The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-09-07

7 |
momentarily delay it, but the princi,
IpleS of political liberty for which oul
forefathers successfully contended, and
to secure which they adopted the Con
stitution, are so glaringly inconsistent
with the condition in which the coun-
try has been placed by such misrule
that it will not be permitted a much
longer duration.
We wish, Mr.. President, you could
have personally witnessed the spirit of
concord and brotherly affection that an
imated every member OF the Conven-
ton. Great as your confidence ever
has been in the intelligence and patri-
otism OF yOur fellow citizens, and their
deep devotion to the Union, and in
their present determination to rein
state and maintain it, that confidence
would have become a positive cOnvic-
ton if you could have seen all that was
done and laid upon that occasion. Ev-
cry heart was evidently full of Joy;
every eye beamed with patriotic ami
nation. Dependency gave place to
assurance that our late dreadful civil
strife was ended, the biissfaI reign of
peace, under the protection, not of
arms, but Of the Constitution and laws
would have sway and be in every part
Of oar land cheerfully acknowledged,
and in perfect good faith obeyed. You
would not have doubted that the re-
currence of dangerous domestic insur-
recti0n in the future, is not to be ap-
pretended. If you could have seen,
sir, the men Of Massachusetts and
south Carolina coming into the Con-
vention on the first day Of its meeting,
hand in hand, amidst the rapturous APP
piause of the whole body, awakened
by heartfelt qualification at the event,
filling the eyes of thousands with tears
of joy which they neither could, nor
desired to suppress, you would have
felt Us every person present felt, that
the time had arrived when all section
al, or other perilous dissensions had
ceased, and that nothing would be
heard in the future but the voice of har-
mony, pr0claiming devotion to a com
mon country, 0fpride in being bound
together by common Union, existing
and protected by forms of government,
proved by experience to be eminentIy
fitted for the eXigencies of either war
Or peace.
In the principles announced by the
nn94saElXyeelntiQn. and in the .feelipg~ thEre
that harmony throughout our entire
land will soon prevail. We know that
As in former days, as was eloquently
declared by Webster, the nations most
gifted statesman, Massachusetts and
South Carolina went shoulder to
shoulder through the revolution, and
stood hand in hand 'rOund the admin
of Washington, and felt his
own great arm lean on them for sup
port, =" so will they again with like una
nimity, devotion, and power, stand
round your administration and cause
you to feel that you may also lean on
them for support. In the proceedings,
Mr.. President, which we are to place
in your hands, you will find that the
performed the grateful du-
ty imposed upon them by their knoWl-
edge of your ''devotion to the Consti-
tuition, the laws, and interest Of your
country" as illustrated by your entire
career, in declaring that in
you they recognize Chief Magistrate
worthy Of the nation, and equal to the
great crisis upon which yourlotiscast."
And in this declaration it gives Us I'M
mixed pleasure to add, we are confident
that the Convention have but spoken
the intelligent and patriotic sentiment
of the country. Ever inaccessible to
the low influences which often control
the mere partiZan, governed by an hon
ding iDinion of constitutional obligations
- %I,nrastight, and of the duty of looking
years " TO the true interest, safety and
i n "iy ,FycJr of the nation, such Il class is in
persoqJle of resOrting to any stale bait
f""ppnri,silopularity, "pr at the expense of the
le PHrgic good.
ibe m c Coz the measures which you have a
on hiss ed for therest0ratiOn Of the Union,
rg+ regc+eipJonvention saw only a continu-
; or Sec of the policy which, for the same
entv-tyose, @ was inaugurated by your i'm
on; thsfate predecessor. In his re-elec-
f rcsid by the people after that policy had
t, and fully indicated, and had been
yes sue one Of the issues of the contest,
t, p "heb nee of his political friends who are
t by II assailing you for strictly pursuing
'fS,o ,ittoa re forgetfu or regardless Of the o.
pinions which their support OF his re-
election necessarily involved. Being
upon the same ticket with that much
lamented public servant, whose fou
assassination touched the heart of the
civilized world with grief and horror
YOU would have been false to obviou:
duty if you had not endeavored to car
nv out the same policy. And Judging
now by the opposite one which Con
gress has pursued, its wisdom and pa
triotism are vindicated by the fact tha
that of Congress has bat continued
broken Union by keeping ten of th'