Litchfield enquirer., 1861-02-07

elgn acquisition, It IS impossible, WlLn the states that will be formed out of our present territory to acquire the three fourths requisite to amend the Constitution in this respect. This appre hension ceases, then, to be cause for rebellion. I We are told however, that the free States will not hesitate, when they are strong enough to violate the Constitution Such an argument | is simple insult tais the bald pretence of a traitor seeking cover for his treason. It it l proves anything, it demonstrates that no con- cession that can be made will reach the root of the difficulty.
 | It is urged, finally, that the people of the | Northern States have enacted laws, which are termed personal liberty bills, and which inter- fere with the effective operation of the statute for the rendition of fugitives from service. l inquire into the fact, and discover that in or der to prevent abuse of process under the ren- dition act which is so constructed as to be pc cuiarly liable to such abuse, the Legislatures of some of the northern States have thrown guards around the freedom of their people but, with only two or three possible exceptions, without in any wise contravening the Constitu- tion or the laws of the United States My own State is arraigned. look at her statute, and find an act, whose purpose seems to prevent abuse of process and the reduction of freemen to bondage, and which, in no degree, impairs the rights of claimants under the rendition law. l ask if any case has occurred, in any State, where a claimant has lost the service of fugi- tive through the intervention of process under a personal liberty bill /; aud I learn that not a single instance of the kind has happened.
 But, it is added that northern ministers preach northern editors write, and northern orators speak against slavery to the people of the North
 and that thus the northern mind has become SC demoralized as to prefer freedom to bondage | I et tbao outhcrn minister's oditops and or. tors come and answer those of the North no mob shall tar and feather, hang or shoot them if their efforts shall prove frutless, the evils of free speech and free press are beyond remedy. | l have now considered the avowed reasons for this rebellion: and. on a fair examination of them, am constrained to say that they are ut terly frivolous and such as. in themselves, could never have moved the people of any State to se- dition and revolt The causes lie deeper; and I now proceed to unfold them.
 Dsunion. in it's present shape, is of thirty years growth, although, until the 9th of Novem Der last, it expanded in the dark. It may be traced to the workings of 9 single mind, dsap- pointed of cherished ambition-when John C. Andrew Jackson. Though destitute of the high est qualities of statesmanship, Mir. Calhoun had, nevertheless, the sagacity to perceive the yet conscious strength of what has since been called "the slave power' in our complex system of gov ernment; how existing compactly in one section of the country, and embracing pecuniary inter- est so vast that the mind is unable to grasp it, if its political capacities could be brought to act as unit in connection with either of the great parties in the other section, it would be potent to rule, and how if severed from all parties, it might able to ruin the Republic. All the years of his life, after the disappointment of his ambi- tous expectations, were spent ln ceaseess and successful efforts to unite the slavehoding inter- est as single colnbatant in the political arena. It was necessary first of all, to defy the senti- ment of the civilized world and to overturn all the convictions of the people of the South, in or der to establish among them the dogma that sla- very, in itself is right, moral, social, and polit- ical good. He made the effort, and the result has been accomplished, while the nations have stood aghast as they listened to this new gospel of bondage proclaimed from the very temples of liberty. Fearful sacrifices have been made in the course of this revolution of opinion. It was a philosophical necessity that its success should overthrow the liberties of those who participa- ted in it and, in accordance with that necessity, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of elections the very elements of civil liberty, were, one after the other, given up. It was desirable, in the second place, to imbus the
 
 which treason might be made honorable and re- helion cease to be a crime. The mischieveus heresy of secession was revived, and after many years of denial and dispute, adopted as funda- mental axiom in southern politics.
 To combine the elements of political power in the slaveholding States was a more difficult task. The genius. patriotism, and popularity of Mir. Clay, were the chief obstacles to be overcome. They were overcome in the presidential election of 1844; and the first act in the drama of dis union was accomplished by the annexation of Texas, under the immediate auspices of Mr. Cal houn. Additional strength was gained by the slaveho!ding interest in the General Govern ment. and vast territory acquired for the ex- pected southern confederacy. The war with Mexico for the extension of that territory to the Rio Grande, and for still further acquisitions to the westward was the second act It accom- plished both purposes; bat the expected advan- tage to the slavcholding interest in the regions beyond the Rio Grande was frustrated by the genius of Clay and the firinness of Taylor. Enough, however, had been accomplished to has, ten the purposes of the disunonists. They were to be found in both the political parties of that day. The time had arrived for concentrating their energies. They chose the Democratic party as their instrument; and between 1850 and 1852 the forces of disunion were gathered into that organization. In the latter year, the total destruction of theWhig party was accomplished. It was necessary, further, to break up the unity of the Democracy. There was one statute which was, more than any other dear to the country. The Missouri compromise was second only to the Constitution in the affections of the people. A proposition for its repeal was suggested. The disunionists eagerly seized upon the project, and the outrage was consummated. Thousands ot Democrats in the free States left their party ranks forever A seeming indorsement of the legislation of 1854 was obtained by the union Of the combined South with few of the border northern States in the election of Mr.. Buchan- an. But it had become evident that the young and vigorous party which had sprung into exist- ence upon the repeal of the Missouri comprom- ise-a party which combined all the best ele- ments of the old political organizations of the North, and would have speedily taken a power fnl nosition at the South but for the despotism which had destroyed all freedom of elections there-would be likely to succeed in. 1860. A made-up case was smuggled into the Supreme Court. which proceeded to expound the Consti- tuition in manner that compelled every patri- otic iurist in the land to blush for very shame. Slavery was mads-national by judicial construc- tion and that construction was enforced in the Federal territory at the point of the bayonet. The disunonists, meanwhile, had been busily at work. They had prepared scheme of sedtion and revolt, to be carried into effect in the event Of the election of Colonel Fremont. That event having failed to occur they now took complete possession of President Buchanan. A wild sat- urnafa followed, unsurpassed since the worst days of the worst emperors of Rome Treason