The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-12-17
Ole 4resioeut's nlessaqe.
Fellow citizens of the senate

!
this fully Involves exposition of all matters in the &C
tual condition Of the country, domestic or foreign
which essentially concern the general welfare While
performing his constitutional duty in this respect the
president does not speak merely to express personal
convictions, but the executive minister of the gov
ernment eabled by his position and called upon bv
his official obligations TO with an impartial eve
the Interests OF the whole and of every part of the
United States. ,.r n ..|
OF the condition of the domestic interests of tile
Union, Its agriculture mines, manufactures navipa-
ton anG commerce. 1t is necessary only to say that the
internal prosperity of the country its continuous and
steady advancement IN wealth and population and in
private as well public well being after the wisdom
OF our and the predominant spirit of intel
hgence anp patriotism, which standing occa
slonal of opinion action resulting from
popular freedom, has distinguished and characterised
i the people Of AEierca. .+..., .,..- ....- .. ..
In the ble Interval between the termination of the
last ana the commencement of the present session OF
congress- the public mind has been occupied with the
care OF selecting for another constitutional term the
president and wee president Of the United States
The denomination of the persons, who are of right
or eonlnGently to preside over the administration Of
the government IS under system committed to the
States and the people. We appeal to them by theil
voice pronounced IN the forms law to call whomso
ever they will to, the high post of chief nagisrate
And thus 1t Isl that the senators represent the re-
spective States Of the Union, and the members of the
4 house vi representatives the several constituencies OF
each State the president represents the aggregate
population OF the United States Their election of him
is the explicit and solemn of the sole sovereign au-
4 thority Of the Union. r1 .@@ 'sa-.
/ 1t is impossible to misapprehend the great princi
pies which, by their recent political action the people
! the United States have sanctioned and announced.
They have asserted the constitutional equality OF
each and all the States of the Union as States they
have affirmed the constitutional equality of each and
all of the czens OF the United States citizens what
ever their religion, wherever their birth or idence
they lave maintained the nyiolabity of the consti
tutonal rights OF the different sections of the Union
and they have proclaimed their devoted and unalter
bic attachment to the Union and to the constitution
OBJECTS OF Interest to all subjects OF local
onal controversy the safeguard of the rights of all
the spirit and the of the liberty peace and
greatness IF the republic
In doing this, they have at the same time emphatic
ally contcnned the idea of organising in these United
States mere geographical parties or narshang in hos
tile array towards each other the different parts of the
country, nbrth SOUTH east or west. -.~- ..- i
Schemes Of this nature fraught with uncalculable
mischief and which the considerable sense OF the peo-
pie has rejected could have had countenance no part
of the country, lad they not been disguised by sug-
gestons plausbein appearance, acting upon an ex-
cited state of the public mind induced by
porary III their character and it to be hoped
sient IN their influence
Perfect liberty ofassocation for politca Objects and
the widestscope OF discussion the received and
binary conditions OF government in country. Our
institutions framed IN the spirit of confidence in the
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citizens either Individually associated together to
attack by writing speech any other methods short
OF physical torce the constitution and the very exist
OF the Union Under the shelter OF this great hb-
erty and protected by the laws and usages the gov
ernment they assa associations have been formed in
OF the States of individuals, Who pretending to
seek only to prevent the spread of the institution of
slavery into the present future nchoate States of the
Unlon are really intamed with the desire to change
the domestic Institutions Of existing States To &C
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odious task Of dpreciating the government ornansi-
ton which sands in their way and of calunniating
with lndlsclmlate lnyecve, not only the citizens OF
particular states, with whose laws they find fault but
all others Of their fellow citizens throughout the coun
try who do not participate with them in cir assaults
upon the constitution, framed and adopted by our IA
Tiers, and claiming for the privileges it has secured
and the blessings it has conferred the steady support
and grateful reverence of their children They seek an
object which they we'll know to be a revolutionary one
They are perfectly aware that the change in the rca
tive condition OF the white and black races in the slave
holding States, which they would promote is beyond
their lawful authority; that to them it is foreign OBJ
iect that it cannot be effected BY any peaceful nstr-
mentality OF theirs; that for them and the States of
which they are Citizens the only path to its
pshment is through burning cities and ravaged fields
and slaughtered populations, and all there is
rible in foreign complicated with civil and servile war;
and tht the first step in the attempt is the forcible
disruption Of country embracing in its broad bosom
degree OF liberty, and an amount of individual and
tory, and substituting in its place hostile governments
driven at AID inevitably into mutual devastation
and ratrlcdal carnage, transforming the peace
full and feeitouf brotherhood into vast permanent
camp Of armed aen like the rival monarclies of Eu-
rope ard Asia. Nell knowing that such and such on
ly the means and the consequences Of their plans
and purposes, they endeavor to prepare the people Of
the United States Tor civil by doing everything in
their power to deprive the constitution and the laws
of moral authority and to undermine the fabric Of the
by understanding its people with reciprocatshatred
and by educating them to stand face to face enemies
rather than shoulder to shoulder as friends.
1t by the agency of such unwa11antable interior
ence, foreign ano domestic, that the minds of many
otherwise good citizens, have been so inflamed into
the passionate condemnation of the domestic institl
ons of the southern States, at length to pass in
sensby almost equally passionate hostility towards
their fellow citizens of those States and thus finally
fall into temporary fellowship with the avowed and
active enemies of the constitution Ardentv attach
ed to liberty in the bsract, they do not stop to CON
slider practically how the objects they would attain
be accomplished nor to reflect that if the
evil were great they deem it, they have no rem
edy to apply, aid that It only be aggra waited by
their violence and unconstitutional action ques-
ton, which is o1Ie of the most difficult of all the pro-
blens of social Institution, political economy and
craftsmanship, they treat with unreasonable intern
peranceo of thougIt and language Extremes begct OK
tremes Violent attack from the north finds its inevi-
table consequence in the growth of spirit of angry
defiance the south Thus in the progress of events
we had reached that contamination, which the voice
of the people has pointedy rebuked of the at
tempt Of portion Of the States by sectional organi
saon and movement to usurp the control of the gov
eminent of the United States
| confidently believe that the great body of those
who ncoasiderately took this fatal step sincerely
attached to the constitution and the Union They
would upon delberation, shrink with unaffected hor-
from any conscious act of disunion civil war
But they have etered into path which, leads nowhere
unless it be to cisilwar and disunon 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 series of
secondary issues, each of which protested to be con
fined within constitutional and peaceful limits, but
which attempted indirectly what few We're willing
to do directly that is to act aggressively against the
constitutional rights of neary onehaf Of the thirty
one States.
In TIE long seies ofacs of indirect aggression the
first the strenuous agitation by citizens of the
northern States in congress and out of of the ques
ton of negro emancpat in the southern States.
The second step in this path of evil consisted of acts
of the people of the northern States, and in several in
stances of their governments, aimed to facilitate the
escape of persons held to service the southern States
and to prevent their extradition when reclaimed ac-
6orine to law and in virtue of express provisions of