The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-12-04

Asia. Well knowing that such. and such only
are the means and the consequences Of their
plans and purposes, they cndeayor 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 author
ity, and to undermine the fabric Of the Union
by appeals to passion and sectional prejudice,
by matchmaking 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 unwarrantable
interference, foreign and domestic, that the
minds Of many, otherwise good citizens, have
been so infamed into the passionate condem-
nation Of the domestic institutions of the
Southern States as at length to pass insensi-
bly, to almost equally passionate hostility to-
wards their felow-ctizens Of those States and
thus finally to fall into temporary fellowship
with the avowed and active enemies of the
Constitution. Ardently attached to liberty in
the abstract, they do not stop to consider
practically how the objects they would attain
can be 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 only
be aggravated by their violence and unconsti-
tutienal action. A question, which is one of
the most difficult of all problems Of social in
stitution, political economy and craftsmanship.
they treat with unreasoning intempcrance of
thought and language. Extremes beget ex-
tremes. Violent attack from the North finds
its inivitabe consequence in the growth of a
spirit of angry defiance at the South. Thus
. IN the progress Of events we had reached that
communication, which the voice of the people
has now so pointedy rebuked Of the attempt
Of portion of the States, 10y a sectional organ
zation and movement, 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 deliberation,
shrink with unaffected horror from any con-
cious act of disunion or civil war But they
have entered into path, which leads nowhere,
unless it be to civil war and 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 series of second
airy issues, each of which protested to be con-
fined within constitutional and peaceful limits
but which attempted indirectly what few men
were willing to do directly, that is, to act ag-
gressively 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
citizens Of the northern States in Congress
and out of it, Of the question Of negro enamel
patton in the southern States.
The second step in this path Of evil consist
ed of acts of the people Of the northern States
and in several instances Of their governments
aimed to facilitate the escape Of persons held
to service in the southern; and to prevent
their extradition when reclaimed according tc
l.. 3 + Al
Constitution. To promote this object, legisa
tive enactments and other means were adopted
to take away or defeat rights, which the Con
stitution solemnly guaranteed In order tC
nulIify the then existing act OF Congress con
corning the extradition Of fugitives from ser
vice, laws were enacted in many States for
. bidding their officers, under the Severest pen
alties, to participate in the execution Of any
act Of Congress whatever In this way thai
, system of harmonious cooperation between
the authorities Of the United States and of the
several States, for the maintenance of theil
, common institutions, which existed in the ear
f ~ years Of the Republic, was destroyed; con
fctS of jurisdiction came to be frequent; ant
, Congress found itself compelled, for the sup
port of the Constitution, and the vindication o
Its power, to authorize the appointment o
new officers charged with the execution Of it,
acts, as if they and the officers of the State,
were the ministers, respectively, Of foreign gov
, ernments in Il state of mutual hostility, rather
than fellow magistrates of common country
a peacefully subsStng Union. Thus here, alsC
aggression was followed by reaction; and the
, attacks upon the Constitution at this point dc
, but serve to raise up new barriera for it's de
! fence and security.
The third stage of this unhappy sectional
l -
ganization of territorial governments, and tn,
e admission of new States into the Union
When it was proposed to admit the State o
: Maine, by separation Of territory from that o
/, Massachusetts,, and the State Of Missouri
# formed of portion of the territory coded by
), France to the United States, representative
= in Congress objected to the admission of thu
: latter, unless with conditions suited to partic
d ular views of public policy. I he imposition
y of such a condition was successfully resisted
l. But, at the same period, the question was pre-
|. sented of imposing restrictions upon the resi-
d due of the territory coded by France. Tha
e question was, for the time, disposed of by tn
n adoption of geological line of limitation.
IS In this connection it should not be forgot
e ten that France, of her own accord, resolved
e for considerations of the most far sighted Sa
n gacity to cede Louisiana to the United States
e ana tnat accession was accepted by the Onl
o ted States, the latter expressly engaging tina
l. 'the inhabitants of the coded territory shall
lie incorporated in the Union of the Unite
if States, and admitted as soon as possible, &C
e cording to the principles of the Federal Con
II stitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights
It advantages, and immunitieS Of the citizens
1t the United States and in the meantime the
N shall be maintained and protected in the fire
ID enjoyment Of their H6e1ty property, and tn
,r religion which they profess'-that is to say