Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-02-23

ton foreboded its defeat. But where coul
il now find an ally to save 1t from its ow
mistake2 What / have next to say is spok
en- with no emotion but regret. Dur meet
ing to day Ia, as it were, at the grave,
the presence of Eternity, and the truth mus
be uttered in soberness and sincerity. In
great republic, as was observed more tha
two thousand years ago. any attemptto 20 over
turn the state owes it strength to and froT
some branch of the government, The Chic
Justice of the United States, without an
necessity or occasion, volunteered to com
to the rescue of the theory OF slavery An
from his court there lay no appeal but
the bar of humanity and history. Againi
the Constitution, against the memory ,
the nation, against previous decision, ;
gainst series of enactments, he decide
that the slave is property, that slave prol
erty is entitled to no less protection tina
any other property, that the Constitute
upholds it in every territory against any a.
of local Legislature, and even against Coz
gress itself; or as the President tersely pr,
mulgated the saying: Kansas is as much
slave state as South Carolina or Georgil
slavery, by virtue ofthe Constitution, exis
in every territory The municipal chara
ter of slavery being thus taken away, an
slave property decreed to be sacred, Il
authority of the courts was invoked to il
troduee it by the coE4ity of law into stat,
where slavery had been abolished; and
one Of the courts of the United States
Judge pronounced the African slave traC
legitimate, and numerous and powerful a.
yocates demanded its restoration.
s. TANEY AND SLAVE RACES.
Moreover, the Chief Justice, in his elal
crate opinion, announced what had new
been heard from any magistrate of Gree,
or Rome-what was unknown to civil Law
and canon law. and feudal law, and eommc
law, and constitutional law: unknown to ia
to Rutledge, Ellsworth, and Marshall-thi
there are ''slave races" The spirit of e1
is intensely logical Having the authori
of this decision, FIVE states swiftly followe
the earlier example of sixth, and openC
the way for reducing the negro to bondag
the migrating free negro became a slave
he but touched the soil of a seventh; and a
eighth, from its extent and soil and miner
resources, destined to incalculable greatnes
closed its eyes on its coming prosperity, an
enaeted-as by Taney decision it had Il
right to do-that every free black man WI
would live within its limits must accept Il
condition of slavery for himself and his po
posterity,
SECESSION RESOLVED ON,
Only one step more remained to be take
Jefferson and the leading statesmen of h
day held fast tothe idea that the enslav
ment of the African was socially, morally al
fTla saI1rl
founded exactly upon the opposite idea; ar
they resolved first to distract the democrat
party, for which the Supreme Court h;
now furnished the means. and then to esta
lish new government, with negro slave
for its cornerstone, as socially, morally al
politically right. H
THE ELECTION.
As the Presidential election drew on, o.
of the old traditional parties did not NAL
its appearance; the other reeled as It soug
to preserve its old position; and the canC
date who most nearly represented its best
pinion, driven by patriotic zeal, roamed Il
country from end to end to speak for uniC
eager at least to confront its enemies, Y
not having hope that it would find its d
liyerance through him. The storm rose
a whirlwiDd; who should allay Its wrat
The most experienced statesmen of the cou
try had failed; there was no hope from tho
who were great after the flesh; could reli
come from one whose wisdom was like Il
wisdom of little children?
EARLY LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
The choice of America fell on man bo
west of the Alleganies, in the cabin of po
| people of Hardin county, Kentucky-Abr
ham Lincoln.
His mother could read not write his fat
er could do neither; but his parents Sc
him, with an old spelling book, to sehC
and he learned in his childhood to do both
When eight years old he foated down t
| Ohio with his father on a raft which be
the family and all their possessions to t
shore of Indiana; and, child as he was,
gave help as they toilcd through the den
forests to the interior of Spencer count
There in the land of free labor he grew
in log cabin, with the solemn solitude
his teacher In his meditative hours.
Asiatic literature he knew only the Bible;
| Greek, Latin and medieval no more th
the translation of Ksop's Fables; of Engli
John Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress. I
traditions of George Fox and William Pc
passed to him dimly along the lines of t
centuries through his ancestors, who We
Quakers.
HIS EDUCATION.
| Otherwise his education was altogetf
American The Declaration of Indept
denee was his compendium of political W
/ dom; the Life of Washington his consta
study, and something of Jefferson and NJ;
ison reached him through HenryC Clay, wht
| he honored from boyhood. For the re
from day to day, he lived the life of
American people; walked in the light; re
| soned with its reason; thought with its pc
er of thought felt the beatings Of its mi!
ty heart, and so was in every way child
nature-a child of the West-a child
America.
HIS PROGRESS IN LIFE.
| At nineteen, feeling impulses of ambit
i to get on in the world, he engaged hims
to 90 down the Mississippi in a fat-bo
receiving ten dollars month for his wag
and afterwards he made the trip once mo
At twenty-one he drove his father cattle
the family migrated to Illinois, and 81
rails to fence in the new homestead in
wild. At twenty-three he was capt
=. a. plaaly He'll z,,ar