Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-09-08


our influence and having no sympathy or as
sociation whatever with that party IN the
North which plotted against the Union and
pronounced the Constitution "a covenant
with death, and an agreement with he'll.
Second. That if the counsels of the Demo
cratic party had prevailed, the Union would
have been saved in all its integrity and hon
or without the slaughter, debt and disgrace
of a civil war. But when the formation of
sectional parties in the North and in the
South, and the advent of one of these par
ties into the seats of power made war a fact
which we could not counteract, we sustained
the Federal authorities in good faith, asking
nothing at their hands except decent re.
gard for our legal rights and some show OF
common honesty in the management OF our
financial affairs, butin both these particulars
we were disappointed and betrayed.
The linking together of falsehoods inthese
resolutions, is fair exhibition of the skill IN
duplicity of one who occupied place in the
cabinet of Buchanan alongside of Toucey,
Cobb, Thompson and other rebels. If the
people wish to know how the Democratic
party have been faithful to the Union how
tlI5y uppusrd svvDs-iUu, hvw JlIcy Sustained
the Federal authorities and what party in
the North plotted against the Union let
them read the following extracts from the
record of the Democratic party and its lea
ders.
James Buchanan in his message of Dec.
8, 1860 in speaking of the personal iber-
ty" bills of some of the Northern States; in
case they were not repealed, says:
'In that event, the injured States, after
having FIRST used all peaceful and constitu-
tional means to abtain redress, so0utd be Jus
tined in revolutionary resistance to the Gov
ernment of the Union. y
sThe question fairly stated is Has the
Constitution delegated to Congress the right
to eoerce State into submission which is
attempting to withdraw, or has actually
withdrawn from the Cohfederacy? If ans
wered in the affirmative, it must be upon the
principle that power has been conferred up
on Congress to declare or to make war upon
a State After much serious reflection, |
have arrived at the conclusion that no such
power has been delegated to Congress or to
any other department of the Federal Gov
ernment .................. Without descending
to particulars it may safely be asserted that
the power to make war against State is at
variance with the whole spirit of the Con-
stitution. .................. Congress possesses
many means of preserving it tthe Union) by
Cancellation, but the sword was not placed
in their hands to preserve it by force. -
There is the record of a Democratic Pres
ident, how does it accord with the resolu-
tions? Next hear Democratic Ex-Presi-
dent, Franklin Pierce, in letter to JEFF.
Davis, dated Jan. 6, 1860, hethus promises
aid and comfort to secession
Without discussing the question of right
of abstract power to secede-I have never
believed that actual disruption of the Union
can occur without blood and if through the
madness of Northern Abolitionists, that dire
calamity must come, the fighting will not be
along Mason and Dixon's line merely 1t
will be within our own borders, in our own
streets, between the two classes of citizens to
wnOm ndNC rUfCHH OvA EEalsvr~1 -r1Ho.1 .1Oey lew
and scout constitutional obligations will, if
ever we reach the arbitrament of arms, find
occupation enough at home.
This idea of counter revolution in the
North in aid of the rebellion was entertained
until after the last Presidential election.
The following extract from the Mentor and
published in the Gozette as late as July /,
1864, shows that even in our own communi-
ty the horrible idea was entertained, and a
party hostile to the Union were indirectly
exhorted to be prepared to murder their
neighbors in our own streets, read it and
ponder:
s'Let tyrants beware, should be the watch
word from Maine to California in the Dem
| ocratic camps But it should not rest in
mere declaration. Actual preparation foI
active resistance should be promptly and
! thoroughly made Resolutions will not do
newspaper fulminations will not do : but
complete organization, embracing every
| State and ramifying every township will be
| effective. This organization should be po-
litical, not military, but so organized that a
military form could be speedily be evoked il
need should require.
And in the same spirit the following ap.
pears in the call for Democratic mass meet
ing for August 29th and published August
10Th 1864, signed o. E. Shannon
1t is important to open the campaign in
the right spirit, to not only assert the rights
that God and the Constitution have given
us, but determine to maintain them and in
this connection let the pimps of the present
administration in this community and else
where know that their acts of outrage on
law and order, in illegal arrests, unlawful
seizure of property, intimidating threats,
dc, shall not be done a0ith safety to them
selres nor their property.
Judge Woodward, the Democratic candi-
date for Governor in 1868, in speech in In
dependence square, Dec. Is, 1860, said
1--WE must arouse ourselves and re-assert-
the rights of the STAKEHOLDER and add such
guarantees to our constitution as will protect
his property from the spoliationof religious
blgotry and persecution or else we must give
up our Constitution and Union. ..................
We hear it said, Let South Carolina go out
of the Union peacebly. say, let her go
peaceably if she 60 at all, but why should
South Carolina be driven out of the Union
by an irrepressible conflict about slavery ?''
ClementL. Vallandigham, of whom Dem
ocrats were wont to sing so Justify, introdu-
ced into Congress and proposed constitu-
tional amendment to legalize secession, as
follows:
Article XIII, Section /. The United
lows
The States of Maine, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
connecticut, New York, New Jersey and
pennsylvania, shall constitute one
section to be known as the North.
The States of Ohio, Indiana. Illinois
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota. Iowa and
Kansas shal1 constitute ,,,~A1~ - ~N