USA > South Carolina > Charleston County > Charleston > History of the New England Society of Charleston, South Carolina, for One Hundred Years, 1819-1919 > Part 11
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'Jeshurum waxed fat and kicked.' This is the history of mortal gratitude, written of old time. To attempt to tear down any established govern- ment and build it up better has, in all ages, been a fearful experiment, and has seldom failed to call down upon those who attempted it the horrors of. civil war, the tortures of the gibbet, the confla- grations of peaceful habitations, and ended in aggravating all the evils, real or imaginary, which led to the effort. Are we not at peace with the world, prosperous beyond every people on earth ? And yet fanaticism is busily lighting her torch, and demagogues are at work to take advantage of its baleful light to find their way to undeserved success. Look abroad upon other nations and we find even our unexampled success has proved no precedent for the oppressed of other nations. True, many a swelling heart has struggled to deliver the victims of despotism from their chains in vain. Their struggles have ended in despair. The blood of patriots has flowed in torrents, to no effect, and the chains of despotism have been strengthened again. The tree of liberty cannot be propagated by scions, however fresh from the parent-stalk, especially if inoculated upon the corrupt stocks of feudal origin. But planted in
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our own virgin soil, it has spread its branches over a whole continent of freedom. True it is that the devoted Pilgrims who committed it to our native earth sheltered it for long years of its early growth by their manly fortitude and often moistened its roots with their tears and their blood. Let the traitors beware who would at this day attempt the unblessed task of blasting its foliage or laying the axe at its root.
"All practical and successful government has been in some degree the growth of time, and has been accommodated to the peculiar want of those who framed it. A more theoretical per- fection has never yet characterized any known institutions of man. Can it be hoped that the dreams of enthusiasts, seconded by the heartless aspirations of demagogues, can ever frame a system better adapted to the American people than the one we now enjoy? We are at least under no obligations to hazard the experiment. The differing character of our population is itself the strongest reason for leaving the states uncon- trolled in their discipline and direction. No one can manage his neighbor's household as will he to whom it belongs. The attempt is unmitigated vanity and self-conceit, and its end is mischief.
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It is a spirit that would lead us into crusades to liberate the serfs of Russia, to restore her nation- ality to Poland, to heal the wounds of bleeding Hungary, to avenge the centuries of wrongs which bear down the genius of Ireland; to succor the wretches who toil in dreary mines and waste away in the crowded factories of England, and even essay the act of gallantry in restoring the beautiful victims of Turkish grossness and open the well- guarded door of the harem; and, in the mean- time, the North and the South, the East and the West, would become diverted from their avoca- tions, and all our present greatness and internal prosperity would vanish like a fitful dream. It is madness to attempt these fancied feasts of uni- versal benevolence. It is impious to anticipate the dispensations of Providence. Our own coun- try, our own homes, our own institutions are com- mitted to the various departments of our own government; let each revolve in the sphere assigned to it under the Constitution, and leave the rest to Him who is alone wise to direct.
"Our people are too wise not to comprehend and too accustomed to self-defense not to resist the first attempt to invade their rights. We feel no sympathy with the disorganizers. Free soil is
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a palpable cheat; all soil is free to those who will purchase or cultivate it. The true secret is in the sympathy of those whose war cry is, 'Vote yourself a farm'-subterraneans, who only crawl out at elections and wish to get that for their votes which honest men are content to obtain by honest industry. We see them stripped for a fight at the polls, but never at the plough or with the axe, which, if fairly wielded, will soon cut them out a farm. This equivocal cry of free soil is the assembly that is to rally all that is vicious and indolent and reckless, and we must rely on the sober and industrious and moral to withdraw their countenance and withhold their countenance. They are incendiaries, and we are ready to arrest their career and protect ourselves. We want no change; we will not surrender what we hold under the title of the Revolution and the guaranty of the Constitution-and we hold all who shall dis- turb us as enemies, wherever they exist, and recreants to their race.
