Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-12-15
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
Fellow Citizens Of the Senate,

ing, the country mas been eninently pros
porous in its material interests. The gen
eral health has been excellent, our har
vests have been abundant, and plenty smiles
throughout the land. Our commerce and
manufactures have been prosecuted with
energy and industry, and have yielded fail
and ample returns. In short no nation in
the tide of time has ever presented a spec
tacle Of greater material prosperity than VIC
have done until recent period. Why is
it, then, that discomfort so extensively pre-
walls, and the union of the States, which is
! the source of all these blessings, is threat
rened with destruction The long-continu-
ed and Incorporate interference of the
northern people with the question Of slgy-
1 cry 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 arriy-
ed so much dreaded by the Father of bis
Country, when hostile geographical parties
have been formed. | have long foreseen
and often forewarned my colintrymen of
the now impending danger. Iris 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. as others have been, in the hope
that time and reflection night apply the
remedy.
The immediate peril arises not SO much
from these causes as from the fact that the
violent agitation of the slavery ques-
ton throughout the North, for the last
quarterof century, has at length produced
its malign influence on the slaves, and in
spred 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 apprehen-
sions of seryile instruction. Many mat
ron throughout the South retires at night
in dread Of what may befall herself and
children before morning. Should this APP
prehension OF domestic danger, whether
real or imaginary, extend and intensity itself,
until it should pervade the masses of the
Southern people, then disunion will become
inevitable Self-preseFyation IS the first law
Of nature, 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 nee
essary consequence be, to render the homes
and firesides ofnearly half the parties to it
habituaIly and hopelessly insecure. Soon
er or later the bonds Of such a union must
be severed. 1t is my conviction that this
fated period has not yet arrived, and my
prayer to God is that he would preserve
the Constitution and the Union throughout'
an generations But let us take warning
m time and remove the cause of danger.
It cannot be denied that for FIVE and twenty
wears the agitation ct the North against
slavery IN the South has been incessant.
In 1885, pictorial hand-bills and intam-
matory appeals were circulated extensively
throughout the South, of character to
excite the passions of the slaves-and IN
the language Of General Jackson, to slim
ulate them to Instruction, and produce all
the horrors Of a servile war. This agitation
has ever since been continued by the pub
lie press, ~ the proceedings Of State and
County Conventions, and by abolition SER
mons and lectures. The time of Congress
his been occupied in violent speeches on
the never-endng subject, and appeals IN
pamphlet and other forms, indorsed BY
distinguished names, have been sent forth
from this central point, and were spread
broadcast over the Union. How easy it
would be for the American people to settle
the slavery question forever, and restore
peace and harmony to the distract d coun-
/ try. They alone can do it. All that is
necessary to accomplish this object, and all
which the Slave States have ever commended
/ for. is to BE let alone, and permitted to
manage their own domestic institutions il
their own way, as sovereign States. They
and they alone, are responsible before Coo
and the world for slavery existing among
/ them.
/ For this the people Of the North ar
not more responsible, and have no more
RIGHT TO interfere than with similar institu-
/ tons in Russia or Brazil. Upon theiI
rood sense and patriotic forbearance con
| fess i still greatly rely. Without their aio
| It IS beyond the power Of any President
no matter what may be his own prociyIties
to restore peace and harmony among th'
States. Wisely limited and restrained a
is his power under our Constitution ane
laws, he alone can accomplish but little TO
good or evil, ON such momentous ques
ion; and this brings me to observe tina
the election of any enc Of our fellow-citlzen
Is the office Of President does not OF itsel
tfford Just cause Of dissolsing the Union
yhis is more especially true if his election
las been effected BY a mere plurality, ant
mot a majority Of the people, and has re
suited from transient and temporary causes
which may probably never again occur
. III order to justify a resort to revolutionar.
resistance to she Federal Government,
must Be guilty Of deliberate, paipable an
dangerous exercise of powersnot grante'
Nv tho Constitution. The late Presidents
election. however, has been held 10 strlc
conformity with its express provisions
IIAx,- fbAn con tho result illSfifv reYOIt