Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1860-12-12
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE,
DELIVERED DEC. 4rH, 1860.
FelloU-cifizens of the Senate and House of
III.

| Feltoc-citizens of the Senate and House of
| Representatives.:
throughout the year since orr last meeting
| the country has been emiDcntly prosperous in
| all its material interests. The general health
has been excellent, our harvests have been
| abundant, and plenty smiles throughout the
land. Our commerce and manufactures have
been prosecuted with energy and industry,
and have yielded fair and ample returns. In
short, no nation in the tide of time has ever
presented q spectacle of greater material pros
perity than we have done until within very
recent period.
AGITATION AND ITS CAUSES.
Why is il, then, that discomfort now so ex-
tensively prevails, and the Union of the States,
which is the source of all these blessings, is
threatened with destruction? The long con-
tinued and Incorporate interference Of the
Northern people with the question of slavery
in the Southern States has at length produced
its natural effects. The different sections of
the Union are now arrayed against each other,
and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by
the Father Of his Country, when hostile geo.
graphical parties have been formed. have
long foreseen and often forewarned my coun-
trymen Of the now impending danger. This
does not proceed solely from the claim on the
part of Congress or the territorial legislatures
to exclude slavery from the Territories, nor
from the efforts of different States to defeat
the execution of the fugitive slave law. All
or any of these evils might have been endured
by the South without danger to the Union,
Gas others have been,) in the hope that time
and reflection might apply the remedy. The
Immediate peril arises not so much from these
causes as from the fact that the incessant and
violent agitation Of the slavery question thro'-
out the North for the last quarter of a century,
has at length produced its malign influence
on the slaves, and inspired them with vague
notions OF freedom. Hence a sense Of secu-
rttr-
This feeling of peace at home has given place
te apprehensions of seryie insurrection. Ma
ny Matron throughout the South retires at
night in dread of what may befall herself and
her children before the morning. Should this
apprehension of domestic danger, whether
real or imaginary, extend and intensity itself
until it shall pervade the masses of the South
ern people, then disunon will become inevita-
BILE. Self-preservation is the first law of ma
ture, and has been implanted in the heart of
man by his Creator for the wisest purposes
and no political union, however fraught with
blessings and benefits in all other respects, can
long continue, if the necessary consequences
be to render the homes and the fireside of
nearly half the parties to it habitually 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 all generations. But let us take
warning in time, and remove the cause Of dan
ger. 1t cannot be denied that, for twenty five
years, the agitation at the North against sla-
very in the South has been lncessant. In 1885
pictorial hand bills, and nfammatory appeals
were circulated extensively throughout the
South, of character to excite the passions of
the slaves; and, in the language of General
Jackson. s'to stimulate them to insurrection,
and 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 conventions, land by abolition
sermons and lectures. The time of Congress
has been occupied in violent speeches on this
never-ending subject; and appeals in pamphlet
and other forms, endorsed by distinguished
names, have been sent forth from this central
point and spread broadcast over the Union.
HOW TO SETTLE THE SLAVERY QUESTION.
How easy would it be for the American peo-
pie to settle the slavery question forever, and
to restore peace and harmony to this distract
ed country. They, and they alone, can do it. |
All that is necessary to accomplish the object, |
and all for which the slave States have ever |
is to be let alone, and permitted to
their domestic institutions in their |
own way. AS sovereign States, they, and they |
alone, are responsible before God and the |
world for the slavery existing among them. |
For this, the people of the North not more |
and have no more right to inter- |
or in Brazil. Upon their good sense and pa |
triotc forbearance confess / still greatly re-
ly. Without their aid, it is beyond the power |
of any President, no matter what may be his |
own political procivities, to restore peace and |
among the States. Wisely limited |
and restrained as is his power, under our |
Constitution and laws, he alone can accom-
plish but little, for good or tor evil, on such |
a momentous question.
LINCoLN's g ELECTION NO CAUSE FOR SECESSION.
And this brings me to observe that the cleo |
ton of any one of our fellow citizens to the |
office Of President does not of itself afford just
cause for dissolving the Union. This is more |
especially true if his election has been effected |
by q mere plurality, and not majority, of the |
people, and has resulted from transient and |
temporary causes, which may probably never |
again occur. In order to justify resort to |
revolutionary resistance, the Federal Govern
ment must be guilty of "a deliberate, palpa-
BILE, and dangerous exercise" OF powers not |
granted by the Constitution. The late Presi- |
Dental election, however, has been held in |
strict conformity with its express provisions.
How, then, can the result justify revolution
to destroy this very Constitution? Reason,
Justice, regard for the Constitution, all re-
quire that we shall wait for some overt and
dangerous act on the part of the President e.
lect before resOrting to such a remedy. 1t is
said, however. that the antecedents OF the Pres
ident elect have been sufficient to justify the |
fears Of the South that he will attempt to in |
wade their constitutional rights. But are such
of contingent danger in the fu-
ture sufficient to justify the immediate de-
struction of the pQblest system of governments |
ever devised by mortals7 From the very ma
tpre Of his office, and its high responsibilities,
he must necessarily be conservative, Tho /
stern duty of administering the vast and oom-
plicated concerns Of this Government affords