Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1860-12-06
PREsIDHNT,s MESSAGE
FsIiOs Citizen, ef@s Senate

ing the country has been eminently pros
porous In oil its material interests. The
general health has been excellent, our har-
vests have been abundant and plenty
smiles throughout the land. Our com
merce and manufactures have been prose-
enled with energy snd industry, and have
yielded fair and ample returns. In short,
no nation in the tide Of time has ever pre-.
sented spectacle Of greater material pros
perity than We have done until within q
very recent period. re,..
I-' Why is ii, then, that discomfort now 50
extensively prevails, and the Union Of
States, which is the source Of all these bless
ings, Is threatened with desiruction7 The
long continued and intemperate intetfe
renee OF the Northern people with the uues-
tion Of slavery in the Southern States has
at length produced its natural ELECTS. The
different sections Of the Union are now ar
, rayed against each other, and the time has
arrived, 80 much dreaded by the Father Of
his Country, when hostile geographical par
ties have been formed. have long foreseen
and often forewarned my countrymen ofthe
now impending danger. This does not pro-
oeed solely from the claim on the part Of
Congress or the Territorial legislature 70
exclude slavery from the Territories. nor
flom the efforts of the different States to
defeat the execution Of the fugitive slave
law. All OF any Of these evils might have
been endured by the South without dan ger
TO the Union, as others have been, 10 the
hope that time and reflection might apply
the remedy. The immediate peril arises
not so much from these causes as from the
q fact that the incessant and violent agita-
ton Of the slavery question throughout the
North for the last quarter of century, has
at length produced its malign influence on
the slaves, and inspired them with vague
notions Of freedom.
Hence a sense Of security no longer exists
around the family altar. This telling of
peace at home has given place to apprehen-
sions Of survile.insurreotion. Many ma
tron throughout the South retires at night
indread of what may befall herself and chill
dren before morning. Should this hppreheh-
sion Of domestic danger, whether real or
d imaginary, extend and intensity itself un.
til it shall pervade the masses of the South
ern people, then disnnion will become in
evitable. SelEpreservation is the first law
Of nature, and has been implanted in the
heart Of man by his Creator for the wisest
purpose; and no political Union, however
frsught with blessings and benefits in all
other respects, con long continue, if the ne
I
and hresides of nearly half the parties TO
it hsbitually and hopelessly insecure
Sooner or later the bonds of such Union
must be severed. 1t is my conviction that
this fatal period has not yet arrived; and my
prayer to God is that He would preserve
the Constitution and the Union throughout
ell generations
But let us take warning in time, and re-
move the cause of danger. 1t cannot be
denied that, for FIVE and twenty years, the
agitation at the North against slavery in
the South has been ineessant. In 1885
pictorial hand bills and inlammatory ap
peals were circulated extensively through
out the South, Of a character to excite the
passions of the slaves; and, in the language
Of Gen. jackson, ''to stimulate them to in
surreotion and to produce all the horrors of
a servile war" This agitation has ever
since been continued by the public press,
by the proceedings of State and county con-
ventions, and by abolition sermons and lec-
lures. The time of Congress has been oc-
cupied in violent speeches on the never
ending subject and appeals in pamphlets
and other forms, F1dorsed by distinguished
names, have been sent forth from this cen.
tral point, and spread baoadcast over the
Union.
How easy would It be for the American
people to settle the slavery question forever
and to restore peace and harmony to this
distracted country /
They, and they alone, can do it. An
that is necessary to accomplish the object,
and all for which the slave States have ev-
er contended, is to be let alone, and per-
mitted to manage their domestic institu-
items In their own way. AS sovereign
States, they, and they alone, are RESPONSE
bic before God and the world for slavery
existing among them. For this, the peo-
pie of the North are not more responsible,
and have no more right to interfere, than
with similar institutions in Russia or in
Brasil Upon their good sense and patri-
otto forbearance confess greatly rely
Without their aid, it is beyond the power
Of any President, no matter what may be
his own political proclivities, to restore
peace and harmony among the States
Wisely limited and restrained as is his pow
er, under our constitution and laws, he alone
can accomplish but little, for good or for
evil, on such q momentous question.
And this brings me to observe that the
election of any one of our fellow citizens
to the office of President does not Of itself
afford just cause for dissolving the Union.
was effected by a. mere plurality and not q
msjority,Ot the people, and has resulted from
transient and temporary causes, which may
probably never again occur. In order to
justify a resort TO revolutionary resistance,
the federal government must be guilty of a
deliberate, palpable. and dangerous exer-
else of rowers not granted by the coustitu-
ton. The late Presidential election, how
ever, has been held in strict conformity
with its express provisions. How, then,
can the result justify revolution to de.
stroy this very constitution Reason, JUS
tice, regard for the constitution, all re-
quire that we shall wait for some overland
dangerous act on the part of the President
before resorting TO such a remedy.
1t is said, however, that the antecedents
Of the President elect have been sufficient
to justify the fears of the South that be will |
attempt TO invade their constitutional
rights. But are such apprehensions of
contingent danger in the future su6icientto
justify the immediate destruction of the |
noblest system of government ever devised
by mortalse From the very nature Of his |
ofhce, and its high responsibilities, he must
necessarily be conservative The stern
duty Of administering the vast and compli- |
GATED concerns of this government, affords
In itself guarantee that he will not at
tempt any violation Of clear constitution. |
al right. After all, he is no more than the
chief executive officer of the government
His province is not to make hut TO execute,
the laws; and it is a remarkable fact in our |
history that, notwithstanding the repeated
efforts Of the anti-slavery party, no single
act has ever passed Congress, unless we
may possibly except the Missouri Comprom.
ise, impairing in the slightest degree, the