Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1860-12-14
But. if we possessed this power. would it o

Of stances? The object would doubtless be
r preserve the Union. War would not on
n present the most effectual means Of destro
t. ing it, but would Danish all hopes of peac
,e able reconstruction. Besides, in the fraterl
,e al conflict, vast amount of blood an
4 treasure would be expended, renderin
i future reconciliation between the States in
d possible In the meantime, who can for
W tell what would be the sufferings and privi
d tons Of the people during its existence ?
n The fact Ii, that our Union rests upo
!. public opinion, and can never be cemente,
y by the blood of its citizens shed in civil wal
: fit cannot live in the affections of tn
t people, it must one day perish. Congress
!. possesses manygmeans of pressrvingHit it b.
Q conciliation;r but the sword was not place.
. in their hand to preserve it by force.
: But may be permitted solemnly to invok
my countrymen to pause and deliberate
: before they determine to destroy this, tn
i? grandest temple that has eysr been dedicate,
! to human freedom since the world began p
3 1t has been consecrated by the blood of ou
fathers, by the glories of the past, and b.
, the hopes of the future. The Union ha!
already made US the most prosperous and
erslong, will, if preserved, render us th'
most powerful nation on the face of tn,
. earth. In every foreign region of the globe
. the title of American citizen is held in the
highest respect, and when pronounced in q
foreign land it causes the hearts Of our
countrymen to swell with honest pride.-
Surely when We reach the brink of the
lyawning abyss, we shall recoil with horror
from the last fatal plunge. By such dread
catastrophe the hopes of the friends of Free
dom throughout the world would be Destroy
ed, and u long night of leaden despotism
would enshroud the nations. Our example
for more than eighty years would not only
be lost but it would be quoted as a con-
elusive proof that man is unfit for self-gov-
ernment.
1t is not cS cry wrong-nay, not every griev-
Gus wrong-which can justify resort to
such fearful alternative. This ought to
be the last desperate remedy of despair
ing people, after every other constitutional
tmeans of conciliation had been exhausted
We should reflect that under this free Gov
ernment there is ncessant ebb and flow in
public opinion. The Slavery question like
everything human, will haveits day. l firm.
ly believe that it has already reached and
passed its eliminating point. But if, in the
midst of the existing excitement, the Union
shall perish, the evil may then become ire
parable. Congress can contribute much to
| avert it by proposing and recommending to
the Legislatures of the several States the
remedy for existing evils, which the Consti-
tuition has itself provided for its own prcser-
yation. This has been tried at different
critical periods of our history, and always
With eminent success. 1t is to be found in
the 9Th article providing for its own amend
p,anf TIp6ar this artic1a apd n, q N re- boro
been proposed by two thirds of both Houses
of Congress, and have been ratified by the
Legislatures of three-fourths of the several
States, and have consequently become parts
of the Constitution 10 this process the
country is indebted for the clause prohibit
ing Congress from making any law respect
ing an establishment of religion, orabrid ging
the freedom of speech or Of the press, or of
the right of petition. To this we are. also,
indebted for the bill of Rights, which secures
the people against any abuse of power by
the Federal Government. Such were the
apprehensions justly entertained by the
friends of State rights at that period as to
have rendered it extremely doubtful whether
the Constitution could have long survived
without these amendments
Again, the Constitution was amended by
dent Jefferson by the House of Representa-
tives, in February, 1903. This amendment
was rendered necessary to prevent a recur-
renee of the dangers which had seriously
threatened the existence of the Government
during the pendencyof the election. The
article for its own amendment was in tended
to secure the amicable adjustment of con-
flicting Constitutional questions like the
WI aric hafu hn
Governments of the States and the United
States. This appears from cotemporaneous
history. In this connection, l shall merely
call attention to few sentences in Mr..
Madisons celebrated report in 1899 to the
Legislature of Virginia In this he ably and
conclusively defended the resolutions of the
preceding Legislature against the structures
of several other State Legislatures. These
were manly founded upon the protest of the
Virginia Legislature against the "Alien and
Sedtion Acts,"ss "palpable and alarming
nfractions upon the Constitution" In
pointing out the peaceful and constitutional
remedies, and he referred to none other,
to which the States were authorized to re-
sort on such occasions, he concludes by say
ing, "that the Legislatures of the States
might have made direct representation to
Congress with view to obtain resembling
of the two offensive acts, or they
might have represented to their respective
Senators in Congress their wish that two
thirds thereof would propose an explanatory
amendment to the Constitution, or two
thirds of themselves if such had been their
option, might by an application to Congress
have obtained a convention for the same
object.
This is the very course which l earnestly
recommend in order to obtain an "explan.
atory amendment of the Constitution on
the subject of slavery. This might originate
with Congress or the State Legislatures, as
may be deemed most advisable to attain the OBJ
ject.
The explanatory amendment might be con-
fined to the final settlement of the true con-
struction of the Constitution on three special
points
l. An express recognition Of the right
exists or may hereafter exist.
2. The duty of protecting this right in
all the common Territories throughout their
territorial existence, and until they shall be
admitted as States into the Union, with or
prescribe.
3. A like recognition of the right of the
master to have his slave, who has escaped
from one State to another, restored and
delivered up to him, and of the validity of
the fugitive slave law enacted for this pur-
pose, together with declaration that all
State laws impairing or defeating this right
are violations of the Constitution, and are
consequently null and void
1t may be objected that this construction
has already been settled by the Supreme
Court of the United States, and what more
ought to be required? The answer is that
very large portion of the people of the
United States still contest the correctness of
this decision, and never will cease from
agitation and admit its binding force until
clearly established by the people of the seve
raj States in their sovereign character =
+ Such an explanatory amendment would, il