Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-12-12

DO the 6rst vietims-its first Magistrate cannot,
If he would, avoid the performance Of his duty
the consequences must be fearful for you, distress
ing to your fellow citizens here, and to the friends
Of good government throughout the whole world.
Ito enemies have beheld ssr prosperity with vex-
alton they could not coaeeal-it was shading
refatatioa Of their slavish doctriaes, and they
will point 70 our dseord with the triumph Of ma.
lignant joy tits yet - your power to disappoint
them. There is yet ti1ae TO show that the de-
scendants Of the Pinckaeys, the Sumpters, the
Rutleges, and of the thsssand other names which
adorn the pages Of your revolutionary history,
| will not abandon that Union, to support which, 90
! many Of them fought and bled and died. ad-
jure you, Is you honor their memory-as you leve
the cause Of freedom, to which they dedicated
their lves-as you prize the peace Of your coun.
try, the lives Of It's beat citizens, and your own
fair fame, to retrsce youe steps.
Snatch from the archives Of your State the dis
organizing edict Of its Convention-bid its mem
bers, to re-assembIs and promulgats the decided
expressions Of your will I'd remain in the path
which alone can conduct you to safety, prOsperi.
ty AID honor-tell them that compared To disu
non all other evils are light. because that brings
with il an accumulation Of sll-declare that you
will never take the field anIess the star spangIed
banner Of your country shall float over you
that you will not be stigmatized when dead,
and dishonured aud scorned while you live, as
the authors Of the FIRST artack on the Constitution
Of your country! Its destroyers you cannot BIZ.
You may disturb its peace-sou may interrupt
the course OF prosperity-you may cloud it.
reputation for stability-but its tranquility will
be restored, its prosperity will return, and the
stain upen its national character will be transfer.
red and remain an eternal blot on the memory Of
those who caused the disorder.
Fellow,ctizens Of the United States! The
threat Of unhalIo xed disunjon the names of
those, once respected, by whom it is uttered
the array Of military force to support it-denote
the approach Of crisis in our affairs on which
the continuance Of our unexampled prosperity,
our political existence, and perhaps that OF all
free governments, may depend. The conjunc.
ture demanded free, a full and explicit enun.
citation, not only Of my intentions, but Of my
principles Of action; and as the claim was as
serted Of right by State to annul the laws Of
the Union, and even to secede from it, at plea.
sure, frank exposition Of my opinions in rela-
ton 10 the origin and form Of our government,
and the construction give to the instrument by
which it was created, seemed to be proper.
Having the fullest confidence in the justuess
of the legal and constitutional opinion Of nv
duties which has been expressed, | rely with
equal confidence on your undivided support
10 my determination to execute the laws--tO
preserve the Union bv all constitutional means
TO arrest, if possible by moderate but firm
measures, the necessity OF recourse to force;
and, lift be the will Of Heaven that the recur-
renee Of its primeval curse on man for the she'd
ding Of O brothers. blood should fall upon our
land, that it be not called down by any offensive
A. E -
Fellow citizens! TIE momentous case is De.
tore you. On your undivided support of your
government depends the decision Of the great
question it involves, whether your sacred Union
ill be preserved, aud the blessings it secures to
Us as one people shall be perpetuaieJ. No one
can doubt that the unanimiiy with which that de.
cision will be expressed. will be such as TO IN
spire new confidence in republican institutions,
aud that the prudence, the wisdom, and the cou-
rage which il will bring to their defence, will
transmit them unimpared and invigorated, to
our children.
May the great Ruler Of Nations grant that the
signal blessings with which He has favoured ours,
NAV not, by the madness II party or personal
ambition, be dsresarded and lost: and may His
wise Providence bring those who have produced
this crisis. to see the folly, before they feel the
misery Of civil strife: aud inspire returning We
neration for that Union which, il We may care to
penetrate His designs, he has chosen as the only
means Of attaining theaigh dsstines to which We
may reasonably aspire.
In testimony whereof, have caused the seal OF
the United States to be hereunto affixed, hav-
ing signed the same with my hand.
Done at the City Of Washington this 10th day
OF December, IN the year Of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and thirty.tw0, aud
Of the independence Of the United States the
6fty-seventh.
ANDREW JACKSON.
BY the President:
Epw. LIVINGSTON,