Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-01-09

same evils will prevail in n modified or aggrava-
ted form. Public credit will be myth, and the
payment of public debts a miracle; the industrial
pursuits that now bring contentment and pros
perity to millions of hearth-stOnes, viii be either
destroyed or turnel over to foreigners; our mer
chant ships will rot in their wharves, whilst the
carrying trade of the world is transferred to other
nations; the capitalists and operatives of Europe
Will furnish our manufacturers, whilst the wheels
of American factories and machine shops stand
still, and the children of American artisans learn
10 utter the hopeless Cry for breadl
1t is not unlikely that those who have wage1
this political contest with the hope that il should
end in the bringing financial ruin and the horrors
OF serviie war to the South, may be the first to
find their storehouses empty, and Their fre;ides
desolate. We commend to the lips of our enc
mics the poisoned chalice they had prepared for
US, and when they have tasted its bitterness
may they turn from their course, and learn to
extend justice to those who have done them no
wrong
The very idea of the right of voluntary seces-
sion Is not only absurd in itself, but utterly de
structiye of every principle on which national
faith is founded. With such a doctrine in vogue
the idea of national credit is preposterOus When
Texas came into the Union her large debt was
paid by the national Government. Has she the
right to retire from the compact the moment that
the burden is removed from her shoulders?
large portion of our territory has been purchased
at the cost of hundreds of millions and this money
has been paid by all the States of the Confeie-
racy. Has any State, composed of this purchased
territory, right to retire with a share of the
property for which she has paid next to nothing?
II this doctrine of secession holds good our Gov
eminent is without the first element of stability
and is destitute of every feature of responsibility
No foreign power will cOndescend to made trel
ties with US; no foreign nor even domestic CAPT
taiic l..
dissolving partnership.
If the old COnfederacy, which has enioyed the
confidence of the world for nearly century,
must lose her credit by giving countenance to this
political hereSy, what chance has a new COnfede
racy founded upon the practice of this very doc
trine? In the absence of national credit, which
must follow as a legitimate consequence of this
doctrine of the right to secede at pleasure how is
it possible to prosecute war; build up national de-
lenses, or foster works of domestic enterprise?
1t would be folly to declare war, for any number
of States might withdraw from the compact, and
avoid the expense of carrying it on. They might
withdraw in anticipation of, or in time of war,
and join the enemy with impunity.
1t is idle to think of general secession without
violence and blood. We might as well talk about
amputating a limb without severing nerves and
veins, or dying without pain The different MEM
bers of the Confederacy are bound together by a
mon fortune in the past; united by ties of COM
merce social brotherhood, cOnsanguinity, and
mutual dependence upon each other for the COM
forts of life. We have grown to the strength and
power OF vast empire, and our vital energies
are now in full vigor. If dissolution should
come, the death struggle will be terrible as the
dying energies are great.
Would the y forth west consent to have the Mis-
sssppi blOckaded by either foreign foes or domes-
tic feuds? Mr. Jefferson purchased this whole
region of country from France in order to make
this river "A great highway for the nation. 1t be-
longs to the whole Republic, and the States of the
great Western VALLEY will not consent to have
their commerce cut off from the sea by one or
two States lying near its mouth. This is one of
hundred examples that could be given to show
that peaceable dissolution is a moral impossi-
bility
A strong reason for delay, rehectron and con-
sultation is that the great conservative masses of
the people are not yet walked up to knowledge
of the mighty danger that threatens us. A ma
jOrity of the State Legislatures and of Congress
were elected in the midst of popular Juror, and
their action will not be fair exponent of the So
Der second thought of the people. The poti-
clans now in power are not the men to settle this
question. Let us turn from the selfish and help
less politicians, who are struck dumb at the mag
nitude of the calamity which their own folly has
preciptated and make one last appeal to the great
conservative heart of the people. Give them a
little time to rectify the errors into which they
have been lured by the acts of ambitious and de-
signing men, and all may yet be well.
| Let us hope, then, that Missouri will "possess
her soul in patience" occupying the high vantage
ground which God and nature have bestowed; in
sisting upon all her rights, yet demanding nothing
wrong; melting out condign punishment to the
invaders of her SOIL yet refusing to preciptate the
destruction of our peace and prosperity by hastily
cutting herself adrft from the sheet anchor of
liberties. Whilst would warmly recommend the
adoption of all proper measures and influences to
secure the just acknowledgment and protection OF
rights, and in the final failure of this, resort
to the last painful remedy of separation; yet,
garding as do the American Confederacy the
source of a thousand blessings, pecuniary, social
and moral, and its destruction as fraught with in
calculable loss, suffering and crime, would here
in my last public official act as Governor of Mis-
souri,, record my solemn protest against unwise
and hasty action, and ms unalterable devotion to
the Union, so long as it can be made the protector
of equal rights