The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-12-23
Ex.President Pierce on the Harper,s
Ferry Outrage.


Ferry Outrage.
The following letter from that staunch
patriot, Ex.President PIERCE, was received
by the Boston Committee of Invitation, in
reply to one they had addressed him, re-
questing bis attendance at the Faneuil Hall
meeting
CONCORD, N. H., Dec. 7, 1852
GENTLEMEN Il am honored by the re-
ception of your letter of the third Instant,
informing me that sit is proposed that citi-
zens OF Massachusetts, who honor and cher
ish the Union, who mean to maintain the
Constitution of the United States, and faith
fully carry out all its requirements and obi
cations, assemble in Faneuil Hall, on Thurs
day, the eighth day of December instant :"
and inviting me to be present on that occa-
sion.
Twenty-Five years ago, one would have
asked invountarily, upon reading letter
like that before me, what are the dangers
which threaten the Union where are the
men who do not honor and cherish that
Union, who do not "mean to maintain the
Constitution of the United States, and faith
fully to carry out all its requirements and
obligations 2" Could we not then, each for
himself, have promptly answered, the
dangers, if they exist, are too remote, and
the men too inconsiderable in numbers, and
too wild and extravagant in the principles
and purposes which they avow, to make
them the cause of even serious considera-
ton, much less of apprehension and disqui-
etude.
How is it to-day? How is to be to-
morrow, when patriotic hearts will beat in
unison in the old Cradle of Liberty, and
patriotic lips will repeat the sentiments and
doctrines which were enunciated there more
than eighty years ago, while the men OF
Virginia were preparing their crude but
trusty weapons not. especially to protec. their
own borders, which have now been ruth
lessly invaded in violation of law, human
and divine, but to come to Massachusetts
and mingle their blood with that of our
fathers in defence of the common cause.
UndiSputed requirements of the COnsti-
tuition, affecting the rights, the security oil
life and property of the sons of Virginia s
revolutionary men are set at naught. Les
sons intoxicating obedience to such require
ments have be scattered broadcast in our
community. and have borne their fruits, not
merely in the exhibition of an instructions
airy spirit, but in an actual invasion Of a
sister State by an armed organization, the
objects of which are not undisguised. This
is not all. The invasion and the overt acts
of treason and murder, are openly justified
and applauded at large meetings of men and
women in your midst.
This is sad truth, but not disheartening
1t may be well that circumstances have oc-
CURED to arouse us from our lethargy, and
to compel us to open our eyes, as if from the
delusion of dream, to the nearness and
magnitude of impending caamites. 1t is
comparatively safe to look dangers in the
face, and meet them on the advance, but
fatal to be appalled, by them.
l repeat that the aspect of affairs, dark as
it contessedly is, still is not disheartening
because believe there are in New England,
and throughout the middle and northwestern
States, multitudes of conscientious and
patriotic citizens, moved, it may be at this
moment, by sentiments differing widely from
those which will animate you to morrow,
but who, nevertheless, would not wilfully
and deliberately shake a single column
which sustains the fabric of our existing in
stitutiOns,-multitude who have been mis-,
led upon the question of duty and per-
sonal obligations, and who now, when they
have practical illustration, drawn in blood,
of the teachings to which they have listened,
and to which they may have given their
assent, will pause, long enough at least, to
take counsel of intelligent reason.
You, upon the soil of Massachusetts,,
where the first blood of the revolution was
shed, and where Washington took command
of the Army in one of the darkest periods
in our country's history, cannot gaze listless-
ly upon the gathering clouds, and will not
bow tamely before the coming storm. We
may all have regarded with too much indif-
ference the swelling tide of reckless fanati-
cism, but we are not too late to breast it
now. If honest men, who really think the
Union worth preserving, will stand forth in
the majesty and strength of patriotism and
law, and with united purpose and becoming
energy, they can and will roll that tide
back, to the dismay and discontinue of all
conspirators against the public peace, and
the integrity of the sacred bond which holds
US united people.
am glad to perceive that your meeting
is to be composed OF citizens of various par
ties. The high resolve and the solemn duty
to which have just advcrted rise above the
range of thoughts and motives which ordi-
narily connect themselves with political Or
ganization, and party success. If we are
true to ourselves if we revere the memory,
or appreciate the service of our Fathers,
we shall forget, in the exigency of this crisis,
that there is, or ever has been, such thing as
party in the ordinary acceptation Of the
term. At all events, we will forget it, until,
through our steady, united efforts, we see
the authority of the Constitution INDICATED,
and the Union reposing again securely upon
| its old foundations.
You are right in assuming that this is no
time for hesitancy; no time for doubling,
hating, halfway professions, or, indeed, TO:
mere professions of any kind. 1t is time for
resolute purpose, to be followed by decisive,
consistent action.
Shall the fundamental law of the land be
obeved. not with evasive reluctance, but in
good fidelity? Have we the power to force
obedience to it, and will we exercise that
power? If SO, then may we continue to
IL IA