Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1847-06-30

"AA' ~ w AStAtiSd. w y seq IL Mttuoot ch'o.
ton, because h is done by our. children;
but posterity, looking back, will be aston
ished; Europe looking onwill be assound'
ed: Old Asia, waking up from long slam-
ber, aud seeing glimering light, and feei-
lag q Sc nial warmth, from new quartef,
will wonder what new Sun has risen across
the sea to restore him tosiife and ahima-
sion. sssss,t--5*.1z'
We had q great destiny ahead, and be-
yond the limits anu confines Of our own
inhabited country. At homo we have great
duties to perform, and some difficulties to
conquer. The Oregon question is settled:
he only mentioned il to Ifhank the people
for approving sthe settlement which their
rights and honor had required, and which
avoided uniusti6able war, though contrary
70 what they at first deemed right. One
war had been avoided, without q loss OF
rights or honor: another had fallen upon
US; and now, the question which met him
al every step was, when triH IL be finished &
Alas, he could give no answerl There
was time when be had an opinion: the
President approved that opinion. 1t was
founded upon combined movement Of
arms and Of policy nrmies-20, 900
under Taylor, 1900 under Scott, with a
mission of peace in. company--and the
sword to ba effective if the olive branch
failed. Policy and arms were TO be colnbin.
ed, and policy relied upon more ttlan arms;
and If thai plan had been adopted, he fully
believed that peace would have been restor-
ed in the month of April past, or this month
of May; and pence, not the mere cessation
of lighting, but restoration Of friendship,
commerce, social intercourse, and all the
sympathies Of republican brotherhood.-
Congress refused the appointment indispen-
slble 10 the success Of that plan; and now
he was without any means of forming any
opinion upon the probable duration Of the
war. - ~S ,7s,.z-.
Other questions, and of vital interest
demand our attention. The mode of elect
ing Presidential candidate is beginning to
attract the attention of thinking men.-
He could speak freely on the subject, for
he had so disconnected his namc from it,
as to enable him to otake his place in the
disinterested ranks Of the voters. He had
long since made knoBu his opinion-a
direct vote Of the people, and no interyen-
tion OF intermediate bodies to nominate be-
forehand, or to decide alternately after
wards, was his plan, "A, vote by districts,
and a second election, between the two
highest, if the first one failed, was the plain
and obvious remedy. A second election
between the two highest would dispense
both with nominating convention and
contingent resort to the House Of Represen-
sa.ives. No matter how many were
candidates in the first election: if any one
obtained 4 majority of the whole, then the
elective principle was satisfed-ihe ma
jority to goyern-and the election was
finished. it no one obtained such majority,
then the first election to be held a nouaina-
ton Of the two highest by the people, and
the election to be Immediately held over
again between those two. This would
bring the election to speedy conclusion,
and, without resort to intermediate bodies
IA national convention, or a House of
representatives leach daily becoming less |
acceptable to the people. tfe wished the
necessary reforms to be made ia tine-the |
constitution to be constitutionaliy amended, |
upon foresight and reason, before some
violent shock should do injury to the instru-
trent ITSELF to tho House OF Representa- |
tives, or to the nominating convention ~
But he was no architect of ruin: he did not |
pull down until he was ready to build up: |
he did not quit one shelter tho defective,
until ready 10 enter another. ,Fhe two
intermediate bodies which stand between
the people and the object of their choice
the nominating convention and the House
OF Representatives must stand as they are,
though at the great risk of frustrating the
popular choice, and bringing on CRISIS
until the hard lesson Of experience shall
induce the people to supercede them by
safer and better institutions.
A new slavery question has sprung up
--one which, aiscarding the old ground Of
defence and compromise, goes for propa-
gandisu1 in its most unqualified for,a, and to
the most remote and northern Territories
OF the Unioa. 1t is test which our north
ern friends-all the citizens of the north
who are willing to let things remain as
they nre-cannot stand. Those citizens
have done we'll. They have greatly quiet.
ed and softened down the abolition agita-
,ion. They have helped us through the
Texas annexation, although that question
was pushed at them by the Tyler cabinet
in WY to revolt them, purely and simply
ns slavery extension question, to give the
slave States mastery over the free ones.
'Fhey have just assisted in. admitting Flori-
da into the Union without struggle, and
without the agitation Of a Missouri eues-.
tion. and they are now assisting with men.
and money to carry to successful conclu-
sion the Mexican, war, although taunsed
with questions as repugnant to their feel
tngs as they are unnecessary. gratuitous,
and premature. Under these circumstances
Y is doubly wrong to starta new slave test
which no northern man sof any party can
ssand-which, if adopted at the south, must
lead Immediately to n political division,
similar to that which has, taken place; in
one Of the eharehesv-,he Methodist Epis-
copeland whieh prevents christians OF the
same country worshipping the same God,
from conmaninga at the same table: q test
which, if adopted in the slave States, mus.
put an end to the present organization Of
political parties, as founded on principle,
AHd introduce new. ones; bounded by geo
graphical lines. and resting on the sole
principle Of slavery propagandism such
as the Fathers of his country in his last part
ing voice, warned us against-and such as