The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1856-12-09
HILLSDALE, MICH, TUESDAY, DECEMBER g. 1856.

ucating them TO stand face to face rs enerie
rather than shoulder to shoulder as friends.
1t is by the agency of such unwarrantabl
interference, foreign and domestic that III
minds of many otherwise good citizens hav
been so influenced into the passionate con
demnation of the domestic institutions Of th
Southern States as at length TO pass invisibl
to Almost equally passionate hostility toward
their fellow. citizens of those States and thu
finally to fall into temporary fellowship will
avowed and active enemies Of the Constitu
ton.
Ardently attached to liberty, in the alb
stract, they DO not stop TO consider practical
| ly how the objects they would attain can bc
accomplished, 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 unconstitu
tional action; a question which is one Of the
most difficult of all the problems of social in
titutons.-Political craftsmanship, they treat
with unreasonng intemperance of thought
and language. Extremes beget extremes.
Violent attack from the North finds its ine-
vitable consequence in the growth Of spirit
of angry defence at the South. Thus in pro-
gress of envents we lad reached the consum-
nation which the voice ofthe people has now
so poiutedly rebuked of the attempt of a
portion Of the States by a sectional organiza-
tion and movements to usurp the control of
the government of the United States.
confidently believe that the great body
of those who inconsiderately took this fatal
step are sincerely attached to the Constitution
and the Union. They would, upon delibera-
ton, shrink with unaffected horror from any
conscious act of disunion or civil war; but
they have entered into path which leads
nowhere unless to civil war and disunion, and
which has no other possible outlet. They
have proceeded thus far in the direction in
consequence of the successive stages of their
progress having consisted of a series of secon-
darv issued, each of which professed to be con-
fined within constitutional and peaceful linn
its, but which attempted indirectly what few
men were willing to do directly against the
constitutional rights of nearly one-half of the
thirty. one States.
In the long series of acts of indirect aggres-
sion, the first was the strenuous agitation by
the citizens of the Northers States in Congress
and out of it; of the question OF negro eman-
cpation in the Southern States. The second
step in this path of evil acts of the people of
the Northern States, and in several insinces
of their government aimed to facilitate the
escape of persons held at service in the South
ern States and to prevent their extradition
when reclaimed according to law and virtue of
express provisions of the Constitution.
In order to nullify the then existing laws Of
L. Nf Gao
tives from service, laws were enacted in many
States, forbidding their officers, under the
severest penalties, to participate in the execu-
tion Of any act of Congress whatever. In this
way that system of harmonious corporation
between the authorities of the United States
and ofthe several States, for the maintainance
of their common institutions, which existed
in the early years Of the Republic was de-
stroye3 Conflicts ofjurisdctions came to be
frequent, and Congress found itself compelled
for the support of the Constitution, and the
vindication of its powers, to authorize the APP
pointment of new officers, and the officers of
the States were the Ministers respectively of
forign Governments, in a state of mutual hos
tiity, rather than the fellow magistrates of
a common country, peacefully subsisting un-
der the protection of one well constituted
Union. Thus, hero also aggression was fol-
lowed by reaction, and the attacks upon tho |
Constitution at this point did but serve to
raise new barries for its defence and security. |
The third stage of this unhappy sectional |
was in connection with the organ
ization of territorial Governments and the ad-
mission of new States into the Union. When |
it was proposed to admit the State of Maine,
separation of territory from that of Massachu-
setts, and the State of Missouri formed por-
ton of the territory ceded by France to the
United States. Representatives in Congress
objected to the admission of the latter unless
with conditions suited to particular views of
public policy. The imposition of such con-
lition was successful resisted, but at the same
period the same question was presented Of
restrictions upon the residue ofthe
territory ceded by France. That question
was, for the time, disposed fby the adoption
If a geographical line of limitation. In this
it should not be forgotten that
France, of her own accord, sesolved for corsul-
alton of the most farsighted sagacity, to cede
Louisiana to the United States, and that
recession was excepted by the United States.
ho hlter expressly enBdBeu tnat tne lnnap-
tants Of the cedcd territory should be incor-
,oratcd in the Union of the Untid States and
Idmit as soon as possible according to the
principles of the Federal Constitution, TO the
Enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and
mmunities of citizenc Of the United States,
md in the meantime they shall be maintained
nd protected in the free employment of their
liberty, roperty and the religion which they
Fofessed.
That is no say, while it remains in terri
orial condition, its inhabitants are maintain
d aud protected in free use of their liberty
nd property with right then to pass into
he condition of States. The enactment which
stablished the restrictive geographical line
cquiesced in, rather than opposed by the
states of the Union. 1t stood on the statute
ook however, for number of years and the
eople of the United States acquiesced in the
e-enactment of the principle as applied to the
'tate Of Texas, and it was proposed to acquesce
! its further application to the territory ac-