The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-03-09

three OF that twenty, anu al VI tneSo nio %
firm and stcadfast as the FIRST thirteen; ana
more win yet be necessary when We shall have nav"
rested from our labors. Some among US pre-
fer for these columns q composite material |;
others, the pure white marble Our fathers and
our predecessors differed in the same way, and
on the same point. What excavations should
we not al unite in pronouncing on any states
man who heretofore, from mere disappointment
and disgust ut being oyerruled IN his choice OF
materials for any new column then to be quar-
ried, should have laid violent hands on the i'm
perfect structure aud brought Il down 70 the
earth, there to remain q wreck, instead OF
citadel Of q worlds best hopes
TIE FOLLY OF pIsuSIoS THREATS.
Ireman now in the opinion have Uniform
IN expressed here and elsewhere, that these
hasty threats Of disunion are 30 unnatural that
they will fnd no hand to execute them. We
are Of one r.ce, language, liberty, and iaith !;
engaged, indeed, in varied industry; 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 q consolidated Govern-
ment; ever maintained. We languish through
out. IL one Joint Of our Federal lame Is smitien
while il is certain that part discovered mus.
perish. You may refine as you please aoIu.
the structure of the Government, ana say thas
Il Is compact. and that breach, py one "
the States or by Congress, Of any one ar'iole
absolyes all the members from allegiance, anu
that the States may separate when tneS h"'s'
or fancy they have, cause for war.
But once try 10 subvert Il, and you VIII nnd
that Il is a Government Of the whole people
as individuals, rs well as compact OF states
that every individual member OF the oody-
polite Is conscious Of his interests ana power
In IL, and knows that he will be helpless power
less, hopeless, when il shall have gone down.
Mankind have q natural right, q natural in
stincts, and natural capacity for self govern
ment. and when, rs here, they are sufficiently
ripened by culture, they will and must have
seif-governmsnt. and no other.
TIE Constitution AND ITS MECHANISM.
The trainers of our Constitution, with q wis.,
dom that surpassed all previous understanding
among meu, adapted il to these inherent ele
ments of human nature. He strangely, blind
IN misunderstands the anatomy OF the great
system who thinks that its only bonds, or even
It's strongest ligaments, are the written compact
or even the multiplied and thoroughly rami6ed
roads and thorougharcs Of trade, commerce
and social intercourse. These are indeed, but
its chiefest instrun ent Of cohesion-those which
render il inseperable aud indiyisible-are the
millions of tibers of millions of contented, hap
nv hearts, binding by their affections, their
ambitions, and their best hopes equally the
high and the low, the rich and the poor, the
wise and unwise, the learned and the untutored
even the good and the bad, to Government,
the first, the last, and the only such one that
has ever existed, which takes equal heed always
of their wants their wishes, aud their opinions;
and appeals to them all, individually, once in
year, or in two years, or at least in four years,
for their expressed consent and renewal, with
out which il must cease. No, 60 where you
will, and to what class you may, with commits.
sions for your fatal service In one hand, and
your bounty counted by the hundred or the
thousand pieces of silver in the other, thou
sand resisters will rise up COR every recruit you
can engage. On the banks equally Of the st.
Lawrence and Of the Rio Grande, on the Al.
lantic and Pacific coasts. on the shores CT the
Gulf of Mexicoand in the dells Of the Rocky
Mountains, among the fishermen on the banks
Newfoundland the weayers and splnners of
Massachusetts,, the steyedores OF New York, the
miners Of Pennsylvania, Pixies Peak, and Iali-
fOrnia, the wheat-growers Of Indiana, the cot
ton aud sugar planters on the Mississippi,
among the voluntary citizens from every other
land not less than the native born, the Christian
and the Jew, among the Indians on the praries,
the contumacous Mormons in Deserct, the
Africans tree, the Africans in bondage, the in
mates of hospitals and almshouses, and even
the criminals in the penitentaries, rehearse the
story of your wrongs and their own never so
eloquently and never so mournfully and appeal
TO them to rise. They will ask you, "ls this
ally" care you more just than Washington,
wiser than Hamilton, more humane than
Jeffersoul' "What new form OF government
or of union have you the power to establish, or
even the cunning to devise, that will be more
Just, more safe, more free, more gentle. more
benefcent, or more glorious than thisE" And
by these simple interrogatories you Will Dc
siienced any confounded.
Mr.. President. we are perpetually forgetting
this subtle and complex, yet obvious anu
natural, mechanism Of our Constitution ; anu
because we do forget IL, we are continually
wondering how il Is that Confederacy or
thirty and more States, covering regions so
vast, and regulating interests so various OF so
many millions of men, constituted and condi-
toned SO diyersely, works right on. We are
continually looking TO see what stop and stand
still, or fall Suddenly into pieces. But, in
truth, il will not stop il cannot stop 1t was
made not to stop, but keep in motion-in mo-
ton always, and without force. For my own part
rs this wonderful machine, when 1t had newly
come from the hands OF its almost divine in
ventors, was the admiration Of my earlier years
although il was then but imperfectly known
abroad, so now, when il forms the central figure
In the economy of the worlds civilization, and
the best sympathies Of mankind favor its con-
tinuance, expect that il will stand and work
right on until men shall fear its failure no
more than we now apprchend that the sum
will cease to hold its eternal place in the
heavens.
DISCIPLINE or THE AMERICAN CITIZENS.
Nevertheless, I do not expect to sec this
purely popular, though majestic, system always
working on unattended by the presence and
exhibition Of human temper and human pas
sions. That would be to expect TO enjoy re-
wards, benefits and blessings, without labor,
care and watchfulncss, an cxpectat on contrary
TO divine appointment. These are the discipline
OF the American citizen, and he must inure
himself TO il. When, as now, great policy
fastened upon the country through its doubts
and fears, confirmed By its habits, and strength
enei by personal interests and ambitions, is to
b, relaxed and changed, in order that the
nation may have its just and natural and free
developments, then, indeed, all the winds OF
controversy are let loose upon US from all points
If the political compass, we see objects and
men only through hales, mists, and doubtful
and lurid lights.
rERoRArIoS.
The earth seems to be heaving under our feet
and the pillars of the noble fabric that protects
US tn be trembling before our eyes. But the
appointed end Of all this agitationcomes at last,
and always seasonably; the tumults Of the pco.
pie subside (; the country becomes calm once
more and then We find that only our senses
have been disturbed, and that they have be-
trayed US. The earth Is 6rm rs always before,
aud the wonderful structure, for whose safety
we have feared so anxiously. now mere firmly
fixed than ever, still stands unmoved, enduring
and immovablc.
y Observer sends Us the following letter
which explains itself: