The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-12-16
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1S56.~~

knowing that such, and such only, are the
means and the consequences OF their plans
and purposes, they endeavor to prepare the
people of the United States for civil war by
doing everything in their power to deprive
the constitution and the laws Of moral au-
thority and to undermine the fabric of the
Union by appeals to passion and sectional
prejudice, by indoctrnatng its people with
reciprocal hatred, and by educating them
to stand face to face as enemies, rather than
shoulder to shoulder as friends.
1t is by the agency of such unwarranta-
bic interference, foreign and domestic that
the minds of many, otherwise good citizens,
have been SO infamed into the passionate
condemnation of the domestic institutions
of the southern States as at length to pass
inscnsibly to almost equally passionate hos
tility towards their fellow-c citizens of those
States, and thus, finally, to fall into tempo
rary fellowship with the avowcd and active
enemies of the constitution. Ardently at
tachcd to liberty in the abstract, they do
not stop to consider practically how the
objects they would attain can be accom-
plished, nor to reflect that, even if the evil
were as great as they deem it, they have no
remedy to apply, and that it can be only
aggravated by their violence and unconsti-
tutional action. A question which is one
of the most difficult of all the problems of
social institution, political economy, and
craftsmanship they treat with unreasoning
intemperance of thought and language
Extremes beget extremes. Violent attack
from the North finds its inevitable conse-
quence in the growth Of a spirit of angry
defiance at the South. Thus. in the pro-
gress of events we had reached that con-
summation which the voice of the people
has now so pointedly rebuked, of the at
tempt of q portion of the States, by sec
tional organization and movement, to usurp
the control of the government of the United
States.
I confidently believe that the great body
of those who mconSidcrately took this fatal
step are sincerely attached to the cOnstitu
ton and the Union. They would, uponde
liberation, shrink with unaffected horror
from any conscious act Of disunion o: civil
war. But they have entered into Il path
which leads nowhere, unless it be to civil
war and disunion, and which has no other
possible outlet. They have proceeded thus
far in that direction in consequence of the
successive stages of their progress having
consisted of Il series of secondary issues,
each of which profcsscd to be confined with
in constitutional and peaceful limits, but
which attempted indirectly what few men
were willing to do directly-that is, to act
aggressiyeiyaga the constitutional rights
Of nearly one-half Of the thirty-on States.
In the long series of acts of indirect ag-
gressiOn. the first was the strenuous agita-
ton, by citizens of the northern States, in
Congress and out of it, of the question of
negro emancipation in the southern States.
The second step in this path of evil con-
sisted of acts Of the people of the northern
States and, in several instances Of their gov
crnmcnts, aimed to facilitate the escape of
persons held to service in the Southern
States, and to preventive cxtradition when
reclaimed to law and in virtue of express pro-
visions Of the constitution. TO promote
this object, legislative enactments and other
means were adopted to take away or defeat
rights which the constitution solemnly guar |
anticd. In order to nullifv the then exist |
ing act of Congress concerning the extra |
dition Of fugitives from service, laws were |
enacted in many States forbidding their |
officers. under the seycrcst penalties, to |
i'll the execution of any act of |
Congress whatever. In this way that sys- |
tenn of harmonious cooperation between |
the authorities Of the United States and of |
the several States for the maintainancc of |
their common institutions, which existed in
the carly years of the republic, was dcs-
troycd; conflicts of jurisdiction came to be
frequent; and Congress found itself com
pellcd, for the support of the constitution
and the vmdication Of its power, to author
ze the appointment of new officers charged
with the execution of its acts, as if they and
the officers Of the States were the ministers.
of foreign governments in a
tate OF mutual hostility, rather than fellow
magistrates Of common country, peace
fully subsisting under the protection Of one
Tell-conSttuted Union. Thus here, also,
aggression was followed by reactions: and
he attacks upon the constitution at this
point did but serve to raise up new barriers
or its defence and security.
The third stage of this unhappy sectional
was in connection with the or
canization Of territorial governments. and
he admission of new States into the Union.
When it was proposed to admit the State Of
Maine, by separation Of territory from that
If Massachusetts, and the State of MisSou-
i, formed Of a portion of the territory ccdcd
" France to the United States, represen-
atives in Congress objected to the admis-
ion Of the latter. unless with conditions
uited to particular views of public policy.
Ihe imposition of such a condition was sue
't>StNtlf IeSiHt"u but. At IIlc same ptTlUu,
he question was presented Of imposing res
rictions upon the residue of the territory
,eded by France. That question was. for
he time. disposed of by the adoption Of a
geographical line Of limitation.
In this conncxion it should not be forgot
en- that when France, of her own accord.
esolvcd. for considerations of the most far
lighted sagacty. TO ccde Louisiana to the u
lited States, aud that accession was accept
d by the United States, the latter expressly
ngaged that the inhabitants of the cedcd
erritory shall he Incorporated il the Union
f the United States, and admitted as soon
= possible, according to tine principles of
he federal constitution. to the enjoyment of
II the rights, advantages, and immuntics
f citizens Of the United States; and in the
mean time they shall be maintained and
protected in the free enjoyment Of their lib
rtY. property. and the religion which they
is to say, while it remains in
territorial condition, It's inhabitants are
and protected in the free enjoy
nent Of their liberty aud property, with a
ight then 20 pass into the condition Of