Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1860-12-13
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
r rltizenS q Tie benQte
and House Of Repres entatlres

ocbop the year since our last meeting the country
beeD eminenty prosperous in all its material interests
General health has been excellent, our harVests have
L 5bupdapt and plenty smiles throughout the land Our
pce and manufactures have been prosecuted with en-
% and industry, and have yielded lar and ample returns
mort no nation in the tide OF time mas ever presented
ce of greater material prosperity than we have done
IA within a very recent period.
pl IT, then that discomfort now extensively pre-
W. nd the Union Of the States, which is the of
gI2'so blessings is threatened with destruction The
n,nued and Incorporate interference of the Northern
guy b the question Of slavery in the Southern States
V Inrh produced its natural effects. The different
s the Union arrayed against each other.
I time has arrived much dreaded by the Father Of
Conntrv when hostile geographical parties nave been
Do5 have long fOreseen and often tOrewalned nv
grfrvnen OF the impending danger. This does not
d solely from the claim on the part Of Congress or the
aI legislatures to exclude slavery from the Terrific
nor from the efforts of different States 10 defeat the
-.,nion Of the fugitive slave law.
any of those evils might have been endured b. the
Oh Without danger to the Union, Gas others have been
% home that time and reflection might apply the remedy
Immediate peril arises not so much from these causes
I'm the fact that the incessant aud violent agitation Of
question throughout the North for the last omar
century, has at length produced it's magn influence
s slaves and inspired them with vague notions of free
Hence Of security longer exists around the
v altar. This feeling Of peace at home has given place
IynrehensiOns of servile Instruction. Many matron
gbou the South retires at night in dread of what NAV
t1berse and her children before the morning. Should
onprehenon Of domestic danger, whether real or i'm
mary extend and intensity itself until it shall peryade the
:s Of the Southern people, then disunon will become
een implanted in the heart of by his Creator for
Tses purpose and political union however fraught
IN blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long
rrrue if the necessary consequence be to render the
g and the fresides OF nearly half the parties to it habit
M and hOpeessy Insecure Sooner later the bonds of
ABB Union must be severed It's my conviction that this
IA period has not yet arrived and my prayer to God is
5g he would preserve the Constitution and the Union
tu1glout all generations.
n let US take warning in time, and remove the cause
danger Ii cannot be denied that for five and twenty
rr, the agitation at the North against slavery in the
Srb has been inCessant. In 1885 pictorial hand-bls
ma 1aammatOry appeals, were circulated extensively
ngugOut the South, Of character to excite the pas
m the slave and, in the language Of General Jack
an to stimulate them to insurecton, and produce all
horrors of a serve war; This agitation has ever
e been continued by the public press by the proceed
,yO State and county conventions, and by abolition
l0n and lectures. The time Of Congress has been oc
aped in violent speeches this never-endng subject
m appeals in pamphlet and other forms, endorsed by
Hanguhed names, have been sent forth from this cen
nd point and spread broadcast over the Union.
How easy would it be for the American people to settle
e slavery question forever, and to restore peace and
harmony to this distracted COUntry.
They and they alone do it. that is necessary to
accomplish the object and all for which the slave States
lave ever Conended is to be let alone, and permitted to
manage their domestic institutions in their way. AS
sovereign States they, and they alone responsible to
God and the world for the slavery existing among them
For this the people of the North not more responsible
m have no more right to interfere than with similar ns
ols in Russia or in Brazil. Upon their good sense and
patriotic fOrbesrance confess still greatly rely Without
heir aid it beyond the power Of any President,
what may be his political procvities, restore
peace aud harmony among the States. Wisely limited and
restrained is his power, under Constitution and laws
aOne can accomplish but little, fer good or for evil on
such mOmeGtOus question.
