedin a Continental Government more Cr iless complete. As such United ,Colonies, theyprimounced that fa mous Declaration of Indepottddtke which,' after en `heroic struggle of, seven fa* , dill tis Uhited -Colonies, they made good. . - '4 That great Washington who* that *eat war, was the Commander-in-Chief for and in,behalf =of these United Colonies. As stick they were born States. The treaty'of peace,: that made them in dependent States, was conchidedawith 'them `alto-gether as the United • States.. !:Whittoievereignty did Kentucky ever have except the sovereignty that 'alio hits :is a State of the United States, born at the same momenta St ,of the American Union and a separate stave - rel.: ' ti'? 'We were a district of• Virginia. 'Wei , • - • . ;:a' Stattyaitd 4 we became' one of the Unite. • ' -a -Ittothti , lunge moment,' for' the same ' per"' , and ' for 'good and 'What I mean by thltifitt te,point out the fact that the complex 'System otgovernuterdwhich we have in this °angry, did always, deesliow; and in ,themature of the ease, naneticonteMplate these States as, united into a common Government, and that common Government as, rfally:a part of our Political system, as the partic u lar institutions of the separate'sovereighties are part 'of 'our politi cal, system. - And while; as :you= will. obserie, I have attempted while repudiating• the doctrine of nullification, to vindicate th' doctrine int State rights,which, es ',firmly beliettityie an integral'and indispensable part of our political system, ; yet on the other hand, that the'-doctrine that we are a nation, and that we have a riatiOnal gOvernment, is, and, always was, just as truly-a part of our Sys tem as the other. - And our-volitical system - al ways stood as much upon thegbasis that we are a nation, ,as it stood upon the flasia , that that nation is composed of sovereign They Were born into both relations; so bor*that • each State'-i's equally and forever, by forewcif its" very existence; and the manner thereof, 1 ''..104-a, part of= this Ame ripen nation and - also• a soVereign_ State of, itself. The people, therefore, , em,n6 , more legally throw off their national allegiancettfian they can legilly throw off their State allegiance. ' Nor can any State any mere legally 'absolve: the allegianee of its people to the nation than the nation can le gally absolve the allegiance - Atte .by the people to the. State they live in. Either attempt, considered" in any legal, in any Constitutional; in any histori cal light is pure madness. ':.: - , Now the pretext‘of founding the right of se cession upon the right to change or abolish the government, which is 'ConitiftttionallY secured to .the people of the nation and the States, seems to me--and I say it wish all-die respect due te others —to be both immoral andibsurd: Absurd, since they who claim to exercise it are, according to the very statement of the case; bet 'an 'insignificant minority of those in whom 'the, red right re sides. -It is a right vested by God and recognised by our Constitutions as *ding iii the greater part, of those who are citizens 'Under the Consti tution "which they change!Cr abolish. - Bid, what in the name' of ' God, and `ll` - the 'possible and all the imaginable arrogance i f Carolina" South could lead her to believe that-s pis _the major part of ii ) all the people . that profeSaiallegiance to the Con staiitro-a o thetriii f -Ala i m t is ha. ral, because it is trifling/4'th the sacred .rights of tetlitits others, with the most` soleinn obligations on our own part, and : the most vital'ititerests of all'con cerned.- Audit is both immoral .and 'absurd in one, because can political pretett, its use in this manner invalidates and renders perilous and odi ous, the grandest contribution of modern' times to the science of governinent, and therein - to the peace of society, the security, of liberty and the progress of civilization; namely, the giving Con stitutional validity to thin natural right of man• to change or to abolish the government under which they voting, liby when, the` Major part" see ~fit to deso. It is trifling with this great natural right, legalized in all our American Constitntions, fatally caricaturing and recklessly converting' iti into the most 'terrible engine of organised legal destruction. More than that; it is irepossible, in the very nature of the case .and iii the very na ture of the government, that any such legal power or any such Constitutienal right could exist,;, be cause , its existence presupposes law to have Changed its nature and to have beconie a mere de vice; and presupposes