The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-08-21

ByMr. Lincons election in November, 1860,
the power to save or destroy the Union was in
the hands of his party; and no adjustment wa;
possible with men who rejected the judgment Of
the Supreme Court, who scorned Cancellation
and compromise, and who looked to "a ''little
bloodlettine" to cement the American Union.
Till this time the Union men of the South had
controlled, with little difficulty the small, but
restless class among them who desired sepa-
rate nationality. The substantial interests of
the South, especially the slaveholding interests,
were drawn reluctantly into secession. General
f. p Blair, of Missouri, an eminent Republi-
can, said very truly in the last Congress: every
man acquainted with the facts knows that it is
faacious to call this q Shareholders rebellion
# A Closer scrutiny demonstrates
the contrary to be true; such ascrutlny demon
strates that the rebellion originated chiefly with
the Observation-Disclosures resident in the strongholds
of the institution, not springing however. from
any love of slavery, but from an antagonism o!
race and hostility to the idea Of equality with the
blacks involved in simple emancipation"
1t was the triumph of the Aboltlonists over
the Democrats and Conservatives of the North
that secured a ike triumph to the Secessionists
over the Union men of the South The John
Brown raid was taken as practical exposition
of the doctrine of ''irrepressibe conflict" The
exultation over its momentary success, the
lament alton over its failure had been sweled
by the Abolitionits so as to seem general ex-
preston of Northern feeling. Riots and rescues
had nullihed the constitutional provision for
the return Of fugitves. The false pretence that
slavery would monopolze the territories, when
we had no territories in which it could exist,
had been used as a means OF constant agitation
against slavery in the Southern States. A
plan of attack upon it had been published in
s'Helper's Book" formally endorsed and recon-
mended by the leaders of the party that was a
bout TO assume the administration of the Fed
eral Government Leaders who openly inculca-
ted contempt for the Constitution contempt for
the Supreme Court, and professed to follow a
''higher law Thus the flame of Revolution
at the South was kindled and fed with fuel
furnished by the Abolitionists. 1t might seem
superhuous to advert now to what is past and
irrevocable, were it not that it is against the
same men and the same influences, still domi-
nant in the, councils of the Administration,
that an appeal is now to be made to the intel.
ligence of the people.
The Aboliiionists deprecate these illusions t.
the past. To cover up their own tracks, they
invite us to spend all our indignation upon
"Southers raitors;' but truth compels us to
add that in the race of treason, the Northern
traitors to the Constitution had the start. They
tell us that slavery was the cause Of the war
ing war upon slavery. This is not true; OF
only true in the sense that any institution, civil
or religious, may be a cause of war, if war is
made upon it. Nor is il just conclusion that
if you take from your neighbor ''his man-ser-
yant, or his maid, or anything that is his" you
will thus establish harmony between you. No
danger to the Union arose from slavery, whilst
the people of each State dealt calmly and intel
ligently with the question within their own
State limits Where little Importance attached
to it, it soon yielded to moral and economical
considerations, leaving the negro in position
of social and political subordination nowhere
more clearly marked than in the Constitution
and Laws of Pennsyl vania. The strife began
when people in States where it was an inmate.
rial question, undertook to prescribe the course
of duty upon it to States in which it was ques-
ton of great Importance and difficulty. Tlis
interference became more dangerous when at
tempts were made to Use the power of the Gen
eral Government, instituted for the benefit of
all the States, to the injury and prescription of
the interests of some OF the States. 1t was not
merely danger to tue institution of slavery,
but to our whole political system, in which sep
arate and distinct colonies became, by the Dec
laration Of Independence, ''lrec and independ-
ent States" and afterwards established a Fed
eral Union under the Constitution of the Uni
ted States. That instrument, with scrupulous
care, discriminates the powers delegated to the
General Government from those reserved ''to
the States respectively or to the people" And
let it be noted, that in speaking of the powers
SO delegated and reserved, we refer to no vague
doctrines or pretensions in respect to them, but
to the clear provisions of the written instru-
ment which it is the duty Of every citizen, and
especially of every public functonary, to re-
spect and maintain. The protection of Ameri-
can liberty, against the encroachments of cen
tralization, was left to the States by the trainers
of the Constitution. Hamilton, the most in
dulgent of them to Federal power, says: ait
may be safely received as an axiom in our po-
litical system, that the State Governments will,
in all possible contingencies, afford complete Sc
curity against invasions of public liberty by the
national authority" Who can be blind to tile
consequences that have followed the departure
from the true principles of our government?
''Aboltion' vies with Secession in sappng
the very foundations of the structure reared by
our forefathers In Pennsylvania, the party on
whose acts you will pass at the ballot-box has
trampled upon the great rights of personal lib
erty and the freedom of the press, which every
man who can read may find asserted in the Con-
stitution of the State and the Constitution of
the United States. The dignity of our Com
monwealth has been insulted in the outrages
perpetrated upon her citizens. At Philadelphia
and at Harrisburg, proprietors of newspapers
have been seized at midnight, and hurried off to
military prisons beyond the limits of the State.
Against acts like these perpetrated before the