The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-01-07

have uniformly acted toward each equal to equal.
Our compacts with the great confederacy to which
belong, and every member of it, have been
faithfully kept in letter and in spirit Neither by
Legislative act, nor otherwise, have we withheld
from any citizen Of the Union the rights which,
under the federal compact, are assured to him. To
this day of complaint has been given; nor,
90 far as know. has complaint been made against
Indiana by any State in the Union.
ssAbove all, Indiana recognizes the imperative
duty, by every good citizen, of obedience to the
laws of the land.
"Whatcver difference of opinion may exist as to
the late Compromise measures enacted by Con
gress; however ultra men in the North or in the
South may oppose denounce them, there Is but
of action for the patriot to pursue;
and that Is, unhesitatingly and in good faith to
carry out their enactmcnts.
'There is no safety for property, for liberty,
for life, except in the absolute supremacy of the
law There is no higher duty of the citizen than
to maintain, by word and deed, that supremacy.
AS we value the heritage, rich beyond all price,
purchased not with silver gold, but with the
life's blood of the good and brave-that heritage
bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which we in
turn, must bequeath invioate TO our descendants
let bear in mind that the first public act of dis
obedience to law is the first fatal step the down
ward road to anarchy.
"The Constitution of this great confederacy.
written on parchment, may be rent asunder, if it
be not written also the hearts and affections of
the people 1t is written We love, we
respect tive give it our highest sanction, alike for
the sake of the sacred principles, guardian of hui
man liberty, embodied in its provisions, for the I'M
numbered blessings we have enjoyed under its
rule and in memory also of that band Of great and
good men who conceived and established it, This
truth should be understood by people, that this
Union cannot be preserved by force. If it could. it
would not be worth preserving. The bonds and
ligaments that bind US together are moral and not
physical. Our glorious Union is one Of consent and
not of force tits Union of confidence, of trust, of
love, and of affection When these gone, the
Union loses all its attraction and value.
&c At no hour of our history have we required,
more than at the present, an infusion into our
councils of that spirit in which the articles of our
confederacy first conceived. As representa-
tives, as citizens of Indiana, citizens of the
United States, we have difficult, delicate, import
ant duties to perform Foremost among these is
the obligation to oppose, by every lawful means.
that spirit of factous fanaticism, alike suicidal
wherever it has birth, which insidously assumes
the garb, in section, Of philanthropy in
Their Of State rights By speech, by action by con
cesson, by forbearance, by compromise, by the in
iuence of moral suasion and the strong power Of
kindness; by each and all Of these means let
seek to alay the spirit of lawless misrule; that
spirit which insalis each mans opinion the arbiter
of constitutional rights, which coolly estimates
the value of this Union, and looks with steady eye
separation of these Sates-the certain herald
Of bloodshed and a thousand horrors-a separation
to be surely and speedily followed by war in its
most odious form, serve, perhaps as well as civil
war among those of the same race, the same name.
the came blood-war that shall bring together, in
hostile array, neighbor against neighbor, brother
against brother, son against sire.
TO avert calamities so drefu, Indiana will cast
to the last the entire weight of her influence.
She will be just to each and every member of the
confederacy-just to the Constitution-just to the
laws She will abide by that Constitution abide
by the laws-and, above all, she will abide by the
compromises made by fathers--the compro-
misses made by the great and good men of this day.
She will hope, she will pray, that the same kind
and overruling Providence which watched over our
fathers at the adoption of the Constitution, and has
sustained in every crisis and cheered in every hour
of darkness SINCE will direct their also in the
paths of wisdom and of peace, and enable us to
transmit to posterity that sacred instrument,
guide and blessing in the future, it has
been in the past.
Indiana takes her stand in the ranks not of
SouLie"n Destiny, nor yet of Northern Destiny.
She plants herself on the basis of the Constitution
and takes her stand in the ranks of AMERICAN DEs-
TINY