East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-06-27


Charleston, last November or December,
that they had been occupied for thirty
years in the work Of severing South Car.
olina from the Union. When General
Jackson crushed notification, no said il
would revive again under the form OF
the slavery agitation, and we have lived to
see his prediction verified. Indeed that
agitation, during the last l5 or 20 years,
has been almost the entire stock in trade
Of Southern politicians. The Southern
people, known TO be as generous in their
impulses as they are chivslric, were not
wrought into frenzy Of passion by the
Incorporate words of few fanaticsl sbo-
litonists for these words, if left to them
solves, would have fallen to the ground ss
pebbles into the sea, and would have
been heard Of no more. But it was the
echo Of those words, repeated with sx'
aggerations for the thousandth time by
Southern politicians, in the halls Of Con-
gress and in the deliberative and popular
assemblies and through the press Of the
South, that produced the evaporation
which has proxed so potent lever in the
hands of the consprators. The cloud wss
fully charged, and the Juggling rsvo!u'
,ionists who held the wires and could 81
will direct its Eghtnings appeared s'
Charleston, broke up tho Democratic
Convention assembled to nominate can
: ddate for the Presidency, and thus Sc
cured the election of Mr.. Lincoln. Have
ing thus rendered this certain, they st
once set to work to bring the popular
mind of the South to the point Of deter
mining in advance that the election Of a
Republican President would be per %
cause for a dissolution of the Union.
They were but too successful, and ia
this result the inaction and indecision OF
the Border States deplorably contributed.
When the election of Mr.. Lincoln was
announced, there was rejoicing in the
streets of Charleston, and doubtless at
other points in the South for it was be-
lieved by the conspirators that this had
brought a tide in the current of their
Vaccinations which would bear them on
to victory. The drama of secession was
now open, and State after State rapidly
rushed ont Of the Union, and their men,
bers Withdrew from Congress. The rev.
olution was pressed on with this hot
haste in order that no time should be al
lowed for reaction in the Northern mind
or for any adjustment of the slavery is
sues by the action of Congress or OF the
State Legislatures. Had the Southern
members continued in their seats, q sat.
isfactory compromise would, no doubt,
have been arranged and passed before the
adjournment of Congress. AS it was,
after their retirement, and after Congress
had become Republican, an amendment
to the Constitution was adopted by q
two thirds vote, declaring that Congress
should never interfere with slavery in the
States, and declaring, further, that this
amendment should DO irrevocable. Thus
was falsifed the clamor so long and so in.
sidiously rung in the ears of the South
ern people, that the abolition Of slavery
in the States was the ultimate aim Of the
Republican party. But even this amend
ment, and all others which may be need
ed to furnish the guarantees demanded,
are now defeated by the secession Of
eleven States, which, claiming to be out
of the Union, will refuse to vote upon,
and in effect will vote against any pro-
posals to modify the Federal Constitu-
tion. There are now thirty-four States
in the confederacy, three-fourths Of which
being twenty six, must concur in the
adoption Of any amendment before IL
can become par: Of the Constitution;
but the secession of eleven States leaves
but twenty three whose vote can possibly
be secured, which is less than the con-
stitutional number.
Thus we have the extraordinary and
discreditable saectacls of . revolution
made by certain States professedly on
the ground that guarantees for the safe
ty Of their institutions are denied them,
aud at the same time, instead of coope-
rating with their sister States in obtain
ing these guarantees, they designedly
assume hostile attitude, and thereby
render it constitutionally impossible to
secure them. This profound dissimula.
ton shows that it was not the safety OF
the South but its severance from the
Confeder racy which was sought from the
beginning. Contemporary with and in
some instances preceding these acts OF
secession, the greatest outrages were
committed upon the Government of the
United States by the States engaged in
them. Its forts, arsenals, arms, bar.
racks, customhouses, postoffices, moneys,
and, indeed, every species Of its property
within the limits Of these States, were
seized and appropriated, down to the
) very hospital stores for the sick soldiers.
More than half million Of dollars was
plundered from the mint at New Orleans
u. S. vessels were received from the dc.
fled hands of their officers in command
and, as if in the hope of consecrstinR
official treachery as one Of the public
virtues Of the age, the surrender Of an
entire military department by the Gen
eral, to the keeping Of whose honor il
had been confided, was deemed worthy
of the commentator and thanks Of the
conventions Of several States. All these
, lawless proceedings were well understood
to have been prompted and directed by
men occupying seats in the Capitol, some
Of whom were frank enough to declare
that they could not and would not,
=. though in minority, live under Gov
I ernment which they could not CONTROL