Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1856-12-12
From lhe \. 7. Times.
The Presidents Message.

hall THIS document IS devoted 10
studied falsi6c alton Of political histo-
~. as tho basis Of a libel upon those
Of the American voters (over two mil
lions in number) who disapprove his
Administration. This is done under
the false pretence of giving to the
country Information as to the state Of
tie Union" 1t is in keeping. it is
true. with the whole tenor of his pub.
lie career. and only shows that the
man who enters upon the Presidency
an aspiring demagogue is quite certain
to quit il a disappointed. soured, and
resentful one. Improves that through
out his Administration, President
Pierce has been nothing but partisan,
and that. even now, rs he surrenders
his place to hislsuccessor. and his own
acts to the judgment Of posterity, he
ends il impossible to rise above the
party level upon which. he has been
living. or to SEQ anything beyond the
vulgar party necessities Of which he
has besn the slave.
In this document. President Pierce
asserts that those Of his fellow.citizens
who supported Col. Fremont for the
Presidency, though '.pretending only
to prevent the spread OF Slavery into
new States" were "really iniiamed
with desire TO change the domestic
institutions OF existing States. and
that for this purpose they waged war
upon the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
what they themselves knew to be the
limits Of the Constitution, and endea.
vored to prepare the people for the
deso,ations of civil war.-"burning
cities, ravaged fields, and slaughtered
populations, by which alone, ms
they are well aware, the objects they
seek can be attained. II President
Pierce believes what he thus asserts,
his retirement should be into an idiot
or insane asylum. He lacks the COM
mon sense needed for the discharge Of
the commonplace duties Of private
life. The assertion is fatty contradict
ted by the declarations Of the parties
assailed, by their characters, by all
the probabilities Of the case. by every
kind and degree Ct evidence required
for its refntation. In its support not
a particle Of evidence can be adduc-
ed. II is the offspring of his own
morbid and diseased imagination, or
OF a partisan rancor which spurns prob
ability, and is utterly Indifferent to
truth.
But the President does not content
himself with thus placing upon perma-
nent record his aspersion OF the integ-
rity and patriotism of a vast body Of
the American people. He places by
the side Of it daring misrepresonta-
ton OF the history Of the country
He asserts that in the Missouri Com.
promise the question Of excluding
Slavery from the Louisiana Territory
"wss for the time disposed OF by the
adoption Of u geographical line OF lin.
itation. i'm face of the language OF
the law itself, which declares the pro
hibition Of slavery to be forever He
asserts that "lhe enactment which es.
tablished the restrictive geographical
line was acquiesced in, rather than
approved. by the States OF the I'm
ion, in face Of the fact that not n
single State Of the Union, nor single
member Of Congress from any State,
ever proposed its repeal from 1890 to
1854. He asserts that in refusing to
ertend this line to territory acquired
from Mexico, "the North repealed il
as legislative compromise and persis.
tently violated the compact, Iif compact
there was,"--in face Of the fact that
the compromising compact by its own
terms was limited to the territory ac-
CURED from Louisiana. "Thereupon,
adds the President. raising these false
statements Of history TO their appro.
pirate climax
"rhereupon. this enactment ceased
10 haze binding virtue in any sense,
whether as respects the North or the
South; and so, in effect it scas treated
on TIE occasion Of the admission oil
the State of California. and the organ
ization Of the Territories OF New Mex.
leo. Utah and Washington ("
We defy the President or any Of his
organs to bring one particle of evil
dence to show that upon the admission
of California. and the organization oI
the Territories named, or for two year:
thereafter. the Missouri Compromise
was treated, or regarded. by any par.
ty, by either branch Of Congress. by
any eminent man OF any party. or by
President Pierce himself. as having
"ceased to have binding virtue" eth.
err as respected the North or tn,
South.
All this. and much more like il, Il
given Us history. for the purpose o
justifying the formal repeal oflhe Mis-
souri, Compromise in the Nebraska
bill. 1t transcends in audacity Of mis-
representation the most violent Of tn
harangues by which. during the lat
canvass. any man Of position AID rep
utation undertook the vindication o
that act. The President even goes S,
far as to say that. without this repeal
Kansas would have been open TO slave
ry.-an assertion which even Aichisol
himself would not receive as true, an,
upon which not even the boldest o
tho Border Rufiians has ever ventur
ed. Ifitlis true, it only shows tn
more conspicuously the folly and mad
ness OF that repeal.
Congressional.