Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1862-09-26
THE WAR OF SLAVERY UPON THE
CONSTITUTION.
ADDRESS

CHI A RI ES D. DIR A K F.
On The Anniversary OF the Constitution.
Delivered In the City of ST. Loui,
September IL, 1862.
Three-QuarterS of a century ago, that nobl
body of American statesmen and patriots, owe
which the FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY presided
completed the formation of the Constitution
of the United States, and presented it 70
adoption by the American people, as form c
Government and bond of Union which the,
believed would endure through all future time
1t was the first written Constitution eve
adopted by any nation; and it has, in tn
worlds judgment, stood, from that day t
this, as the noblest monument ever reared
by freemen to their own wisdom and patriot
ism. 1t has shed upon our country unnum
bered blessings, and has afforded light t.
other. nations struggling into the exercise o
self-goyernment Under its benign sway ev
cry expectation of it's trainers for the good o
America and of humanity has been fully real
lied; and there is not hope that patrio
could cherish for his country, which would
not be more than fulfilled by its continued
existence.
And vet, while there are those still living
who lived at the day of its formation, the ma
ton for which that Constitution was made is
precipitated into terrible struggle for its
preservation from destruction by its own chill
,dren! And it is while the land trembles be.
meath the tread of armed legions, and the all
is rent with the roar of battle for and against
the Union it was designed to cement and per
petuate, that we meet to observe as patriots
the recurring anniversary of the great step
which our fathers took towards making the
American nation what it was and is yet capa-
bic of being, the glory of freedom and of the
human race.
Under any other circumstances than such
as now fill our beloved land with grief and
dread. it would be work Of love to trace the
history of our Constitution, and endeavor to
set forth the great principles which pervade
its entire frame; but how could this be done,
with the oppressed mind wandering every mo-
ment to the fendish assault upon it now in
progress, and swayed continually by alternate
hopes and fears, as it follows the shifting
scenes and changing tides of the war which is
to end in its complete and final vindication or
its destruction? 1t is impossible. The theme
not the origin and principles of the Constitu-
ton, but the origin and principles of the war
now waged against it, To that let US then d.
rect our attention.
The American people have reached point
where an overpowering necessity Is laid upon
them to remove every film from their eyes,
and look with perfectly clear and steady Wis.
ion at what is around and before them. l
have profound and painful impression, that
notwithstanding all said and written, and seen
and heard during the last twenty months,
there are multitudes everywhere, especially in
the border slave States, who have no correct
;de of what this war really means, or to what
# dire city tends. God help them if this con-
tinues M eh longer.
I;oht-,.' ght upon the motives, aims, and
ends Of the !. 'outh in the beginning and the
nrosecnt;on Of his war, is what the people
want. You NAV uri denouncing generalitiies
at the rebellion forev. Y, and do little good; the
people require tangible PARTICULARS You can
not feed starving man IN the fumes OF a
kitchen: he must have food, or Ole. super
natural eloouence were but as fumes, II the
public mind be not imbued with .Snowieuse g. %
the true character and actual inten. Z" SOUL
ern treason. The popular heart answ. ~ ''u ,.a
with mighty throbs it answers nothing ei'0
so. 1t may hutter - while under ISn-
sient stimulus, but it is the tremor OF weak
ness. Truth alone makes it strong l dare
not approach it with aught but nth; with
that dare seek its innermost recesses. L IN
tend to speak the truth now. will speak 1t
here, in this city, face to face with that pestl-
lent element of treachery and treason, which,
last year, in the first months of the rebellion,
bore so high head, and which, yet unexpelled,
scowls through our streets by day, and, in
nightly conclave of the Knights of the Golden
Circle. schemes to build an EMPIRE OF SLAv-
cry over our country's grave!
Frequently as have spoken of Slavery as
connected with this rebellion, it is of that
shall now speak again. When Cato, ever al
ter his visit to Carthage, ended his every
speech with the we'll known words, "Pf0terea
censeo Carth0ginene esse delendAna,' it was
to impress continually upon Rome that her
only safety was in the destruction OF her great
rival. When, in addressing the people in this
crisis, recur again and again to Slavery, it is
because I believe nothing with more unbld-
den and relentless conviction, than that Sla-
very was the one sole cause, and Is now the
single life principle and the great sustaining
power, of the rebellion; and that the safety OF
the country demands that the people know
and never forget those truths.
So speaking, refer not to Slavery as a
system of domestic labor, nor to any OF Its or
dinarv moral, social, or economical aspects
nor to the wrongs, expressions, SINS, and bar
barisms which have been laid to its charge
am on higher grounds than that. Passing
by every 9th r view of Slavery, deal with !
now only in its relations to the rebellion. l
is of Slavery the peculiar institution. lovet
more than country by the South Slavery
as the foundation and instrument ofaggresslv'
political power-of Slavery as the hot-bed o
a "social aristocracy," alien in spirit to on
fires institutions-of Slavery speaking and &C
ting through its perfdious votaries-ef Sla
very in its faithless abandonment of all honor
duty. and patriotism, for the sake of it's owl
advancement-ofSl Slavery plotting treason to
thirty years-of Slavery false to country, an
therefore false to everything-of Slavery tn
secessionist, the rebel, the traitor, the parr
eide. the 6libuster, the guerrilla, the demo
of destruction, that speak, and, with God
help. will continue to speak; for dare M
smother down the burning convictions force
into NV soul by this hell-born rebellion.
Nv friends, but the other day our COUNT
was TRANQUIL, prosperous, and united; to-day
writhes and ouivers under the deadly blows
slavery, the armed destroyer; blows causeles
and therefore most cruel; blows struck WI
all the power of unprovoked and savage m
dignity blows aimed at the very life OF n n
ton that had nourished slavery as chill
blows which, if successful, will batter dow
into shapeless mass of ruins all that max
our country worthy of our love, or of the r.
pect of mankind 1t is the Samson of Sla
cry heaving at the pillars of the CONSTITUTE
the Luci5er Of Slavery desolatng the real