Reading Berks and Schuylkill Journal, December 15, 1860

It is much to be regretted that in the present crisis of our national affairs, the disposition of events will be, to a great extent, in the hands of mere politicians; and that the sentiments of the masses will be scarcely known. The present unfortunate state of public feelings has, to a great extent, been created by ultra men on both sides, while we believe that the great body of the people, North and South, love the Union, and would deplore its dissolution as the greatest of earthly calamities, and a death blow to the cause of freedom throughout the world.

The people of the South have been taught by their leaders that every man who voted for Lincoln is an abolitionist; hostile to the people of the South, hostile to their institutions, and bent upon their extermination. It would be well that these matters should be understood; that false issues should not be created, and made the pretense for revolutionary acts. In the case of South Carolina, it is not disputed, that it was averse to going into the Union, and while in it, has never been satisfied. That the State has not had its own way in the late election,—that the majority of the people of the United States have voted otherwise than was agreeable to South Carolina, may furnish a convenient excuse and occasion, for Secession, but the politicians of the State cannot pretend that it is a cause. While the border States have lost large numbers of Slaves, from the disinclination of the North to aid in their arrest, South Carolina has lost none, yet South Carolina takes the lead in disunion, and is endeavoring to commit the whole South to the same work.

In so large a party as the Republican, it cannot but be supposed that a great variety of sentiment exists. Voters must act with the party that comes nearest to their individual views in regard to the great questions of the day, and no party can, or should be held responsible for the opinions of the more ultra men, who belong to it, and who are always most solicitous to be heard. There are, no doubt, many who voted for Lincoln, who are entirely indifferent to the subject of Slavery, who have never given it any consideration, and have no particular views in regard to it, while, on the other hand, many genuine abolitionists may have voted the ticket,—though not the more rabid ones, for these refused to vote at all, and denounced Lincoln more bitterly than did any other of his opponents.

The great mass of the Republican party is to be found between these two extremes, and hold the conservative views so often expressed by Lincoln himself. Of these views the South has no right to complain.

There is no desire to interfere with slavery in the South. We recognize to the fullest extent,—and have done so throughout the campaign, —the right of the Southern States to regulate their domestic affairs as they see fit. In this particular every State is sovereign and independent. Pennsylvania has no more right to interfere with slavery in Maryland and Virginia, than she has in Cuba or Brazil. There is no difference of opinion on this point. The recommendations of the President on this point are simply superfluous.

Again, it must be admitted that all laws,—call them "Personal Liberty Bills," or by any other name,—which are hostile to the Constitution of the United States, and in derogation of its provisions, are null and void, and wherever they exist, should be blotted from the statute books. It is a part of the solemn compact between the States, as embodied in the Constitution, that fugitive slaves shall be delivered up to their masters, and any State laws throwing obstructions in the way of their capture, are in direct violation of the Constitution, and should, and no doubt will, be cheerfully repealed, whenever their incompatibility with this instrument is made apparent.

But, while we believe that the North will, willingly, do what is right towards the South, we trust that the South will abandon the system of outrage upon Northern citizens who happen to be within its border, which has been so disgraceful to its people, and has excited so much just indignation in the North; and above all, that Southern men in Congress will give up a style of talking treason which only makes those who use it ridiculous. The habits of language learned by commanding slaves, is not that which is best adapted to the discussion of great questions among equals. The people of the North are conscious of no wrong to the South in the matter of the late election, and with all regard for the rights of the South, and all desire to be upon terms of brotherhood with its people, would vote as they did, were it to be done over again to-morrow. That they owe to their self respect, and to those Constitutional rights, which they claim, for themselves, as they accord them to others.

It is sad to think that this great Republic, in the first century of its existence, and before the men who periled their lives that she might take her place among the nations of the world, shall have passed away,—sad indeed that our boasted Union should be but a rope of sand, and this great experiment of self government prove but a grief and reproach to the friends of freedom, and a glory to despots throughout the world. If the time has come when the stars and stripes shall no longer float over an united people, when the name of an American citizen shall no longer be a glory and defence throughout the world; if the good and great men of the nation can not heal the difficulties which distract the country,—if the hour of dissolution has come, then in God's name let us separate in peace. There should be no appeal to brute force. That government which does not live in the just consent and in the affection of the governed, is a tyranny. The hand of brother must not be arrayed against brother. In spite of what violent men of the North and South say the people of the North love their Southern brethren, and wish them all happiness and prosperity. The people have not forgotten their common brotherhood. If a dissolution there must be, let it be in love and kindness,—with tears rather than curses,—and the recollections of our lost strength, and lost glory, and the suffering of a common peril, may bring us once more together, with a true and lasting sense of the value of that, which in the exuberance of our prosperity, we so unwisely abandoned.