The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1860-12-14
What is Thought of the Message.

w nat Is nOuSnl oil the MESSAGE
In the extracts which We give below from
some Of the leading papers of our country, it
will be seen that opinions differ somew Eat as
to the merits of the message. The y. y.
Tribune is severe and mercile:s. 1t talks
thus :
"I.ct US devoutly thank God that, for the
ensuing four years at least, the people of the
United States are relieve ed from the annual
visitation ola long presidential lecture where
in reason is insuted, humanity outraged, his
tory travestied and common sense deiied, in
the interest of human slavery and for the
qualification of its upholders.
| The man who in this day talks of the op-
ponents Of slavery as blind, Lcso,ted fana-
tics, and represents the current agitation as
utterly unprovoked and gratuitous, is simply
dishonest. MIR Buchanan knows better. He
Knows that the means whereby Texas was
thrust into our Union were eminently ca!cu-
lated to arouse any latent anti-slaycrv con-
viction that slumbercd in the breast of our
ron-slcveholding citizens. lie knows that,
when the war on Mexico was made to resul,
in the transfer of vast and thinly peopled re-
gions from that republic to our Uncn, it was
inevitable either that slavery should be exclu-
ded from those territories or that the PEOPLE
Of the United States as a whole, and not
those OF the South exclusively, should take
upon their souls the responsibility CT extend
ing the peculiar institution" over a region
half so large as Europe far larger than the
United States East OF the Mississippi. Mr.
Buchanan himself expressly atiifms, and
quotes the supreme court as his authority,
that every foot OF federal territory is neces-
sarily slaveholding territory-that is, terrific
ny subject to the law of slavery-from the
moment that it passes under the sway of our
Union. He knows that the Kansas Nebras-
ka bill was expressly and avowedlv introduce
ed to remove legal obstacles to the diffusion
of slavery, ard that the bill owed all its i'm
portance and general interest to that fact
How is it possible, then, for pubicist with
the eyes of the world full upon him, to say
that 1.-The long continued and incorporate in
reference of the Northern people with the
question of slavery in the Southern states
has a: length produced its natural effects ?"
Is the presidents brow brass that it should
not crimson with the consciousness that the
whole world will know this to be lie p
Does he not know right well that the chill
dren in our public schools will point the fin
ger OF shame at the author of such assertions,
who fingers on the brink of the grave to IL
Del and traduce the most intelligent and con-
scentious portion Of the people about to be
relieved from the incubus of his rule d?
Mr. Buchanan asserts that it would be tea
sy tor the American people to settle the slav-
cry question forever" and this simply by let
ting the slave states alone, and permitting
them to manage their domestic institutions
IN their own way" Yet in this very mes
sage ne proposes to force slavery down the
threats Of the Northern people, and compel
them to take upon their consciences the re-
sponsibility of justifying, protecting and ex.
tending it, by FIVE or six distinct and import.
ant acts"
Tie Tribune agrees with Mr. Buchanan on
secession and coercion, as we'll as his remarks
about the tariff.
The n. Y. Times, conservative republi-
can paper, (for the last campaign, at least
arrives at conclusions scarcely less severe
than those Of its contemporary:
"The message, in our judgment, is an in
cendiary document, and will tend still fur
Their to exasperate the sectional differences of
the day. 1t backs up the most extravagan,
of the demands which have been made by |
the South-endorses their menace of disun-
ion if these demands are not conceded-and |
promises the seeding states that the power
OF the federal government shall not be used