The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1862-09-25

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The motto of Democracy ever had been,
is, aid ever should be-"The Union, the
constitution, and the enfol cement of the
laws"
These same political opponents charge
that in the 9th of January Convention
made speech denouncing the war as an
"aboli'ion picket shooting DC. war;
This is false in every particular, l made
no speech at all in that Convention, long
or short; l said nothing against the war,
but on the contrary, voted chez, fully for
the Resolutions of that Convention, which
favor vigorous prosecution of the war to
put down the rebellion. These facts can
verify by the affidavit Of some of the best
citizens of Marshall County.
The M. G. Republican. and some of the
abolition Speakers. who are traversing the
country, including my opponent. Mr..
Parks, are quoting garbled. aud falsely
pretended extracts from my Speech on
the State of the Union" delivered before
the Legislature on the LIST Of Feb. 1861
The Brewer Legislature Reports. which
were published some TWO months after the
Legislature adjourned, had already, in Civ
ing synopsis Of my speech, which is all
they claim to do, done me. though uninlen
tionally l presume, great injustice. and in
some places entirely misrepresented my
views. These falsefers instead of quoting
from my speech itself, which was publish
ed at length, and is accessible 10 them.
take advantage Of this imperfect, and in
correct synopsis tomisrepresent my views.
They charge that advocated secession.
This is simply and ridiculously false
Here is what | said on that subject; l
quote from the speech itself. which was
published 10 the Daily State Sentinel at
indianapolis shortly after | delivered it,
mo one take it admits the doctrine that a
State has a constitutional right to secede.
that she can by any legitimate action alb
solve her allegiance to the Union. and set
up an independent Government. This fal-
lacy would be subversive of the very ends
and purposes for which the constitution
was created.
The old articles of Confederacy were,
on trial found too feeble to hold together
the great fabric of a nation like our own,
and hence in the language of the instru-
ment itself, "ln order to form more per-
feet Union" this constitution was adopted
and i. was adopted not by States as States
but by the people of the United States,
and is, hence, ali inviolable compact that
no STATE Sovereignty can iegany disSolve. -
l deny then. Sir. IN toto, the legal right
of State Of this Union to secede, for Sc
cession IS rerolution, and it can never be
iawtaI to break the laws" They charge
that l said. shat the grievances of the
South were as great as the grievances CT
our fathers when they seeded from the
British Government | said the very op
posite: said they "were not" but did
say that "in their opininion, their grev-
ances necessitated a revolution" and this
is evidently true else they never
would have revolutionized. But marx the
language Of the following quotation from
my speech.
"But, Sir l am not here to defend the
course of the South. Her action in my
opinion, has been unwise, hasty, and in
some cases even. criminal. l believe there
is yet patriotism and justice left in the A.
merican people. and had the South appeal
ed with her grievances to the people in a
constitutional mode, and in the spirit of
the Union, she might have had them re-
dressed
AT the time | made the above speech
more than q months before the lombard
ment OF Fit. Sumpter The sole question at
issue was, whether the abolition party in
Congress, and throughout the country.
would agree to. and support. some AMIGA
bic measure Of adjustment Of our national
difficulties, such for instance. as that pro-
posed by Senator Douglas. or The famous
Critenden Compromise measures. and
thereby not only preserve the integrity Of
the Union. but avert the horrors Of civil
war, or whether, rejecting all measures
Of peaceable adjustment. because inconsis
tent with heir Chicago Platform. they
would inaugurate civil war. and use the
strong arm of the government to cosrce ST
ceding States into the Union: advocated
the former position.
In this position was supported by the
bes, authority ia the land, Republican as
we'll as Democratic.
M. A. o. PACKARD.
NorE:-We are unable to publish Mr..