Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1861-02-07

ss IS nov proposed, OF guarnfeeing slavery, b'
4 constitutional amendment, in all the territor,
hereafter TO be acquired from Mexico or South
America, which ! trust may never be acquired
at all.
There Is nothing ! can do that will not Dc
to avert the utter Oscillation that will assuredly
follow In the train OF d.sunlon, rebellion, and
civil var I will 60 as far a any man alive will
or car go 20 settle by compromise and conoilatioa
every question OF disturbance or dis,rsction 10
our National Councils. am even free to say
that there Is no compromise TIA: has been, OF
can be proposed. that viii prove satisfactorv to
the North and South, and restore harmony 70
The country, that viii not meet with nv cordial
support, and except as matter OF curiosity,
would agree never to inquire what compromise
Was adopted; for have no interests in this Gov.
ernmeaf that are bot identified with those
around me, and whatever viii satisfy them will
satisfy me 10 not set myself up as a maker
+ OF laws or constitutions, TO which all others
must bend and weld. Still, | am not without
my own views As 10 a .air mode Of adjustment
upon all questions OF constitutional isterpretar
ton, which coaldb be done BIZ making case,
on each disputed point, for the immediate decision
/ OF the Supreme Court, which Is the tribunal
established for that purpose, and let its decision
~ nnai and conclusive all parties, and then
We could see what party it is that is not wiling
70 i've under the preSeu. form Of government,
fairly administered.
do not believe that, since the world Was in
state OF chaos, there ever was, or that there
ever VIII be again, so general aud universal an
upheaYIns OF soc!ety, or ruinous and desolatng
disturbance OF all the social, moral, political
and industrial elements Of a people, for such
slight and insufficient cause, as this country now
exhibits to the gaze of the astonished nations of
the earth: every one Of which causes bv pru-
dence, forbearance and discretion, if taken out
OF the hands OF selfish and aspiring or dsap-
pointed politicians, and intrusted to the people
at the polls, as Is now proposed by the Crittenden
or Bigler resolutions, may be settled amicably
harmonously and satisfactorily, in the Union
and under the Constitution, within the next sixty
days. while there Is not one that will not be n
thousand fold aggravated when we go out of the
Union, leaving the Constitution, the laws, the
whole organization of the Government, the
Army, the Navy, the Treasury, the public lands
in all the States as well "a all the Territories
in the full possession of the Republican party,
from those apprehended designs the Secession
lists for running off ami leaving behind them
all they claim. After the events of the John
Brown raid, just one year ago, and the scenes
through which now passing, let us never
again have word to say about tie excitability
of the French; who compared with MS are an
immovabe and unimpressible race of people.
Now | believe | constitute fair type or speci
men of what is the actual condition OF every man
IN the Southern States, in legal political and
constitutional sense, and find myself in the
full free and perfect exercise Of every blessing.
and every right, OLA personal nature. that
have enjoyed since | came into the world. lam
also in the possession and enjoyment of what
ever property may own, aud nobody, as far As
| know, proposes to disturb me or dispossess
me OF it. Nor can be dispossessed by anv hu
man being without due course OF law. How long
this state OF things may continue niScience
only can toll but Is there any one, in these par
ticulars, in worse condition than myself? II
there Is, il the instance be presented. of any
one man out oil the ten millions of the white
population of the Southern States, who is labor
ing under any oppression, wrong. injustice o.
grievance that connot be redressei in the Union,
and can be redressed out of the Union, then l
Will pledge myself TO vote for disuni0n whenever
the question comes up; but if 10 such persons
can be found will never consent to give up this
Government, the work Of men "whose like We
ne'er shall look upon again." for any other
which the destroyers OF this are
likely to substitute in its stead. Will not des
troy the honse in which live. and which pro-
tects me from the blasts and storms of winter,
when not one one brick ia burnt, nora stick of
timber is cut, With which 10 erect another. +
| viii not tear down the works of Washington,
Of Madison, Of Franklin. of Carroll, of Morris,
and of Pinckncy. to take upon trnst the clumsy
mach merry OF Yancey, and Rhett, and PicSens.
the Government until know that i better one
is provided.
When see in the distance the frightful and +
appalling consequences OF dissolution and civil .
war. which many will no, see until the reality Is /
brought 70 their own firesides and hesrthstones,
where our wives and daughters, and all that is i
cherished upon earth is clustered. Cannot hut /
persuade nyselfthat both parties ~ill shudder
and rccoil At is approach, and come to hemora
bic terms of settlement ForoDc shall never
despair OF the Republic.
When | see that upon the secession oil any or +
all the Southern States. the President is left no
alternative. and no discretion, bu. is solemnly T
sworn, before his God, TO preserrc, protect and T
defend the Constitution, and that that Constitu- +
ton debates "the laws of the United States to I
be the supreme law of the land which he
shall take care to see faithfully executed" and
places the army and navy OF the United States /
under his control, and provides for calling forth
.he militia, 10 enable him to execute the laws,
and suppress instructions | cannot doubt that +
the declaration of secession, however much il +
may be deplored. will necessarily imnose upon
the Government the obligation of resorting to
such measures as will enable him to see the laws I
faithfully executed the right to do which was
too firmly established in the days of President
Jackson, by the legislation of 1889. ever to be /
overthrown while the Governm ent endures. /
only speak OF this az an existing fact, which is /
not likely and hardly possible TO be changed. II
it can be avoided | shall be glad to see il; and I
while cannot doubt the power, | would, as your
representative in the Convention, cheerfully 1
unite in any recommendation or remonstrance I
against the exercise of the power.
When | see, too, that without the power to 4
strike blow in resistance defense, without i
the means to vindicate herself, the State may be
humbed and subdued-and all the gasconadc /
and bravado of light-hcaded and fiippant would +
be patriots cannot prevent il; when | see that a
single steam frigate. stationed at the Capes of
Virginia, will As efectualy block up and destroy
the entire commerce of Virginia and MARYLAND "a
4 they were surrounded by icebergs in the Arctic
Ocean, while we have no naval force with which
10 dislodge or remove the blockade: when see
hat the commerce OF every Southern State may
De cut of in the same way, and by the same
aeans, by sending more war steamers TO
block up the ports of Cape Fear River, Charles
on Savannah, the Coast OF Florida, Mobile
Bay, and the mouth of the Mississippi River,
While the commerce of every Free State, in the
Valley of the Mississippi is left open by means
IF railroad, lake and canal communication with
New y DIRK; when see that OF 3,5DD,000 militia
men enrolled in the United States, the North has
Upward of $780, 900, with 10 negroes - guard at
ZONE, and the South only about sf7 200, with our
wives and daughters 10 protect and our negroes
o watch; when see that upon all constitutional
obligations being broken down there must be in.
cssapt and exhausting hostitics carried on
between the border Free and the border Slave
States, or else that Maryland. Virginia, Ken
lucky. Tennessee and Missouri will speedily be.
come Free States, .'hitched "a TO a Confederacy
# Slave States, from which it is even now pro
,osed they should then be turned adrft; when
zee this State grooming under debt Of SIS .000
100, to be raised by direct torafi0B. and all her