Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1856-12-19
p, From tho New York Tribune.
Presidents Message.

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The President in his Message tell:
the People what they have intended
and what they have decided in the re.
cent Presidential Election. 1t seems
TO us that this is very unnecessary
proceeding on his part-wose than
carrying Goals to Newcastle-since the
People may be presumed 10 know
what they have been about quite as
well as he does. And II II were true
that the President, as Mr.. Pierce says,
represents the aggregate population
"of the United States" then he ought
to be chosen by direct vote Of that
population, "and not through our ar
bitrary and complex machinery Of
Electoral Colleges. whereby hun
dred voters in South Carolina are al
lowed equal weight with a hundred
and fifty in New York or Ohio. Un-
der this machinery, President may
be chosen in defiance Of a very large
majority Of "lhe aggregate popula
tion Of the United Ststes;" as we now
see Mr.. Buchanan the choice OF a
handsome majority Of the Electors,
though he lacks many thousands OF
receiving majority Of the votes Of
the people.
BY the choice Of this minority Pres
ident. We are told. the People have
asserted the constitutional equality of
all the States as States and Of all the
citizens as citizens. ms well as their un-
alterable devotion to the Union and
Constitution. In other days. an or
gan OF the American people, and es-
pecially Democratic organ. would
have vaunted also the devotion of his
constituents to the Rights Of Man as
Man; but Mr.. Pierce is wisely silent
on that head. The equality Of States
and Of citizens. he says. has been
maintained-not the equality of Men:
the Constitution and the Union have
triumphed; not the principles of Eter-
nal Justice, nor Of Human Freedom.
"The rights of Human Nature" for
which our Revolutionary fathers de-
clared that they were brought into col
lision with the British Grown, are not
within the purview of this Message; ;
and the immortal assertion Of the
Declaration OF Independence that
1--WE hold that all men are created
equal, and endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienablc rights, among
which are life. liberty and the pursuit
of happiness" is senseless farrago
of seditious verbisge-a mere colloca-
ton Of "glittering generalities." uc-
cording to Mr.. Pierce. Surely his
Message is as significant in its silence
as in its assertions.
That the President has q right and
is bound to lay before Congress all in
formation essential to their intelligent
action on public affairs, is conceded.
But that he may, through the form Of
statement to Congress, assail a large
portion OF the People as disloyal to
the Union. forgetful Of their constitu-
tional duties, and treacherously hostile
to their citizens, is not clear
The President accuses the Republi-
cans ofsaying what they do not mean.
and meaning what they do not say
Of 'pretending to seek only to pre-
vent the spread OF Slavery into Ter.
ritories." but really seeking something
very different, and of denouncing all
their fellow-citizens who do not unite
with them in assailing the Ccnstitu-
ton, DC. This IL not the diction suit
ed to grave public document--it is
the slang of reckless demagogue on
the stump. 1t tdegrades the Presiden-
tial Office. and will only serve 10 exas-
perate those whom it assails. misrep-
resents and defames. No man ever
stood moro self-condemned than
Franklin Pierce, when. after having
hurled at the objects Of his malevolent
abuse all the foul charges he could
imagine, he finally accuses them OF
"unreasoning "intemperance Of their
thought and language" In fact,
many OF his missiles rebound upon
his own head. but one Of them never
will. In accusing the Republicans Of
being "ardently attached to Liberty in
the abstract" he 6res a shot which
they cannot return. Neither in the
abstract nor in the concrete does he
seem to cherish any more attachment
to Liberty than would have betitted
any Of the Tory Governors Of our
Revolutionary era, who might have
employed bis general line Of argu-
ment with very few adoptions Of
phraseology. z fpitaa 4
Having broadly arraigned the Re-
publcans as disloyal and traitorous,
Mr.. Pierce turns n short corner and
confidently believes" that the great
body OF them "ure sincerely attached
to the Constitution andi the Union"
They will not thank him for this SUI
pererogatory certificate Of good inten.
tons. but depise alike the unfounded
attack and the superfluous yindica-
ton. +
1t Is strange that Mr.. Cushing, OF
whoever was the concoctor OF this
most discredilable Message. should
have the hardihood to ignore the
agency OF Jefferson, Washington.
Dane. John Randolph, the last Con-
tinental and first Federal Congress. Ia
resistance to the Extension OF Slave
ry, and pretend that the Missouri
struggle OF i8ie-20 was The first In
which this question was involved
There Is q brazcn hwdihood, m abb
surd audacity, in this mode Of treat.
ing grave public question. in full
view Of the fact that the whole subject
has been freshly discussed in almost
every sthool-house Of those States
There are half million school-boys
to-day in those States who could ,in'
answerably convict the President OF o
dishonest suppression ofmaterial facts
on this head. When a cause will mol
bear u statement OF the whole truth,
why cannot its champions perceive the
wisdom OF silence?