"And now I conclude with this sentiment:
"The Land We Live in: The home of our choice, not of accident. Here in our native land, liberated from colonial vassalage by the united efforts of our ancestors, we have fixed our habita-
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tions and garnered up our hearts, secure in the sanctions of a common struggle for national inde- pendence and the guaranties of a Constitution formed by our fathers. We will preserve, pro- tect, and defend it with the same fidelity from foreign invaders or domestic traitors."
VIEWS OF DR. GILMAN
The next speaker is the Reverend Dr. Samuel Gilman, who was one of the most scholarly men in South Carolina at the time. This was also Dr. Gilman's last effort before the New England Society prior to his death in 1858.
"The North and South Poles of Our Country: Heaven grant that the true equatorial line be- tween them may be found right speedily.
"I rise, Mr. President, not as a politician, but as a clergyman-an American-a man-to respond to the sentiment which you have just announced. The sentiment, I observe, sir, is couched in the form of a prayer, and may on that account be sup- posed to appeal somewhat to my professional sympathies and sensibilities. And truly, sir, long as I have been in the habit of addressing myself to the Supreme Disposer of the Universe, whether as
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the public organ of a religious congregation or on my bended knees in the retirement of domestic privacy, never have I offered a petition to Heaven more deeply agonized with the inmost breathings of my heart than is my adoption of the words that have just fallen from your lips. With intense and painful anxiety have I watched the distrac- tions of our common, native country, and wit- · nessed the gathering cloud that seems to threaten her destiny. But amidst all the gloom and alarm occasioned by the array of contending parties, I cannot permit myself to doubt that some happy solution will 'speedily' be discovered for the difficulties that environ and perplex us.
"Twice, Mr. President, since you and I have resided in this cordial and graceful old city of the South, have we seen the horizon as dark as it is now, and the elements of general convulsion appar- ently on the point of exploding. But by the benignant interposition of our God and our fathers' God, and the exercise of that felicitous good sense, self-restraint, and mutual forbearance which, I rejoice to believe, essentially belong to the American temperament and the American heart, we have seen our country's reeling bark dash through the enclosing storm-wave and,
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righting itself, soon regain its accustomed track of steadfast and tranquil, though mighty, progress.
"It is true that the stakes, issues, and questions of those days, momentous as they were, sink almost into insignificance when compared with the grander agitations of the present moment. It is true that the length and the breadth of this North American continent, the control of the Atlantic and Pacific shores, were not then, as they now are, involved in the controversies that shake and try our Constitution to its center. But, sir, may not the very grandeur and extent of the arena constitute on this occasion our safeguard, and may they not by a sort of blessed vis inertiae harmonize, sway, and reconcile the combatants, just as the central attraction of the great globe itself draws to one point and one poise the most variant tribes that move upon its surface ?
"Yes, it is impossible that this Union can be dissolved-this Union which has begotten in the breasts of all its children a sentiment of mysterious and indestructible loyalty, that has astonished the world and baffled the calculations and extorted the convictions of the wondering minions of monarchy. All Europe has long been earnestly inquiring what is the meaning of that secret influence in our
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institutions that calls forth from the loftiest as well as the humblest of our citizens, although they may have been born thousands of miles apart and inhabit different climes, different zones, an en- lightened self-devotion and a prompt obedience to authority, which for beauty and power is not to be surpassed, not to be approached even, by the canine fidelity of the Russian serf to his emperor, nor by the frantic fanaticism of the oriental slave who bares his neck to the sword of a barbarian despot.