And this brings observe that the election of any one
dmr fellow citizens to the office of President does not of
3i afford just cause for dssolving the Union. ibis is
especially true If his election has been effected by a
plurality, and not majority of the people, and has
resulted from transient and temporary causes, which may
probably lever again occur In order to Justify resort to
Evolutionary resistance TIE Federal Government must be
guilty Of deliberate palpable and dangerous exercise
PWer not granted by the Constitution. The late Pres
Dental election, however has been held in strict conform
with its express provisions. How, then, the result
Justify revolution to destroy this very Constitution Rea
m Justice regard for the Constitution, all require that
ha wait for overt and dangerous act the part
lc President elect before resOrting to such remedy
ills said however, that the anteCedents Of the President
elect have been sufficient to justify the fears of the South
That be will attempt to invade their constitutional rights
Bot are such apprehensOns of contingent danger in the fu-
p sufficient to justify the immediate destruction of the
0s system of government ever devised By mortals 2?
From the very nature of his Office and its high responsible
a he must necessarily be conservative. The stern duty
administering the vast aud complicated concerns Of this
government affords in itself guarantee that he will not at
an any violation of clear constitutional right After
AL be no than the chief executive officer Of the
Eenmelt His province is not to make but to execute
9AWs and 1t is remarkable fact IN our history, that,
Eihstandng the repeated efforts Of the anslavery par
y no single act has passed Congress- unless we may
possibly except the Missouri Compromise, mpairing in the
est degree the rights Of the South to their property IL
Yes And it may also be Observed Judging from present
laCaloIs, that no probability exists OF the passage
l an act, by majority Of both Houses either IN the
present. the next Congress Surely under these crcum
es we ought to be restrained from present action by
lewecept of Him who snake as never man spoke, tina
shcent INTO the day is the evil thereof" The day
Iseyes.
It SalIeged cause for immediate secession tina
hOuhern States are denied equal rights with the othe
>les IN the common Territories But by what AUTHORITY
aehese denied Not by Congress, which has pass
To- and believe never will pass, any act to exclude
Very from these Territories and certainly not by tb
supreme Court, which has solemny decided that slave
We property, and like all other property their owner
e right to take them into the common Territories, AM
I them there under the protection of the Constitution
lar, then as Congress is concerned, the objection
TO anything they have already done, but to what the
l DO hereafter 1t will surely be admitted that this ap
eue sion of future danger no good reason for mme
ae dissolution of the Union. is true that the errtoria
naaTe OF Kansas the 23d of February, 1860, passe
a haste al act the veto of the Governor decaI
g Ia slavery lis and shall forever be prohibited in thi
tIiNoTy Such an act, however, plainly violating tn
lS Of property secured by the Constitutions will surely
afed void by the judiciary whenever it shall be present
"h legal form.
s ned States solemnly judged that this power di
WI exist in Territorial Legislature. Yet such has bee
cuous temper of the times that the correctness of tn
siOn has been extensively mTugned before the people
%aA9 question has given rise to angry political condic
UugAont the country. Those who have appealed fro
| judgment of our highest constitutional tribunal to
~ assemblies, would, if they could, invest a territori
stqre with power to annu the sacred rights of prope
r. lIs power Congress Is expressly forbidden by II
sIa Constitution to exercise. Every State Legisatu
% Union forbidden by its constitution to exerci
I cannot be exercised in any State except by the pc
sma InelT highest sovereign capacity when framing
slang their State Constitution. In like manner, it CT
A.! oe exercised by people of Territory represented
Invention Of delegates for the purpose CT framing Co
TOn preparatory to admission as State into the Unto
isl and not until them they invested with power
y e he question whether slavery shall shall not
sd ler limits This is an act OF sovereign authoEit
T Inen indeed would the equality of the States in
T be destroyed, and the right of property in slav
I Cepend not upon the guarantee Of the Constitute
% Upon the shifting majorites of an irresponsible terri
1s egsaure. Such doctrine from its intrinsic
cannot long influence any considerable portion of
'g9 Of the Union.
uA LUZ most palpabe violations of constitutional du
djF l nave yet been committed consist in the acts
4sEent State Legislatures defeat the eYecnfinn