The Counter Current, or Slavery Principles [pp. 90-95]

90i THE COUNTER CURRENT, OR SLAVERY PRINCIPLE.
several routes too, part of the way) to the capital of any State
t have named, and before 1860 to the capitals of Minnesota
and Kansas too, most probably.
THE COUINTER CURRENT, OR SLAVERY PRINCIPLE.
The tendency of modern civilization is to beget one public
opinion throughout christendom. This civilization is itself the
outgrowth and result of christianity grafted on Greek, Ronian,
and Hebrew institutions, slightly modified by remnants of
tbudalism. In the past, all recur to the same fountains of
thought, on the subjects of law, politics, morality, and religion.
In the fine arts, as well as the moral sciences, the highest authorities are also found two thousand years back. This derivation of all thought firom a common source would, of itself,
in time, wear off national distinctions, and bring about sameness of character, of purpose, and of progress. The attainment of such conclusion is greatly facilitated and hastened by
the general freedom of intercourse and of trade, which distinguishes the group of christian peoples.
Men derive the prinples of science and the rudiments of
thought, in their youth, from the common fountains of antiquity, and when they arrive at manhood flock to the schools
of France, Germany, and Italy, to learn overfagain the lessons
of youth put into modern forms.
The moral, religious, social, and political wants of a people
thus educated, must be very similar, and even if they were
not, common thoughts and belief, radiating friom a few centres,
will in time wear off all marked institutional distinctions.
From these considerations we conclude, that the south, if she
continue to belong to the family of christian peoples, must
eventually model her institutions in conformity with the pract,ices and opinions of those peoples.
Since the period of the Crusades, when all Europe seemed
emptying itself into the lap of Asia, no spirit of propagandism
so intense and so wide spread, has been witnessed among men,
as that of the anti-slavery movement. Thirty years ago, it had
fastened convictions on the minds of all, and the quLestion of
universal emancipation had ceased to be one of principle, and
become one only of time, cofivenieney, and expediency. In
little more than a century the public opinion, which begat the
intense self-sacrificing zeal that distinguished the crusades,
ave place to apathy, and soon thereafter to condemnation.
Now, the same European christian peoples, who once considered a fillibustering expedition to Palestine, sufficient atonement
tbr the blackest crimes, look upon those expeditions as greatly