Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1861-01-16


other metals-One deposit having recently been
developed by analytical research in the labOra-
tory of the State Geologist rich in the valuable
mineral cobalt, extensively used in arts and man
ulactures-besides, further, the examination and
recommendation of many valuable quarries al |
fording materials for building rock and road |
making, with Others affOrding grindst0nes and /
whetstones of excellent quality, and a good arti /
Gle of photographic stone; as well, also, as numer
Gus deposits adapted to the manufacture of fire /
brick, earthenware, etc. Besides all these i'm /
portlnt and practical results, ] would more es
pecially call your attention TO the chem,c Il an
alvses of thirtv-t three soils selected from different
geological formations, designed 20 show the man
ner in which that important work should be rer
formed for every county in Indiana.
To enumerate all the advantages which our I
State would secure, would occupy more space /
than can be appropriately devoted. notwthstand
ing the vital Importance of the subject TO our /
whole community, but it is confidently hoped /
enough has been here said to direct YOUR atsen-
ton to a work alike useful and interesting to the
farmer, the mechanic, the engineer, and many
others, well TO the general lovers Oiscience.
Our lamented man OF science, of world wide |
reputation and ornament to our State, our late
State GeOlogst, Dr. David Dale Owen, is lost to
science and to us by DEATH and it will be indeed
hard to fill the void thus occasionel. As, how
ever, he was occupied previous to tie call made
on him by our State Board, in the surveys OF
Kentucky and Arkansas, he had not personally
taken the field. The work has been hitherto con-
Quoted and reported upon by his brother, DR.. Rich
ard Owen, whose report is herewith submitted to
yOu with the necessary maps, diagrams, tables of
analysis, etc, connected herewith.
1t is seventy-One years since the present
Federal Constitution was adopted, and the United
States formed into nation under its provisions.
In that time under the benign influence of our
Federal Union, our advancement in all the ele-
ments of national greatness and power, has been
unparalleled; and now, in the very zenith OF our
power, in the morning of cur national existence,
with all the elements of our national and individ-
ual wealth in rapid process of development, we
find ourselves on the brink of disuniOn, and from
the high position we have hitherto enjoyed as a
power among the nations of the earth, we seem
about to fall into the fathOmeSS depths OF an
archy and civil war. As one of the members of
this great cOniederacy of States, 1t Is our impeTa
tive duty to carefully and honestly consider the
causes that have so much disturbed Federal
relations, aud If any remedy can be devised to
stay the progress Of dsuniOn, Indiana should be
willing to seize upon it at once, and use that rem
edy to heal the dissentions existing between the
Northern and Southern States The Federal
Government, based as it is upon written consti-
tuition, formed of delegated powers from the sew
eral States and possessing no powers that are not
federal in their character necessarily leaves un-
touched and to be exercised by the several States
alone all local tights of persons or property. Its
mission is to regulate our intercourse with for
eign nations, and to promote and secure domestic
tranquility Its strength rests with the affections
! of the people of the several States. 1t is gov
ernment of affection, and not of force, and the
! dangers that surround Us, arise from the fact
that the iiaternal bonds that have thus far held
us together as q nation, have been growing
weaker and weaker until they are about to break
asunder. The causes that have produced this
- y. Al.
different sections of the Union, in my judgment,
are all traceable to the unwise, and, in many in
stances, ianatical agitation of the question OF do
nestle slavery.
The very form of our Federal Government pre-
supposes difference III the local and domestic in
stitutons of the several States and has wisely
left each State in the undistube1 right to control
(, its domestic policy. At the time the Federal
Constitution was adopted, twelve of the thirteen
| original States recognized slavery But the in
stitution was then in its infancy IN this country,
and had been forced upon the colonies by the
mother country. Most of the leading men, both
! North and South then looked upon its existence
as ephemeral, and contemplated day, at no great
distance, when it would wholly disappear from
our system. Far seeing as the founders of this
Government were, they did not estimate rightly
the future of this institution. Subsequent derel-
| opments have fixed the line of demarkaton be-
tween free and slave institutions. This line has
| been established by self-interest and not by any
! principle of religion philanthropy. The
| Merit ern States relieved themselves from the
| burthen when they disposed of their slave prop
erty to their Southern neighbors and abolished the
institution, and the Southern States found in the
| growing demand for the peculiar productions of
their climate and soil, profitable field for the
employment of this species of labor, and they
have cherished and maintained it, until it has be
come the basis of their social system as well as
the handspring of their wealth, and its produc-
tons now form the staple of the worlds COM
merce.
From the time this line was formed gradual
but perceDtibe change in the tone of sentiment,
both North and South, began to manifest itself
In the beginning of the agitation of the slavery
question in the free States, the advocates of anti
slavery sentiments found but few sympathizers,
and the abolition lecturers met with but an indil-
ferent reception at the hands of the people, The
honest instincts of the masses recoiled from the
danger with which these sentiments preg
nant, and the fear of the popular mind has been
felrfully verified in the events that are now trans
piring around US. In the change Unpopular senti-
ment on this subject, the politician and the dem
agogue have had much to do; but their efforts
would have been powerless but for the aid they
| have received from much more powerful as well
as dangerous class. refer to that class of pOlit
ical teachers who belong to the ministry, and who
claim to speak by authority In all ages of the
world the ministers and priests of the prevailing
religion have exercised a most potent influence
over the minds and conduct of men; and in no
country more than in our own, notwithstanding
our boosted Independence. Their power for good
or evil is greater than any or all others. They
stand as the protested representatives of heaven,
in attempting TO reclaim world from sin.
Clothed with this sacred rOOe, as ambassadors
from that high court they claim to pass the iudg-
ment of Heaven upon the acts and conduct of
their fellow men; and when this high mission !
faithfully and conscientiously performed by one
capable of understanding the true relation be
tween man and his maker, when the Christian re-
gion is applied to the world il is, and not as it
ought to be, no nobler spectacle can be presented
than that feature of our social system that is so
strikingly exemplifei in the church circle of
which its minister and pastor is the center and
class of men are entitled 10 higher regard than
those ministers who faithfully and in a spirit of
charity, discharge the high duties of such a sta
ton. But unfortunately for us as a nation,
too many who have thus armed themselves
with this double power for good or evil,
have turned their attention 10 political re-
forms, aud invoke, in their mglided ZEAL all
the fanatica elements by which they are sur
rounded Profoundly ignorant of the political
bearings Of questions of social and political econ
omy. they claim to judge all such questions from
a moral point of view, and to condemn or approve
according to their standard of moral right, with
out any regard to the effect of such a decision
upon the well-being of society at large, and with
out considering the probable result of their pre-
tended moral reform upon the political condition
of the country, and their labors have thrown every
wave of sectional commotion higher than the last,
until the whole country is convulsed by it. The
slavery agitation in the free States has naturally
produced ultraisr at the South, and, as a conse
quence. the country has become divided into sec
tOnal parties, separated by geographical lines.
Against these ultraisms, North and South, it is
the duty of the conservative element of the whole
country to interpose and this must he done at
once or dsunion is inevitable, lift he not already
accomplished The points OF difference between
the savcholdng and the -siaveholding States
are few and even those are more imaginary than
real. We are as much interested in the develop
ment, growth and prosperity of the southern
States they are themselves, because southern
! productions have become measures Of life. On
9th ha,sI daauf.- inf ofii orr