government, to have changed its nature and ceaeingkft be -a permanent ordi nance of God,,to becortre alemporary instrument of evil the hands - inactions as, they success ively arise. Above all L placei under heaven, no such right of destructidif can exist under our American Constitutionspaince it is they that have devised- this very remedy of voting instpd of fighting, they that have made this natural right a Constitutional right; they that have 'done it for the preservation and not' the ruin of society. And it has preserve% it .for more than seventy years the noblest forth of rhuman society, in Con stant security; and it could, if justly exercised, preserve it. forever. , . * * *. It may confidently be as serted that- if the' poier of - nullification, or the power of secession ' or both of them, were per fectly Constitutional rights,-neither of them should be, under any circumstances, wantonly exercised. Nor should either of them, most especially the right of secession, ever be exercised except un der extreme necessity. But if these powers, or' either of them, is a Mere usurpation founded upon no right whatever, then no:State way resort to re bellion or revolution. without, in the •first place, such a just and. necessary : cause as may not lie otherWise•maintaitte ,-or, in the, second Riede, without-six& a prthi -of successcaa justifies the evil of rebellion ' or 're ittion; or else slid:intole rable evils as justify the niost *operate atteMpts. Now it is my profound 'conviction that nothing has occurred, that nothing _exists, which justifies, that revolution which has occurred in. South. Caro lina, and' which Naha only 'to f:4' impending- in other Southern States. ' - . Beyond all doubt, nothing has occurred of this description, connected with any other interest or to pic, except that of negro slavery; and connected with that, my deep assurance is, that the just and necessary cause of 'the slave States; may be other wise maintained' than by secession, revolution or rebellion; nay, that it may be incomparably bet ter maintained otherwise; nay, that it cannot be maintained in that way at all, and that the -at tempt to do so will be fatal as regards the avowed object, and pregnant 'with incalculable evils be sides. In such discussions as these, the nature of the institution of slaverylis. perfectly immaterial. So long as the'Union of the States survives, the con stitutional guarantee and the Federal power, which have proved adequate for - More than seventy years, are'that much added to whatever other force States or • sections may passe'ss 'to protect' their rights. Nor is there, in thearsature of the - case, any reason why States with slaves, and States without slaves should not abide together in peace, as portions of the same great nation, as they have done from the beginning. The unhallowed passions of men, the fanaticism of the times, the mutual.injuries and insults which portions of the people have inflicted on each other, the cruel-use which political parties have made of unnatural and transient popular ex citements, and, I must aAd, the unjust, offensive and unconstitutional enactments by. various 'State Legislatures akthe 'North; the repeal of •the - Mis souri compromise by Congress; theuttempt of the Supreme Omit to_Settle political principles deetned IA be of vist impoitance by all parties,iti the'Dred Scott caSe, which •principles , were not' in the case at ali; the subsequent _conduct of the Federal Governments and of the people in karma • the to tal overthroir'of the Whig and American parties, the division and *defeat of the Detimeratic party, and the- triumph of the Repuhlican party; the ordinance of secession of South Carolina; the agitation periading the whole nation L especially the greater part of the Southern States; and .to Crown all and if 'possible, to - make , all desperate, the arriazin b c , conduct of the President of the United States - amidst these great disorders. This is the aad,outline of the slavery agitation, the posture of which for a momqnt is thus, exhibited, no one knowing_how.soon new; 'and fatal steps may . hurry us`still farther." Whatl assert in the face of'so much that is painful and full of peril, and what'll confidently rely will be the verdict of pesterity, is,that alLthispterrible as it is, affords no justifi eatioii,for the secession of any single State of the enion—iione for the disruption of the American Union. All that the South has to complain of, terrible as it ia, afforda justification for - the se cession orinlY single State U. - 4 -'"Ttiny L*ltivinagPtiii t iaviil tndirlf 'no remedy; for