Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-03-08
LTNCOLN'S
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

the CONSTITUTED states to be taken by
the President before he enters on the
execution of his office. | do net con
slider it necessary at present for me to
discuss those matters Of administration
about which there is no special anxiety
or excitement.
The apprehension seems to exist
among the people Of the Southern States,
,t3IatS'sy tire accession Of a Republican
sAssslnilnisira sAsssl tion,# < thoir property, and
their peace, aud Personal security, are to
.hesendaneelea There has never been
any reasonable csuse for such apprehen-
sion; indeed, the most ample evidence
to he contrary has all the while existed,
aud been open to their inspection. 1t
is Toand in nearly all tho published
speeches of him who now addresses you.
[ do but quote from one of those
speeches, when declare that | have no
purpose. directly or indirectly, to inter
fere with the institution OF slavery in
the States where it exists | believe
have no lawful right to DO so, and |
have no inclination to do so; those who
nominated and elected me did so with
the full knowledge that had made this
and many similar declarations, and had
never rcealted them; and more than
this, they placed in The platform for my
aeceptance,as a las to thenselye and
to me, the clear and emphatic resolution,
which I now read:
sI2esoicc.l, That the maintenance inyi-
olate of the rights Of the States to order
and control its own domestic institutions
aecosd;hg to its own judgment excla-
siyely, is essential to tic balance Of
power on which the perfection and en-
durance Of our political fabric depends,
and we denounccthe law!oss invasion by
an arnIed force OF any State or Territory,
no natter under what pretext, as among
the gravest of crimes.
l now re;tera testhesc sentiments; and
in doing SO sso11l press upon the pub
lie attention tise most conclusive evi-
dencc Of which the case is susceptible,
that the prosperity, peace and security
Of no section are to be in anywise en-
dangered by the now int ouing Admin
istration l add, too, that all the pro-
lection which, consistently with the
Consultation and the laws, can be given,
will be cheerfully given to all the States,
when lawfully demanded, for whatever
cause, as cheerfully TO one section as to
another. There is much controversy
about the delivery of fugiti7as from scr
vice or labor; the clause [ now read Is
as plainly written in the Constitution as
any ether Of its provisions: "Ne person
held 10 service or labor in one State un-
der lie laws thereof, escaping into an
other, shall in consequence Of any law
or regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor, but shall be
delivered up on claim to the party to
whom such service or labor may be A:le. ,,
It is scarcely questioned that this pro-
vision was intended BY those who made
it for the reclainling OF what we call fu-
sitiFe slaves, and the intention Of the |
law given is the law all members Of Con- |
eress swear their support to-the whole
Constitution-to this provision as much |
as TO any other 70 the proposition,
then, that slaves whose cases eome
within the terms Of this clause, shall be
delivered up, their oaths are unanimous
Now, if they would make the effort in
good temper, could they. OF, with nearly
unanimity, frame and pass law, by
means Of which to keep good that unan-
ilnoas oath? There, is some difference
of opinion whether this clause should he .
enforced by National or State authority;
but surely that difference is not "a very
material one IF the slave is to be sur
rendered, it can le Of but little conse-
quence 10 hin. or to others, By which au-
thority it is done; and should any one in
any case.be content that his oath shall
be unkept, on merely unsubstantial
controversy as to how it shall be
kept9 again, in any law upon this
subject ought not all the safeguards Of
liberty known IN the civilized and hu-
name Jurisprudence to lie introduced, SO
that fTeenan may not in any case be
as a slave? And nigh it
not he well at the same time to provide
by law for the enforcement Of that clause
in the Constitution which guarantees
that the citizens Of each State shall be
entitled to all the privileges and immu-
mites of citizens CT the several States?-
l take the official oath to-day with no
mental reservations, and no purpose to
construe tie Constitution and laws by
any hypercritical rules; and while l do
not choose now to specify particular acts
of Congress as proper to be enforced,
do suggest that it will be much safer for
all men in official and private stations
to conform to and abide by all those
acts which stand unrepealed, than to vi
olate any OF them, trusting to find i'm
munity in having them held to be TN
1t is seventy two years since the first
Inauguration Of President under our
National Constitution During that pc
riod fifteen different and greatly distin-
guished citizens have in succession ad
the Executive branch of the
Government. They have conducted it
through many periis, and generally with
great success; yet with all-.this scope for.
precedent I now enter upon the same
task for the brief Constitutional term Of
four years. under great and peculiar DIFF
ticulties. The disruption of the Federal
Union, heretofore only menaced, is now
fornidably attempted. I hold that, in,
contemplation Of universal law and the
Constitution, the union Of the States is
perpetual, Perpetuityis implied, if not
in Tie Fundamental law Of all
National Governments.
It is safe to assert that Government
proper never had provision in its or
ganic law for its own termination. Con-
tinue to execute all the express provis
ions of our national Constitution, and
the Union will endure forever--it being
to destroy it except by some
action nol provided form theinstrument
itself
Again: IF the United States be not a