Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1863-09-09


PLANK, WHEN NIGHT AND THE
TEMPEST CLOSE AROUND HIM.
DANIEL WEBSTER.
The above extract is replete with patri-
otism, and full of warning. The GREAT
ExroCNDER fully appreciated the impor-
tance Of a Constitutional Union. He
well knew that Union without the Con-
stitution was but a barren fig tree" a
waterv waste, Il fearful delusion, the veri-
est OF despotisms. He tells us TO cling
to the Constitution as our only hope, as
our last hope. He tells us in words not
to be misunderstanding if we once re
lax our grasp we are gone-iorever lost.
1t is g the last plank y and we are ex-
horted to cling to it as the only hope
of safety ''when the tempests close "a
/ round us.
! is not the ''tempest upon us?-has
/ the night not come Is not the Ship of
State fioundering in the angry floods and
amongst the whirlpools of great politi-
| cal tempest ARE we not at this moment
! Just in. the position ot the shipwreckcd
mariner - No sane man will say other
wise Then in the language of DANIEL
WEBSTER, our duty is plain. The issue
involves the life or death of the nation. If
we discard the - plank our doom is
scaled there is, there can be no rcdemp-
ton for us as a nation of free people
| Through the throcs of revolution alone,
usurped powers ever been restored to any
people, Will we stand idly by while
ruthless hands are destroying our birth
right-secretly, but surely undermining
the very foundations of a system of govern
ment formed by the wisest, the purest and
best of men-men who toiled through n
seven years war? Valley Forge, Ger
mantown, Brandywine, Trenton. York
town, and many other tented fields and Ell
sanguned battle grounds attest their fl
; deity to the principles of civil and religi-
Gus liberty. Such were the men who
, framed our Constitution and formed ON
| Government. Their life struggle was ;
deliverance from despotism BY thei
| own strong arms and stout hearts they
cast the manacles from their hands an,
the yoke from off their necks They lcf
to our keeping the ''pearl of great price
q the incstimable boon of political an'
civil liberty. They bequeathed to US
n Government in perfect working condition
n ensuring the ''grcatest good to the creates
e number g more perfect Union," boun
together by the Constitution ALONE Their
is no other bond of union, and upon tha
\ q last plank =" (tle Constitution we mus
Y 's sink or swim, survive or perish" Th
i hope OF all true patriots is centered in tn
Il people, the honest masses, not the cormc
ID rants and fanatics who hang round th
10 despicable and tyranncal, as well as wea
!. a and vascillating administrations, State an
II National.
The balIot-box is the potent instrumcl
te with which to HUEL from power bad mel
" and place in their stead, good and trl
90 men who will !cling TO the Constitution
III as the shipwrecked mariner clings to Il
of last plank, when night and the tempe
close around him" Men who have be,
- warned, and heed not, deserve the fate
Il store for them The issue is upon u
% % we must meet it. Are we TO remain ii'
citizens of Pennsylvania and of the Unit
States of America, or are we to be {
~ slaves of central despotism, as bad,
ne not worse, than France or Russia ?
h Huntingdon Monitor.
ID ---~.-