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Show 26 DESPOTISI\I It is in vain that southern oppressors console themselves with ideas of the insignificance of those who make the first assault. They may ndiCule them as fools, fanatics, women. What of that 1 Does the result of an attack depend upon the prudence, or the wisdom of those who have volunteered for the forlorn hope 1 'Vhat matter who or what they are, those who rush blindly and devotedly upon the open-mouthed cannon, the leveled bayonets of the en?my? ,-rhcy arc but food for powder, and they know tt. In every great cause it is necessary that some should pensh. But if the cause be great, for one that falls, ten wtll be found ambitious so to suffer ! It is in vain we at the North, cry out that the contest is unseasonable and premature. It has begun ; 1t must go on. Grant that over-zealous and fanatical haste has precipitated a struggle whtch we would gladly have deferred, and slumbering out our own time in quiet, have thrust upon the days of our children. No matter. In this thmg we cannot have our way. The trumpet has ·sounded; the bold and unquiet arc rushing tQ the field. vYe may cry peace, pcace,-but there is no peace. Ftgl~t we must, upon one side or the other. rhe contest 1s begun already, and will soon become general. In such a strugglc there can be no neutrality. lt is time to be choosmg under which banner we will stand! 'ro every one at the North, Democracy is_ to som_c extent familiar. l\'lany have doubtless v1ewed 11 through a deceptive mcdiu~n, and have s~cn It only as it hJ>s.been reflected by 1gnorance, or dtstorted by prejndicc; all however have formed some opuuon about it and that opinion is founded upon knowledge either a~tual or imaginary. But Dc&potism, the despotism of the slave states, is a thing known at the north only by name, and in general. Few have seen it· fewer still have studied it; and the greater part a;c totally ignorant of its real charac~er. . Before enlisting, it is well to know the cause tn which we are to serve. It is the purpose of the fol- IN AMERICA. 27 lowing pages to exhibit the system of social polity ·established in the southern states, such as it is in its operation and effects; not in partic.ulnr and accidental instances, but generally, and by vntue of those law~ of human nature upon which the working of social and political institutions must depend. . . This inquiry is necessary for our own satisfactiOn. Without making it, how can we act. either reasonably or safely? Here is a question with two sides to it, and one side or the other, we must take. How can we choose without knowledge? Despotism may be an excellent thing, well entitled to our warmest support; but how can we know it to be s.o, without knowing what it is ? Yet are we stopped short, in the very threshold of this inquiry, by the threats and execrations of the sonth. Dare to inquire; dare look behind the veil that hides our private doings; dare question u's, or any of onr acts, and we dissolve the Union! Such an impertinence 'is lawful cause of war, and we will wage it! Indeed !--It is necessary then to weigh these threats. 'rhe Union of the States has been made the occasion and the theme of a great deal of unmeaning declamation. An idea seems to prevail, that excellent a thing as the Union is, the people, ignorant and short-sighted, may sometime take it into their heads to think otherwise; and therefore it ls necessary to create a prf!.judice in favor of the Union,-a sort of feeling for it like that feeling of loyalty, which has often upheld a throne in spite of the vices and the tyranny of him who sat upon it. Under a dcmoern.tie government, prejudices of this sort are not only useless, they arc highly mischievous; they arc bnt manacles and fetters put into I he hands of .the artful and designing, by means of which the people are bound, and shorn, against their h1terest, ilnd against their jnclgmcnt. 'l'he men who fOrmed the Union were neither better nor wiser than ourselves. Pnr cert:lin argnments , and reasons in its favor, they formed it; for ccrt.nin |