North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1863-05-20

-iCAt pOiIiSdi SOltCsb III IGnuSyl wanna Will
turn mainly upon the great question of local
sovereignty and national consolidation. Un-
less some stop be interposed to the frightfuI
march of Federal power-sweIling and rag
ng already, beyond any limits that the most
insane and speculative politician ever dream
ed of-unlesS the war having in its train or
for its fierce companion, the hideous thing
called military necessity" be soon ended.
such mnst be the contest and have no
more doubt Of its issue han have of nv ex-
istence. do not believe the grasp of power
was ever tighter round our threats than il is
now, and we must loosen it or peri sh. |
watch with deep soctude every sign or
symptom of decay of the local sentiment
which is all that the processes of this ghast-
ly strife has left us. We, in Pennsy Ivania,
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 shudder at the narrow escape
we made. 1t was the question whether
Pennsylvania should honestly pay the inter
est on her public debt, or pay it in paper,
legal tender notes. the fluent trash which
the Federal Government is furnishing s.
proluseiy. All around her were those who
were singing and soothing strains Of credit
in it's vulgar ceptatiou--Revenue Commis
sloners, advising lower taxation, counselling
against local mpostions which honesty might
render necessary, and tempting her into the
paths of dshomor. The Banks, who had
contributed or pretended to contribute, much
of their capital TO the National loan, We're re-
!uciant to aid the State that created them.
But the Democracy of Pennsylvania did not
faIter. They determined, cost what it might
to maintain the State credit, ana thev 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
repntei BANKRUPTCY, and would have Eecn
only fit to be the appendage Of a centralized
domination. State honor would have been
gone forever, and sovereignty would not have
tong survived. State. credit now would suit
Gratis mean to save the power and the honor
of the State.
Let no one imagine, when speak of this
local sentiment and ofits efficiency to save
US, that | am talking of disloyalty or revolu-
tIou. am but speaking in behalf of the
great principle Of home government, and To-
cal authority, which we inherit from our an
cestors--which carried us through one Revo-
luton, and may save us in another Does
any man imagine that we SHOULD have sur
vjved the War ofTndependence, or even at
tempted it, had there been but one Colonial
Nation on this side the Atlantic? 1t was
not the man, Washington, speaking to the
man, Hancock or Adams, that made the great
Revolt. 1t was Virginia speaking to Massa-
chusetts, and South Carolina to Pcnnsy!van-
ia, wfhch stirred the Revolution and creates
the Congress, as the representative of States.
Consolidation, in one form or another, is the
great machine of power. 1t has been the
engine that has kept Ireland in subjec ton
After Canada threatened revolt, her Provin
ceS were consolidated, and they have never
murmured since. When the South is con-
quered, the lines Of states, here and there,
for the purpose of convenient government,
are to be rubbed out, or made so faint and
indistnct that no one will care for them, and
vast colonial military tenure will be Great
ed to insure easy subjectIon. 1t is local or
ganization which now alone protects us with
in ourselves and should this war ripen in
worse ecOnvulsions--new paroXisms ofagony,
having sheir root and cause in morbid action
of central authority-should the load fna-
tional deot be to heavy burden to be borne,
there will be but one refuge and one remedy,
and that will be in the sovereignty and pow
er of the several States. III have to choose
between Union without States and States
without Union, have no difficulty in saying
cling to my State. The instincts of the
people know this already.
1t may not be necessary to make this
choi ce. Fragmentary and dislocated as
believe the Federal Union to be--sectional
ized as know it has become--I acknowledge
with faith and obedience as firm as ever, my
obligation to obey the Constitution as long
as any of it is left, and its constitutional
laws and the path which desire to pursue
10 take me out of the mi series and oppres
sons upon us, is one which the Constitution
popular onvention--national
if it can be, and If not national, State Con- |
vention. But | look to a convention as an
end not as a means-for as means it is too !
slow. We shall bleed to death before Con- |
vention can be initiated. Still it is good |
ultimate result. In Pennsylvania the Dem
3cratic House of Representatives 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
md then venture to meet the test fpopu- |