Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1861-08-10

BILE escape from it.
All guarantees and all attempts at adjust
ment by amendments 70 the Constitution are
now scorufully rejected, and the leaders oi
the rebellion openly proclaim that they are
| fighting for their independence. In this con.
temptuous rejection Of guarantees. and in this
svowal Of the objects of the rebellion now 20
| audaciously made, we have a complete expo
sure of that fraud which through the slavery
agitation has been practiced upon the public
credulity for the last fifteen or twenty years.
ln the light OF this revelation, we feel as one
| awakened from the sulTocatiug tortures of a
| nightmare and realize what baseless dream
our spprebensons have been. aud of what q
traitorous swindle we have been made the
victims. They are fighting for their inde-
pendence Independence of what lnde.
pendence Of those laws which they themselves
have aided 10 enacting Independence of that
Constitution which their fathers framed and to
which they are parties and subject by inheri.
tance; independence of that benefcent Gov.
ernment on whose treasury and honors they
bave grown strong aud ilustrious. When a
man commits robbery on the highway, or n
murder in the dark be thereby declares his
independence of the laws under which he
lives, and Of the society of which he is q
member. Should he when arraigped avow
and justify the offence, he thereby becomes
the advocate of the independence be has thus
declared and if he resists by force OF arms
the officer, when dragging him to the prison,
the peDltentiary, or the gallows, he is thereby
lighting Tor that independence he has thus
declared and advocated; aud such is the
condition oil the conspirators of the South at
this moment. 1t is no longer question of
Southern rights which have never been vio-
lated, nor of security of Southern Institutions,
which we know perfectly well have never been
interfered with by the General Government,
but 1t is purely With US question of national
existence.
n meeting this terrible issue which rebel
hon has made upon the loyal men of the
country, we stand npon ground infinitely
above all party lines ard party platforms
ground as sublime as that on which our fa.
theirs stood when they fought the battles of
the Revolution. | am for throwing into the
contest thus forced upon US, all the material
and moral resources and energies of the ma.
ton, 10 order that the struggle may be brief
ana as little saugninary as possible. 1t is
hoped that we shall soon see in the field half
million OF patriotic volunteers, marching in
columns which will be perfectly irresistible,
and, borne in their hauds--for no purpose of
conquest or snhjugatiou, but of protection
only-we may expect within nine months to
see The stars and stripes floating in every
Southern breeze, and hear going up, wild as
the storm, the exultant shout OF that emanci.
pated people over their deliverance from the
revolutionary terror and despotism, by which
they are now tormented and oppressed
The war, conducted on such scale, will
not cost exceeding four or five hundred mil.
lions of dollars, and none need be startled at
the vastness OF this expenditure. The debt
thus created will press bnt slightly upon us,
1t will be paid and gladly paid by posterty,
who will make the best bargain which has
been made since the world began, il they can
secure to themselves, in its integrity and
blessings, such government as this at such
cost. But if in this anticipation we are
doomed to disappointment if the people of
the United States have become so degenerate
may | not say so craven-in the presence
OF their foes as to surrender up this Republic
to become dismembe.ed aud subverted by
the traitors who have reared the standard Of
revolt against it, then trust the volume of
American history will be closed and sealed
up forever, and that those who shall survive
this national humiliation will take unto them.
selves some other name-a name having no
relation to the past, no relation to our ances.
tore, no relation to those monuments and
battle helds which commemorate alike their
herosm, their loyalty aud their glory.
THE TERM "sUBMIssIoNIsTs."
But with the curled lip of scorn we ore
told by the Dsunonists, that in thus sup.
porting Republican Administration in lis
endeavors to uphold the Constitution and
laws we are "Submissionists," and when they
have pronounced this world, they suppose
they have imputed to us the sum of all human
abasement. Well, let it be confessed we are
Submissionists." aud weak and spiritless,
as it msy be deemed by some we glory in the
position we occupy. For example the law
says, 'Thou shalt not steal : we submit to
this law, anG would not for the worlds
worth. rob our neighhor of his forts, his
arsenals, his arms, his mnntions of war, his
hospital stores, or anything that is his.
Indeed, so impressed are we with the obliga-
tions Of this law, that we would no more
think of plundering from our neighbor half a
million of dollars because found in one of his
unprotected mints, than we would think of
6lching purse from his pockets in crowd.
ed thoronghfare. Write US down, therefore,
"Submissionists."
Again: The law says "tbou shalt not
swear falsely !" We submit to this law, and
wnle IN the clVl military service of the
country with an oath to support the Consti-
tuition Of the United States resting upon our
consciences, we would not for any earthly
consideration of conspiracy to subvert that
very Constitution, and with it the Govern.
ment TO which it has given birth. Write us
down, therefore, against "Submissonists." I"
Yet again When a president has been
elected in strict accordance with the forms
and spirit Of the Constitution, aud has been
regularly installed into Office, and is honestly
striving to discharge his duty by snatching
the Republic from the jaws Of gigantic
treason which threatens TO crush it, we care
not what his name may be, or what the desig
nation of bis political party. or what the
platform on which he stood during the Pres-
dental canvas We believe we fulfill in sight
OF earth and heaven our highest obligations
to our country, in giving to him an earnest
and loyal support in the struggle in which he
is engaged
Luclfer was a non-snbmissionist and the
first Secessonist of whom history has given
US any account, and the chains which he
wears fifty express the fate due 10 all who
openly defy the laws of their Creator and of
their country. He rebeled because the Al.
mighty would not yield to him the throne OF
Heaven; the principle of the Southern re.
hell0n is the same, Indeed in this submis.