December 29, 1860 (Saturday)

"pustulous" character....

"This secession movement has been 'gathering head for thirty years.'  Like all sores of a 'pustulous' character, it was under the necessity of "gathering" and bursting:  and now that it has reached this point, there is hope that it will thoroughly discharge itself and that the patient may be cured.

Mr. Calhoun planted its seeds, and died disappointed because he did not see their fruit.  He tried to get the South out of the Union on the Tariff question, but failed.  He immediately started the Slavery issue as one that promised better results.  From 1832 his disciples have been watching for a favorable opportunity to secede.  They have found one at last...."  Mr. Rhett--'fire-eater', (Differences of Opinion in South Carolina--Why they Seceded" New York Times editorial)

"The right of South Carolina to secede depends upon her ability to do so, and to stay so.  If there is not wisdom and virtue enough in the land to rid the country of slavery, then the next best thing is to let the South go...and be made to drink of the wine cup of wrath and fire, which her long career of cruelty, barbarism and blood shall call down upon her guilty head. 

The God of history everywhere is pronouncing the doom of those nations which frame mischief by law, and causing a concussion...against slavery which would now rock the land. 

I fear the whines of compromise...and Northerners losing their 'moral sense' by desiring a 'peaceful disunion.' 
                    I want coercion
against secession, even by the force of arms!  [And if that never takes place] ...so much for the moral movement against slavery.  Hereafter, opposition to slavery will take a new form...slaves will run away, and humane men and women will help them; slaves will plot and conspire, and wise and brave men will help them.  Abolition may be postponed, but it cannot be prevented.  If it comes not from enlightenment...it will come from the fears of tyrants no longer able to hold down their rising slaves."  Frederick Douglass, abolitionist  (Cup of Wrath and Fire, by David Blight, New York Times narrative, December 28, 2010)