The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1861-01-04
Secession.

dmance of Secession, can have surprised n,
one. That the President has acted will
his accustomed imbecility and bad faith
can neither be matter of surprise. But
that puerile, contemplate cowardice, SHOULD
have carried the President so far as t.
commit an affirmative act Of crime, IAN act
that, whatever may be the merits of thu
Southern rebellion, cannot fail to consigr
its perpetrator to traitorous infamy
blacker than that of BENEDICT ARNoLD's-
may, possibly, have astonished those who
have hitherto been the apologists of JAMES
BUCHANAN. .....
South Carolina rebels-declares her de.
termination to resist the execution of the
laws of the United States-and the highest
executive officer of the nation, sworn to
support and execute those laws, calmly
requires the means of resistance to beplaced
in the hands of the rebels, and the means of
compulsion to be taken from his own. The
practice of the President goes beyond even
the theory of his message. Then, he de-
clared he would not snake war on State;"
now, he surrenders to the rebels the proper
tyiof the Government within the limits of
the State. And, not only does he give them
property located there, but personal proper
ty, capable Of being easily moved, he also
requires to be delivered to them. Is not
the evidence clear, that, for four years past
we have been living under the government
of traitor ?-of one as utterly regardless
of the interests of bis country, as the veriest
despot that ever abused power or disgraced
humanity? "e
Why, if President BUCHANAN did not
intend to defend the forts, did be not, long
ago, remove the movable property of the
government, instead of putting into rebel.
lious hands the instruments of offence?
We can listen to but one answer; we can
arrive at but one conclusion; ard that is,
that the President is wholly and only tool
in the hands of Southern leaders. He has
outlived whatever of honor or capacity he
once had. He has become our assailant,
rather THAI our protector; our enemy, instead
of our friend. He is without even the
slight merit Of a late member Of his cabinet
that of being traitor openly for he
still shamelessly holds the Office he has SO
unutterably disgraced.
How much of the present sad condition
of affairs President BUCHANAN might have
prevented, it is now useless to discuss. 1t
is the better belief, that, had the Govern.
meut acted with irmness and decision, as
well as in spirit of Cancellation had it
shown to the Southern rebels that, while
willing to lend them every aid to the en-
forcement of their rights in the Union, and
by constitutional means, it would, neverthe
less, firmly and effectively maintain the
laws /; had it told them, what is apparent
toIevefy unprejudiced mind, that the iuevi'
table issue Of their rebellion would be war
civil war, with all its attendant horrors il
may well be believed that the words Ct
slow II would have been more loudly spoken
and more cordially listened to, at the Soutl
than they have been. And now, when tn,
pusilanimity of the government has give,
form and force to rebellion, how sickening i
is to hear the puerile excuse offered by th
President, that the use of such language
and the sending of reinforcements, would
have brought on a collision would hav
furnished the South an object to combat.
Is our Government, then, no Govern
ment !? Have we really made no progress
since the days when we, as nation, dis
carded the old Confederation, because it wa
Intellectual and powerless to enforce its owl
laws Z Are we so entirely Government
of public opinion" that every temporal
violent expression Of the passions of mol
scattera our forces to the winds, and com
pels us to do its reasonable will !? Tn
statement of the case should be its refuta
ton. "'''' o' '''''. - 'A''" IT. -'-
| The history of the country, for the las
sixty years, has demonstrated that many {
the fears expressed by the trainers of Ii
Constitution were groundless, The DANCE
of the large States overpowering the smalle
is shown by experience to have been Oh
merical |; and almost equally so has bee
the fear of centralized power in the Gener
Government. There is something in race
something in the character of peopl,
and it is apparent that, in the constructit
Of . government by people compos
chiefly of the Anglo Saxon blood, there
much more fear that it will be too WEI
than that it will be too strong. The desi
of local control Of their own local affai
is so universal the theory and practit
operation of such control is 80 fully CO.
pretended that central governme
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