"Yes, it is impossible that this Union can be permanently dissolved. Even if, in a moment of irritation and misunderstanding, a separation should be effected, depend upon it, as God is true, some method and principle of reunion would assuredly be contrived. Our common general origin, position, language, religion, history, forms of government, manners, civil laws, habitudes, interests, necessities, worn channels of intercourse -all the categories, in short, so perfectly set forth in Washington's Farewell Address-must crystallize us into a certain unity, whether poli- ticians will it or not, and notwithstanding some disparities in manners and institutions. The steamer, the railroad, and the telegraph only con-
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cur with and more and more necessitate the action of these moral causes. A division would be like dividing the waters with your hand, only to rush together again in their former channel. Like that parted husband and wife of whom we have all heard, we should find it intolerable to live asunder, and we should prefer enduring one another's imperfections, excitabilities, and idiosyncrasies to the dismal stagnation of existing on alone. There would, there must, be still some new combination, some new confederacy, with new conditions and guaranties, it may be, and so framed as to avoid the embarrassments of the past. And in sketch- ing out this result, I do but reiterate the voice of the past experience and history of our country. What is our present Constitution itself but an improvement wrought upon the old confederacy, such as events and necessities unavoidably developed ? Can there be but one stage in our development ? If we have outgrown the existing Constitution-if parts of the system have become tight beyond endurance to either portion of the confederacy-is there no such thing as a new enlargement and accommodation of the enfolding garment ?
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"But we will not look toward even this alter- native. We will hope for better things yet. We still see in our national councils those giant spirits who have piloted us in other days through stormy seas, and who have the hand and the heart to do it again. So long as Webster, the type and genius of the East; Calhoun, the type and genius of the South; Clay, the type and genius of the West; and all three united, the type and genius of our Republic in its happiest phase so long as these men have a consulting voice in our destiny, is there not a large margin for hope ?
"Therefore, Mr. President, as I began these few remarks from your prayer as a starting point, so I am encouraged to close them with a prayer. It is that the Almighty would be pleased, of His infinite mercy, to visit this our land with the spirit of our own Washington, that he would enlighten, direct, unite, and bless our rulers and legislators, that he would carry to a successful termination the great experiment of self-government which He has thus far permitted to be here so auspi- ciously commenced; and that he would preserve and perpetuate our expanding union, so that by its powerful momentum the blessings of peace, virtue, good order, civil and religious liberty, pure
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and undefiled religion, may spread with their choicest influences throughout the world.
"And now, sir, to make some transition from these solenin themes to the more genial festivities appropriate to this occasion, I offer as a sentiment:
"Our distant and absent friends and brethren, members of this Society, together with the sons of the Pilgrims, wherever they are scattered over the land. Linked to them as we are by many a friendly and kindred tie, we recognize in this wel- come anniversary, next to the Union of the states, the strongest rivet to the chain."
OTHER VIEWPOINTS
At the annual celebration in 1859, two ad- dresses were delivered by members of the Society whose attitude was quite the antithesis of the two previous speakers.
Dr. F. M. Robertson's response was as follows:
"I have not been indifferent to the events and tendencies which have shown themselves during the past year. It is indeed a fundamental truth -as expressed in the sentiment from the com- mittee of arrangements-that the Constitution under which our Union exists is a compact
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founded upon mutual sympathy and good will between confederated states. Now I would ask you-I would ask this assemblage of the descend- ants and friends of the Pilgrim Fathers-does the same mutual sympathy and good will exist now that prompted the formation and adoption of that instrument ? I am sure you will answer, no! If not, then, it is a melancholy fact that the Union, which it represents, is virtually abrogated.
"I have long been an enthusiastic lover of the Union. Who, indeed, can deny that there is a romantic chain around Bunker Hill, Fort Moul- trie, Lexington, Camden, Princeton, Savannah, Monmouth, King's Mountain, Brandywine, York- town, Bridgewater, Lundy's Lane, New Orleans, and the daring deeds of our gallant navy that bore the Stars and Stripes triumphantly over the tempest-tossed ocean? But, in spite of all the hallowed associations, our safety demands that we should look facts in the face. The light of these glorious beacons which, come what may, will continue to burn with unextinguishable brightness but serves to show more plainly the indelible lines of alienation that are becoming deeper and wider every day. Yes, they have already been traced in blood. I must speak the
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truth plainly, not in anger, but in sober earnest. I have been reluctantly forced to the conviction that slaveholding and non-slaveholding states cannot longer progress harmoniously under our present Union. The latter have too plainly and unmistakably declared that their form of civili- zation is radically, totally, and irreconcilably antagonistic to ours. This is the issue forced upon us. We must look it full in the face, meet it now, and decide it now.
