Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1856-12-18

; they endeavor to prepare the peo
i. pie of the United States for civil wa
by doing everything in their powe
to deprive the Constitution and th
, laws Of moral authority, and to IN
dermine the fabric OF the Union b,
appeals to passion and sectional pref
udice, by indoctrinating its peopl,
with reciprocal hatred, and by educa
ting them to stand face to face as en-
emies. rather than shoulder to shoul
: der as friends.
1t is by the agency of such un
warrantable interference, foreign anG
domestic, that the minds Of many
otherwise good citizens, have beer
so inaamed into the passionate con.
demnation Of the domestic institu-
tions of the Southern States, as al
length to pass insensibly to almost
equally passionate hostility towards
their fellow-citizens of those States,
and thus finally to fall into tempo
rary fellowship with the ayowed and
active enemies of the Constitution.
ArdeDtly 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 we're
as great as they deem it, they have
no remedy 20 apply, and that it can
be only aggravated by their violence
and unconstitutional action.
A question, which is one of the
most difficult of all problems of So
cial institutions, political economy
and craftsmanship, they treat with
unreasoning intemperance of thought
and language. Extremes beget ex-
tremes. Violent attack from the
North finds its inevitable conse-
quence in the the growth Of a spirit
Of angry defiance at the South
Thus, in the progress Of events we
had reached that consummation, (which
the voice Of the people has so point
edly rebuked, Of the attempt, of a
portion of the States, by sectional
organization ard movement, to usurp
the control of the government Of the
United States.
| confidently believe that the
great body of those, who inconsider-
ately took the fatal step, are sincere
ly attached to the Constitution and
the Union. They would, upon de-
Liberation, shrink with unaffected
horror from ANY conscious act of
disunion or civil war; But they have
entered into path, which leads no.
where, unless it be to civil war and
disunion, and which has no other pos
sible outlet. They have proceeded
thus far in that direction in conse-
quence of the successive stages of
their progress having consisted OF a
series Of secondary issues, each of
which professed to be confined within
constitutional and peaceful limits, but
which attempted Indirectly what few
men were willing to do directly. that
is, to act aggressively against the
constitutional rights of nearly one
half Of the thirty-one States.
In the long Series of acts of indirect
aggression, the first was the strenu.
Gus agitation, by citizens of the
Northern States, in Congress and out
of it, of the question of negro eman.
cipation 10 TIM Southern States.
The second step in this path of
evil consisted of acts of the people
of the Northern States, and in sew.
eral instances of their governments,
aimed to facilitate the escape of per-
sons held to service in the Southern
States, and to prevent their extradi-
tion when reclaimed according to
law and in virtue Of the express pro-
visions of the Constitution. To
promote this object, legislative en-
actments and other means we're a
dopted to take away or defeat rights,
which the Constitution solemnly
guaranteed. In order to nullify the
then existing act of Congress con-
cerning the >extradition of fugitives
from service, laws were enacted in
many States, forbidding their officers,
under the severest penalties, to par
ticipate i'll the execution of any act
of Congress whatever 10 this way
that system of harmonious co-opera-
tion between the authorities of the
United States and of the several
States, for the maintenance ofthelr
srh.nh IN n