The Placer herald., 1863-08-01
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA,

office OF the State OF California. At any time
and under all circumstances the people are en-
titled to demand from every candidate for their
suffrages, who aspires to legislative or executive
position candid exposition Of his opinions on
all questions which form the BASES of our politi-
cal organizations, and an explicit statement of
the policy he will adopt in the event of his election
Such course, eminently proper in the existing
situation OF the country, is certainly in accord
ance with my own inclinations. | entertain no
views which would conceal-advocate no policy
which would fear to avow, and would accept no
office obtained by the sacrifice of candor and in
tegrity
lnasmuch as my health at this time prevents
me from making an extended canvass of the
State, and comforting with you personally, |
desire in the present communication to record in
language which no can fail TO understand,
my deliberate opinions of the constitutional
rights and powers Of the Federal and State gov
ernments, and their relative powers 1t is my
design, in this connection, to lay before you the
line Of policy which deem proper and appca-
bic in the management of our State affairs. l
solicit for them your impartial considerations
assuring you that. however imperfectly express
ed. they are the conclusions Of q judgment which
seeks only the truth, and Of heart that DESIRES
above all earthly aspirations the Ueifdre of CAL
00rnia = the perpetuity Of the Federal Union,
and the preservation Of the Constitution Nth
all its guarantees Of liberty. These objects can
be obtained by one course only-a faithful observ-
ance of the spirit and letter of the Constitutions
as understood by the fathers who framed our
institutions, and interpreted by the Supreme
Court of the United States. Even in period of
profound tranquility, deviation by any depart
ment of the Government from the sphere Of
action prescribed for it by the organic law of the
land, is attcnaed with dangerous results. But in
a time of war and extraordinary excitement,
when sectional anmositieS are intensified. when
the passions of the multitude and the zeal of the
dominant party are intolert.nt of any opposition,
the restraints and limitations imposed by law on
the Federal Government should be sacredly
observed 4 persistent disregard to them by our
rulers, if sanctioned by the people, must speedily
lead to revolution and anarchy, terminating in
the overthrow Of constitutional liberty and the
dissolution Of the Union. During the first sixty
years OF our national existence no statesman, nor
prominent leader of any political party dared to
palate, much less to justify, an cncroachment by
the general government on the rights of the
States OF the liberties OF the citizen. Indeed,
such was the jealous solictude of the fathers on
this subject, that at the final session of the first
Congress Of the United Ssates the following
amendment was proposed, and subsequently
adopted by the requisite number of States:
"Ihe p0,cers not delegated to the United
to the States, reserved to the States. respect.
iuely, or to the people," Until the advent into
power OF the Republican party, the foregoing
amendment was held not less obligatory than
the grants OF power TO the EcuerQl Government,
rected in the fundamental law.
No State is more loyal or devoted to the Amer
lean Union than California. She has responded
with alacrty to all demands made on her patriot
ism, has paid with unComplaining cheeriuness
her portion of the oncrous taxes levied by the
Government, and contributed larger amount to
the National Sanitary Fund than any of her
sister States
But while California has furnished the most
gratifying evidence of an ardent and unselfsh
attachment to the Union, yet her citizens must
have witnessed with apprehension and adherence
repeated acts OF tyranny usurpaton and corrup-
tion practiced by the Republican Administration
and Congress at Washington City, and their
officials civil and military, throughout the United
States. We bave seen martial law proclaimed
and the writ of habeas corpus suspended, the
right of trial by jury denied, the sanctity OF the
mails violated, contributions levied on whole
communities by irresponsible military subord-
mates, Imprisonment, Punishment, death nhct-
ed on citizens accused Of no crime and tried
before tribunals unknown to the laws, and sys
TEN Of espionage and secret police established
finds 4 parallel only in the annals of Asiatic
despotism. Newspapers which ventured to COM
plain of these outrages have been torcibly sup
pressed by order of Government, or refused all
mail tucilitas, and meetings OF the people called
to consider and peaceably petition for redress of
grievances have been dispersed at the point of
bayonet Bear in mind that these wrongs have
country where rebellion prevailed, but in loyal
States Of the North not by lawless and irrespons-
ible mobs, but publicly and shamelessly by the
express order, or with the official sancu ton OF the
Administration. Again, The Constitution OF the
United States, Article 4, Section 3, enacts that
New States may be admitted by Congress into
this Union. but no new State shall be formed
or erected within the jurisdiction Of any other
State, or any State be formed by the Junction OF
two or more States, or parts of States, without
the consent Of the Legislatures of the States
concerned, as well as of Congress- In defiance
of this plain prohibition of the organic law, Con-
press at its last session, passed act which the
President approved, diSmembering the State Of
Virginia and forming within her boundaries
| new State, without the consent Of the Legisla-
ture The action of the Government in reference
to Virginia is Of peculiar significance to our
people, as propositions have been advocated by
leading statesmen of the Republican party to
dsmember California by creating two new States
within her limits; measure which would add to
the burthens OF our taX-rldden citizens, without
any corresponding benefits.
Finally, the President of the United States by
his emancipation proclamation, has attempted to
| interfere with an institution exclusively under
the control of the individual States, and has
thus erected an impossible barrier to the recon-
struction Ct the Union. By his plan of ''compen-
sated emancipation" the President and his party
propose to tax the laboring white man in order
to purchase the freedom OF the negro race, ana
place their labor in competition with that OF the
white citizens of the North, thus taxed. We
cannot fatter ourselves that California, if her
people acquiesce in, and by their votes at the
ensuing election approve these outragcs, will
escape from the thraldom which exists in many of
our sister States Of the Atlantic. Our duty as
American citizens, regard for our freedom and
the sacred obligation incumbent on US to be-
queath to our children the free institutions under
which we have so far eminently prospered, ad-
monish us to register at the polls our earnest
protest against these tyrannlcal and unwarrant-
able usurpations Of power.
Within the last two years more than two thou
sand millions Of dollars have been expended, and
upwards OF two hundred thousand of our citizen
soldiers have perished on the battle fields or in
military hospitals. 1t is no extravagant asser-
tion that more than half of this treasure and Of
these invaluable lives have been sacrificed
through the imbecilty and corruption of the ad-