Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1860-12-21
THE MESSAGE.


Let US devoutejly thank God that for She
ensuing four years at least, the People Of the
U. S. are relieved from the annual visitation
OF long Presidential lecture wherein Reason
is insulted. Humanity outraged, History tra-
vested and Common Seuse defed, ia the sin-
terest Of Human Slavery and for the gratif-
cation of its upholders. Whatever evils the
future may have in stoIe for US, this Que, at
least, is for season intermttted if not forever
put away.
The man who in this day talks Of the oppo-
uents of Slavery as blind, besot,ed fanatics,
and represents the current agitation as utterly
nnprcvoked aud gratuitous, is simply dishonest.
Mr.. Buchanan knows better. He knows that
the means whereby Texas was thrust into our
UoIou were eminently calculated to arouse aGy
latent Anti- Slavery conviction that slumbered
IN the breast of onr nom aveholding citizens,
he knows that, when the War on Mexico was
made to result in the transfer If vast and thiply
peopled regions from that Republic to our
Union, II was inevitable either that Slavery
should be excluded from those Territories or
that The People OF tae Uaited States as a
whole. and not those of the South exclusively.
should tlke upon their souls ;be responsibility
OF extending ''the peculiar Institution" over
region half as large ns Europe--far larger
thaa the United States cast of the Mississippi.
Mr. Buchanan himself expressly afirins, ana
quotes the Supreme Court as his authority,
that every foot Of Federal territory is necessa.
rily slayeholdiug territory--that is. TERRITORY
subject to the Law Of Slagety-fron the mo-
meut that it passes under the sway Of CUR
Union. lie knows that the Kansas Nebraska
bill was expressly anI avoEedly introduced to
remove legal Obstacles 10 ihe diffusion Of
Slavery, aud that the bill owed all it's impor-
tanee aud general interest to that fact. How
rs 1t possible, then, for publieist, with the
eyes OF the world full upoa lin, TO say that
''Ihe long continued and intemyerate iuter-
ference OF Northern people with the question
OF Slavery IN THE SOUTHERN STATES has at
length produced ss natural effects 70 Is The
Presidents brow brass that it SHOULD not cailn.
son With the consciousness that the whole
world Will know this 10 be lie 2 Does no NOT
know right we'll that the children 10 our public
schools viii point the foger of shame At tbs
suiLor OF such assertions, who fingers on the
brink of the grave to libel aud traduce the
most intelligent and conscientious portion Of
tue people about to be relieved frem tue in
cubus of his rule q
That this man should 90 back quarter of
ceutuary aud rake up from tho vefy kennels
ot ooilslon so foolish an untruth as that "ln
1850, pictorial handbiils aud infanmaiory an.
peaiS were circulated extensively throughout
the South, of character to excite the nassions
OF the slaves" can excite no additional wonder
sun, the :alsehood is most insane one. Who
sfclrCulAtad'' l..
su'S ihing Was done extensively" many must
nave oesn caught at it. If these s.pictoria!
handouts represented imaginary outrsges and
erueities inflicted on slaves, who could SO
readlly detees the misrepresentation as the
slaves themselves? Ii they truly depicted
scenes with which slaves were familiar, how
snould tney be excited by piotorial representa-
lions any more than by the actual occurrence
thus depleated Why is it that falsehood
must always De exposing itself by absurdities 2
Mr' Buchanan asserts that it would be ,seasy
Tor the American people to settle the Slavery
question for ever" and this simply by letting
tue oiave States alone, and permitting them to
manage their domestic institutions in their own
way Yet 10 this very Message he proposes
to force Slavery down the throats of the
Northern people, aud compel them to take
upon their conscences the responsibility of
justItying, protecting, and extending it by
tiye or six distinct and important acts--as
follows:
l. BY amending the Federal Constitution SO
as TO embody in it 'an express recognition Of
the night of property in slaves in the States
where 1t now exists Or MAY HEREAFTER Ex-
IsT.'
By further amending the Constitution so
as to athrm therein the duty of protecting this
right IL all the common Territories throughout
their territorial existence, and until they shall
DC admitted as Ssates iuto the Union, with or
without Slavery, as their Constitutions may
preseribe.'
.. by purchasing Cuba from Spain at the
cost of all the States, with the moral certainty
that the slaVe-holding interest ia the Union
would thus be strengthened by ten or twelve
additional Members of Congress aui as many
Electoral Votes for President.
4. by paying certain Cuban sIave-traders
the value fixed by them on the Amistad me-
groes, taken as slaves from Africa to Cuba in
clear violation of laws of Nations and of
Spain, who liberated themselves as all laws
give them perfect right to do, and were lan-