the, evils from which' theyffee., They Who' goad others to this fatal step; : will; find „that they have themselves erred exceedingly They Who - have had the kid in both anti of inadness have no hope Tor-geed frari coming agea,:half se great as thattliey anay'he utterly' forgotten. PosteritY will receive with scorn every plea that can be Made for thirty,millions of free people, professing to be "Christian, in extenuation of tho,unparalleledfolly of their self.'destrUction, by reason; that they could 'not deal successfully with three or four riaillions-clf African SlaireS, scattered •aniongst" their'. Oh! everlasting infamy, that the children of Washing lon Aid Tpat,knovillo*.to, be,free. , Oh Idegrada tion.still,,deeper, that the children. of God - did not know' how to be just and to forbear With one another : - It , Said,-Wciw Over ' it is now tob late. The evil is alrea4 done'. .South `Carolina has already ,gone; Florida r it is ,most jilrely, went yesterday, or will go . to day, even_ while, weare pleading with one anothei:, and with God,'iO put a better mind in her. Soon, it may be possible' Within the pre- MI6 month, all , the Cotton' States= will go. it is added ; by reason 'of being a slave,State, must ,also go. Our destiny, they_ say, our interests, our duty, our all is bound:up with, theirs, and we,must, go_ together. . The'reply to Which is various; First. The tn,- stitution Of slavery as it exists in this country presents a threefold andi very distinct aspect. First, the aspect of it in those States whose great staples are rice, sugar, and cotton, commonly, and well enough ,expressed by calling thetia the cotton States. • Then the ripest of it presentedby thOse States.in portions of which 'those fabrics are raised; and im other portions' of which they are not,whioh we may well, enough, call th‘ mixed portion: of the slave States. And then ita,aspect in •those slave States which are notp reducers of those great staples in the midseof which, and out of which these great commotions• come: What I assert is, that the re lation of slavery to the comMunity, :and -the rela tion of the commanity-hy reason of slavery to the General Governs ent and the world, is widely different in all three of these elassesof States. The relation of slavery . to the 'community, to the go:- vernment and to our future, in Kentucky , in Vir ginia, in Maryland, in Delaware, is widely different fromthe relation of slaveryin all these respects, in Louisiana, in South Carolina, and in all the other cotton Stites. :Jo •thauxicantijue, alep4he relation is different from both of those,'whisieinit what I have called the mixed States; in Arkansas; part bf: which is a-farming country, and 'a part of which thoroughly planting; in Tennessee,- part cotton, and the eastern part a Mountainous- and farming country; in Texas" and North Carolina., where siMilar facts exist; and; perhapS, in some other States. what .r desire is that you 'get the idea I have of the matter; that While it is- true all, the slave. States have . eertaim ties and sympa thies between them which are real, and ought not to be broken, yet, on the other hand, it is ex tremely easy to carry this idea to a fatal and false extent, and .to ruin ourselves- forever under the illusion-begotten thereby. In Kentucky the-in stitution of slavery exists about in the proportion of one slave to four white people, and the -gap be tween the two races is widening at every census. In South Carolina there are about five slaves to three white persons, and the increment is on the slave side. The state of things .:I have sketched, necegsarily produces a general resemblance indeed, because slavery is general; but, at the same. time, _innu merable diversities, responsive to the 'very condi tion of slavery, of its products,,and of its relative influence in thubody politic ire tht 'different slave' States. And you never committed a greater folly than you will commit, if, disregarding these things you allow this single consideration—that you are a slave State—to swallow up every other uonside ration, and control your whole action in this great crisis. We, in Kentucky, are tolerant of opinion. Inform yourselves of what is passing of an oppo site character throughout South Carolina, and re _fleet on the °hank that must pass on .you, before you would be prepared to tear down the Most -Ve nerable institutions, to'insult the proudest embleins of your country's glory, and to treat constitutions and laws as if they were playthings for children; before you are prepared to descend from your pre sent noble posture, and surrender yourself