Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-03-03

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enterprise the alarm and CONSERVATION naturally
awakened throughout the country, exciting for the
moment the fear that cur whole system. with all
its securities for lie and liberty, was coming 10 an
end-a fear none the more endurable becsnse con-
tinually aggravated BY new ehimeraa - yTbcb ne
leading event lent an air Of probability; surely an
these constituted a sum Of public misery which
ought 70 have satisfied The most morbid appetfts
for social horrors But, as In the case Of tts gun
powder plot and TIE Salem Witcheraft ana The
New York colonial negro plot, 50 now the oiiVi.
nal actors were swiftly followed BY another an5
kindred class, who sought to prolODg and widen
ihe public distress by attempting 10 direct the 10.
oignalon i had excited against parties guiltless
equally Of completely and Of sympathy with the Of
Postery will decide in all the recent cases where
pOtcal responsibility for public disasters mus. ia;
aud lposterity viii give little heed TO our instruc-
tlons IL was not until the-gioomy reign Of Doni-
iian bad ended, and liberty and virtue had found
assured refuge under the sway Of the milder Ner-
va tnaL Lne historian arose whose narrative Of that
mankind.
The Bepublican Party being thus vindicased
against charge OF hostility to the South, which
has been offered as an excuse for the menaces Of
unconstitutional resistance in case Of ifs success
tee well assured that il VIII sustain me in meeiiuO
them in the spirit Of the defender Of the Engiis6
Commonwealth;
Surely they that shall boast as We DO to be a
free nation, a1d having the power, shall Dot also
have the courage, to remove eOnstitutOnally every
Governor, whether he be the supreme or subordi.
nate, may please their fancy with ridiculous and
painted freedom, ct 70 cOzen battles, bat are IN
deed, under tyranny and serVitude, wanting fhst
power, which is the root and source Of all liberty,
to dispose Of and economic in the land which God
hath given them, as members Of q family in their
own home and free inheritance Without which
natural and essential power Of free nation, though
bearing high their heads, they can in due esteem,
oe th0ughtno better than slaves and vassals bOru
in the tenure and occupation Of another inheriting
ord, whose government, though not illegal or in
toleraDle, hangs on them as lordly scourge not
as free government"
The Republican Party knows, as the whole coun-
try viii ultimately come to understand, that the
nOblest objects Of national life must perish, that
life itself shall be lost and therefore it win accept
the issue rendered It viii take up the word UniOD,
which others are so willing to renOunce. and COM
bning it with that other glorious thought Liberty,
which has been its inspiration 80 long It will move
firmly onward, with the motto inscribed on its ban.
ner, UNION AND LIBERTY, co me what may,
in victory as in defeat in power as out Of power,
now md forever"
II the Republican Party Hairtafn the Union, who
and what party is to assail it Only the Demo
cratic Party, for there is other. Will the Dem
oerate psrty take up the assault The menaees Of
| disunion are made though not in its name, yet in
its behalf. Il must aVOY or disaVoW them. Its 81
enee thus far is portsntous, but is not aiarming-
The effect Of the intimidation, il successful would
be to continue the rule Of the Democratic Party,
/ though minority, by terror. Il certainly ought
to need no mere than this to secure the success Of
/ the Republican party. II, indeed, the time has
come when the Democratic party must rule
/ by terror instead Of ruling through conceded
public confidence, then it is quite certain that
It cannot be dismissed fIom power too soon. Rul-
ing on that odous principle, il could not long save
either the Constitution or public liberty. But
shall not believe the Democratic party viii consent
to stand in this position, though it does through
the action Of its representatives, cover and
sustain those who threaten disuniOn- know the
Democracy Of the North. ] know them now in
their waning strength I do not know possible
disuniOnist among them all. believe they will
be as faithful to the Union now as they were in by
gOue days, when their ranks were full and their
challenge to the combat was always the War-crY Of
victory. But if il shall prove otherwise then the
world viii all the sooner know that every party in
this country must stand on union ground that the
American people VIII sustain no party that is not
capable of making sacrifice Of its ambition on the
altar Of the country; that, although party may
have never so much Of prestige, and never such
traditional merit yet if 1t be lacking in the one Vir
tue Of loyalty to the Union, all its advantages viii
be unaYailiag; and then, obnoxious as, through
lOng-eherished and obstinate pTeiudices the Repub
Ican party is in the Capital STATES, yet even there
it will advance like an army With banners, winning
the favor OF the whole people, and will be armed
with tbs national confidence and support, when 1t
shall be found the only party that defends and
maintBins the integrity Of the Union.
