Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1860-12-05
GEN. JAcKsoN,s PROCLAMATION.

The following extract from Andrew Jack son =
PROCLAMATION, in 1882, to the nulifiers and Sc
cesslonIsts OF South Carolina, will be read
with interest now. After enumerating the
blessings of union, the President says
And for what, mistaken men for what do
you throw away those inestimable blessings
for what would you exchange your share in the
advantages and honor of the Union For the
dream of separate independence-a dream in
terrupted by bloody conflicts with your neigh
bors, land vile dependence on foreign power?
If your leaders could succeed in establishing a
separation, what would be your situation
Are you united at home-are you free from
the apprehensions of civil discord, with all its
fearful consequences? Do our neighboring
republics, every day suffering some new revo-
luton or contending with some new insurrec-
tion-do they excite your envy2 Bnt the
dictates of high duty oblige me to announce
that you cannot succeed. The laws of the
United States must be executed. have no
discretionary power on the subject-my duty
Is semphatically pronounced in the Constitution.
Those who told you that you might peaceably
prevent their execution deceived you-they
could not have been deceived themselves.
They know that forcible opposition could a.
lone prevent the execution of the laws, and
they know that such opposition must be re-
PEELED. Their object is disnnion; but be not
deceived by names disunion, by armed force,
is treason. Are you really ready to incur its
guilt Z If you are, on the head of the insti-
gators of the act be the dreadful consequences
-on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours
may fall the punishment-on your unhappy
State will inevitably fall the evils of the CON
fict you force upon the government of your
country. 1t cannot accede to the mad project
of disunion of which you would be the first
vIctims-lts first magistrate cannot if he would,
avoid the performance of his duty-the con-
sequence must be fearful for you. distressing
to your fellow-citizens here, and to the ends of
good government throughout the world.
Its enemies have beheld our prosperity with
vexation they could not conceaI, lit was
standing refntation of their slavish doctrines,
and they will point to out discord with the
triumph of malignant joy. 1t is vet IN your
power to dsappoint them. There is yet time
TO show that the descendants of the Pickneys
the Sumters, the Rutledges, and of the thous-
and other names which adorn the pages of
your Revolutionary history, will not abandon
that Union, to support which so many of them
fought, bled, and died. l adjure you, as you
honor their memories,-as you love the cause
of freedom, to which they dedicated their
lives,-as you prize the peace of your coun-
try, the lives of its best citizens, and your
own fair frame, to retrace your steps. Snatch
from the archives of your state the disorgan-
iZing edct of its cOnvention,-bd its men,
bers to re-assemble and promulgate the deci-
ded expressions of your will to remain in the
path which alone can conduct you to safety,
prosperity, and honor,-tell them that, COM
pared to disunion, all other evils are light,
because that brings with it an accumulation
of all,-declare that you will never take the
field unless the star -spangled banner of your
country shall float over you,-that you will
not be stigmatized when dead, and dishonor-
ed and scorned while you live, as the authors
of the first attack on the constitution of
your country! Its destroyers you can not be.
You may disturb its peace,-you may inter-
rupt the course of its prosperity,-you may
cloud its reputation for stability,-but its
will be restored, its prosperity will
return, and the stain upon its national charac-
ter will be transferred and remain an eternal
blot on the memory of those who caused the
disorder. May the great Ruler of nations
grant, that the signal blessings, with which
He has favored ours, may not by the madness
of party or personal ambition, be disregarded
and lost and may His wise providence bring
those who have produced this crisis, to see
the folly, before they feel the misery, of civil
strife; and inspire a returning veneration for
that Union which, if we may dare to penetrate
His designs, He has chosen as the only means
of attaining the high destinies, to which we
may reasonably aspire.