New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-11-14

| Genaenle11-Go our request to address the citizens
| OF New Orleans "on the present condition of the
affairs OF our counry,n has just been placed in nv
hands. Aninyitation SO numerousy signed by the
most eminent business men of this great CONNER
cial city implies compliment which duly appre-
ciate, and am exceedingly reluctant to decline.
These are not the times for patriotic men to affect
Indifference, Or to degenerate into despondency, or
to rush madly into violent and extreme measures.
Just in proportion as our common country is enyi-
roned with peril, it becomes the imperative duty
of every patriot in the land to increase his efforts
and exert his utmost powers and energies to rescue
the republic from the disasters which threaten its
integrity. @M...=a
| No man in America regrets the election of Mr..
Lincoln more than do none made more strenu
Gus exertions to defeat him: none differ with
him more radically and rreconcilably upon all the
great issues involved in the contest No man living
is prepared to resist, by all the legitimate means
sanctioned by the Constitution and laws Of our
country, the aggressive policy which he and his
party are understood to represent But while l.
say this, I am bound, as good citizen and law
abiding man, to declare my conscientious conyic
ton that the mere election of any man to the
Presidency BY the American people, in accordance
with the Constitution and laws does not Of itself
| furnish any just cause or reasonable ground for
dissolvng the Federal Union.
It is not pretended as far as am informed that
any provision of the Constitution has been violated
In the recent election. No act has heeu done
which impars or destroys the constitutional rights
OF any State or citizen. Nothing has vet occurred
to release any citizen from his oath of fidelity to
the Constitution of the United States which il the
supreme ldD of every State and of every citizen.
But while it is conceded that no act has vet bean
done which impairs the rights or endanrers tbe
peace and safety of any portion of our country IT
is dppreleaded that the election of Mr.. Lincoln
carries with it the assurance that the policv ana
principles of the party by which he was elected
will prevail and be carried into practical effect in
every department of the Federal Government and
thereby ,cM endanger the peace and safety of the
slaveholding States. Is this apprehension we'll
founded? Do the results of the recent election
justify this apprehension? The President can do
nothing except what the law authorizes, His DUTY
is to see the laws faithfully executed II he fails to
perform this duty he will soon find himself a
prisoner before the High Court of Impeaeb.
ment Fortunately that tribunal is SO constituted
as to command the confidence of the people of
the entire South as well as of the Conservative
men of the North We have this securitv that
the eGtsting laws will be faithfully executed
| have yet to learn that the people Of the sontb
complain of the acts of Congress noe on the stat
ute book, upon the subject of slavery, as annlica.
BILE to the States or the Territories, or to the Dis
trict of Columbia. These laws were enacted
mainly, if not entirely, by the joint action of the
conservative members of the North and South in
opposition to the Aboltionists and Free.soers
and have been acquesced in by the Southern neo.
pie as well as by their Senators and Representa-.
tves, under the present and preceding adminstra.
tons of the Federal Government. Conseouentlv
it is fair to presume that the South, so far from de-
mandng the repeal of the existing laws upon the
subject of slavery as essential to her safety and |
equality in the Union, will insist on their being re.
tanned upon the statute book and faithfully exc
cnted. Nor are we permitted to infer that the
sonthernpeople require any additional legislation
by Congress on this subject, for the reason that
the Southern Senators and Representatives have
not introduced and advocated any changes in the
existing legislation upon the slavery question under
the present Administration, and that of Mr. Pierce
when the Abolitionists and Free -soilers were in
the minority in both Houses of Congress.
Assuming, therefore, that the Southern people
and their Senators and Representatives deem their
rights and institutions entirely safe under the con-
stitution and laws as they now stand and only de-
sire to be let alone, without any interference bv
Congress with their domestic concern the ouestion
arises whether MIR. Lincoln and his party will have
the power, even if they have the disposition. to
disturb or impair the rights and institutions Of the
south, either in the States Territories or in the
District OF Columbia? They certainly cannot do
t under the existing laws. VIII they have the
power to repeal or change these laws, or TO enact