Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-10-06

miscs OF the Constitution, or th1 safeguards
which il extended 70 the Institutions OF the
South.
For a long time the abolition party was
weak political minority; but it was from the
beginning an energetic and dangerous apostle
of unconstitutional doctrines, and of sectional
jealousies and distrusts.
As long ago as 1887, the warrior statesman
Andrew jackson, in his Farewell Address,
warned Us against IT, He quoted the warn
ings Of Washington, and said:
1.-The lessons contained in this invaluable
legacy of Washington to his countrymen,
should be cherished in the heart of every cit
izen to the latest generation, and perhaps at
no period Of time could they be more usefully
remembered than at the present moment.
For when we look uron the scenes which are
passing around us. and dwell upon the pages
of his parting address, ms paternal counscls
would seem to be not merely the offspring Of
wisdom and foresight, but the voice OF proph-
ecy, forctelling events, and warning US OF the
evil TO come The Federal
Constitution was then regarded by him as an
experiment. The trial has
been made. IL succeeded beyond the proud
est hopes of those who framed it. Every
quarter of this widely extended nation has
felt its blessings, and shared in the general
prosperity produced by its adoption. But
amid this general prosperity and splendid sue
cess, the dangers of which he warned us, are
becoming every day more evident, and the
signs OF evil are sufficiently apparent to AVA
ken the deepest anxiety in the bosom of the
patriot. We now behold systematic efforts
publicly made to sow the seeds of discord be-
tween different parts of the United States,
and to place party divisions directly upon
geographical distinctions; to excite the South
against the North, and the North against the
South, and to force into the controversy the
most delicate and excited topics, upon which
it is impossible that large portion of the
Union can ever speak without strong emo
tons. Appeals, too, are constantly made to
sectional interests. and the
possible dissolution of the Union has at length
become an ordinary and familiar subject OF
discussion.
HAS the warning voice Of Washington
been forgotten, or have designs already been
formed to sever the nation?
Mutual suspicious and reproaches may in time
create mutual hostility; and artful and design
ing men will always be found, who are ready
to foment these fatal divisions, and to infame
the natural jealouses Of different sections OF
the country. Delude not YOUR
selves into the belief that breach once made
may be afterwards repaired. Ii the Union
is once severed, the line of separation will
grow wider and wider, and the controversies
which are now debated and settled in the
halls of legislation, will be tried in the fields
of battle, and determined by the sword. n
The Constitution cannot be main-
tanned, nor the Union preserved, in opposition
to public feeling, by the mere exertion of the
coercive powers confded to the General Gov
eminent The foundations must be laid in
the affections of the people; in the security it
gives to life, liberty. character and property
in every quarter of the country; and in the
fraternal attachment which the citizens of the
several States bear to one another, as men,
bers of one political family mutually contrib
uting to promote the happiness of each other.
Hence the citizens of every State should
studiously avoid everything calculated to
wound the sensibility or offend the just pride
of the people of other States; and they should
frown upon any proceedings within their own
borders likely to disturb the tranquility OF
their political brethren in other portions OF
the Union. Each State has the
unquestionablc right to regulate its own in
ternal concerns, according to its own pleasure
And all efforts on the part OF
the people OF other States to cast odium on
their Institutions, and all measures calculated
to disturb their rights of property, or to put
in jeopardy their peace and internal tranquil
lty, are in direct opposition to the spirit in
which the Union was founded and must en-
danger its safety. Motives of philanthropy
may be assigned for this unwarrantable inter
ference, and weak men may persuade them.
selves for moment that they are laboring in
the cause OF humanity, and asserting the
rights of the human race; but every one, upon
sober reflection, will see that nothing but mis-
chief can come from these improper assaults
upon the feelings and rights of others. Rest
assured, that the men found busy in this work
of discord, are not worthy of your confidence
and deserve your strongest reprobation."
So spoke one of the greatest and wlsesi
patriots of American history. Counsels Sc
sacred and warnings so solemn, were disre-
garded by the Abolitionists; and the Abolition
party continued to teach its reasonable doc
trines, and to preach Its crusade against the
South and its institutions.
The results SO wisely foretold, necessarily
followed. The denunciation of the South al
the North, was met by denunciation OF the
North at the South. Hostility in the North
to the institutions of the South provoked hos
tility in the South to the people of the North
The great mass of the people of the South
were loyal to the Union; but class of pub
lie men in the South had for some time been
tainted with disloyalty, and aimed to separate
all the Southern States from the Union
whenever an opportunity should arise to carry
the people of the South with them. These
men zealously contributed to foment the Alb,
clifton excitement at the North, and exagger.
ated its power and importance at the South
Thus faction begot faction; and the Abolition
party at the North produced the dsunion
party at the South. The spirit of Northern
Abolition and OF Southern disunion insensiby
grew together for years, until the period OF
the last Presidential election, when a bitter
animosity existed between large and power.
full factions in the North and in the South.
In the meantime, in 1876, the Wing
party most unhappily abandoned its organiza.
tons, and the present Republican party wa:
founded on the basis OF the old Abolition
party. The best and most enlightened pa.
triots of the Wigs refused all alliance with
the new sectional party; but the vast body OF
the Wings surrendered their national polite:
to its narrow and sectional bicotry. The
great leaders of the Wing party were gone