A lady writes from Beaufort, S.C., as follows:
I shall just mention one little discomfort which has commenced under the prospect of Lincoln's Administration. Northern emissaries tell our negroes that they now have their friend at the head of the Government, and whatever they choose to do, whether to kill their owner and fire his dwelling, provision, and cotton houses, to do it and run away, and the President will uphold them in it, and send troops to their assistance should they be overtaken!! Now, we know that the President would not and could not do this; but they do not know it. They turn from their tempters now, and tell their owners these things. Some of these white men have been caught, confessed, and instead of being hung, punished and sent home. But how long will they resist the temptation of getting away from work, of being taken care of, and have their darling and besetting propensity offered them, of plenty to eat and nothing to do! You know how they would realize this!"
--This lady is quite right as to the peril she depicts, but wrong as to its source. "Northern emissaries" have not--why should they--braved torture and death to tell the Southern slaves what they cannot have failed to learn far more generally and reliably from their masters. There is scarcely a master's table in all the South where the election of Lincoln has not been canvassed for months as an apprehended triumph of Abolition--something that slaveholders cannot afford to submit to. Black waiters are standing about, with close mouths but open ears, drinking in all this, to be retailed, with improvements, in the kitchen and negro quarters. At length, Lincoln is elected--every negro is aware of the fact--and has heard what Massa says are the grounds of his election. At once, the masters and overseers propose to rebel against and fight the Federal Government because (they say) it is hostile to Slavery and intent on its Abolition. Four millions of slaves--ignorant, brutal, and averse to labor--are talking this over every night in their cabins. Is this a good time for a revolt of the masters against the Union? Should they not think of St. Domingo?
The following letter is from Charleston, from one brother to another in Northboro, and we publish the whole as an indication of the feeling toward the North, as well as the deplorable state of affairs in that city. The letter is dated Dec. 17 and is taken from The Boston Journal:
I never thought I should witness such times. We are in the midst of a revolution. Every man is enrolled--all kinds of business at a stand--no shipping in port--all Northern communication cut off--Custom House officers resigned their office--no cotton coming in. I have ten hands walking about, doing nothing--I have them to feed. There are twelve hundred drays in the city--not ten of a day get one load. All the banks stopped--our State notes out of the State not worth one cent. We are in a state of starvation--no meat to eat, even at twenty-five cents a pound.
I am in hopes the Abolitionists of the North will be paid in their own coin. There will be no compromise--it is out the question. The Lincoln party will commence as soon as he takes his chair, and we are all prepared for him. It is impossible for him to put us down--ten years' war can't do it. But if I had thought such times as these were coming last April, I could have sold my negroes for $30,000 cash, but now not worth $500. I am tired of writing; I am so much excited at present I cannot picture our situation. I have 35 negroes to find--drawing nothing. All the Boston steamers have stopped--the New York steamers all stopped.
The fact that daily grows plainer and plainer is that the Slave States are going rapidly to ruin as they progress in their secession movement. They must inevitably back down, unless the Federal Government and the Free States shall save them that trouble by backing down themselves. This outrageous and causeless rebellion having gone thus far, it would seem to be a pity now that it should be deprived of the poor privilege of exhausting itself. It is really of the greatest and most enduring consequence to know whether the nation called the United States of America is a sham, a humbug, a myth, or not. It has always been supposed to be a power of stability and consequence. It is fashionable now to deride it as a fabric without strength or cohesiveness, that a few unscrupulous politicians can pull down and trample under foot with impunity, and that absolutely holds its existence on the sufferance of a handful of traitors.
The room of the Historical Society was about two-thirds filled last evening with an audience curious to hear a Pro-Slavery Jewish Rabbi expound to them the principles of Christianity, and attempt to prove from the Sacred Word that the Savior sanctioned Slavery. He summed up the difference between Bible and Southern Slavery, by saying that in one case the slave was a man, and in the other he was reduced to be a thing. He said he wished to declare emphatically that he did not believe that Slavery, as existing in the South, was contrary to the law of God. In the course of his remarks he said that, in all fairness, the President elect was entitled to a trial. [Cheers] The loss of a Presidential election was a poor apology for a revolution.
