The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-12-12
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
Fezzo.o- Citizers Of the Senate
and House of RepresentattUes:

y
the country has been eminently 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 present
ed spectacle of greater material prosperity
than we have done until within very recent
period
Why is it, then, that discomfort now SO ex-
tensivsly prevails, and the Union of States,
which is the source of all these blessings, Is
threatened with destruction? The long con-
| tinued and intemperate 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. L have
| long foreseen and often forewarned my coun-
trypnen of the now impending danger. This
does not proceed solely from the claim on the
part of Congress or the Territorial legislature
to exclude slavery from the Territories, nor
from the efforts of the different States to de-
feat the execution of the fugitive slave law.
All or any of these evils might have been en-
dared by the South without danger to the I'm
ion, Gas others have been in the hope that
time and reflection might apply the remedy
The immediate peril arises not 80 much from
these causes as from the fact that the ineess1nt
and violent agitation of thc slavery question
throughout the North for the last quarter of
century, has at length produced its malign in
huence on the slaves, and inspired them with
vague notions of freedom.
Hence a sense of security no longer exists
around the family altar. This feeling of peace
at home has given place to apprehensions OF
survile-insurrcction. Many matron through
out the South retires at nj ght in dread of what
may befall herself and children before morn
ing. Should this apprehension OF domestic
danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and
intensity itself u til it shall pervadc the masses
of the Southern people. then disunion will be-
| come inevitable. preservation is the first
law of nature, and has been implanted in the
heart of man by his Creator for the wisest Fur
pose; and no political Union, however fraught
with blessings and benefits in all other respects,
can long continue, if the necessary conse-
quence be to render the homes and iresides OF
nearly half the parties to it habitually and
! hopclcssly 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 lie
would preserve the Constitution and the Union
| throug hout all generations.
But let US take warning in time, and remove
the cause of danger. 1t cannot be denied that,
for five and twenty years, the agitation at the
North against slavery in the South hes been
incessant. In 1885 pictorial hand bills and in
4 hammatory appeals were circulated extensively
throug hout the South, of character TO excite
the passions of the slaves; and, in the language
of General Jackson, "to stimulate them to IN
surrecton and to produce ali 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,
and By abolition serNaons and lectures. The
time of Congress has been occupied III violent
speeches on the never ending subject, and ap-
peals in pamphlets and other forms, endorsed
bv distin guishcd names, have been sent forth
; from this central point, and spread broadcast
over the Union. -..
How easy would it be for the American peo-
pie to settle the slavery question forever and
to restore peace and harmony to this distracted
| country r.-r. ...
They, and they alone, can do it. All that
! is necessary to accomplish the object, and all
for which the slave States have ever contended
is to be alone, and permitted to manage thell
domestic institutions in their own way. Az
sovereign States, they, aad they alone, are re
! sponsible before God and the world for slavery
existing among them. For this, the people oi
the North are not more responsible, and have
no more tight to interfere, than with similar
institutions in Russia or Brazil Upon theil
: good sense and patriotic forbearance | confes:
e [ gre;tiy rely. Without their aid, it is be
yond the power of any President, no matter
what may be his own political proclivities, tt
restore peace ano harmony among the States
= Wisely limited and restrained is his power
under our constitution and laws, he alone car
accomplish but little, for good or for evil, or
such a nomentous question.
j And this brings me to observe that the cleo
: ton of any one of our fellow citizens to thu
office of President does not of itself afford jus
: cause for dissolving the Union. This is more
: especially true if his election was effected by
mere plurality and not majority, of the peo
pie, and has resulted from transient and tenn
porary causes, which may probably nevea agair
occur. In order to justify resort to revolu
}. tionary resistance, the federal government
must be guilty of deliberate, palpable, anc
: dangerous exercise of powers not granted b.
: the constitution. The late Presidential elec
e ton, however, has been held in strict conform
e ity with its express provisions. How, then
Il can the result Justify a revolution to destro,
this very constitution? Reason, justice, re
. gard for the constitution, all require that "
:. shall wait for some overt and dangerous act Of
the part of the President before resortiI z t
such a remedy.
It is said, however, that the antecedent o
!, the President elect have been sufficient to jus
r, tty the fears OF the South that ne Will attemp
to invade their constitutional rights. But ar
such apprehensions of contingent danger il
the future sufficient to justify the immediat
destruction of the noblest system of govern
l. ment ever devised by nortals? From tn
l. very nature of his office, and its high response
bilties, he must necessarily be conservative
: The stern duty of administering the vast an
e complicated concerns of this government, al
, fords in itself guarantee that he will not al
l. tempt any violation of clear constitutions
E. right. After all, he IL hs more than the chic
: laws; and it is remarkable fact in our histor
d that, notwithstanding the repeated efforts .
It the anti-slavery party, single act Ass eve
passed Congress, unless we may possibly kKcep
the Missouri Compromise, impairihs ip -