Niles Republican, March 30, 1861

There is nothing stable or good on earth built upon a rotten foundation. Bad results must flow from perseverance in falsehood and error. There is no people on earth but can be taught to believe a lie if its reiteration is steadfastly continued for a longer or shorter time. Error is common to finite beings, and many possess a false pride which induces them to persevere in error, even though their country crumbles before them.

The republican party is founded upon error. It starts out with the false idea that all men are born free and equal. If this were so, holy writ would be a bundle of absurdities, and Jesus Christ an impostor—They construe this passage of the Declaration of Independence to mean negroes, and all other tribes of the earth. A greater absurdity never entered into the minds of men. By this they make out that Washington, Jefferson and the host of patriots that brought this government into existence were hypocrites, for neither of them ever aimed to make their slaves equal to themselves. It is certain that our fathers had in view the race of white men, the Anglo Saxon. This government was made for the benefit of the white race, to be governed by them and not by negroes or any other inferior race.

Another error is, that slavery is a great moral sin, and many believe the nation is to be cursed for it—that God will scourge them by fire and sword. This class of men believe that God foresees all things, regulates all things and shapes every thing to his own glory. Thus they will make out God a cruel and inconsistent being, for he led the old thirteen colonies to victory and independence, and, with a single exception, slavery existed in them all. If slavery was such an ungodly institution as many fanatics of the present day believe, how is it that God could establish such a government as this, when he knew a portion of it would be dedicated to slavery? Truly, these fanatics are wiser in their own eyes than God himself. They censure God and many of them kick the Holy writing under their feet, and even go so far as to give a reason why Jesus Christ (who came into the world to rebuke sin), did not rebuke slavery, but commanded them to be obedient to their masters. They say he was fearful of bloodshed and civil strife, thus making him out a coward. They censure St. Paul for sending back a runaway slave to Philemon.—Their whole fabric is on a rotten foundation. Nothing but clear plain truth can stand the test of time. Errors have ruined nations before ours. Blind guides have caused the destruction of millions of precious lives and filled the world with mourning. Nation after nation has been blotted from existence by falsehood and deception. The northern people have been led by political demagogues to believe a lie, and we now see before us a ruined nation. We see no more the glorious American flag unfurled in the seven States in this Union, and ere long six or seven more will have left to try their destiny with their southern sisters. We witness all these things with pain and sorrow. We cannot see our once glorious Union going to pieces without weeping at the sight. We cannot see it without calling upon every father to use his efforts to stay the wreck for the sake of his children.

We say the republican party of the North is founded in error. The crusade against the South is unjust, unholy and must result in our total ruin as a nation. God has a purpose in view in American slavery. It cannot be to pull down this great nation which he has blessed beyond all others, for he would be inconsistent. We see the good effects of American slavery on the African race. We see them among civilization christianized. We see American slavery sending back missionaries to Africa.—We see them much more happy in this than in their native clime. God['s] purposes are to send the Gospel to every creature, and prepare the way for the coming of the King of Kings. American slavery is more mild than any which has existed in all history. Behold this race—who can elevate the masses of them? Are they your equals, you republicans? God has not so ordered it. They can never be made your equals. Some men were born to govern, others to be governed. "The servant is not equal to his master."

We say the republican party rests upon a rotten foundation. It assumes that Congress has sovereign power over the people—that it must tell the people of all our national domain what they shall not havethat they shall not have slaves. The people are sovereigns, under our constitution, and it is for them to determine this matter. In the language of Clay, on this subject, "Congress must abstain, Congress must remain passive and let the people decide."

The republican party is in error inasmuch as it has departed entirely from the principles laid down in holy writ. The Pharisees thanked God they were not like other men. The republicans are Pharisees, pretending to great righteousness, set themselves up as models of perfection, intolerant, bigoted and impervious to truth. They see great faults in their neighbors, but cannot see their own. The leaders shout, "hurrah for freedom every where and equality," and the cry is echoed by their followers, as a thousand wolves will send back an answering howl to their leader, and with equal greediness they devour all before them. They have no respect for the opinions of their neighbors. They talk flippantly now of hanging democrats who do not agree with them, and suppose it would be as easy a task as it was to hang the witches of Salem.

The principles of the republican party are wrong in every particular, and carried out, must be fatal, and such men as Seward know it. They have obtained power under false pretences. They said they would prohibit slavery in the territories, and just so soon as they had the power they organized three territories, viz: Dacotah, Nevada, and Colorodo, and never attempted to engraft the Wilmot proviso in the organic acts—showing clearly their hypocrisy.—The South believed they were in earnest.—The South saw the powerful array against them. They heard their speeches and declarations, their slanders, and believed they would wage an "irrepressible conflict" against them, and when the government itself fell into their hands, they left them. It was a hard thing to sunder the ties which bound this Union together, and it was useless, too, for although they obtained power they dare not carry out their avowed principles. The government can never be administered upon any other than the principles contended for by the democracy, and Mr. Seward and Mr. Lincoln know it well.

They have already abandoned their darling project of Congressional prohibition of slavery in territories. They have adopted the popular sovereignty policy, and the South have nothing to fear. Let them but remain in the Union and all will be well, for the republican party rests upon a rotten foundation, and it cannot stand. It must fall. There must, and there will be a revolution in the North, and when it comes it will sweep like a whirlwind.