The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-12-13
JOR PRINTING.
Presidents Message.
FsNo,c Citizens Of the Senate

Fet5OtC CLLezenS o. LIe OendJe
and House of Represent attveS:-
Throughout the year since our las;
meeting, the country has been eminently
prosperous in all its material interests -
The general health has been excellent
our barvests have been abundant, and
plenty smiles throughout the land. Our
commerce and manufactures have been
prosecuted with energy and industry, and
have yielded fair and ample returns. Iu
short, DO pstion in the It'd, Of time hes
ever presented a spectacle Of greater ma.
terisl prosperity than We have done IN.
I'll within a very recent period.
Why is it, then. that discomfort now
so extensively prevails. and the Union of
the States, which is the source of all
these blessings, is threatened with de-
structionl The long coutiuued and in
temperate Interference Of the Northern
people With the question of slavery in the
Southern States bas at length produced
it's natural effects The different sections
of the Union are now arrayed against
each other, sDi the time has arrived, so
nuch dreaded ty the Father of his Conn
try, when hostile geographical parties
have been formed. have long fere,een
and often fcrewarned my countrymen of
the now impending danger. This does
not proceed solely from the claim on the
part of Congress or the territorial leais-
latures to exclude slavery from the Terri
tories, nor from the efforts of differe nt
States to defest the execution Of the fu
sitiVe-slave law
All or any of these evils might have
been endured by the South without dan
ger to the Union, (as others have been,
10 the hope that time and reflection mi < ht
apply the remedy. The immediate peril
arises aot so much from these causes as
from the fact that the incesssnt and vic.
lent agitation of the slavery question
throughout the North for the last quarter
a century, has at length produced Its
nalign influence on the slaves, and iu'
epired them With vague notions of free
dom. Hence a sense of security no lon
ger exists around the family alter. This
feeling of peace at home has given place
to apprehension of sersilA insurrection. -
Msny mstron throue bout the South re-
tires at night in dread Of what may be-
fall herself aud her children before the
morniog.
Should this apprehension of dome.tic
danger, whether real or Imaginary, ex'
tend aud Intensity itself until it shall per
yade the N asses of the Southern people
then disunion will become inesitsble -
Self.preservatiou is the first Law or Uature
and has been implanted in the heart o
man By his Creator for the wisest pur
pose; and no political union, howevel
fraught With blessings and benefits in al
other respects, can long continue, if th'
necessary consequence be to render th'
homes and the fresides of nearly half th'
parties to it babitual!y and hoPelessly in
secure. Sooner or later the bonds o
sucb q Union must be se7ered. 1t is my
conviction that this fatal period has no
vet arrived; and my prayer to God il
that He would preserve the Constitution
and the Uoion throughout oil geners
tions.
But let US take warning iu time, an'
remove the cause of danger. 1t csnuo
be denied that, for five and twenty years
the agitation at the North az ainst SLAYER
in the South ba. been iDcessaut. In 1873
pictorial handhills, and inAammatory ap
peals, were cirulated extensively through
out the South, of character to excite To
passions OF the slaves; and, in the Tar
suage Of General Jackson, "to stimGlat
them to insurreetion, aud produce all tn
horrors Of a seryiIe war" This agitatio
has ever siuee been continued by the put
lie press, by the proceedings of State an
county conventions, and by abolition ser
mons and lectures. The time OF Cougre'
has been occupied in violent speeches o
this never ending subject; and appeals i
pamphlet and other forms. endorsed b
distinguished names, have been sent fort
from this central point, and spread broad
cast over the Union
How easy would it be for the Amer
can people to settle the slavery questlo
forever, and to restore peace and barmc
ny to this distracted country.
They. aud they alone. can do it. A
shat is necessary to accomplish the OF
ject, and all for which the slave State
have ever couteuded, is to be let aloD
and permitted to manage their domestl
institutions in their oSn way. As So
ereign States, they. and they alone, al
responsible before God and the world fc
the slavery exiting among them. Fc
this. the people of the North are not moi
responsible, and have no more right to il
tsrfere, than with similar institutions
Russia or in Brazil. Upon their GOO
sense and patriotic fOrbearance ! coDfe
still greatly rely. Without their All
it tis beyond the power of any Presiden