"If not out of order, I will make a professional comparison, which may not be an unapt illus- tration of our present condition. Our body politic is evidently very sick-very sick indeed. Now I propose, with your permission, making a sort of clinical examination of the patient, by which we shall better understand the case and the grounds of our diagnosis as well as prognosis. The human frame is said to be the perfection of mechanism. It is governed in all its beautiful and symmetrical movements by a set of nerves which spring from within the cavity of the cranium and spinal column. These are distributed to all the tissues, organs, and muscles. These impart vitality to every part. But, in order to insure harmony of action for the common good of all the organs,
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each of which, to a certain extent, is independent in the performance of locomotion, respiration, digestion, the circulation of the vital fluids and nutrition, there is another set of nerves having infinite ramification, and which unite with the former and are sent to all the organs to harmonize the action. This assemblage of nerves is most appropriately called the ‘great sympathetic nerve.' When any part of the system becomes deranged, it is by the sympathetic action of this nerve that all the other organs feel the shock, and nature is aroused to a united and combined effort for the restoration of health. A destruction or disease of this sympathetic nerve leads to dis- orders that are fatal to the harmonious action of the system; disease, decay, convulsions, and death are often the results.
"Upon this very principle is our Union founded. Each state is a separate and inde- pendent organ, acting for itself; but for the mutual protection and the common good all are united under the Constitution, the great sympa- thetic nerve of the Union. This is the seat of all our trouble. The functions of this great sympa- thetic nerve have become paralyzed in some of the organs of the body politic, and it no longer
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responds to that sympathetic action which is essential to health and harmony. If this derange- ment progresses, of which I have no doubt from present symptoms, political inflammation, con- gestion, gangrene, and a final sloughing off of this unhealthy portion will be the result. Then will there be, not only a virtual abrogation of the Union, but its inevitable destruction.
"It will probably be said that I do injustice to a large portion of the people of the non- slaveholding states, who are conservatives. I wish I could be convinced that such is the case; no one would make a more ample and uncondi- tional apology than your unworthy speaker. I have many dear and warm personal friends in the non-slaveholding states whom I esteem and respect as highly as I do those around me. The descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers, among whom are some of our best citizens, who are identified with us in sympathy and interest, who have become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, require no eulogy or defense from me; we know them to be true to their adopted state; nor do I feel the slightest personal ill will toward those who do not think with me upon this great ques- tion. I would, tomorrow-yes, this very night
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-peril my own best interest to shield them from a lawless mob or illegal prosecution, believing, as I do, that they are the deluded victims of a strange hallucination.
"I know I shall be pointed to the great con- servative meetings in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. We have too often seen the shadow without the substance. We are taught, by high authority, to judge of the tree by its fruit. 'Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles ?' Such demonstrations only cost a little eloquence and a few huzzahs for the Union. These con- servative meetings, which appear to be a peri- odical spasmodic gasp in certain great cities, and perfectly impotent with the masses-they cannot resist the torrent. 'Let us hear from the ballot-box.' Without the substance, these demon- strations are but 'sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.' The great mass of the people are anti- slavery, the majority anti-slavery and Black Republican, and a considerable portion out and out John Brown and Garrett Smith abolitionists, and all are tending to the same point. If you were to listen to the disputes of the doctors about yellow fever, you might conclude from the argu- ments of some that there was only now and then
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a genuine case of yellow fever to be found: they call some cases ephemeral fever, some break-bone fever, and some acclimation fever. But these are but different forms of the same disease: all are yellow fever. Just so with these anti-slavery men, Black Republicans and abolitionists-it is all the same disease. The only difference is that some have gone into the black vomit stage a little in advance of the others. The ultra-abolition ranks are filled up from the Black Republicans, and the Black Republican ranks are recruited from anti-slavery men.
