The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-01-17

people to the highest Office within their
gift. and for four years from and after
the fourth of March next he will be
the President of the United States,
unless the Almighty in His wisdom;
shall direct otherwise. We have con-
fidence In his integrity and ability. and
believe he will administer the govern
ment with wisdom, firmness and mode.
ration, and in strict accordance with
allthe requirements of the Constitution.
1t is claimed that the platform" upon
which he was elected is sectional in its
character, and in conflict with the Com
promises of the Constitution, and al
war with the rights of the slave-holding
States. l deny the charge. / do not
deem it proper, on this occasion, to ex-
anime in detail the resolutions of the
Republican party. They have been
published throughout the length and
breadth of the Union. Their merits
and demerits have been thoroughly
canyassed by an enlightened people,
and solemn verdict has been rendered
in their favor, and now, after the battle
has been fought and the victory won,
the vanquished and discom6tted oppo-
nents of this great party coolly ask
us-under a threat of tearing and
mutilating the s'last will and testament
of our fathers"-to give up and relin-
quish the principles of our party, and
abandon all the flushed fruits of victory,
even before we have plucked them
from the tree. They go further, and
ask us to cut down and cast into the
fire the very tree which bore these
fruits. We cannot consent. We are
asked to surrender our manhood-to
abandon principles which commend
themselves to our consciences and to
the civilized world-to forget the early
teachings of Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, and of all the patri-
OTIS of the revolution-to neglect our
rivers and harbors-to forego a free
homestead law--to reopen the slave
trade, and to devote all the mighty en-
ergies of this great nation towards the
extension and perpetuation of human
bondage. Again l repeat, we cannot
consent.
The President of the United States,
in his recent message has seen fit to
arraign the twenty-five millions of free
people Of the North, at the bar Of pub
lie opinion, and to hold them up to the
execration and scorn of the civilized
world, as the meters of servile insur-
tion-as the disturbers of the public
peace and constant agitators of the
Slavery question !; and we are told by
him, that "the long continued and in
temperate interference of the Northern
people with the question of slavery in
the Southern States, has at length pro-
duced its natural effects;'' and its
''malign influence on the slaves and in
spired them with vague notions of free
dom," and that "sense of security no
longer exists around the family altar"
Born as l was in the North, and loving
and cherishing her free institutions !;
and called, as have been, to preside
over one of the free States thus direct
ly pointed at by the President, / cam
not pass by with Indifference the libel
thus heaped upon us. My own self re-
spect, and that duty which 1 owe to
the people of my State-their. honor
and good name-will not allow me to
remain silent under this ca.umny, lest
the civilized world should deem that
silence confession of guilt. The
charges thus preferred by the Presi-
dent, are general in their character,
"without time, place or attendant cir
cumstances." / deny that the North
has ever sought to interfere with the
question of slavery in the States. The
right of the slaveholding States, ''to
form and regulate their domestic insti-
tutions in their own way" never has
been questioned by the people of the
North. 1t is true, we have discussed
the question of slavery in all its bear
ings, and particularly with reference to
the introduction of that institution into
the Territories of the West. If this
be crime, then indeed are we guilty.
We have discussed it at our firesides,
in our primary meetings, in our Con-
ventions and in the halls of Legisla-
ton; but always with temperance and
moderation, fully recognizing and re-
specting the rights Of the slaveholding
States. When we cease to discuss
that, or any other subject, at the dicta-
tion of any man or set of men, it win
be when our Constitution no longer
guarantees "freedom of speech or of
the PRESS" when Bunker Hill is no
longer emembered-when our ances-
try and their glorious deeds, are alike
forgotten. The free discussion of this
subject, and Of Republican principles
by Republicans of the North, never
finds its way into the South. 9sia
There is portion of the northern
press which for base, cowardly and sell
fish purposes, has constantly, for the
past six years, instilled into the minds
of our southern brothers the vile libel
that the Republican party is party of
aggression-a systematic organization,
having solely in view the liberation Of
the slaves, and the melting of them to
insurrection-that the Republicans in
the North are ''fanatical abolitionists,"
and ever ready to welcome the slave
with open arms. though he come with
bloody hands from the charred thresh-
hold of his master. This press has al
ways found free circulation in the South.
Coufhorrn noporc hovo copio1 loroxolx,