Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-03-09

ne NNnunlCAu party hnONas US VIC WNNtN
country will ultimately come to understand,
that the nobest objects Of national life must
perish, If that life itself shall be lost, and
therefore it will accept the issue rendered 1t
will take up the word union, which others are
so willing to renounce. and, combining it with
that other glorious thought, Liberty, which
has been It's inspiration so long, it will move
firmly onward, with the motto inscribed on
, its banner. "UNioN and LIBERTY, como what
may, in victory as in defeat, in power as out
'6f power, now and forever"
lfthe Republican party maintain the Onion,
who and what party is to assal IL Only the
Democratic party for thoro as no othor.-
VIII the Democrats party take UP the as
saults The menSoos Of disunion are made,
though not in its name, yet in its behalf 1t
must avow or disavow them. It's silence,
thus far, is. portentous, but is not alarming.
The effect Of the intimidation, if successful,
would be to continue the rule Of the Demo-
cratic party, though minority, by terror
1t certainly ought to need no moro than this
to secure the success Of the Republican par
~. II, indeed. the time has come whom the
Democratic party must rule by terror, instead
Of ruling through conceded public confidence,
then it is quite certain that IL cannot be dis
missed from power too soon. Ruling on that
odious principle, it could not long save either
the Constitution OF public liberty, But
shall not believe the Democratic party will
consent to stand in this position, though it
docs through the action Of its representatives
seem TO cover and sustain those who threaten
disunion. ! know the Democracy of the
North. | know them now in their waning
strength. do mol know possible dsunion-
list among them all I believe they will be as
faithful to the Union nov as they were in the
bygono days when their ranks were full, and
their challenge TO the combat was always the
war-cry Of victory. But, if it shall prove
otherwise, then the world will all the sooner
know that evoy party in this country must
stand on Union grounds that the American
people will sustain no party that is not capa-
bic of making a sacrifice Of its ambition on the
altar of the country; that, although a party
may have never so much Of prestige, and new
or such traditional merit, yet if it b. lacking
in the one virtue Of loyalth to the Union, all
its advantages will be unayaling; and then
obnoxious as, through long cherished and
obstinate prcjudices, the Republican party is
in the capital States yet even there it will adj
vance like an army with banners, winning the
favor Of the whole people. and it will be arm
cd with the national confidence and support,
when it shall be found the only party that de-
tends and maintains the integrity of the Union.
THE UNION TERROR ExcIroRs.
Those who seek to awaken the terrors of
disunion seem to me to have too hastily con
sidercd the conditions under which they are
TO make their attempt Who believes that
Republican administration and Congress could
practice tyranny under a Constitution which
imposes so many checks as ours Yet that
tyranny must not only be practiced. but must
be ntolerable, and there must be no remain
ing hope for constitutional relief, before for
chile resistance can find ground to stand on
anywhere.
Tie people of the United States, acting in
conformity with the Constitution arc the SUI
prone tribunal to try and determine all polit-
ical issues. They arc as competent to decide
the issues Of to-day as they have been hereto
fore to decide the issues Of other day. They
can reconsider hereafter and reverse, if need
be, the judgment they shall pronounce to-day,
as they have more than once reconsidercd and
reversed their judgments IN former times. 1t
needs no revolution to correct any error, OF
prevent AID danger under any circumstances
Now is any new OF special cause for revo-
luton likely to occur under Republican adj
ministration. We are engaged in no new
transaction, not even in new dispute Our
fathers undertook great work for themselves,
for us, and for our successors--to erect free
and Federal empire, whose arches shall span
the North American continent, and reflect the
rays of the sun throughout his whole passage
from the one to the other of the great oceans.
They erected thirteen of its columns all at
once. These are standing now, the admira-
ton of mankind Their successors added
twenty more; even we who are here have
shaped and elevated three of that twenty. and
all these are as firm and stcadlast as the first
thirteen; and more will yet be necessary whom
we shall have rested from our labors. Some
among prefer for these columns a 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 in pro-
nouncing any statesman who heretofore
from mere disappointment and disgust at be-
ing overruled in his chnice of materials 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 a wreck, instead Of a citadel
of worlds best hopes
THE FOLLY or DIsUNIoN THREATS.
remain now in the opinion | have uni
formly expressed here and elsewhere, that
these hasty threats Of disunion are so unnat-
ural that they will find no hand to execute
them. We are of one race, language, liberty,
and faith ; engaged, indeed. in varied indus
try but even that industry, so diversified
brings us into more intimate relations with
each other than any other people, however
homogeneous and though living under a CON
soldated Government ever maintained We
languish throughout, if one joint of our Fed
eral fame is smitten; while it is certain that a
part discovered must perish You may refine
as you please about the structure Of the Gov
eminent, and say that it is compact and
that breach, by one Of the States or by
Congress, of any one article, absolves all the
members from allegiance, and that the States
may separate when they have, or fancy they
have, cause for war. But once try 10 subvert
it, and you will find that it is Government
of the whole people---as individuals, as well
as compact of States that every individual
member of the body polite is conscious of
his interest and power in it, and knows that
he will be helpless, powerless, hopeless, when
it shall have gone down. Mankind have a
natural right, natural instinct, and natu-
raj capacity for selfgovernment and when,
as here, they are sufficiently ripened by cul-
ture, they will and must have selfgovern-