Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1861-07-11
President Lineoln's Message.

cum q hpHiOiJ anu uUDCot III tuI5
message; its manner seems to perfect a pic
ture Of the war itis so transparently writ
ten-to borrow one Of its own expressions
$ without guile and with pure purpose" that
it cannot fail to take strong hold on the
popular heart and endear Mr.. Lincoln still
more to the great body of the people, who
prefer vigorous, every day common sense,
quaint expression and shrewd mother wit. to
the pomp of artificial rhetoric or the stiff
fermality Of a mere state-paper style. The
message bears internal evidence that it is Mr..
Lincoln's own, It's peculiar raeiness of ex-
preston proving that it has not been retouch-
ed by any member of the cabinet. The un-
feigned sympathy with "the patriotic in
stipcts of plain people," which runs through
it, and tie original ways of putting things
with which it abounds, are calculated to
strengthen that confidence in Mr.. Lincoln's
honesty and robust common sense, which
causes the sturdy masses 50 feel that he is
man to lean against in a great emergency.
The Message is calculated TO set at rest all
apprehensions-if, indeed, any have ever
been honestly entertained that the Presi-
cent would ever allow this struggle to be
brought to pusillanimous close by an igno-
BILE compromise with the traitors. True.
there is not in the Message any of that spu-
rous ene,gy which consists OF the piling up
Of vehement expressions for the President
is perfectly selfpoised. and reasons through
out the document in that easy, familiar, CONS
mon sense way which implies the concous-
ness of strong natnrs that he will be found
equal to his duties. But with this absence
of any straining to appear resolute there is
Sufficient evidence that having put his foot
down firmly" he will keep il down. The
strong things in the Message arc all the more
impressive FROM the simplicity ard absence
of bluster with which they are expressed
The main recommendation which President
Lincoln offers to Congress for the purpose
of making this contest short and decisive
one" speaks very decsiyely FOR the energy
with which he desires the war TO be prose-
cuted. When he asks Tor al least four huns
dred thousand men and four hundred mil
lions Of delars, he indicates so clearly his
sense of Importance Of crushing the rebellicr
by the overwhelming exer!ion of force as to
dispense him from using toward the rebels
The language Of strong menace. 1t BELTS the
dignity OF great nation and strong gov
ernment to let its deeds prove to the world
the energy of its determination. When we
put in the field an army as large "a that of
France, the most :ailitary nation of Europe,
although France has thirty six millions of
inhabitants and the free state of the Union
only twenty millions. neither our own people
nor foreign nations will need any assistance
in drawing correct differences as to the vigor
with which the government intends to follow
up the rebellion. Presidant Lincoln, to
provethe possibility Of raising and maintair-
ing so large an army as lie asks for, states
that the four hundred thousand men he wan
make only one. .enth of the citizens of the
free states capable of military service, while
the four hund red millions OF dollars are only
cue twenty-third of the estimated value Of
the property of these states. The interests
of freedom, of commerce, and of good govern
ment alike demand that this war shlll be
short and if the Presidents recommendations
are adopted by Congress, the earnest wishes
Of the people II this respect viii be fully
met.
The Message seems to have been written
under q sense that the contrast between the
pacific tone of the Inaugural aud the present
call for an army of overwhelming force re-
quired full argumentatiye justification Of
the warlike attitude of the government. Mr..
Lincoln accordingly gives simple, succinct
and perfectly calm narrative of the facts
connected with the attempt to proyi1i, Fort
Sumter, the mere statement of which is a
sufficient argument in justification of the war;
and then, after conclusive refutation with
out naming him} of Chief Justice Taney's
inculpation of his action in the matter of bis
action in the matter of the habeas corpus, Q
proceeds to make the ost original and con.
elusive demonstration of the absurdiy of
secession that has ever been presented to the
country. He pushes the pretense that
only Congress can suspend the writ OF habeas
corpus in time of rebellion or invasion to a
perfect Teductio nd absurdum, by showing
that, if this position is correct, a rebellion
which should succeed in preventing Cen
gress from ting, as the secession rebels
threa ened to do, would annihiate the gov
ernment by leaving it without any power IF
self-prOtection. The argument against t! e
right of secession, founded on the fact that
most of the members Of the federal Union
were never, historically. Independent states,
nor states at all until their admission into
the Union viii produce great impression
on the public minc, both by its novelty and
its force. How state thatwas elevated to
statehood from condition Of territorial de-
pendeDee. at ths sole discretion of the gov
ernment of the Union, can fall back on its
original independence and Sovereignty, none
of the secession oracles have ever told u.s.
Mr.. Lincoln has in his argument given them
nut to crack that vii De likely to b eak
their jaws.
There is small literary purism, or rather
dhtHdnteism. that may not relish the careless