Those who seek to awaken the terrors Of dis
union, seem to me to have too hastily considered
the conditions under which they are to make the
attempt. Who believes that Republican Admin
istralion and Congress could practice tyranny m
der a constitution which interposes somsny checks
as GUS Yet that tyranny must not only be prac-
ticed, but must be intOleFable, and there must be
no hope for constitutional relief, before forcibe re-
sistance can ind g1Ound TO stand on anywhere.
The people of the United States, acting in con-
foimity with the Constitution, are the supreme
tribunal to tIy and determine al political issues.
they competent 10 decide the issuea Of to day
they have been heretofore TO decide the issues OF
other days. They can reconsider hereafter, and
reverse, if need be, the Judgment they shall pro-
nOunce to dag, as they have heretofore recanGd-
cred and reversed their judgments in former times.
Il needs DO revolution to correct any error. or pre-
vent any danger under any circumstances.
Nor is any new OF special cause for revolution
likely TO occur under Republican administration
We are engaged in no new transaction. not even in
new dispute. Our fathers undertook a great
work for themselves, for u.s. and for successors
I-tO,erect free and Federal empire, whose arches
snail span the North American continent, aud re-
feet rays Of the sun throughout his whole passage
from one to the other Of the great oceans. They
erected thirteen Of its columns all at once These
are standing now, the admiration Of mankind
Their successors added twenty mere even we who
are here have shaped and elevated three Of that
tWenty, and all these are as firm and steadfast az
the first thirteen and more will yet be necessary
when we have rested from our labOrs Some ofus
prefer for these columns composite material
others, The pure white marble. Our fathers and
our predecessors differed in the same way and on
the same point What execrations should we not
all unite il prOnouncing on any statesman who
heretofore, from mere disappointment and disgust
I,eh faH in 0f for
any new column then TO be quarried, should have
laid violent hands on the imperfect structure and
brought It down to the earth, there TO remain
wreck. instead Of citadel Of world best hopes
remain nov in the opinion l have uniformly
expressed here and elsewhere, that these hasty
threats Of Disunion are so unnatural that they
will find no hand to execute them. We are Of
one race, language, liberty, and faith; engaged,
indeed, in varied industry; but even that indus~
try, SO diversified, brings US into more intimate
relations with each other than any other people,
however homogeneous, and though living under
aconsolidated Government, ever maintained
We languish throughout if one joint Of our
Federal frame is smitten; while it is certain
that a part discovered must perish. You may
refine as you please about the structure Of the
Government, and say that it IS compact, and
that a breach, by one of the States OF BY Cons
gress, or any one article, absOlves all the mems
5ers from allegiance, and that the States may
separate when they have, or fancy they have,
cause, for war. But once try to subEeTt It,
and you viii find that it IS 4 Government Of
the whole peopIe-ss individuals, as we'll as a
compact of States; that every individual member
of the body polite is conscious Of his interest
and power in it, and knows that he wiz be
| helpless, poweriess, hOpeless, when 1t shall
have gone down. Mansind have a natural
right, natural instinct, and natural capacity
for self>government; and when, as here, they
are sufiicieutly ripened By culture, they will
and must have self-government, and no other.
The trainers ofOur Constitution, with wisdom
that surpassed all previous understanding
among men, adapted it to these inherent ele-