Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1864-07-27
AN ADDPESc

W ''y'"cubt.
AN ADDRESS
10 ne people Of the United States, and Darae,
larry 10 tie People Qfhe ,States wAieI adIe,
/ 10 NE feseral Government
AS members of the Thirty. Eiobtb %,
Gress, politically opposed to the Dresen
Federal Administration. and renTolantir -, otG'
the Opposition Union sentiment of tb
country, we address ourselves TO the neo
pie OF the United States: and our obiec
WIZ be TO show las far as NAV be don,
within the limits of an address, that ther,
Is good reason for changing tie Admins
tra''on and Policy of this General Govern
ment through the instrumentality of suff
rage IN the elections of the present wear,
IL Is our settled conviction that mer
now IN public station, who control the
poiIcy OF the Government, cannot or will
no' peiioi IN those duties which are peoes
sary 10 save the country and perpe,uate
,tS ISeI ties. Many of them are enprossed
by political and personal objects which dn
not comport with the public welfare. and
Will not subserve it; others have FaIse -,
perverted views of our system of free gov.
ernment or are inspired by passions which
continually misleud ther AID The onno.
s;tion in Congress are ;owerless TO check
The majority, ard ore unable even 10 60.
cure s@ch Investigation of the Executive
departments and Of the conduct of Gov
ernment officials, as will prevent abuse
and secure honesty. economy, and efIi-
c'ency in the public service.
Froloundly, painfully impressed by
passing events, we turn from the President
OF the United States and from the MAORI
ty in Congress, upon whom all remon-
s'ahce against mlsgovarnmenL would TO
wasted, to address ourselves to our fellow
eountrymen al large; and we appeal 10
them TO interpose in public affairs, and bv
u proper exertion Of their sovereign cleo
torai power, TO decree that these United
States shall be justly governed, reunited,
!fonquilzed, ssYed
BNGRossXENT or POWER.
" hat we propose 10 notice in the first
place. as Introductory 10 our examination
on public atfairs, is, the consolidation of
all power in the Government of the URi-
ted state, in the hands OF a single poIlti-
cal interest. The party of Me Admins
tretion has not been subjected to any
efficient check upon its action from an
opposing interest or party, since its attain
ment OF power in 1861. Carrying all tn Q
Northern, Western, and Pacific States,
with a single exception, at the Prcsden
Iial election in 1860, and being relieved
from all Southern opposition in Congress
by the withdrawal OF the States of that
section, it was able to do its will and plea
;ure without check or hindrance in the
government of the United States. All
public patronage was subsidized 10 its
Uses all Government outlays land they
we're enormous in amount( were disbursed
by its officials; all public power was
welded by its arm and this condition of
lhings has continued 10 the present time.
1t has revelled III power, and of inevitable
necessity, from its very nature and from
the opportunities presented it, it has
lbused its powers; it has forgotten or de-
'pised and trampled underfoot the duties
imposed upon it by the people, and the
objects announced byit in the outset have
been supplanted by others, which now in
spire its action and occupy its hopes.
No truth is more Gel tain, none better
established by history, than this, that
political power Is aggressive; that it will
always seek TO enlarge itself and to in
crease its domination, and that no free
is possible where by the very
Constitution of the Government itsell,
Dower is not made check TO power.
Freedom is secured ty the action and re-
action upon each other of political forces,
10 organized and so limited that no one
,an absolutely dominate over or control
he rest. And hence, the necessity of
Constitutions which shall so divide and
arrange the powers of goverrnent, that
10 single interest, class, or individual, .
hall become supreme and engross the
Whole mass of political power. Now the
aptal mischief Tor rather scarce of mis-
hief and evil in the Government OF the
United States during the past three years,
nd at this moment, is that single pOlit-
cal interest or party, OF evil constitution,
las obtained and exercised the whole
mass of Government powers, free from all
heck or Limitation whatsoever. The
atal results are obvious. 1t has been
,se TO its promises made as the condition
pom which it attained power: it has
roken the Constitution shamefully and
ften it has wasted the public treasure
has suspended the ancient writ of lib
rty, the "habeas corpus" rendering it i'm
'ossible for the citizen to obtain redress
gainst the grossest outrage; it has
hanged the war into q humanitarian cru
ade outsi de Of any constitutional or law
ui object; it has grossly mismaraged the
var IN The conduct of military operations:
has degraded the currency of the coun-
ry by protuse issues of paper money, and
private property by a legal
ender enactment; and, to retain its
'ower, that it may riot in plunder and be
ubjeoted to no check and to no restraint
rom public opinion, it has undertaken
o control state elections by direct military
orce or by fraudulent selections of voters
rom the army. These are some of the
esults already achieved, and "the end is
ot yet" no impartial observer can con-
emplate the future without appreben-
ion of still greater evils, or can doubt
hat some real 1iyision of public power
{ its Judgement in new hands is necessa-
7, not merely to the success but to aie {