The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1861-01-23
code shall be extended over the public do

main that they shall have the right to take
their slaves with them into the free States
and. finally, that the African slave trade shall
be re-cpencd, as that legitinately and inc
vitality follows the other concessions. Now,
these demands can never be complied with.
Th " arc impossibilitics ia their very nature,
while free labor civilization cndurcs.
Mr.. Seward clearly and tcrsely sums up
the cause for which the olgarchy are attempt
ing to dismember the Union in these words {:
1t is that the disunionlsts did not accept
as concluSice the arguments mlsich ,nere urged
in behalfof the successful candidate an the
canpass. This is all Were their own argu-
ments against him more satisfactory to his
supporters Ofcaursc they were not; they
could not be. Does the Constitution, in
letter or spirit, require or imply that the ar
gumrnts of one party shall be satisfactory to
the other? No that is impossible. What
is the constitutional remedy for this inevita-
BILE dissatisfaction Renewed debate and
ultimate rehearing in a subsequent election.
In regard to maintaining the Union i'll its
geographical integrity, Mr.. Seward spoke in
mild but unmistakable language when he
said:
I dread, as in ny Utmost soul ahhor,
civil war. I do not know what the Union
would be worth if saved by the use of the
sword Yet, for all this. do not agree with
those who, with desire to avert that great
calamity, advise conventional or unopposed
separation, with a view to what they call a
reconstruction. 1t is enough for me, first,
that in this plan destruction goes before re-
construction; and, secondly, that the siren
9th of the vase in which the hopes of the
nation are held, consists chiefly in its re-
naming unbroken.
Mr.. jefferson did no; hesitate to say that
States must be kept within their constitution
al sphere by impulsion, if they could not be
held there by attraction. fully admit the
originality, the sovereignty, and the indie
pendence of the several States within their
sphere. But hold the Federal Government
to be equally original, sovereign, and indie
pendent within its sphere. And the govern
ment of the State can no more absolve the
people residing within its limits from aliegi-
ance to the Union than the Government of
the Union can ahsoive them from allegiance
to the State. The Constitution ofthc United
States, and the laws made in pursuance there
Of. are the supreme law of the land, ra a.
InOulll 10 dll tsSsiitioi' vi eiio 0taSSH "i'Nth-
err made under the Constitution, or by even
their organic Convention. The Union can
be dissolved not by secession. with or with
out armed force, but only by the voluntary
consent of the people of the United States,
collected in the manner prescribed by the
Constitution of the United States.
Congress, in the present case, ought not
to he impassive. 1t ought, if it can, to, re-
dress any real grievances OF tie offended
States, and then it ought to supply tue Pres
ilent aoith oil the means necessary to main
tain the Union In tie .fuU exhibition and
discreet exercise Of its authority. Beyond
this. with the proper activity on the part of
the Executive. the responsibility of saving
the Union belongs to the people, and they
are abundantly competent to dischargcit.
The speech was eminently conciliatory; all
that could be said it offers all the conceS-
sion that the vast majority Of the people will
permit any living man to propose. and it
echoes the sentiments Of twenty millions of
white .freemen that disconnected persons
must be kept within their spheres by Gin
pul ion if they cannot be held by attraction"
However passion may have succeeded the
reason of the fanatics in the Slave States,
who are precipitating their section into the
horrors Of civil and servilc war. yet there are
thousands Of minds which it will reach, and
cause them tc pause, ponder, and shudder
before taking the fatal plunge into the yawn-
ing chasm of dissolution ofthe Union.
CHICAGO