The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1861-01-25

cUse W iNe. hnd such q liberty! Tree gov
ernment everywhere through our land an,
throughout the world; free speech, free SUI
frage;, the freedom Of every subject tovote OF
every law,and for or against every agent VIII,
expounds, administers, or executes. UNSTABLE
and jealous coniedcracies, constantly appre
hcnding assaults without and treason within
formidable only to each other. and contempt
bic to all besides, how long will it be before
on the plea of public safety, they will sur
render oil this inestimable and uncqualleC
liberty, and accept the hateful and iDtoler
able espionage Of military despotism?
And now. Mr.. President, what is the caust
for this sudden and eternal sacrifice of sC
much safely, greatness, happiness, and free.
dom? Have foreign nations combined, and
are they coming in rage upon us? No. Sc
far from being enemies, there is not nation
ON earth that is not an interested, admiring
friend. Even the London Times, by nc
means partial to us, says:
'lt Is quite possible that the problem of q
democratic republic may be solved by its
overthrow, in few days. in spirit of folly,
sclfishness, and short-sightedness.
Has the Federal Government become ty.
rannical or oppressive, or even rigorous or
unsound? Has the Constitution lost its
spirit, and oil at once collapsed into life
less letter? No! the Federal Government
smiles more benignantly, and works to-day
more beneiiccntly than ever. The Constitu-
tion is even the chosen model of the organ.
ization of the newly rising confederacies.
The occasion is the election of q President
of the United States, who is unacceptable to
q portion Of the people. l state the case
accurately. There was no movement of dis
union before the ballots which expressed that
choice were cast. Disunion began rs soon
rs the result was announced. The justifca-
tion 1t assigned was that Abraham Lincoln
had been elected, while the success of either
one of the three other candidates would have
been acquesced in. Was the election illegal!
No; it is unimpeachable. Is the candidate
personally offensive? No; he is q man
Of unblemished virtue an amiable man
ners. Is un election of President an unfrc-
quent or extraordinary transaction No;
we never had chief Magistrate otherwise
designated than by such election, and the
form of choice is renewed every four years.
Does any one even propose to change the
mode Of appointing the Chief Magistrate?-
No; election by universal suffrage, as modified
by the Constitution, is the one crowning
franchise of the American people. To save
il they would defy the world. Is itGpprc-
hended that the new President will usurp
despotic powers? No; while he is OF all
men the most unambitious, he is, by the
partial success of those who opposed his
election, subjected to such restraints that he
cannot, without their consent, appoint a
minister or even police agent, negotiate a
treaty, or IrocuIc the passage ofa law, and
can hardly draw muskct from the public
arsenals to defend his own person.
What, then, is tho ground for discomfort! y!
Is il that the disunionists did not accep. as
conclusive the arguments which were urged
in behalf of tho successful candidate in the
canvass. This is all. Were their own ar
guments against him more satisfactory to his
OF course they were not; they
could not be. Docs the Constitution, in let
ter or spirit, require or imply that the argu-
ments of one party shall be satisfactory to
the other? No; that is impossible. What
is the constitutional remedy for this incyit.
able dissatisfaction. Renewed debate and
ultimate rehcaring in subsequent election:
Have tho now successful majority perverted
power to purposes of oppression? No; they
have never before held power.
Alas how prone we are to undcryaluc
and blessings. How gladly. how
would the people Of any nation in
Europe accept, on such terms as We enjoy 1t,
the boon of clccting Chief Magistrate every
four years by free, equal, and universal sui
frare! How thankfully would they cast
aside all their own systems Of government,
and accept this Republic of ours, with oil its
and its disappointments, main
tain il with their arms, and cherish 1t in
their hearts. Is it not the very boon for
which they supplicate God without ccasing,
and even wage war, with intermissions only
resulting from exhaustion
How strange are the times in which we
live The coming spring season, on the one
side of the Atlantic. will open Oh general
conflict, waged to obtain, through whatever
indircction, Just such system as ours; and
on this side OF the Atlantic, within the same
parallels o' latitude, it will be openedon fra.
tsrnal war, waged in moment OF frenzied
discontent, to overthrow and annihilate the
same institutions. Do men indeed, live only
for themselves to revenge their own wrongs,
or to crafty their own ambition? Rather
do not men live least of all for themselves,
and chiefly for posterity and for their fellow
men? Have the American people then be-
come oil Of sudden unnatural, rs well as
unpatriotic? and will they disinherit their
children of the precious estate held only
in trust for them. and deprive the world ot
the best hopes il has enjoyed since the human
race began its slow and painful, yet neediul
and wisely-appolnted progress?
Here might close my plea for the Ameri.
can Union; but 1t is necessary, if not to ex-
haust the argument, at least to exhibit the
whole case. The disunionists. consciously
unable to stand on their mere disappointment
in the recent election, have attempted to
enlarge their ground. More than thirty
years there has existed considerable-though
not heretofore forInidable-mass OF citizens
in certain States situated near or around the
delta of the Mississippi, who believe that the
Union is less conducive to the welfare and
greatness OF these States than smaller con.
fedcracy, embracing oply slave States, would
be. This class has availed itself OF the dis
contents resulting from the election to put
into operation the machinery of dissolution
long ago prepared and waiting only for oc,
casi0n.
In other States there is soreness, because
ofthc want Of sympathy in the free States
with the efforts of Shareholders for the recap
ture of fugitives from service. In all tue
slave States there is restiyeness resulting
from the resistance which has been 30 deter
minedly made within the last few years, ~
the free States, TO the extension Of slavery IN
the common Territories Of the United States,
The Republican party. which cast It's votes
f,r the successful Presidential candidate on
the ground of that policy, has been allowed,
practically, no representation, no uttemnce
by speech or through the press, In the slave
States; while its policy, principles and senti.
ments, and even Its temper, have been %
misrepresented rs to excite approximations
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