Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1861-02-15


mics From 1910 to 1913 they labored assiduou s.
| y to corrupt the popular heart, using artfnly the
/ agitation consequent upon Texan annexation. In
/ 1851 they took steps towards the overt act but
the southern heart had not yet been frsd, and the
cotton States would not be precptated into revo-
luton. Crafty in the use of pretoxts-as observed
| by jackson, Clay, and Benton, and now by all
thoroughly intent upon their single purpose watch
/ ful OF and eager for opportunity, and gathering
energy from defeat, they have labored reIentlessy
the last ten years; and, aided by the excitement
created by the ruthless repeal of the Missouri
promise, and the subsequent deSpotic Kansas poll
| cy OF two democratic Administrations, they are
now in 1861, If TO prove the continuity of their
/ life, executing the programme marked out in 1851
as most efficient for the destructive work.
! For years they suffered for want of a suitable
| agency through which, unsuspected, to reach the
public. For time they werG excluded from the
Democratic party but they at length reentered it.,
and at once its decay began. By gradual process
versed, as a necessary preliminary, the theory of
the very nature of the Government, and the source
of Its power. Jackson, following thQ athers.
taught that
.sThis IS q Government in which al tho paople
are represented which operates directly on the
people individually; not upon ho1sfakps they re-
tain all the power theYa did nor K*64S@ Ru bach
State, having expressly parted R flAElS Egw-
ers as to constitute, Jointly Na bAsER 2ESsCes,
single nation, cannot from UHfN possess
any right to secedey because a5&t secession does
not break leaguc4but destroyBtEa unity of
ton; and any injury to that nifty is not only a
breach which would result from the contravention
OF compact, butt is an offence against the whele
! Union. To say that any State may at peasu ure
| secede from the Union, is to say that the United
States are not a nation; because it would be a
solecsm to contend that any part of nation might
dissolve its connection with other parts, to their
injury or ruin, without committing any offence.''
The southern Democracy of this day, almost
unanimitv and M ut Of
secession - while many northern especially Breck-
inridgel Democrats, mildly denying it, give them
"aid and comfort by skillfuliy prating of the un-
constitutonality of coercion. To justify this form
of reasoning, they deny the popular character of
the Government aud rest ii upon the States deln-
ing the relations between the States as league,
and the General Government as agent, which
each one is at liberty to discard at pleasure, and
which, as recently expressed the seceders about
to hand over to the remaining partners-themselYes
retiring Largely depriying the national Govern
ment of vitality, they have proportionably exag-
gerated the State Observation-Disclosures to
which, in violation of tbs precise language and
the entire theory of the Constitution, they have
placed first in the scale of obligation. From de-
facing the creed of the party, they proceeded, by
an Irresistible logic, to Genatonaze its policy, de-
stroyng its nObleI features, aud suppanting them
with either the shadows of former substance or the
denial Of former attributes. They have denied the
right and paralyzed the power of the Government
|
made of no effect its power to cons ruct river and
| harbor improvements, or aid internal commerce.
They have destroyed its efficiency for many i'm
portant, practical, and useful purposes, not now
necessary to be named, and have limited its agency
to the narrowest feds-thus removing, it as far as
possible, from the people; and whilst, by numerous
means, destroying the centripetal tendencies In our
system, they have intensified the centrifugal al
| ready increased by our widened territory and its
diverse interests, by unduly elevating the claims
| and rfm nf fhn hoe
tem,'' as contrasted with the nations, they are
now, by natural consequence, attempting to give
extra territorial vitality in deTogation of the gen
eral veal. The necessary result of this policy
embraced by many with that view, has been 10
weaken the bonds of the Union, and, By a gradual
but certain process, to prepare the people sought
to be enticed for the rebellous and revolutionary
purposes now ayowed. On every OCCASION in every
mode, and on every subject save one, they have
dwarfed the policy of the Democratic party, and
left it husk without lifegving or life-sustaning
quality.
have said, on every subject save one. |
refer, of course, to that which is their chiefest
pretext. On all questions affecting slavery,
they treat the Constitution with violence,
stretching it far beyond its letter or spirit
To this end they have adapted themselves,
successfully, with amazing readiness, to every
necessity of the hour. Anxious to break down
OAV oOCtAAuO Va OOuSiceoiOu6l pkOutbIkiOus kO6Y
adopted the theory or leaving to the Territor-
ial Legislatures the control of the domestic
institutions Of the people. That passing pur-
pose sufficiently secured, they denied the pow
er of the Territorial Legislatures hostilely to
touch slavery. Using this doctrine for tenn
porary purpose, they threE it aside as worth
less, setting up in its place the dogma that, as
the Constitution recognizes slavery, neither
Congress nor the Territorial Legislature can
prohibit it, and both must protect it against
hostile local sentiment PToclaining the sane
tity of compromises until that of 1880 is ac-
ceptod, they repudiate all such no tions in 1854
aud destroy the Missouri compromise of 1920,
which while not in their way, was esteemed
we'll nigh sacred, and fit to be extended to the
Pacific. Ia their eagerness for the admission
of slave States, they sought, in 1858, to drag
Kansas into the Union against the will of her
people, under fraudulent slavery constitution
which did not embody the popular wish, and
was known to be in opposition to it "a measure
o. wrong repudiated by the Territory, con-
demned ny the conscience of the country, and,
after the act, confessed by a distinguished sup
porter, to have been a disgraceful measure,
which "should have been kicked out of Con-
greSs." While in 1860 and 1861, they re-
sisted to the last point the admission Of Kan
sss With free institutions oonformable TO the
popular will. So wholly have the conspirators
welded the Democratic organization in their
destruction of the old landmarks set up by
great men tc be preserved forever.
AS the conspifators debauehed the creed
and policy Of the Democratic party, so they
manipulated the ncn Of that party, or dis
1914, when Van Buren promised to be un-
yielding, they prevented bis nomination by es~
teblishing in the convention novel and arbi-.
trary rule, till then unknown, which transferred
control of the party from the majority TO the