Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1863-04-29

CeSSlO1. ouI piSsShs >Oii7''' "oS
adopted: which would have secured to
us lasting peace, had Abolitionism not
tampered with its wise limitations. 1t was
the work, not of an Administration. but
of the people, through their respective rep
resentajives. But il is claimed by the
opposition, that Abraham Lincoln is the
government and that he has power to
alter, abolish or annul all. or any part of
the Constitution TO suit the whims of an
imaginary necessity" We emphati-
cally deny that power The people alone
have power TO change or abolish their
forms of government. Let us then, act
after the wisdom of cur State Legislature,
and favor 80 contention or all or three
to,utts Of tie Stairs" Let reason, COM
premise and the ballot-box, take the place
of the sword and the bayonet; let the
military authorities be subordinate to the
civil law; let US hold up the Consultation
to the Southern people-the only bond of
the Union-and say to them that their
rights shall be protected under the provi
Sions of that instrument; and soon the de-
yas.ation and clamor of war, will Weld 70
the influence and we shall again have
peace, without which, we repeat, there
can be no Union.
But IL is urged that the South should
be tie first TO make .overtures of con-
citation To this we answer, that an
offer from n respectable quarter OF the
South, 10 return to the old Union, was
made to the Administration, but was re-
jected III December last If that be true,
(and it has never been officially coptra-
dicted,) and considering also, the bitter
partizan hatred with which this war is
now being waged TO coercc the South into
terms of peace, there is little hope or in
ducemon; for the Southern people TO make
:. overtures of conciliation," knowing full
well that they would be spurned. But,
leaving that aside, would il not be mag
unanimous. in the 80 self-reliant North :"
/ to extend the olive branch, and offer them,
not terms of 4 disgraceful peace, but that
which the Constitution guarantees TO them
their RGIIrs-all their rights, and nothing
more Woald such assurances of friend
ship - 60 fourth among the nations OF the
e-.rth as an open acknowledgment that the
seif-reliant North arc unable to cope with
| eight million Southerners = Proud Eng
/ land Was not ashamed To offer to the
rebels of the early colonies against tine
/ British crown. terms Of reconciliation.
time and again. if they would return TO
their allegiance. The Earl of Carlisle.
with two other commissioners were sent
/ To this country, at an early stage Of the
revolution, wish full powers To negotiate
peace upon any terms-io treat with rebels
in arms, providing they would acknowl-
edge the old government.
Would it then, be humiliaiing TO the
pride of this great naticn, that while w-e
declare that the laws must be enforced.
! we give 10 the . wayward sisters their
constitutional rights, with sull assurance
tilit the same shall be respected and pro-
tec;eC. Not al all. Viii il MT be bet
+ ter. then, 10 do this in time, than be
forced, f;nall.;, to yield to separation,
which must result ia total disintegraticn
of tine tiiirty-four States TO become the
prey of foreign nations
g. We cannot escape history" says Mr..
Lincoln; neither can you wipe out It's traces:
but its teachings come back TO us srepleie with
precedents. proving that coercion, by arbitra-
~ power, will never restore quictu,e to re-
! beliious States-tllat wherever it was at
tempted TO force peace at the point Of
the bayonet, 1t has failed and resulted.
either in suhjugation or final separation,
! and not unfrequently subyersion Of the
parent government. History also teaches
us that n every government having any
SHOW OF liberty ut all, The 1c0ple were
sovereign, and that they who ruled were
the seTctatS, not masters of the peo-
pie That wherever n people were stripped
of their constitutional immunities. il was
through lIeresies. such rs now threaten
the liberties of the American citizen
namely. that an unstable incumbent of n
finite office, as the Government right or
wrong. 1t then behooyes us to be very
y,o,.hf,,I H., Ill