Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1861-06-28
IRON the london News, Mayay.I 1t,f
Has Government the Right to De-
al1-asas- faud T+selE.-----


Has Government the Right to De-
6and Itself. -r,
@The United States have accepted this
eivil war as an inevitable necessity" Such is
the declaration of Mr. Seward in his dispatch
TO the American Minister at Paris The
Secretary Of the United States Government
must have pondered well those words before
he consigned them in q document to be la.d
before the FIRST power Of Continental Europe
But ihey express fact, one which has not re-
| ceiyed sufficient attention ia England. 1t is
often lightly asked here Shy the two sections
Of the American Union cannot separate, aud
live Peaeeahy side by side. Those who thus
speak have bestowed but slight and superb
cial attention upon the nature Of the canses
of disagreement The question may be met
b7 another if nothing hindeIs them living
pcaceably side by side. why should they
seperate ard sacrifice the Union, which is
their common strength and gloryl The
statesmen IF the North know fn!l well that,
however quietly she might aequiesce in the
separation IS the South there could be no
peace betw Aen Governneuts founded on prin-
ciples so Y s4caily antagonistic as those en-
bodied in The respective Constitutions Of that
Confederazs and the United States The
promise, if seriously given, would not and
could not be seriously kept. We have heard
a good deal Of the Monroe doctrine, and the
determination of the citizens of the United
States never to allow any European Govern
ment to transfer its institutions to 4 fresh por-
tiOn of the American Continent but the U.
s. Government might with much less danger
to its tranquility allow this than permit the
formation of great Slave Power stretching
from the Ohio to the GulG There is nothing
in the forms of European Governments more
ininl;cal to the peace and freedom of tie non
saveholding States than the political doctrines
openly proclaimed by the Secession leaders
If the Cosfederacy could establish ITSELF it
would manifest itself to the world on the very
morroW as proPagandists aggressive, free
booting State, perpetually menacing it > neigh
bors, and etnbroilliRg them in hostilities. Its
large idle population of poor and turbulent
whites form the appropriate material of fill
clustering forces, and would be ever annexing
somebody. The extension of the area of
slavery, it should be remembered, was the
very question on which the present rupture
the South would cut its bands in all directions,
and carry slavery far and wide. The acquisi-
tion of Mexico is one of the commonest prom
ises made to their adherents by the Secession
leaders, Is the FIRST nation of the American
continent to permit that Certainly, it could
not Il is therefore better to meet the mis-
chief in its early stage. The only object the
South have in separating is, that slavery.
hitherto limited by counteracting principles,
may henceforth become sovereign, expanding
Itself, and peryaJiny and moulding every IN
siitutiou of government. And experience
proves that the growth of Negro Slavery is
the measure Of the decrease of the white mans
freedom. Where the black man is held in
bondage. the white man is deprived of the
coniuonest liberties, and must neither speak
his mind nor exercise his industry.
If President Lincoln prevents the execution
of the Southern programme, preserving the
abundant constitutional rights of the South-
ern States as members OF the Union, we shall
say that be has defended the cause of liberty
ard not Il whit the less because the dominant
party in the South has its own projects for
rearing ali empire of tyranny and oppression.
II it becomes necessary for that purpose 20
draw the sword, We shall say that, until the
millennial day come when the sword shall be
beaten into the plow-share and the spear into
the pruning hook, war can be waged for no
higher object than to maintain the Constitu
ton of the United States over the length and
breadth Of the whole Union. From the Iirst
Mr. Lincoln has uniformly declared that lie
will do this Every new declaration he has
made has illustrated his consistency and stead
.astuess. 1t seems TO be maintained in some
quarters that because the Government of the
United States is so free its Head ought not to
defend it. We do not see why good Gov
ernment should have denied to it rights of
selfdcfense which are conceded as matter Of
course to a bad one. The general common
Government of the United States was created
for this purpose-to maintain and defend the
Union. The notion that Il minority Of ma
ton is to be allowed to scccde when it cannot
have its way, although its rights have been
respected, is destructive OF every principle OF
government, and has never been recognized
by any statesman. The States that now pre-
tend a right to go out of the Union have Sc
veralIy relinquished their claim to Independent
existence, in order to share the sovereignty of
their own territories and those Of the Union
with the other States compacted in one collec-
tive body under the General Government
They can not resume their full sovereignty as
of right. If fany of them could do it, it would
be, not States which, like Louisiana, Arkansas,
and Missouri, occupy territory acquired by the
diplomacy OF the Union, without reference to
the wishes of the inhabitants, but States like
Virginia, for instance, which helped to form
the Union. Yet Virginia, in the articles by
which she ratified the Union, used language
which implicitly disclaimed the right of seces.
SION Her words are, that 1.-The powers grant
ed under the Constitution are derived from
the people of the United States" 1t is this
sovereign body, the people of the United
States and not the Governors or Legislatures
Of the separate States, who have to decide on
The question of union or disuuion. And with
them rests also the question of peace or war.
If the vast majority Of the people decids that
the Union and the Constitution shall be main
tained-and the population of the Free States
is to that Of the slave States as 20 to 9-they
have the means of carrying out that decision
without trenchng upon any rights in so doingi
and they viii save this generation from
shame, anl bequeath their children blessing
instead Of u curse.
The CONFLICTS in the Virginia Penitentiary
acr employed in making gun carriages,