It is said that Virginia is about to declare herself out of the Union, and to adopt formally and solemnly the great principle of South Carolina, viz: that the majority shall not govern. There is something curious, not to say comical, in seeing the Virginia of George Mason and Thomas Jefferson assume such an attitude. But we may be sure that she will never do it unanimously, and that there are thousands of noble spirits within her borders who will never bow the knee to this modern Baal.
The cry is sharp from the seceding States to save their loyal citizens from a military despotism. It is the programme of the revolutionists to crush out all opposition to their movements within the seceding States by whatever harsh and despotic measures are necessary to accomplish this object. Already in some of them laws have been passed to prevent seditious speech, and break up all efforts to resist rebellion. We may thus look to find the prisons of the seceding States, like the prisons of Italy under King Bomba, crammed with victims whose only crime is to desire to preserve the free government and free institutions under which they have so long and happily lived. This rebellion of the slaveholders is no revolution in behalf of popular rights; it is a revolution to crush those rights, and to establish a government based on military principles. It thus may very soon become a serious question whether the Free States are not likely to be involved in a war to preserve the cause of constitutional freedom on this continent, and within the limits of our own national jurisdiction. For whether the people of the North may or may not be willing to permit the establishment of a slaveholding Confederacy in the South, if it could be done in a proper way and under proper guards and limitations, it is too much to suppose they will prove so deaf to every dictate of patriotism, of justice, and of liberty, as to allow of the establishment of a military despotism in the South based on African Slavery, to grind the masses of the white people into the earth, while they yet claim the protection of a common Union and a common Government.
In conversation with an honest farmer, of Republican politics, he seemed not at all shocked by the secession of the Cotton States. In fact, he was not alarmed by the crisis. Why, said we, don't you think the country is going to pieces? "Oh no," said he, "not a bit of it. I am now getting old, and I have seen these Southern Hotspurs do a great many things of this sort, without harming the country." Yes, we replied, but this is much worse, they actually have seceded. "So has Nantucket seceded from the main land, but I never heard it seceded from codfish and mackerel. These seceders have gone out on paper, but do you think they want to abolish Slavery? Without the Constitution and defense of the Union, Slavery is gone, Sir!? But, we replied, they are going to collect the revenue on their own account. "Let them try it, Sir. I have seen a good many people in my time try to get round Uncle Sam, but never saw one succeed. I am not thinking of that, Sir. This nation is safe enough. But I am really thankful to these Secessionists for the good they have done." Good! Why, Sir, what possible good have they done? "In my opinion a great deal." They have done exactly what their own wise and prudent men said would be done in such an event. They have put the Republican party in power, when it could not have been done otherwise, and Lincoln will now have a fair chance to administer the Government on sound and righteous principles.
But these Secessionists have done more to be thankful for. They have united good and true men. They have given strength to the true lovers of the Union in the South; and, though they have been long dormant and trodden under foot by a disloyal faction, they will now come into power, and drive these traitors to their infamous doom. Lastly, Sir, these Secessionists have shown us the weak places in our Government, and we shall strengthen them. Not only will the traitors be driven out of power in their own States,, and the Union be made sound, but the Government and nation will be made permanently stronger. I believe Providence conducts all things for good, and this fiery ordeal is not for destruction, but for healing. It is a revolution; but a revolution which must have come, and which is essentially necessary to the prosperity and grandeur of this mighty nation. Negroes, Sir, are a small element in our progress, and, if there are those who hold them think otherwise, let them try the experiment. Time will correct the errors of a day, and misfortune cool the fervor of passion."
Such was the philosophy of our rural friend, and substantially we agree with him. Secession cannot be made permanent without destruction to the States which secede.