"It is a painful fact that, in spite of these repeated conservative meetings, the abolition sentiment and party have steadily gained ground from year to year until, through the ballot-box, in union with their allies, they now control almost every non-slaveholding state and have sent over one hundred Black Republicans to the national House of Representatives, more than sixty of whom have endorsed and contributed to the cir- culation of a book calculated to kindle a servile war in every slaveliolding state. These are facts. Can such men legislate in that spirit of mutual sympathy and good will which gave birth to the Constitution? No, never! never! The
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vital spark has fled. They have virtually abro- gated the Union which it represents.
"We have stood by the Constitution in every trial and are still ready to stand by it; but if the people of the non-slaveholding states have deter- mined that their form of civilization cannot progress under the provisions of a compact which recognizes and protects us as slaveholders, and are ready to repudiate the Union, be it so. They will have a fearful problem to work out. Those who sow to the storm shall reap the whirlwind. We shall quietly organize as a Southern confed- eration, and with a firm reliance on the God of Nations provide new guards for our future safety, and 'hold them as we hold the rest of mankind -enemies in war; in peace, friends.'"
Colonel James H. Taylor responded :
"We have chosen our habitation with the people of the South. Here we have reared our families and erected our household gods. Our children, born and educated here, know no other home. Our dead are mingled with the dust beneath the magnolia and the pine, and all that we are and have is bound up in the welfare of the South. We look forward-a gloomy pall seems to be settling on our prospects and our hopes, the
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bearers of which are our own Northern brethren and friends. It is impossible for us to disguise the fact that the sentiment of the Free States is hostile to our institutions. The leaders of some of the political parties of the North have an- nounced that an 'irrepressible conflict' between free and slave labor has already commenced; business relations are interrupted; social inter- course has become tinctured with bitter feeling; Christian charity has lost its power over the hearts of many who profess to be governed by religious principles, and the evidence before our eyes is clear and unmistakable that the doctrines which have been taught in the pulpit, from the rostrum, in Sabbath schools, and by the fireside -that slavery is a sin which should be removed from our land by every hazard-are now produ- cing their bitter fruit in lawless aggression, violence, and death. This state of things cannot endure. Will the conservative sentiment of the Free States be able to roll back the tide of wild fanaticism which finds its root in the conscience of a people ? Never, for the conservatism itself is rotten at the core. Not one, perhaps, of all those men who would thus sweep back the ocean of abolitionism with a broom but are conscientiously convinced
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that slavery in principle is wrong and that the institution is an evil. They do not-they can- not-stand on Southern ground in regard to first principles; and therefore their opposition to the whirlwind among them is looked upon with indif- ference, if not with contempt. Let us look back a little, and we find in 1832 the first lecturer- one Arnold Buffum, a Quaker-traveling over New England and presenting his doctrines wher- ever he could procure a place in which to speak. He found then no friend to his cause. In many instances he was publicly insulted, and nowhere was he favored or followed. Behold the change! Abolitionism has become aggressive. The pulpit and the press in too many cases are debauched to its support. Fanaticism has burst over all restraint and with headlong fury has dashed itself against the sovereignty of one of these states in the wild hope that there was no foundation beneath and that our social order and system would go down in wild confusion and destruction. Blood has been shed-that sacred thing hallowed in olden times as a sacrifice has been poured out; and, strangest of all, through the Free States come up on every side notes of sympathy.
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"But I must pass on; enough has been said to indicate my opinions upon the nature and tend- encies of the principles that have brought about the present condition of things. Believing that an 'irrepressible conflict' has commenced and has almost reached its culmination, we must be pre- pared for the crisis, or I would rather say the results, of these contending forces. There are but two alternatives: the one to remain in the present Union, gradually yielding to the pressure that is upon Southern institutions until these shall be so crippled, confined, and smothered as to perish by atrophy, leaving the body politic without vigor or life; or, asserting our rights, assume the dignity of independent states, and then organize a government upon a principle that will recognize harmony in all conditions of labor and under all the arrangements of a wise, overruling Providence.
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