to the guidance, and dictation of such cow:Lids and such Statesmen as rule' his disunion movement. Nothing seems to me more obvious, and nbthing is more important-to be pressed upon your attention - at this moment, than that the, non-eotton States stand a position radically, different, in all respects from the position in which the cotton Stites stand, both. with 'regard to - the institution Of slavery' and with regard •to the balanbe Of the nation. The re sult is that all these States, the cotton States; the mixed States, and the non-cotton slave States, and the free States, may enjoy peace, and may enjoy prosperity under a commongovernthent, and in a common Union, as they,have done from the beginning; where the rights of all and the - interests of all. may be' respected .and protected, and yet where the interests of every portion must be regu lated by some general Consideration of the interests which• are common tp everybody. On the other hand, in a confederacy where cotton is the great idea and end, it is utterly; impossible for the mixed, much more for the non-cotton States; to protect adequately any of their rights,-except the right of slavery, to carry out any of their purpoies-exeept purposes connected with slavery, to inaugurate any system of policy, or even to be free, otherwise than as they servilely follow the lead, and bow to the rule of, the cotton States. The very instant VOU enter a confederacy in which all is regulated and created by the supreme interest of cotton, everything precious and distinctive of you is jeoparded. Do you want the slave trade re-opened ? Do you want free trade and direct :taxation? Do you want some millions more of African cannibals thrown amongst you brbadcast throughout> the whole slave States?' Do yolk .w o ant to •begin a war whieh shall end when you have taken possession of the whole southern part of this continent, down to the Isthmus of Darien ? l eyotir design is to accept the principles, pur poses and policy which are openly avowed in the interest of secession, and which you see exhibited on a small scale, but in their essence, in South Carolina—if that is your notion of regulated free dom and the perfect security of life and property; if that is your understanding , of high national pros perity, where the great idea is more negroes, more cotton, direct taxes, free imports from'all natione, and the conquest of all outlaying land that will bring cotton; then, andoubtediA-Kentucky.is no longer what she has been, and her new career, be ginning,. with secession, leads ,her far, away from her strength and her renown. The second suggestion I have to make - to you is, that if the slave line is made the line of division, all the slave States seceding from the Union, and all the free States standinz , united by the Union; what I assert in that case is, that the possibility of the perpetuity of negro Slavery in any border State terminates at °nee. In our affected teal for slavery, we will,•= have taken the most effectual means of, extinguishing it;. mid that in the most disastroui of all possible ways. On the Contrary, if this Union is;to be saved, it is by the cordial sym pathy Of-the bOrder States' on the One side ant on the other side of the 'slave line that- it imist be. saved. We hitve, nothing to hope for from the ex treme. States on either, side--- ; nothing from the passionate violence Of the extreme, South—nothing from the turbulent fanaticism of the extreme North. It is along that slave line and in the spirit of miitual confidence, and the , sense of COMMIS, in terest of the people: oh the * North and on the South of that line that the nation must seek the instru- inents of its safety. It is Ohio, Tampa Illinois Pei;inSylvania, ,Neiv Jersey, on the 'dile side: and Iltillin * dMialiiiii.; 4- cite:ilkAK:l4*k*, MS- It• Sonti=Godlsend thit I'might add;- , in • confidence . Tennessee, and 'North:Carolina, on the other aide: these are the. States. that are competent to save this 'Union. Nothing, therefore can be more guidelal than for ' the'border slave States to adopt • any line of oondliet whieh can justly deprive them of the sympathy and confidence of the border free States—now largely possessed by them. And nothing is more certain than that, a patriotic devo tion to. the Union, and a willingness to do all that Ifertorablnteen'should do, or Moderate men ask' in order to , preserve it, is as strongly prevalent at this Moment amongst the;people o'f•the border free States as among those of the border slave States. * * * *_ If, tinder the curse of God, and the madneas - a the extreme Northern and