Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-06-09

IN tne city Ol rranKtOrtI desire 10 ad0res5 you
In relation to the present condition Of the coun.
try.
None Of us have ever expected to live to see
the spectacle now exhibited In our distracted
land. The cry to arms resounds throughout our
borders, aud in few short weeks we haye seen
all over the land the marshaling of troops ready
for the conflict. The pursuits Of peace are neg
ected and abandoned, aud the fell spirit of war
has seized almost every heart, until even gentle
and tender woman yields 10 the fierce impulse,
and encourages the strife, and the maternal eye
scarce gathers tear as the son seizes bis arms,
and rushes toward the field of carnage and of
death.
If this warke epirit-ths terrible energy
were displayed in preparing to meetthe legions
of an invading enemy, our hearts would exult
in the exhibition of the martial spirit of our
countrymen; but alas! the combatants are de-
scendants of sires who stood side by eide in the
day of battle, to maintain the Independence of
our country, and in the approaching conflict
brother is to fall by the hand of brother.
Can we hope, in this day of fierce passion,
that our voice, crying for peace. will be heard :
Will any portraiture of the horrors of civil
war, that we can give, have any influence with
those who are rushing msdly on to destroy each
other? We fear not. States which should
have been with us, and whose voice would have
increased the potency Of our demands for peace,
have been seized with the prevailing madness,
and have rushed to arms. Still we feel boupd
to make our voice to be heard, with the hope
that our words will have their influence at some
day, when men shall behold the wasting and
desolation that their madness has produced.
All the slave States except four ore arrayed In
hostility to the General Government, and are
L.. sI,s a. 4 Al
have formed shall be recognized as a separate
sovereign nation. The process by which they
have attempted to form themselves into O dis
tinct nation has been, for each State by itself TO
declare oil connection with the General Gov
ernment terminated, and then unite in forming
confederation among themselves.
Our present purpose does not require us to
discuss the propriety of the acts of these States,
yet it may be proper for Us to say, that they fad
no warrant in any known principle of our gov.
ernment, and no justification in the facts exist.
ing when they seeded,
While these States claim that their eoyereipn.
ty as q nation shall be recognized, and have
collected armies to make good their claim, the
government of the United States insists that the
ordinances of secession are utterly void, and that
the Constitution and laws of the United States
are still in force within the seeded States iust
as they are within any of the other States, and
to maintain this position armies are rapidly gath
ering on the borders of the seeded States.
II there could be any intervention by which
the shedding of blood and the desolaton of civil
war could be avoided, the practical good sense
of the American people might discover some
mode of adjusting the difficulties, which would
be alike honorable and beneficial to both the
contending parties. But while one side demands
the recognition Of its sovereignty and the other
insists that such recognition is constitutional
limpoesibility, 1t is manifest that there can be
no arbiter but the sword, unless the people
themselves, acting upon and through their rep
resentatives, State and national, shall interpose,
arrest the strife, and enforce settlem ent with
out bloodshed. If any terms of adjustment
would be satisfactory to both parties, which
would fail short Of the recognition Of the sover.
eighty of the eeceded States, and still satisfy
them, and short of the obedience of the seeded
States to the Constitution and laws of the Uni
ted States, and still satisfy the people of the
United States 1t is the duty of each party to no
tfy the other Of such terms as would be satis-
factory, 30 that an attempt at adjustment might
be made. .'
But we repeat, II the recognition of the sover.
eighty of the seeded States continue sine qua
non, and II the government continue to disclaim
the constitutional power to make such recogni-
ton, there is no peaceful solution of the difficult
ty possible, other than such as the reoplethem
selves may by their action produce.
It is proper for US to say that in our opinion
the Constitution delegates to no one department
of the Government, nor to all Of them combin-
ed, the power to destroy the Government itselt.
as would be done by the division of the country
into separate confederacies, and that the obli-
CATION exists to maintainYthe Constitution Of
the United States, and to preserve the Union
unimpaired. 9.s. .fia .-.....s
Il has been suggested In quarters entitled to
the highest respect, that the independence Of
the States which h ave seeded might be ac-
knowledged by National Convention, adopt
ing an amendment to the Constitution for
that purpose, as such an amendment would have
the support and acquiescence of the seeded
States. But we leave that for the decision of
the people and their representatives, when they
shall feel the imperative necessity of such q
settlement. l.f8a -- mggf g.s
We now turn to the consideration of what
ought to be done for the purpose Of quieting
apprehension within the few slave States which
still adhere to the Union established by their
fathers. 'r a.l.fs 81 efRaaH.i.
We ask no concession Of new or additional
tlHubs w . w uOt ACoE tuluCulut0 Gu
croachment upon our rights as slave States
The amendment to the Constitution proposed by
the last Congress gives assurance that at pres
ent there is no danger that our rights will be
assailed But we are few In number, and the
preponderance Of the free States is continually
increasing. The security to our rights now af-
forded by the sense of justice in the minds of
the free States may be lost by q change of popu-
lar feeling in the future. One great object in
constitutions Is to protect the rights OF minori,
ties. sag aie'te 54g 34 eas
In the Constitution there are general grants
of power to the Congress Of the United States
which might be perverted to our injury, contrary
to the spirit of the instrument, and still the
letter of the grant claimed to authorize the in
furious legislation. Such are, the power to s'reg
ulate commerce between the States," and the
power of " exclusive legislation over the Dis
trict of Columbia" }" and cover forts, dock yards,
and arsenals In the several States" IL would
not now be claimed by Congress that these
grants authorized an interference In the eale Of
slaves between the people of different States,
nor would Ii be claimed that they authorized the
abolition Of slavery in the District Of Columbia
while Maryland and Virginia remained slave
States, nor the like abolition In forts and other
places within slave States. But what will be
claimed in the future we cannot know. So, also,
in relation to the Territories belonging to the
United States. While we are aware that all
the Territories, then unorganized, were organ
lied BY acts of the last Congress which contain
no prohibition Of slavery, and while we know
thai this was the action Of o Congress- in which
the free States had the control at the time the
acts were passed, still, these are but acts Of Con.
gress subject to repeal or alteration, as public
feeling may change under temporary excite
ment. hsi,rs9, s.,e fa... gee, 20
Il is lust that the rights OF the slave States,
now In a small minority of the whole States,