The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1864-04-28


the present war propose to call the at
tention Of Il .slIouse and the country tc
few extracts which to my mind are wor
thy of consideration at ihis time
IN 1927, during the administration OF
j. z. Adams, when the Legislature ot
Georgia had passed an act setting aside tho
laws Of Congress regulating intercourse
with the Indian tribes within her limits
the messages Of the President on the 9TH
and 9Th of February, 1927, in relation
thereto, were referred to a select commit
tee OF The Senate Of which Col. Benton was
chairman, and of which Martin Van Blu
rem and Gen. Wm. II. Harrison, each af.
terwards President Of the United States
were members. The committee, in theil
report (Senate documents, second session;
Nineteenth Congress Document No. So. j
says:
1T is believed to be among those axioms
which in Il government like ours no man
may be permitted to dispute, that the only
security for the permanent union of those
States, is to be found in the principle OF
common affection, resting on the basis of
common interest. The sanctions of the
Constitution would be impotcnt to retain.
in concerted and harmonious action. TWEEN
ty-four soycroigntics, hostile in their fee
llngs toward each other, and acting under
the impulse Of real or imagined diversity
of interest. The resort to force would be
alike vain and nugatory. Its frequent use
would subject it, with demonstratiye GER
tainty, to ultimate failure, while it's tenn
porary success you'd be valucless for all
purposes OF social happiness In such
contests, however unequal and however
transient, the seeds Of disunion would be
thickly sown, and those who may be des-
tined to witness them will speedily there
after be called to lament the destruction
Of the farest prospect Of civil liberty
which Heaven in its mercy has youchsaf-
ed to man The committee Will not en-
large upon the frightful consequences OF
civil wars. They are known to be calam-
itous 10 single governments, and fatal to
confedcracics.
The prediction Of the committee Of the
destruction of the iairest prospect of civil
liberty which Heaven in its mercy has
youchSafed to man, is already in great dan.
ger of being realized, and every hour the
war is continued only widens Incorporation
and increases the danger. But, sir, | pro-
pose to introduce the opinion of another
departed statesman, of the school of poll
ties to which the gentleman on the oppo-
site size Of the chamber belong. and for
whose political opinions they entertain the
highest regard. That profound statesman.
after Tie experience Of many years in the
most exalted station, and with perfect
knowledge Of the subject upon which he
spoke, said:
Nations acknowledge no Judge between
them upon earth, and their government
from necessity must, in their intercourse
with each other, decide when the failure
OF one party TO contract to perform its
obligations absolyes the other from the re-
ciprocal fulltillment of its own. But this
lat Of earthly powers is not necessary TO
the freedom or independence Of States
connected together BY the immediate ac-
ton OF the people, OF whom they consist.
70 the people alone is reserved, - well
the dissolying as the constituent power,
and that power can he exercised by them
only under the tie of conscience binding
them 70 the retributiye justice Of heaven
With these qualifications we may admit
the same right rs vested in the people ot
every State in thc Union with reference t.
the General Government. which was exer-
cised by the people Of the United Colonies
with reference to the supreme head Of the
British Empire, of which they formed Il
part, and under these limitations have the
people of each State in the Cuion a ii ght
to scced from the Confedcrated Union itself
Thus stands the right. But the insoluhlc
link OF Union between the people of the
several States Of this confederatcd nation
is, after all, not in the right, bnt in the
heart. If the day should ever come (inay
Heaven avert it, when the affections of
the people Of these States shall be aliena-
ted from each other; when the traternal
spirit shall give way TO cold Indifference:
or collisions Of interests shall tester into
hatred. the bands OF political association
viii not longer hole together parties attrac-
ted by the magnetism Of concilliated inter-
t>tS sitN i''.'hiS', az" 'tA pSt'Nt
it Will be for the people of the disunited
States to part in friendship from each 9TH
cr than to be held together by constraint.
Then will be the time for reyerting to the
precedents which occurred at The formation
and adoption of the Constitution, to form
again a more perfect Union, by dissolvin2
that which could to longer bind, and io
leave the separated parts to be reunited ly
the laws Of political Srayitation to the cen
| tre.
Thus, Mr. Chairman, spoke John Quin-
cy Adams. in an address delivered before
the New York Historical Society on tho
30th of April, 1889, in commemoration OF
the fiitieth anniversary OF the Inauguration
| Of George w ashington as President of tho
United States MIR Adams was believer
in the doctrine therein set forth, and tn,
leaders OF the party to which he belonged
shared in that belief, and continued to dc
so until the present unnatural civil war =
| If it was sound doctrine before secession
took place, and the war begun, what is
there in either to change the principle?
Andrew Jack son, in his farewell addres.
to the American people, has solemnly