Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1856-02-06
EBENsBURG, FEBRUARY 6, 1866.

that to prevent them from emlgratlng est
ward with their servants and to contine sla-
very within their own limits, will be injurious
to them, and, perhaps, ruinous. They con-
slider it not only an interest, but necessity,
to allcw their peculiar institution to shift into
some of the Territory of the Union. As
that Territory belongs to, and is for the use
and benefit of all the States, in,liscriminately,
the Southern States, in Constitutional fair
ness, cannot be deprived Of their unprejudi-
| ced access to it.
Congress cannot do indirectly, what it can
not do directly. If an authority be not
granted in the Constitution, it cannot be COM
passed by any dodging methods. The mo-
lnent . State is in the Union. she is expressly
protected from Congressional intermeddling
Congress, therefore, has no right to dictate
her institutions, by any olliclous anticipation !;
/ by throttling her, at the threshold of the
Union, and saying, You may do as yoa
please, an instant after this, when you are
in, but now that you are just going in. you
must do as ace please "
1t may be suggested, that Congress has
power to make all needful rules and regu-
iations" respecting the Territory of the United
States But this does not refer to the au-
| thority of Congress in relation to q new
/ States" passing from the Territorial copdi-
/ ton, into the Union. And only "needfuP'
rules can be made A rule not Z. .needfuP'
| is not constitutional. The question is not
what Congress can do by stubborn force, or
| stubborn refusals. but what ought it to do.
/ This slavery test is not ''needfuP' in the
sense of the Constitution !; therefore, it is not
/ allowable. o.
| i refusal to admit 90 new State" on ac-
count of Slavery, would effect nothing. Such
State allows that system of labor, either
because it already exists there, or because
she is fully determined to introduce it. Let
her admission be refused in either case, and
the characteristic habit of local self govern
mcnt, would fix the applicant in her prefer
enccs, and drive her to resist such central
dictation. She would be strengthened by
the certain sympathy and aid of every other
slave. holding State and Territory Then
the alternative would be, not Slave Labor or
Free Labor, but only sovereign slave-hold-
ing State, or an angry, threatening, slave
holding Territory. The action of Congress
would merely merge all other public topics
into a fearful controversy respecting the
status of an organized siave-holding commu-
nifty.
As might be inferred from all that is ad
vanced, the proposed test of admission is
utterly unprecedented, and against precedent.
TIE cery origin Of this Union ecas an adiafs-
sion of .Stuec States. The Free States form
ed national partnership with their slave
labor sisters, without trace of objection
nay, with heartiness aud affection No State
was catechsed about her private affairs Nay,
the very existence of this Union, as an actu-
al, historical fact, rendered the admission of
Slave States neceSsa5y; for it required the
ratification of nine States to 6: establish" the
Constitution and at that time, there were not
nine Free States. The Fathers that framed and
ratified the Constitution, with such wisdom
and purity, did, in fact, under it, admit new
slave-holding States, such as Kentucky and
Tennessee. This novel test never occurl ed
to them Have their sons the right to invent
it now? Can any current circumstances re-
peal or alter the supreme law of the land,
impair its authority, or soften the granite
basis of the Union into the wind-swept sands
of popular opinion? Win any misconduct
of the mariner justify US in cutting loose
from the anchor that has steadied the ship for
seventy years?
There may be local exasperations; the
North or the South may not have kept full
faith our fervent sisters may sometimes for
get their proverbial courtesy their dauntless-
ness may. now and then, lapse into g brus-
qerie," or swell into haughtiness; Northern
citizens and Southern citizens may have said
''fanatcism, Border '.rufanism, :" or Charles
ton q Modification" may have raised most
disproportionate furries but all this does not
justify unconstitutional retalations. Hate
slavery, if you feel like it--denounce it till
you unpack Jour heart with words-call it
the foulest curse and wrong, and its diffusion
an evil and peril, yet all this does not give
Congress a power which the Constitution new
er granted or allow the creature of that
Constitution to slight It's letter or its equity.
That Constitution is the fairest offspring Of
the grayest wisdom of all time it is the most
concentrated and expressed essence of patri-
otism. knowledge and judgement it is in it>
self the maturest policy. No citizen can go
far astray who keeps his eye on it, as his
Polar Star ANY party will in the event be
polite, and American, and Democratic, and
victorious, that subordinates all preiudlces
and impulses to It's calm restraints, and sub
mits every sentiment and measure to the day
light of its lucid provisions
| have said nothing Of danger of the I'm
ion. Heedlessness and excitement may ap-
parently impsril it for a moment, but have
faith that 9 the stars fight for it in their
courses" 1t will be safe while the Alleghe-
nies and the Rocky Mountains stretch their
SUBMITS along the Continent; while the Mi
ami and the Arkansas, the Ohio and the Mis-
souri, unite and fraternize in the mighty Mis- /
sissippi; while our vallies and prairies spread
their fertile and fowery expanse from Lake /
Superior to the Gulf, and are alike stepped /
here with northern showers. and there with /
southern suns; while common institutions, |
common laws, common civilization, common
interests, common language, common rell- |