Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-03

ted more faithfully and successfully than II
had been during the preceding ten years
Since the installation of President Lincoln.
not a case has arose in which the fugitive has
not been returned, and that too, without any
| opposition from the people. Indeed, the fl
| deity with which it was understood TO be the
policy of the present Administration to en-
| force the provisions of this law, has caused a
perfect panic among the runaway slaves in the
free States, and they have been escaping in
multitudes to Canada, unpursued and unre-
claimed by their masters. Is there found in
this reason for a dissolution of the Union
That the slave States are not recognized as
equal in the Confederacy, has for several
| years, been the cry of demagogues and con-
! spirators. But what is the truth Not only
according to the theory, but the actual prac-
/ tice of the Government, the slave States have
ever been, and still are, in all respects, the
peers of the free. Of the fourteen Presidents
| who have been elected, seven were citizens of
| slave States. and of the seven remaining, three
| represented Southern principles, and received
| the votes Of the Southern peoples so that, in
| our whole history, but four Presidents have
! been chosen who can be claimed as the special
champions of the policy and principles of the
free States, and even these, so only in mod
flied sense. Does this look as if the South
has ever been deprived of her equal share of
the hspors and powers of the Government
The Supreme court has decided that the citi-
slaves into oil the Territories of the United
States; and this decision, which has never been
resisted or nterfered with in single case, is
| the law of the land and the whole power of the
Government is pledged to enforce it, That it
will be Loyalty enforced by the present Adj
mnistraton, 1 entertain no doubt. A Re-
publican Congress, at the late session, organ
| lied three new Territories, and in the organic
law of neither was there introduced, at
tempted to be introduced the slightest restric-
tion upon the rights of the Southern emigrant
to bring his slaves with him. At this mo-
ment, therefore-and l state it without quail
fcation-there is not Territory belonging to
the United States into which the Southern
people may not introduce their slaves at pleas
ure, and enjoy there complete protection.
Kentucky should consider this great and un-
deniable fact, before which all the frothy rant
of demagogues and disunionists must disap-
pear bank of fog before the wind. But
were it otherwise, and did a defect exist in
our organic law, or in the practical admins
tration of the Government, in reference to the
rights of Southern Shareholders in the Terri
tories, still the question would be mere alb
straction since the laws of climate forbid the
establishment of slavery in such latitudes
and to destroy such institutions as ours for
such a cause, instead of patiently trying TO
remove it, would be little short of an act of
national insanity. 1t would be to burn the
house down over our heads, merely because
there is leak in the roof; to scuttle the ship
in mid ocean, merely because there is diff
ference of opinion among the crew as to the
point of the compass to which the vessel
should be steered; it would be, in fact, TO
apply the knife to the throat instead of to
the cancer of the patient.
But what remains? Though, say the dis
unionists, the Fugitive Slave law is honestly
enforced, and though, under the shelter of
the Supreme Court, we can take slaves
into the territories, yet the Northern people
will presist ia discussing the institution OF
slavery, and therefore we will break up the
Government. 1t is true that slavery has been
very intemperately discussed in the North,
and it is equally TRUE that until we have an
Asiatic despotism, crushing out all freedom
of speech and of the press, this discussion will
probably continue. In this age and country
all institutions, human and divine, are discus
sed, and SO they ought to be; and all that cam
not bear discussion must 60 to the wall, where
they ought to go. 1t is not pretended, how
ever, that the discussion of slavery, which
has been continued in our country for more
than forty years, has in any manner disturbed
or weakened the foundation of the institution.
On the contrary, we learn from the press of
the seeded States that their slaves were new
er more tranquil or obedient. There are zeal
otS-happiIy few IN number-both North and
South, whose language upon this question is
alike extravagant and alike deserving our con-
demnation. Those who assert that slavery
should be extirpated by the sword, and those
who maintain that the great mission of the
white man on earth is to enslave black, are not
far apart in the folly and atrocity of their
timents.
Before proceeding further, Kentucky should
measure well the depth of the gulf she is ap-
preaching, and look well to the feet of her
guides. Before forsaking Union in which
her people have enjoyed such uninterrupted
and such boundlesS prosperity, she should ask
herself not once but many times, WHY do
GO, and WHERE am going? In view OF what
has been said, it would be difficult to answer
the first branch of the inquiry, but to answer
the second part is patent to all, as are the
consequences which would follow the move
ment. In giving her great material and NOR
al resources to the support of the Southern
Confederacy, Kentucky might prolong the
desolating struggle that rebellious States are
making to overthrow Government which
they have only known in its blessings; but
the triumph Of the Government would never
theess be certain in the end. She would a
bandon Government strong and able to pro-
tect her, for one that is weak and that con-
tains in the very elements of its life, the
seeds of distraction and early dissolution.
She would adopt, as the law of her existence,
the right of secession--a right which has no
foundation in jurisprudence, or logic, or in
our political history which Madison, the
father of the Federal Constitution, denounc-
ed which has been denounced by most of the
States and prominent Statesmen now insisting
upon its exercise; which, in introducing a
principle of indefinite disintegration, cuts up
all confederate governments by the roots, and
gives them over prey to the caprioes, and
transient interests, of their members, as
tumnal leaves are to the winds which blow
upon them. In 1914, the Richmond Enquir-
er, then, as now. the organ of public opinion
In the South, pronounced secession to be