The mountain Democrat., 1863-06-13

| b'S"b HuCSllOu vi IOCal sovereignty anu
national consolidation. Unless some stop
be inteeeosed to the frightful march Of
Federal power-swel.ing and raging al
ready beyond any limits that the most
insane and speculative politician ever
dreamed of-unless the war having in its
train, or for its fierce companion, the hid
eous thing called military necessity" be
soon ended, such must be the contest ;
and have no more doubt Of its issue than
| have Of my existence. / do not believe
Ythe grasp Of power was ever tighter round
our thrOats than it is now, and we must
loosen it or perish. l watch with deep
solicitude every sign or symptom of revi.
val or decay of the local sentiment, which
is all that the processes of this ghastly
strife has left us. We, in Pennsylvania,
have just passed crisis, the gravity OF
which was hardly measured outside our
limits, and perhaps not fully within them.
| refer TO it now with a shudder at the
narrow escape we made. II was the ques-
ton whether Pcrnsy ylvania should honest
ly pay the interest on her public debt, or
pay it in paper, legal tender notes, the
fluent trash which the Federal Govern
ment is furnishing SO profusely.
All around her were those who were
singing the soothing strains Of credit in
its vulgar acceptatiOn-Revenu Commits
sioncrs, advising lower taxation, counsel
ling against local impoSitOnS which hon
csty might render necessary, and tempt
ing her into the paths of diShonor. The
Banks, who had contributed or pretended
Ia ri, fn th,,sr sto1 70 l,o
National loan, were reluctant to aid the
State that created them. But the Dcmoc-
racy Of PENNSYLVANIA did not falter. They
determined, cost what it might, to maiH-
tain the State credit, and they paid this
portion Of their debt like honest men,
Had it not been done, Pennsylvania would
now have been in the trough Of the sea of
reputed bankruptcy, and would have been
only tit to be the appendage Of a central
lied domination. State honor would have
been gone forever, and sovereignty would
not have long survived. State credit now
would suit the Federal fnanciers exactly.
The Democrats mean TO save the power
and the honor o the State.
Let no one imagine, when | speak Of
this local sentiment and Of its efficacy to
save Us, that am talking of disloyalty or
rcyo ution. am bat speaking in behalf
OF the great principle of home govern
mcnt, aud local authority, which We in
hcrt from our anccstors-which carried
u through one Revelation, aud may
save Us in another. Does any man
imagine ;ha; NC should have survived the
" ar Of Independence, or even attempted
II, had there been but one Colonial Ma
tjun on this side the Atlantic? 1t was
not the man, Washington, speaking to
the u.an, Hancock or Adams, that made
the great Revolt. 1t was Nir.iuia speak
ne /, Ma->achu>ctts, and South Carolina
to Prnn> ylvania, which stirred the RevO-
,Iti9u aud ~ Gated the Coner, s., as the
representative ui States. Constellation,
il one form or another, is the great ma
chine # power. 1t has been the engine
dat has hei.t Ireland in suLjcctioa. AZ
ter Canada threatened revolt, her provin-
ces were consolidated, and they have
never murmuret since When the South
is conquered, the lines Of States, here and
there for the purpose Of convenient gov
crumcnt, are to he rubbed out, or made
50 fail! and indiStinct that no one will
care for them, and a vast colonial militia
~ tenure will be created to insure easy
suhgction. 1t is local organization which
now alone protects Us within ourselves
and should this war rifen in worse con-
vuIs!ons--new paroxisms Of agony, hav-
Ing their root and cause in morbid action
Of central authority--Should the load Of
national debt be too heavy burden to be
borne, there will be but one refuge and
one remedy. and that will be in the SOW.
errgnty aud power of the several States.
If have to chose between Union without
States and States without Union, have
no difficulty in saying | cling to my State.
The instincts Of the people know this al
ready.
1t may not be necessary to make this
choice. Eragmentarv and dislocated as |
believe the Federal Union to be--section-
allied as know it has becomc--I az
knowledge, with faith and obedience as
firm as ever, my obligation to obey the
Constitution, so long as any Of it is left,
and its constitutional laws; and the path
which ! desire TO pursue to take me out
Of the miSeries and expressions upon us,
is one which the Constitution preScribeS
"a popular Convention-nation if it
can be, and if not national. State Con-
vention. But | look to a Convention at
an end not as a means-for as a means it
is too slow. We shall bleed to death be-
fore Convention can be initiated. Still
it is good ultimate result. In Pensylva-
MIA, the Democratic House of Represen-
tatives can demand, and in New York,
the Democratic Governor can suggest and
urge it-and should like to see the party
which will dare to reject it and then ven
ture to meet the test Of popular suffrage,
the alternative being the continuance Of
iruitleSS war, with anarchy and revolu
ton following in its hideous train. Such
Conventions, emanating from and directly
representing the people, would have ade
quate power. They would be, as the
Convention was that made the Constitu-
ton. They could change, modify, abro-
gate and if the institutions under which
we live are to be changed or altered, in
Gods name let it be done by voluntary
cOUSent-not by the the bloody processes
Of war made by US or against us-or,
what is still worse, by the subtle inhu-
ence Of Executive or legislative usurpa-
ton.
And why not? ask the question sor-
rowlully, not reproachfully, not de6antly,
for have no room for such emotion in
Saddened heart. Why not? No other
reason can be given than that it implies a
confession of weakness in the face of an
enemy and of the world-an abandon.
ment of strength in strong government.
Fellow citizens, depend upon it, it is this
idea of strong government-thiSf faith in
an idea, which has destroyed US. Had