Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1863-07-15
EBENSBURG PA. WEDNESDAY, JULY Is, 1868

rent that natural causes would force i
ultimately altogether upon the South
1he love OF liberty was as intense as ever
and as strong at the South as at the
North, and the love of gain was commor
also to both sections. Here were two
master passions to be adjusted under cir.
cumstances of the greatest delicacy. They
were adjusted and the great questions OF
the time were settled, in the only manne,
possible. Concession and compromise-
consideration for each others feelings and
interests, sacrifices of prejuJices, forbear-
| ance and moderation-these were the
means by which the :'more perfect Union
was formed
And what a work it wasl If the
Union bad never brought us q single bless
ING, the Constitution of the United States
would still have been n magnificent monu-
ment TO the unselish patriotism of its
founders Not an alliance merely. but a
close and perfect uaion between people
equally ambitious, equally devoted to
freedom, equally bent on bettering their
condition bat separated by State lines,
and jealous Of State rights-one section
seeking Its prosperity under institutions
which were to make every man a free
man-the other under institutions which
tolerated negro slavery.
Had the Constitution failed to work
out the beniiicent results intended, here
was an instance of human effort TO do
goOd-an effort to restrain and regulate
two natural passions, and to compel them
10, 60
would forever have challenged the admi
ration Of all good and thoughtful men.
But it did not fail, thank God; it has
made us great and prosperous nation
and the admiration of the world, for the
n10taeS of the founders is swallowed in
wonder at the success Of their work
But all this the % irrepressible conflict y
ignores. The passion for liberty, spurn-
ing the restraints imposed, has burned
out all memories Of the compromise and
the compact III those Northern communi-
ties, which, under the false name of Lib
erty Bills, obstruct the execution of the
bargain. What part Of the purposes of
the founders are the underground railroads
intended to promote? Whence come
these excessive sensibilities that cannot
bear Il few slaves III a remote territory
until the white people establish a Consti-
tuition? What does that editor or
preacher know of the Union, and of the
men who made it, who habitually reviles
and misrepresents the Southrcn people,
and eXcites the ignorant and the thought
less in our midst TO hate and persecute
them What has become of our glad
and willing obedience to the Supreme
Court as the final expositor of the COM
pact!
lie not deceived. Let me not prophcsy
smooth things, and cry peace when there
is no peace. Let the truth be spoken, be
heard, be pondered, if we mean to save
the Union. The conflict boasts that it is
irI'cprcssible. 1t allies itself with equal
readiness to religion and iniidelity. 1t
cnlists all our passions, good and bad. 1t
makes common cause with the champions
of freedom the world over, and with the
promoters of iEsurrection, riot and dis
cord at home. With Freedom inscribed
on the banner it bear, it tramples under
foot the guarantees of freedom contained
III the Constitution and laws.
How is 1t 10 be repressed! Govermen-
tai administration cannot subdue IT.
That has been tried for several successive
periods, and the conflict has waxed hot
ter. VIII the, next Administration be
more successful? Hoping for the best If
can do, what right have you or | to an
ticipate that the honest man who has
been elected will prove rccreant to the
maxims that made him President Can
trade and commerce subdue it? Look at
the votes of Boston, Philadelphia, and
Pittsburg. The manufacturers and mer-
chants are the governing classes in these
cities. They are intelligent and quick
to discover their interests. They have
weighed and measured the Southern trade.
and then voted against the Southern peo-
pie But what if they had not-wllat if
like the city of New York, they had
voted against the conflict, only TO be
overruled by the country counties? Com
mercial cities cannot repress the conflict,
If the people of the interior lend it their
sympathies. No, no, there is reason in
the boast that the States shall all become
free There is good ground to apprehend
the extinction of property in slaves. All
new England has dccrced it. The great
States of New York and Ohio have re-
peated, again and again, the decree.
Pennsylvania seems TO have sanctioned it.
The Northwestern States stand for the
present committed to it.
What hope is left for the Union? Is
there a man in this assembly who deems
that this conflict can so on and the