Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1861-01-05


,lc$Te to interfere WHh Slareryi tie .Sta'rs,
as some fanatics harc insisttd they o"gh'
to do, tie reply has mrarmbW bew M"t
tie people arho mute the Federal Govern
ment did not think proper to confer on
it such authority, a,ui Il has therefore no
more right to mc,hUc wiA slurc,y III a
State than 1t has to interfere wHh se,J-
dom IN Russia. Nor are the people
of the non-slavcholding States in any
way responsible for slavery in the States
which tolerate it, because rs to that qucs-
ton they are as foreign to each other
us independent governments.
have laborcd in aud for the Rcpub-
lican organization with entire conf
dcncc that whenever it should be in
power, each and all of the States would
be left in as complete control of their
own affairs respectively, and at as per-
feet liberty to choose and employ their
own means OF protecting property and
preserving peace and order within their
respective limits, as they have ever
been under any administration. Those
who have voted for Mr.. Lincoln have
expected and still expect this, and they
would not have voted for him had they
expected otherwise. | regard it as cX-
trcmcly fortunate Tor the peace of the
whole country that this point, upon
which the Republicans have been so
long and so persistcntly misrcpreSent-
ed, is now to he brought to practical
test and placed beyond the possibility
of doubt. 1t should be II matter of
rejoicing with all true Republicans
that they will now have an opportu-
nifty of demonstrating to their political
advcrsarics and the world, Hut M,y are
not for mhyttriuy wdH tie domestic mSti-
iut;o,~ of oiy Of tie States, nor the adro-
cate s OF NEGRO EQUALITY NOR AMALGAMA-
TloN, WITH WHICH POLITICAL DEMA-
GOGrEs HAVE SO OFTEN CHARGED THEM.
When this is shown a reaction will
surely take place in favor of kcpubli-
canism. The Southern mind even will
bc satisfied, the rights of Northern
men will be respected, and the t'r;,ter-
nal feeling existing in oldcn times,
when men from al! parts of the country
went forth together to battle for Il COM
mon cause against Il common enemy.
will be restored. Disunionists per- 81,
OF whom, unfortunately, there have
been few in the country for some
years, understand this; and are now in
hot haste to get out of the Union. pre-
ciscly because they perceive they can
not much longer maintain an apprc-
hcnson among the Southern people
that their homes and frcsi,lcs and lives
arc to bc endangered by the action of
the federal government. With such,
snow or never" is their maxim, and
hence they seek to infame the public
mind, by misreprcsenting the objects
and purposes of the Republican party,
with the hope Of prccipitating the
Southern States into position from
which they cannot, without dishonor,
afterwards reccde, we'll knowing that if
they delay until after the new admins
trtion is inaugumted and tested, it will
furnish no cause for their complaint.
Secession IS an impractitubiiiW, or
rather az impossibi'iW. Tile Constitution
prorH'es no way By whmh u state may
withtruw from the Union--no rug for
the dissolution Of the Government It ere
0tes. The General Government inter-
fcrcs but little with the individual rights
of the citizens, except for protection.
1t is chiefly felt in its benefits and its
blessings, not in its cxactions.
If every Federal officer in South
Carolina were to resign, their offices
remain vacant, and its Legislature de-
clare the State out of the Union, It
would all amount to little, except to
Inconvenience the citizens of that
State; so long as the State did not in
tcrfcrc with tho collection of revenue
on the scaboarl, the people in other
portions of the Union would not be in
the least incommodcd. What is the
South Carolina army to do when raised I?
Whom is it to fight? Manifestly, if it
commences war on the United States
officers engaged in collecting the rove
nuc, it becomes the aggrcssor. This
would be revolution, and making war
without cause, for South Carolina
makes no complaint against the pres
cnt revenue laws. Is she prepared to
thus become the aggressor: The only
use l can see for her Minute Men is
that they will enable the people the
more readily to suppress any uprising
in their midst which their misrepresen-
tations Of the purposes of the Repub-
licans may have encouraged. She
complains that the Fugitive Slave Law
is not executed in some of the States.
This, if trwe, the wholc country knows to
be sham; for so far as South Carolina