Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1860-11-22

EEThc following article from the ST.
Louis Democrat will well repay careful
perusal:gJI18 aGr go g1YtNT
Paramount Issue of the Day-The Sec
tionht Line no Longer the Dividing
Party Line. .1srif
As one calanitous event in the physical
world begcts another-as pestilence trcads
on the heels of famine-so in our politics
We see DIsUSIoy Succeeding SLAVERY PROP
AGANDIsM. The secession movement in the
South is the latest result of the abrogation
of the Missouri; Compromise. For the
present. at least, the slavery question re-
celcs into the back ground, and Dsunion
takes its place in the lists. The compost
ton of the existing and next Congress is
such. that no legislation. whether for or
against slavery in the Territories, can be
expected for two years at least; and it is by
no means improbable that at the end of that
time, when the Republican party will have
the power to legislate on the question. it
the power has disappeared. The expan-
sise energies Of free labor. having to resist
the powers Of the Federal Government no
longer, will have achieved such conquests
in the interim. that all ext.insic aid in the
shape Of Congressional enactments, may
thenceforth. perhaps, be considered super
laous. At alleycnts. the slavery coutro-
versy is adjourned for the present. There
is truce for two years aud some months,
for the secession controversy takes prece-
dence of it and demands final settlement
now. The cloud of disunion. which has
never sunk below the horizon these thirty
years. is fast mounting to the zenith. and
the duty Of the hour is to prepare the ship
Of state for the impending storm, so that
II shall weatherit without losing single
spar. Union or disunion, Is the issue
which the. slavery -propagandists have
forced on The nation. 1t is the. Issue they
have been laboring to make paramount for
long years, and they have succeclel at
last. All their movements have been
guided to that end. The dissolution OF the
Union and the establishment of Southern
Confederacy are the penultimate and ulti-
mate achievements contemplated by their
wicked ambition. ever since Calhoun
stamped the Southern mind with his own
ideas. Disunion is the monster which the
pilgrim nation has to subdne at this point
of its progress; and we trust it will be so
effectually subdued this time that its very
name will perish from out the land
Shonld the right of secession whether as
practical or an abstract right. be con-
coded, the days ofthe Union were numbered;
the political fabric were either ovcrthrown
or SO undermined that its duration would
be measured. not by ages. but by moments.
We are willing. to, concedc that no gres.
regret would be felt by the great body Of
the people at the secession OF South Caro-
lima. even if she were to trail after her three
or four other States. ;proyilels their seccs-
sion were at all compatible with the safety
ofsthe organization to which they belong.
Had Congress the right to expel old States
as well as to admit new ones, an act declaf-
ing .Sonth Carolina. and her aecomplices
outside the pale Of the Union would be
hailed, we have no doubt, with general re-
|joicing: Coull the great tree beneath
whose branches all the high hopes Of ouI
race find shelter and protection. be pruned
of its lwithered limbs without destroying
tits vital principle, infinite relief would bt
experienced. Bat that cannot be- Tho
secession oflone State would resolve The
whole into its component parts. Each i
ICED to evsry other forsbotter OF worse.--
The tie cannot be- severed. Neither car
Iauy member. howsver mich il may offend.
be cast out.s except by the procedure which
the Constitution lays down in providing
for its own amendment. Tins it will b.
lsscn. that either secession sor expulsion is
|impossible. unless WITH the concurrence o.
three-fourths Of all Tie States IN Conven
ttion assembled. W. think Il would b
quite prActicable for South Carolina to
obtain the assent of the requisite mum
! Der of States to any rational scheme
Of divorce she might propose Bat ifsh'
oonsidstsD hprself Sound mp in'a Gordon