Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-01-25

everywhere through our own land and through
ont the world ; free speech, free press, free
suffrage the freedom of e3ef} subject to vote
on every law, and for or againse every agent
who expounds, administers. or executes. I'm
stable and Jealous conederacies constantly ap-
pretending assaults without ard treason with
in, formidable only to each other and conteu1p-
table to all beside how lcug viii it be before
on the plea of public safety, they will surreu-
der all this inestimable and unequaIled liberty,
and accept the hateful and intOlerable espion-
aye of military despotism
And now, Bir. President, @Kat 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 us9 No. So far
from being euenfies; there is rot a nation on
earth that is not an interested, atdmring friend.
Even the London Times, by no means partial
to US, says
at is Quite possible that the problem Of a
Democratic Republic may be solved by its
overthrow in few days in a spirit of folly
selfshness and short-sightedness.'
Has the Federal Government become ty-
rannical or oppressive, or even rigorous or uu-
sound Has the Constitution lost its spirit,
and all at once collapsed into a lifeless letter (?
No I; the Federal Government smiles more be
uignantIy, and works to-day more benefcent-
ly than ever. The Constitution is even tire
chosen model for the organization Of the new
ly rising conf,deracies.
The occasion is the election of President
of the United States,swho is unacceptable to
4 portion of the people. ! state the case ac-
curately. There was no movement of disunion
before the ballots; which expressed that choice
were cast. Disunion began as soon as the re-
suit was announced. The Justification it as
signed was that Abraham Lincoln had been
elected, while the success of either one of the
three other candidates would have been acqu-
esced in. Was the election Illegal? No; it
was unimpeachable. Is the candidate person.
ally offensive No he is a man Of unIIlem-
ishcd virtue aud alliable manners. Is ali cleo
tion of President ar uufrequent or e2traor,fi=
nary transaction? No; we never had Chief
Magistrate otherwise designated than by such
e!ection, and that form of choice is renewed
every four years. Does ony one even propose
to change the mode of appointing the Chief
Magistrate? No; election by universal suff
rage, as modified by the Constitution, is the
one crownng franchise Of the American pco-
pie. To save it they would defy the world
Is it apprehended that the new President will
uSurp despotio powers. No; while he is of
all men the most unambitious, he is, by the
partial suncess of those who opposed his cleo
ton, subjected to such restraint that he can
not, without their consent, appoint minister,
or even police agent, negatiate treaty, or
procure the passage of law, and can hardly
draw muskct from the public arsenals TO de-
tend his own person.
What, then is the ground Of discomfort? =
1t is that the disutiionists did not accept as
conclusive the arguments which were urged in
behalf of the successful candidate in the can
vass. This is all. Were their own arguments
against him more satisfactory to his support
ers? OF course they were MT; they could
not be- Does the Constitution, in letter or
spirit, require or imply that the arguments of
me party shall be satisfactory to the other :?
No; that is impossible. What is the cOnsti-
tutional remedy for this Inevitable dissalisfac-
ton? Renewed debate ami ultimate rehelr-
ing in subsequent election. HIVE the now
successful party perverted power to purposes
of oppression? No; they have never before
held power. Alas how prone we are to un-
dervaluc privileges and blessings. How glad
ly, how proudly would the people of any ma
ton in Europe accept, on such terms as we
enjoy it, the boon of eleeting Chief Magis-
trate every -four years by free. equal and uni
versal suffrage How thankfully would they
cast aside all their own systems of government,
and accept this Republic of ours, with all its
Shortcomings and disappointments, maintAin
it with their arms, and cherish it in their
hearts, Is it not the very boon for which they
suppIicatc God without ceasing. and even
wage war, with intcrmissions 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 on a
general conflict, waged to obtain through
whoteyeE .indrection, just such system as
ours and on this side of the Atlantic. within
The same parallels Of latitude, it will open on
fraternal war, waged in a moment Of frtnzied
discomfort to overthrow and annillilate the
same institutions. Do men, indeed, live only
for themselves, to re4eiIge their own wrongs,
or to crafty their own ambition? Rather do
not men live least of all foF themselves, and
chiefly for posterity and for their fellow men
Have the American people, then, Become all
of sudden, unnatural, as well as unpatriolic?
and will they disinherit their children of the
precious estate held only in trust for them. and
deprive the world of the best hopes it has en-
ioyed since the human race began its slow and
painful, yet neediul and wisely appointed pro-
gress
Here l might close my plea for the Ameri-
can Union but it is necessary, if not to ex-
haust the argument, at least to exhibit the
whole case. The disunionists, consciously un-
able to stand on their mere disappointments
in the recent election, have attempted to en-
large their ground. More than thirty years
there has existed consderable-tliough not
heretofore formidable-mass Of citizens situate
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 81 mar confederacy, embracing only
slave States, would be. This class has avail
ed itself of discOntents resulting from the
election, to put into operation the machinery
of dissolution long ogo prepared and waiting
only for occasion. In other States there is a
soreness because of the want of sympathy in
the free States with the eff1rts of the slave
holders for the recapture of fugitives from SER
vice. In all the slave States there is aSrestive-
ness resulting from the resistance which las
been so determinedly maile within the last
| few years, in the free States, to the extension
| of slavery in the common Territories of the
United States Fhe Republican party, which
cast its votes for the successful cslulidate or
the ground of that policy, has been allowed
practically, no representation, no utterance by
speech or through the press, in the Slave
States while the policy, principles and senti-
meBts, and even its temper, have been so mis-
represented as to excite apprehension that j
denies important constitutional obligations
and aims even at interference with slavery ant
its overthrow by State authorities or interVen
ton of the Federal Government. Considera
BILE masses even in the free States, intereste,
in the success of these Misrepresentation as