South ern States, the:preservation of the Union should . he itnliossilile, then it belongs to this'iMmense central polVerto reconstruct the 'cation upon - the slave line as its central idea, and thus perpe tuate our institutions, our principles arid our hopes, with 'An - Unchanged nationality. Fdr even they who Set in 'the :mere interests of Ski-cry, ought to see, igatiffei the seeeksion:of ,Ihe .cotton States, the bor ' ave States are obliged even for the sake o cry, to be destroyed, Cr to adhere to the Uni as long as .any 'Union exists ; and that. if - the Union were utterly destroyed, its reconstruc tion upon the slave -line IS the Solitary condition on which slavery can exist in security anywhere, or can exist stall in any border State. * * * * My unalterable conviction is, that the slave line is the only permanent and secure basis of a confederacy for the slave States, and estiedially for the border slave States; and that the Union of free and slave States, in the same confe deracy, is the indispensable condition of the peace ful and secure existence, of shivery. As to the pOsSible isolation of Kentucky, this also, it, seems to me, is not a result to be sought. If it should occur as the alternative to evils still greaterißen tucky ought to embrace it with calmness; and dig nity, and awaiting-the progress of events, show by her wiidom, her courage, her moderation her in vincible rectitude, both to this age and to all that ' are - to come, how fully she understood, in the midst of a gainsaying and backsliding generation, that no people ever performed anythinc , glorious who did not,trust in God, who did not love their coun try, and who were not faithful to their oaths. It seems to me, therefore; that the immediate 4inky of Itconeky may clearly bp stated in very few words : 1. .To stand by the the Constitution and the Union of the country to the last extremity. 2. To prevent; as for the Moment, the impending and immediate • danger, all attempts to reduce her, all attempts to terrify her into the taking of any step, inconsistent with her, own Constitution and laws; any step, disregardful of the Constitution and laws of the United. States; any step which can possibly compromise her position or draw her on otherwise than by her own free choice, deliberately expressed at the polls, according to her existing laws and Con stitution, whereby slid will choose her own destiny. 8. To settle on her heart that the rending of this Union on the slave line is, for her, whatever it may be for others, the most fatal issue that the times can have, and the doing this.in such a way as to subject her to the dominion of the cotton States for all time to come, is the very worst form of that fatal issue. After all, my friends—after all, we have the great promise of God that all things uhall work together for good to them that' love him. I do not know but that it may be the mind of God, and histlivine purpose, to break this Union np, and to make of it other nations, that shall at last be more powerful than *unitedly, would, lire been. I du-not know, I do not pretend to say,'how the Lord will use the passions of men to glorify his name. • He restrains the remainder of wrath and will cause the wrath of man to praise. Him. We have His divine assurance that all nations that have gone before us, and all that will follow us, and we ourselves by our . , rise, by our progress, and, alas! by our decay and ruin, are but insuu. ments of His infinite purpose, and means in His adorable'providence, whereby the everlasting reign of Messiah the Christ, of God is to be made ab solute and universal, 4IF Great, then, is our consolation, as we tremble for our`country, to be confident in our Tiordl Great is our comfort as Vie bewail the miseries which have befallen our, glorious inheritance, to know that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth ! Infi nitely preeious is the assurance, amidst the trials now impending, and the woes Which threaten us, that the heroic self-devotion with 'which our per duty is discharged,,is one part of our, fitness to become partakers of the inheritance of tho saints inhit g • TOUCHING INCIDENT DE rtrmandA- TtON The follotiina old soldier's story is.told by the Wishington correspondent of the Philadelphia Press:— • A few days ago I met an old soldier who was one of the garrison at Fort Moultrie during the Nullification war. Then, not only Forts Moul trie and Sumter but also Castle Pinckney, were in possession of the United States troops. Be sides, several men-of-war were in the harbor lying under the guns of the forts. General Scott was