Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-24
CLEARFIELD, Pa, WEDNESDAY, JULY "a, 1861.

such as would ignore the fundamental basi:
of the Government itself.
Slavery agitation has brought the nation up
on the eve of dissolution; but who have been
the real agitators? reply most emphatical-
ly, the South. Who but such as were thor
oughly impregnated with the spirit of slavery
| would have dreamed of property-mere chat
| tels-beng represented in the Legislative halls
| OF freemen? Yet that was slavery's earliest
| demand. To concilliate the South, three-fifths
| OF her slave population are represented in
i Congress, and the self-constituted representa-
tives of the cotton fields mingle with the rep
| resentatives of the freemen Of the North. 1t
was the slave power in Congress, the represen-
tatives of slaves, that proposed the Missouri
| Compromise as the price of Missouri as a
! slave State. Even as far back as 1921 the dis
solution of the Union was threatened by the
| South. Her motto then, now, was rule or
| ruin; to the Union she gave the terms, sue
! como or die. 1t was slavery, too, that secured
| the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; her
| object was the ensavement of Kansas, and
| she was ready to break the faith of the nation
| to gain her purpose. The fugitive slave law
was the price of peace, and the principles of
| the Dred Scott decision must become the pol
| Icy of the nation, or the Government itself
must be dissolved TO make way for the on
| ward march of the demon of chains; aud an
appeal made from constitutional ballots to
leaden bullets to decide the question of who
shall rule over the ssland of the free and the
| home of the brave.' We have read of devil
of more than usual malignity most dev-
llish of all the demon crew !; other devils re-
tire with dignity when hidden this one sought
to kill, threw down his subject and rent him
| sore, leaving him as one dead. Such was the
| devil that took possession of the southern
wing OF democracy, and controlled the cabi-
net OF the retiring Administration until the
force of public indignation ousted the traitors
from their place of power. No sooner had
the result OF the late general election been
made known-a result which indicated clear
ing out of the old official incumbents of the
general Government-than there was inaugur-
ated a system of chicanery aud fraud the par
allel of which the world never witnessed.
There were traitors IN the cabinet, traitors IN
secret conference with our Chief Magistrate,
traitors in our legislative halls, traitors in the
army and in the navy; secession, revolution
| and treason were concocted In the capitol and
inaugurated all over the South, and thieving
and robbery became the order of the day.
Forts, navy yards, ships, arsenals and muni-
tions of war were stolen United States mints
and treasures were robbed, and war with all
its baneful concomitantS stalked abroad. At
whose feet must the blame lie for all this de-
vastation Who must be held responsible for
the present prostration of business, fer the
sutferings imposed upon the poor, for the
blood of the battle field, for the sorrows of the
widow, and women made childless by the
sword, and for the widespread decentralization
of the nation? Certainly not the North
certainly not the present Administration.
Can thing act before it exists? This ruin
was foreshadowed and much of its details
wrought out before the present Administra-
tion drew its earliest breath. The lombard
ment of Sumter was the eliminating point of
treason. But why was Sumter bombarded
No invasion of southern rights had been either
effected or even threatened; no aggressive
steps had yet been taken to recover the prop
erty already taken; not even an attempt to
reinforce Fort Sumter, but only to supply A
merlcan soldiers with provisions. To feed
men who firmly stood by the national flag was
enough to open the fire of slave-serving bat
teries upon the devoted fort. Could the Ad-
mnistration have done less Must the heroic
Anderson and his noble band perish for lack
of bread or must they, as the representatives
OF our national honor, submit prisoners of
war to the traitors of the South True to
the trust conided to their care they stood
famished with hunger they toiled on at their
appointed task, while amidst the fire and
smoke OF the contest the walls of the fort
battered about their heads. But the
thunder of those cannon stirred the nations
heart, and thousands of northern freemen are
rushing to the rescue. The American eagle
must not die in tie loathsome coils of the
southern rattleSnake.
The war is upon the part of the South one
of aggression. Northern invasion is the SUBJ
tance of their military programme the con-
federate armies are marching to the overthrow
of our national capital; the men to whom, in
constitutional way, the interests of the COM
monwealth have been confded, are to be driv-
en- from the seat of government, and the ar
chives OF the nation are to pass into the
hands of self-constituted rulers. Give Jeffer-
son Davis possession of Washington City with
an sniff fo All
tingency which supposes the subjugation of
the federal Government by force OF arms-and |
the Government of these United States is rev. |
olutionized at once the doctrine of equal |
rights, of noble Declaration of Indepen- |
dence, would be swept from the face of the |
earth; and the freemen OF the North-now |
free no more-would never again rally to the |
polls for the election of constitutional mag |
istrate of free people.
But cannot there be peaceable adjustment |
of existing difficulties Cannot the evils of !
civil war be avoided Certainly it can be
done, if Freedom will consent to die wth- |
out struggle; if the Chief Magistrate of the
nation will submit obsequously to retire at
the bidding of the South; if the doctrine of
the confederated traitors is admitted as the
law OF the nation. Complacent the demon
that severed the NJ. E. Church and treacher
ously rent the Democratic party, slavery only
asks of the national Government to succunb
or die.
Let the federal Government, either peace
fully or at the cannon's mouth, succumb to
the dictation of the South, or under any cir
cumstances yield to her demands, and her
prestige and glory-yea, her very Identity
will have passed away. A doctrine would be
naugurated essentially opposed to our pres
ent cherished institutions in three important
particulars would the change be seen. The
right of State to scecede is conceit made
10 order for southern convenience, which