The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1861-01-28

BsfsOsSW ETTsf GRd Water.
Speech of the Hon. WIN. II. Seward,
Delivered Im the senate of the Unit
ed States, Saturday, january 12th,
/ 1891.
(CoNCLUDED.)
Lastly, public liberty, our own peculiar
! liberty must Ianguish for time, and then
| cease to live And such a liberty free
! movement everywhere through our own
! land and throughout the world, free speech,
free press, free suffrage, the freedom of eve
ry subject to vote on every law, and for or
( against every agent who expounds, admin
listers, or executes. Unstable and jealous
/ oonfederacies, constantly apprehending as
saults without and treason within, formid-
able only to each other and contemplate to
all beside: how long will it be before, on the
plea of public safety, they will surrender
all this inestimable and unequaled liberty,
and accept the hateful and intolerable es-
mOnage of military despotism?
And now, Mr.. President, what is the
cause for this sudden and eternal sacrifice of
. so much safety, greatness, happiness, and
freedom? Have foreign nations combined
and are they coming in rage upon US? No.
So far from being enemies, there is not a
nation on earth that is not an interested,
admiring friend. Even the London Times,
by no means partial to US, says:
1t is quite possible that the problem of
a Democratic republic may be solved by its
overthrow in few days in a spirit of folly,
sel6shness, and short-sightedness
Has the Federal Government become ty-
rannical or oppressive, or even rigorous or
unsOund ? Has the Constitution lost its
spirit, and all at once collapsed into life
less letter? No. the Federal Government
smiles more benignantly, and works to-day
more benefcially than ever. The Constitu-
ton is even the chosen model for the organ
ization of the newly rising confederacies.
The occasion is the election of a Presi-
dent Of the United States who is unaccept-
able to portion of the people. state the
case accurately. There was no movement
of disunion before the ballots which ex-
pressed that choice were cast. Disunion be-
gan as soon as the result was announced
The justification it assigned was that Abra-
ham Lincoln had been elected, while the
success of either one of three other can
didates would have been acquiesced in
Was the election illegal? No; it is unim-
peachable. Is the candidate personally Of
fensive? No; he is man of unblemished
virtue and amiable manners. Is an cleo
tiOn of President an unfrequent or extraOr-
binary transaction No; we never had
Chief Magistrate otherwise designated than
by such election, and that form of choice is
renewed every four years. Does any one
even propose to change the mode of ap-
pointing the Chief Magistrate No; cleo
tion by universal suffrage, as modified by
the Constitution, is the one crowning fran
chise of the American people. To save it
they would defy the world. Is it appre-
hended that the new President will usurp
despotic powers? No; while he is of all
men the most ambitious he is, by the par
tial success of those who opposed his cleo
| ton, subjected to such restraints that he
cannot, without their consent, appoint
minister or even police agent, negotiate
treaty, or procure the passage of a law, and
can hardly draw q musket from the public
arsenals to defend his own person.
What then, is the ground of discomfort?
| 1t is that the disunionists did not accept as
| conclusive the arguments which were urged
in behalf of the successful candidate in the
canvass. This is all. Were their own ar
guments against him more satisfactory to
! his supporters? OF course they were not !;
| they could not be. Does the Constitution,
! in letter or spirit, require or imply that the
arguments of one party shall be satisfactory
! to the other? No; that is impossible
! What is the constitutional remedy for this
| inevitable dissatisfaction. Renewed debate
and ultimate rehearing in subsequent cleo
! ton. Have the now successful majority
perverted power to purposes of oppression
! No; they have never before held power
Alas! how prone we are to undervalue priv
! ileges and blessings. How gladly, how
| proudly, would the people of any nation in
! Europe accept, on such terms as we enjoy
it, the boon of electing Chief Magistrate
every four years by free, equal, and univer-
! sal suffrage How thankfully would they
cast aside all their own systems of govern
ment, and accept this Republic Of ours, with
all its shortcomings and its disappointments,
maintain it with their arms, and cherish
it in their hearts. Is it not the very boon
for which they supplicate God without
ceasing, and even wage war, with intermis-
! sions only resulting from exhaustion How
strange are the times in which we live
The coming spring season, on one side of
the Atlantic, will open a general conflict,
wageG to obtain, through whatever indrec-
| ton, just such a system as ours and on
this side Of the Atlantic, within the same
parallels of latitude, it will open on frater-
nal war, waged in a moment of frenzied
discomfort to overthrow and annihilate the
same institutions. Do men, indeed, live
only for themselves to revenge their own
wrongs, or to gratlfy 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, become all of sudden unna.
tural as well as unpatriotic and will they
disinherit their children Iof the precious estate
held only in trust for them, and deprive the
world of the best hopes it has enjoyed since
the human race began its slow aud painful
yet needful and wisely appointed progress !
Here might close my plea for the Amer
ican Union; but it 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 disappoint
ment in the recent election, have attempted
to enlarge their ground, More than thirty
years there has existed a considerable
though not heretofore formidable-mass O
citizens in certain States situate near o.
around the delta of the Mississippi, who be
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