the commander of all the forCes. My informant, belonging to the company of Captain Ringgold,- who afterwards fell a here on the battle-fields of Mexico, narrated to me the followingtouching in cident of that memorable and unfortunate rebellion, which I will give in his own words : "One night," he said; "we perceived the whole horizen over the city of Charleston painted with a gloomy red, which increased in brightness every minute. At first we believed that the Nullifiers were amusing themselves with large bonfires, but when the skies grew redder and redder, it became apparent that the city was on fire. Whilst standing and quietly looking, we were aroused from onr reveries by the arrival" of Captain Ringgold, who immediately ordered the company to fall into line, without arms, and marched to the landing. Unfortunately, however, the tide was very low, and the boat lying high and dry. He jumped into the boat and or dered us to carry it into, the water, which we did. We then started in the greatest- hurry, passh2g various United States vessels 'and posts, who, on hailing us, received as answer:'Captain Ringgold's company, going to the rescue of Charlestoo. 'Pass on,' was the sole reply. - }When near the city, the captain gave strict order.to be as quiet as possible, that we might not be heard; for he did not trust VOL. V.--NO. 25.—Whole No 242. the 'Charlestonians, as, only a short time before, they had driven a United States company out of town, which then had gone to Castle Pinck ney. The wharves, however, were foniaken, and not ann visible. We marched in the direction of. the 4re, and soon came on one of the squares where fire was. A large number of people were p who immediately surrounded us. Seeing - 1 1 Without arms, and suspecting the pur pose o..four ',coming, they immediately gave vent to the . ; ; Ot boisterous hurrahs for Uncle Sam's soldier:.., Captain Ringgold approached one of the fort uten of the . fire-engines, asking him, as his men iv4lpropably fatigued, to' his soldiers work, • 1 '4 . 6 request was immediately complied With. We worked as bard we could until four o'clock in 'the morning. The inhabitants, soon after we commenced working, sent us large quan tities -f refreslunente, The danger being over, Ringgold' ordered us to leave, and' we Ina •;..' down: to the wharves. But before we •et there, we were stopped by a crowd of en, who insisted'that we should follow o anodjoining restaurant, where the tables ;read with the best things that could be had. `en left under the cheers of the assembled m Thus did. our forces fight the Charles- . . .The old soldier, when he closed, biped his eyes. His patriotic heart remembered Olden times ' when the same demon of disunion, but less fearful than now, threatened to destroy our glorious Union. lie was then a. young man—he is gray now. "But," said he, ."in spite of all that, I would, even now, if England , or any other foreign nation should thr‘teu South Carolina, shoulder the mus ket again, and march tol her rescue. Her in ha:pitants,-though misled by traitors and demago -gites; are still our brethren. No secession ordinances can sever are ties which so long have united us. There are yet Union-lovina people enough amongst them. The hearts of the people cannot be divided." OUGHT MINISTERS TO DISCLOSE CON- Not many-months since, the Rev. Dr. Patter son, a Presbyterian clergyman of Chicago, received from a lady connected with his congregation, a vcduntaiy, Written confession of guilt. That such confession had been made, reached the ear of the aggrieved party through the offender herself. A trial was about to come on, and Dr. Patterson consulted counsel as to the course proper for him to take. He was advised that such a confession was . noi privileged, and that on the trial he would be compelled to produce it. Under this advice, he permitted its contents to be disclosed to the party who was to call for it on trial. By,a large portion of the secular press, this con duct of Dr. Pitteison has been visited with bitter denunciation. He has been charged with "vio lating the confessional," and an issue being framed in- which the supposed culprit was the prosecutor, and he the defendant, he has been found guilty. For ourselves,,we are disposed to object to this result. The term " Confessional," to our Pro lestant ears, is . somewhat new. The Common Law, framed by men who held the casuistry of Rome in as deep detestation as they did her usurpation, -recognised no confessional sanctity whatever. What was told the confessor, had to be told in court. If these reverend personages refused to answer,"they