The weekly Butte record., 1861-08-17
NO. Al

be consistent. should hold that a nation may
. at pleasure withdraw from its treaty obliga-
a tions without previous provision or consent OF
e the other side; that one who has conveyed an
e estate and received the consideration may re-
i sumo it when it suits bis convenience or ne
: cesSty: that the husband and wife may repu-
r dia'e the marriage obligation without delrl-
ment o, a disregard of the marital faith and,
2 in short, that u covenant made by two parties,
: aud in which both are interested may be can
celed by one.
The right thus to secede must rest upon a
political free love, where States unequally uni
ted may, on discovering their true aifnities,
dissolve their first condition, and become
sealed in confederate wedlock TO their chosen
companions during pleasure; and the authors
of the discovery should 90 down to posierity
as the Brigham Youngs Of modern conlede
racies.
Most events of modern times and their par
allel in early history, and this attempt to eX-
temporize government upon the clements of
political disquetude, or that, like sets Of dollar
iewelry, every person can have one of his own
does not form an exceptional case. When
David swayed the sceptFe of Judea the comey
Absalom, bright star of the morning. whose
moral was obScured by his intellectual light,
finding such amusemens as the Staying OF his
brother aud the burning the barley fields of
Joab too tame for his ambition conceived the
patriotic idea of driving his father from the
throne, of usurplng the legal authority and
relieving the people unasked from the opprcs-
sions under which he had discovered they were
groaning. Like modern demagogues he com
menced with disalfection, advised all who came
with complaints that, from royal lnattention,
no one was deputed to hear them, aud in greet
ing those who passed the kings gate with Il
kiss, that he might steal away their hearts, he
lamented that he was net Judge in the land,
so that anv one who had cause or Il suit
might come to him and would do them Justice.
Under pretense of going to Hebron, the royal
residence in the early reign OF David, TO pay
his VOWS, for he was conscientious in the matter
of VOWS as Herod, he raised a rebellious army
and sent spies through the land TO proclaim
him king and reigning in Hebron when the
trumpet should sound upon the AIR. The con-
spiracy. says sacred history, was strong, and
the rebellion was so artluly coElrived, so steal
thiIy naugurated, that it gave high promise Of
success. The king, although in obedience to
the stern dictates Of duty, he sent forth his
armies by hupdreds and by thousonds TO assert
and maintain his prerogative, exhibited the
heart of good prince and an afeeiionate
father, in beseecing them for his sake. to deal
and when the conflict was over, the first in-
qury with anxious solicitude, was, Is the young
man safe? And yet this ambitious rebel in
raising numerous and powerful army, and
endeavoring to wreSt the Cove nment from the
riohtful monarch, would doubtless have claim
ed, according to modern accepatlon, that be
was acting from high convictions of duty. from
powerful necessity, and fighting purely in
sefdcfense.< And when the great battle
set in array IN the wood Of Ephraim, where
10000 were slaughtered aud the wood devour-
ed that day more than the sword devoured,
there was evidently nothing that be so much
desired when he saw exposure and overthrow
inevitable as to be let dl0ae. But that short
struggle subdued the aspirations, and closed
forever the ignoble career of this ambitions
leader Of Israel-a warning to those who would
become judges before their time or be made
kings upon the sound Of trumpet, blown by
their own directions. Let all such remember
the wood of Ephraim, the wide spreading
branches of the oak, the painful suspense which
came over the author Of the rebellion. the darts
of Joab and the dark pit into which this prince
of the royal household was cast for his folly,
his madness and treachery.
And when those charged with the admins
tration of our Government send forth its armies
by hunereds and by thousands, to maintain
and vindicate the Constitution and Union Of
our fathers, may they initiate the example of
the wise king of Judea, and besecch the cap
tains of the hosts to deal gently with the young
Absaoms of Secession, aud by all means In-
quire for their safety when their armies have
been completely routed, aud the rebellion put
doYn forever.
Secession, either peaceabe or violent, if
crowned with complete success, can furnish no
remedy for sectional grievances, real or imag-
nary. 1t would be as destructive of Southern
as of Northern interests, for bo'h are alike con
cerned in the maintenance and prosperity of the
Union. 1t would increase every evil aggravate
every cause of disturbance, and render every
acute complaint hopclessly chronic. Look at
miserable, misguided misgoverned Mexico, and
receive lesson Of instruction. She has been
seeding, and dividing, and pronounciug, and
fighting for her rights, and in the self defense
of aggressive leaders, from the day of her nom
inal independence, and she has reached an
abundant harvest of degradation aud shame.
No President Of the Republic has ever served
the full term for which he was elected, and gen
orally, had his successor had more fitness than
himself, it would have occasioned no detriment
When the population of the United States was
three millions that oil Mexico was five aud
when that of the United States is thirty the
population of Mexico is only eight and while
the United States has gained the highest rank
among the nations of the earth, by common
consent, Mexico has descended to the lowest
Her people have been the dupes aud slaves.
and footballs of aspiring leaders. mad with
reckless and mean ambition, inflated with self
Importance and conceit and destitute of patri-
otsm or statesmanshi2. But as q clown with
pickaxe can demosh the choicest productions
of art, so can the demagogue overthrow tic
loltiest institutions of wisdom.
Thus has poor, despised, dwarfed and down.
trodien Mexico been crushed forever, under
the iron heel Of her own Insane despoilers a
memorable but melancholy Illustration of
people without fixed and stable government
the sport of the proiigate and designing, the
victims of fraud and violence.
Southern States along the free border had
felt most seriously all the injury and irritation
produced by nharmonious and conflicting rela-
: tions between them aud their brethren of the
North, and yet The people of these States
shrunk from the remedy of secession as from
the bottomless pit. They saw in it nothing
but swift and hopeless destruction, and believed
that the desire for disunion had originated
more in ultra ambitious schemes than in
dol rct m