Litchfield enquirer., 1860-12-13
asal. EXTRACTS FROM sssal. ss s.ss
 THE PRESIDENTS MEssAGEsfs FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SENATE. AND HOUSE OF REpREsEST1T1VEs:asiA 4o sa.g,

THE PRESIDENTS MEsSAGEst
 FELLOW ,CnKENs OF THE SENATE. AM HOUSE. OF REpREsENrlTIvEs:aslAa 4s ss.
 PROSPERITY OF THE COUNTRY. '3ss Throughout the year since our last meet ing the country has been eminently prosper ous in all its material interests asThe gen eral health has been excellent, our haryest
 have been abundant, and plenty smile throughout the land.s Our commerce anl manufactures bavsssyielded fair, and ampl, returns. In short, no nation in the tide 0 time has ever presented < spectacle of great CT material prosperity than we have don, until within very recent period B -a.ys SLAVERY AGITATIoN-THE SLAVES UEEAsY. |a.sWhy issit, then, that discontent now SC extensively prevails, and the Union of tile States, which is the source of all these bles sings, is threatened with destruction? @ The long continued and inte,nperate, ,interferenee of the Northern people with the question o
 slavery in the Southern States has at ,lengtl produced it's natural effects The different sections of the Union are HOW arrayed against each other, and the time has arrived so much dreaded by the Father of his Ceun
 try, when hostile geographical parties Layc been formed. I have long foreseen. and oft. en'forwarned my countrymen of thenow i'm pending danger. This does not proceed solely from the claim on the. part of Con- gress or the Territorial legislatures to- ex. clude slavery from the Territories, nor from ho oH. ptc <f T kJ execution of tue 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 rnch from these causes as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation of the slavery question throughout the North for the last quarter of a century. has at length produced its malign influence on the slaves, and in spired them with vague notions of freedom. Hence sense of seemity no longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of peace at home has given place to apprehen- sions of servie instruction. Many mat ron throughout the South retires at night in droad of what may befall1 herself and her ciildrci, before the morning. Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and intensify itself until it shall peryade the masses of the South ern people, then diSunion will became inev- itablc Sell-preservation is the first law of nature, and has beeu implanted in the heart of man by his Creator for the wisest pur- pose; and no political union, however fraught with blessings and benefits in all other re, spects, can long cohtinuc, if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the fresides of nearly half the parties to it ha- btnaly and hopelessly insecure. Sooner or later the bonds of such Union must be se- vercd. Il is my conviction that this fatal p"riod has not yet arrived; and my prayer to God is that He would preserve the Con- stitution aHd the Union throughout all gen. erations e-.. -.,.
 Bnt let us take warning in time, and re- move the cause of danger. It eamIot he de- nied that, for five and twenty years, the az itation at the North against slavery in the South has beer ineessant In 1885 p'ctori
 al hand bills and inllammatory appeals were circulated extensively throughout the South, ofa character to excite the passions of the slaves; and, in. tue language of General Jackson, "to stimulate them to insurrecton aud produce all the horrors of a servilc war" This agitation has ever since been continued by the public press by the proceedings of State and county conventions, and by abo- litiou sermons and lectures. The time of Congressrhas been occupied in violent speech- es 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 broad cast oyer the Union asa@ a57sa
 n LET SLAVERY ALONE. E.as er-, ar-' .., How easy would it be for. the American people to settle the slavery question forever aud to restore peace and harmohy to this distracted country!a 54lss -s -4-'.' ,.- -.'F
 They, aud they aloue, cando it. All that is necessary to accomplish the object, and all for which the Slave States has eyer con tended. is 10 be let alone, and permitted to manage their domestic institutions in their own way. As sovereign States they and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for slavery existing among them. For this, tue people of the North are not more responsible, and have no more right to interfere than with similar institutions in Russia or in Brazil. Upon their good sense and patriotic forbearance I confess l still greatly rely.- Without their aid, it is be- yond the power, of any President, no matter what may be his own political procivities. to restore peace and harmony among the States Wisely limited and restrained as is power, under our constitution aud laws, he alone can accomplish but little, for good or for evil, on such momentous question.
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
 And this brings me to observe that the election of any one of our fellow citizens tc the office of President does not of itself af ford just cause for dissolving the Union.- This is more especially true if his election has been effected by . mere plurality, and not majority of the people, and has resul
 ted from transient and temporal causes
 which may probably never again occur. IT order to justify a resort to. revolutionary re sistance, the federal government must ,be guilty of deliberate, palpabe and danger ous exercise of powers not granted by ths constitution. The late Presidential election however, has been held in strict conformity
 with it's express provisions. How, then, ca,
 the result justify revolution to destroy thi
 very constitution? Reason, justice, regard for the constitution, all require that we shal
 wait for some overt and dangerous act ol
 the part of the President before resorting t
 such a remedy.