were put in jail until they did, and the cases were rare in which this discipline was not effective . Within the last few months, as we observe from a debate in the House of Commons, the same. principle has been reiterated by the QueertZs Bench, and has been vindicated by the ,government in the fabe of the-jeers and hoots of Ole Irish brigade. And thd , same is the law in every American State where a statute to the con trary does not exist. Perhaps it is well for the morality of the coun try that such is the law. To say that confessions made to clergymen should be excluded, would be to interpose a clog in the way of the detection of crime scarcely less effectual than to say that the results of post-mortem examinations, or the evi dence of by-slanders, should not be received. Confession is an almost indispensable condition of crime. Guilt cannot keep its own counsel. Pro vidence has given it this ear-mark, as if to secure its detection, and to refuse to use the prevent ive, is to license the crime. Nor: is it safe to public morals to open a public reservoir for confessions, inviting every one to throw his burden upon it, and telling him that everything placed there shall be sacred. Such 7, process is like the artificial digestions the Roman gluttons managed to secure, by which they could eat eight or ten dinners with only the ordinary in conveniences of one. Let a man have a confes sional into which to ease himself immediately af ter committing a crime, and he will at once be fresh and bright to commit another. None of the little pangs:of remorse will disturb him. All these he will deposit in his confessor's ear. The craving to let the secret out will be satisfied, and the se cret out, he will be a revived man, ready to mur der or -rob . with a lighter heart, as well as a more enlarged experience. What Providence designed if we may so speak, as a check on crime, is turned into an engine for its promotion. No Protestant clergyman, we apprehend, should receive a confession without notifying the party tendering it, that neither in law or morals can such a confession be held sa.cred. If a confession be notwithstanding made, then, in case of gross pub. lie crime,, a clergyman receiving it is - bound, as would be any other citizen, to discloie it, so that the crime may be punished. And in no case can he refuse, when duly called on in a court of jus tice, to state whatever information he may have received. I recently visited Merj Ayun, but did not go as far asHasbeiya, as 'none of our people, and indeed node of the - people:of qle town are there, except Druses and Jews. I fund great destitution in the Dkerj. Hundreds half naked and half starved, were crouching amid the ruins of their former houses, without a shelter above them, and scarcely a rag, or an old mat between them and the around. I was able to extend the charity of the Anglo-Ame ricant Relief Committee, to about 1,400 of the most destitute, and shall probably return next week, to take further supplies of money and clothing. I found the people attentive to hear the word of God, and whenever an opportunity occurred for worship, at a slight notice, quite a large number would as semble. True, the most of them are like the mul titudes in the time of our Saviour; seeking the hived that perisheth, and crowd around the mis sionary from motives far from pure or spiritual. But such opportunities for turning their thoughts to the Bread of Life, are often favourable, and may be the means of saving some. Yesterday I re turned from a visit to Tyre, where over two thou sand of the' Refugees from Hasbeiya; and its vi cinity are crowded, into the miserable little town, almost outnumbering its inhabitants, and many of them suffering from disease, nakedness, and from the damp and dirty hovels, in which they are lodged. Active measures are being taken fur their relief, and one of the physicians sent by the 'king of Greece, is administering medicines to the body, while our faithful helper from Rasheiya--t —el—Fukhar, is there to minister to their spi ritual wants, as well, as to direct the distribution of clothing to the naked, and nourishing food to the feeble-and needy. This increased intercourse with the people, and the opening of new doors of access to them, makes me feel more than ever, how very weak and inadequate is the missionary force now in this field, and how feeble are the efforts, put forth by our churches for this land, in propor tion to the magnitude of the work to be done. MESE FESSIONS ? SYRIA From a Missionary Letter. Epis. Recorder.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers