Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-07-03
Mr.. HoLrs IErrER.-coxcIus1or

ment does, indeed, rest upon the consent Oh
the governed, but it is upon the consent, "o'
of oil, but of a majority Of the gorerned. Orln-
inals are every day punished and made 10 o,
bey the laws, certainly against their VIII, ana
no man supposes that the principle reIerreo
10 is thereby invaded. A bill passed Dy
Legislature, by the majority Of a single vote
only, though the constituents OF all who voted
against it should be in fact, as they are held
TO be in theory, lopposed to its provisions,
still IL is not the less operative as law, and
no right of self-government is thereby tram
pled upon. The clamor alluded to assumes
that the States are separate and independent
governments, and that laws enacted under the
authority Of all may be resisted and repealed
at the pleasure of each. The people of the
United States, SO far as the powers OF the Gen
eral Government are concerned, are a unit,
and laws passed by majority of all are bind
ing upon all. The laws and Constitution,
however, which the South now resists, have
been adopted by her sanction, and the right
she now claims is that of feeble minority to
repeal what a majority has adopted. Nothing
could be more fallacious.
Civil war, under all circumstances, is ter
rible calamity, and yet, from the selfish amoi-
ton and wickedness of men, the best govern
ments have not been able to escape it. In re-
garding that which has been forced upon the
Government of the United States, Kentucky
should not look so much az the means which
may be necessarily employed in its prosecu-
tion as at the Vaccinations by which this ma
tional tragedy has been brought upon u.s.
When I look upon this bright land, few
months since SO prosperous, so tranquil, ana
30 free, and now behold it desolated by war,
and the fresides of its thirty millions OF peo-
pIe darkened, and their bOsOmS wrung with an
gush, and know, as do, that all this is the
work of a score or two OF men, who, over all
this national ruin and despair, are preparing
to carve with the sword their way to seats Of
permanent power, l cannot but feel that they
are accumulating upon their souls an amount
of guilt hardly equalled in all the atrocities of
treason and homicide that have degraded the
annals of our race from the foundations of the
world. Kentucky may rest we'll assured that
this conflict, which is one of self-defence, will
be pursued on the part Of the Government in
the paternal spirit in which father seeks to
reclaim his erring offspring. No conquest no
effusion of blood is sought. In sorrow, not in
anger, the prayer of all Is that the end may 0e
reached without the loss Of life or waste of
property. Among the most powerful instru-
mentaiities relied on for re-establishing the
authority Of the Government, is that of the
Union sentiment of the South, sustained by a
liberated press. 1t is now trodden to the earth
under q reign Of terrorism, which has no par
allel but in the worst days of the French Rev
olution. The presence of the Government
will eua6le it to rebound, and look its oppres-
sors in the face. At present we are assured
that in the seeded States no man expresses an
opinion opposed to the revolution, but at the
hazard OF his life and property. The only light
which Is admitted into political discussion, i.
that which flashes from the sword, or gleam:
from glistening bayonets. A few days since
one of the United States Senators from Vir
ginia published i manifesto, in which he an
nounces, with oracular solemnity and severity
that all citizens who would not vote for seces
sion, but were in favor of the Union-no
should or ought-but s'must leave the State
These words have in them decidedly the cracl
of the overseer's whip. The Senator evident
ly treats Virginia as great negro quarter, il
which the lash is the appropriate emblem o
authority, and the only argument he will con
descend to use. However the freemen of 9th
CT parts of the State may abase themselve
under the exercise of this insolent and pro
scrptive tyranny, should the Senator, will
this scourge of slaves, endeavor to drive th
people Of Western Virginia from their homes
1 will only say, in the language of the nara
tive of Gilpin's ride:
MAY be there to see."
It would certainly prove deeply interesting
spectacle.
It is true, that before this deliverance o
the popular mind OF the South from the threat
enings and alarms which have subdued it, Cal
be accomplished, the remorseless agitator
who have made this revolution, and now hol
its reins, must be discarded alike from tn
public confidence and public service. TIL
country, in its agony, is feeling their power
ard we we'll understand how difficult will b
the task of overthrowing the ascendency the
have secured. But the Union men of tn
South-believed to be in the majority in ever
seeded State except perhaps, South Carolin
aided by the presence of the government
will be fully equal to the emergency. Ii
these agitators perish, politically, if need be
by scores:
"A breath can unmak &c them, as breath has m ade
but destroy this Republic, and
'Where Is that Promethean heat,
That can its light relume?"
Once entombed, when will the Angel of th
Resurrection decend to the portals of its seI
ulchre There is not voice which come
to us from the cemetry of nations that doe
not answer ssNever, neYeri'' Amid the tol
ments OF our perturbed existence, We ma
have glimpses OF freedom, as the maniac ha
glimpses of reason between the paroxysms
his madness, but We shall attain to neither ns
tional dignity nor national repose. We sha
be mass Of jarring, warning, fragmentar
States, enteebled and demoralized, withor
power at home, or respecta bility abroad, an
like the Republics of Mexico and South A
merica, we will drift away on shoreless an
ensanguined sea of civil commotion, fror
which, II the teachings OF history are to
trusted, we shall be finally rescued by the iro
hand of some military wrecker, who will col
tho shattered elements of our greatness and {
our strength into diadem and throne
Said n. Fould, the great French Statesman
to an American citizen, few weeks sine.
"Your Republic is dead, and it is probabl
the last the world will ever SEQ. You wi
have reign Of terrorism, and after that tw
Of three monarchies." All this may be yer
fed, should this revolution succeed.
Let Us then twIns each thread OF the glor
ous tissue of our country's flag about OF
heart strings, and looking upon our home.
and catching the spirit that hreathes nnon u