Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1864-10-07
No Excuse for Rebellion.

SpCCCH VI AicAdluCl IL. DlCNtlS, lC'
President of the Confederate States, de
llvcred in the Secession Convention 0
Georgia in January, 1861:
This step, (secession) once taken, car
never be recalled and all the banefu
consequences that must follow will res
on the convention for all coming time
When we and our posterity shall see the
lovely South desolated by the demon o.
war, which this act of yours will ineyta.
bly, invite and call forth ; when oul green
fields Of waving harvests shall be trodden
down by the murderous soldiery and fiery
car of war sweeping over our land, our
temples of justice LAID in ashes, all the
horrors and desolations of war upon us,
who but this convention will be held re-
sponsible for it, and who but he that shall
give his vote .or this unwise and il-tim-
ed measure shall be held to strict account
for this suicidal act by the present genera
ton, and probably cursed and execrated
by posterity in all coming time, for the
wide and desolating ruin that will ineyita-
bly, follow this act you now propose to
perpetuate?
Pause, l entreat you, and consider for
a moment what reasons you can give that
will even satisfy yourselves in calmer
moments, what reasons you can give to
your fellow sufferers in the calamity that
it will bring. What reasons can you
give to the nations of the earth to justify
ii q? They will be calm and deliberate
judges in the case and to what cause,
or one overt act, can you point on which
to rest the plea of justification ? What
right has the North assailed =? What in
terest Of the South has been invaded :?
What justice has been denied, or what
claim, founded in justice and right, has
been withheld ? Can any of you to-day
name one governmental act of wrong de-
liberatcly ard purposely done by the gov
ern.nent at Washington, Of which the
South has a right to complain ? l chal-
lenge the answer.
On the other hand, let me show the
facts of which | wish you to judge; l
will only state facts which are clear and
undeniable, and which now stand as re-
cords authentic in the history of cur
country. When we of the South de-
manded the slave trade. or the inporta-
tion of Africans for the cultivation Of
onr lands, did they not yield the right Of
twenty years? When We asked for a
three.iiths representation in Congress for
our slaves, was it not granted ? When
we demanded the return of our fugitive
from justice, or the recovery Of those
persons owing labor or allegiance, was it
not Incorporated in the Constitution, and
again ratified and strengthened in the
Fugutive Slave law Of 1850 g? When
we asked that more territory should be
added that We might spread the institu-
tiou of slavery, have they not yielded to
our demands in giving Louisiana, Florida
and Texas, out of which four States have
been carved, and ample territory for four
more to be added i'll due time, if you, by
this unwso and impolitic act, do not da-
stroy this hope, and perhaps by it lose
all, and have your last slave wrenched
from you by stern military rule, as South
America and Mexico were. or by the
vindictve decree Of universal emancipa-
tion, which may reasonably be expected
to fellow ?
But what have we to gain by this pro-
posed change of our relation to the sener-
al government We have always had
the control of it, and can yet, if we re-
main in it, and are united as we have
been. We have had majority of the
Presidents chosen from the South, as
we'll as the control and management of
most Of those chosen from the North
We have had sixty years Of Southern
Presidents to their twenty-four, thus con.
trolling the Executive department. So
Of the Judges Of the Supreme Court, we
have had eighteen from the South, and
but eleven from the North. Although
nearly four-ffths of the judicial business
has arisen in the free States, yet a maj
ority of the Court has always been from
the South. This we have required So as
to guard against any Interpretation OF
the Constitution unfavorable TO us. In
like manner We have been equally watch.
full to guard our interests in the legisla.
tive branch of government. In choos-
ing the presiding Presidents (pro. TEN )
of the Senate, we have had twenty-threc
and they twelve. While the majority iot
representatives, from their greater pop
ulation, have always been from the North
yet We have so generally secured th(
Speaker, because he to q great extent
shapes and controls the legislation o
the country.
Nor have We had less control in every
other department of the general govern
ment. Of Attorney Generals We hav,
had fourteen, while the North have hat
but FIVE. Of Foreign Ministers We have
had eighty-six, and they have had bu
filty-four. While tarec-fourths of th'
business which demands diplomatic agent!
abroad is clearly from the free States
from their greater commercial interests
yet we have had the principal cmbass lie,
so as to secure the worlds markets io
our cotton, tobacco and sugar on the bas
possible terms. We have had vast ma
jority of the higher officers Of both army
and navy, while larger proportion o
. the sailors were drawn from the North
Equally so of clerks. auditors and comp
trolers filling the Executive department
the record shows for the last City gear
> that Of the three thousand thus employ
ed, we have had more than two-thirds o
; the same, while we have but one.third o