The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1867-01-22
TERMS $3.50 PER ANNUDT.

mohwealth. Taxation should be applied
where its burdens niaF be least felt, aid
where it is most just that it should be borne:
Every resource should be Careful y husbasd:
ed, and the strcteSt economy practiced, SO
! that the credit Of the State shall be main
tanned on a firm and enduring basis, and the
debt surely and steadily diminished; Until Its
! final eStiugushmeut Unnecessary delay in
this would, in my opinion, be Incompatible
with our true interests.
That these expectations are capable of
speedy and certain consummation has already
been demonstrated. The public improve
ments, the cause of our heavy debt which
seemed to be an incubus upon the prosperity
Of the State, so long as they were managed
! by her agents, have been sold the tax on real
estate has been abolished; and considerable
reductions have already beer made on the
State debt.
This important branch of the administra.
ton shall receive my constant and jealous
attention.
The general and essential principles of law
and liberty, declared in the Constitution of
Pennsylvania, shall be watcbfully guarded:
1t will be my highest ambition to administer
the government in the true spirit of that in.
Strument Care shall be taken THAT the laws
be faithfully executed" and the decisions OF
the courts respected and enforced, if within
their authorized jurisdiction Influenced only
| by consideration for the public welfare, it is
my imperative duty to see that Justice be i'm
partially administered. That merciful pro:
vision, the pardoaiag po1csr, conferred upon
! the Executive doubtlessly for correcting only
the errors Of criminal jurisprudence. ard se-
curing justice, shall not be perverted to Tie
IinGscrminate protection of those who may
| be justly sentenced to bear penalties for m-
! fractions of the laws made for the security
and protection Of society. Those -"cruclyl'
| or Excessively" punished, or enormously
convicted, are alone liable to its bene6cent
protection, and only such should expect rs
exercise in their behalf
! Whenever the people deem it expedient or
necessary, from actual experience. to alter
the laws or to amend the Constitution, il i'd
their undoubted right to do so, according to
! the mode prescribed within itself | nefe to
peat, what have said elsewhere, taat so
long as the people feel thst the power to alter
or change the Character Of the government
abides in them, SO long will they he impressed
with a sense Of rGcdrity and Of dignity met
must ever spring from the consciousness that
! they hold within their own hands IA remedy
| for every political evil corrective for egerE
governmental abuse and usurpatioB"
THE NATIONAL SITUATION
We are confessedly in a transition state
1t is marvellous how prejudice has perish /
il the furnace of war, and how, from tie aFis
ashes of old hatred5 and old paftits. the truth
rises purified and triumphant The cont st
between the Executive and a Congress twice
elected by substantially the same suf'ragos. d
contest SC anomalous IN our experience ( not
to have been anticipated by the trainers of the
n, al y bas pI, l..
velop the remarkable energies of our people:
and 10 strengthen them for future conflicts:
The contest is virtually decided:
The victorious forces, physical and moral,
of the patriotic millions, are simply pausing
before they perfect the work of freConstfuction:
Twenty-sy States have not only been saved
from the con ufagration of war, but have beer
crystaiized in the saving. The hnrestored
ten, still disatfeced and still defiant, seem to
be Providentialy delaying their return To the
| Union, so that when the9 re-enter upon its
obligations and its blessings they will be the
better able to fulfil the one and enjoy the
other. Their condition is fearful Hatning
to men and nations, aud especially to ourselves.
Until slavery fell we did not fully uHGet-
stand the value of Republican institutions.
Accustomed to tolerate and in many cases tc
defend slavery, we did not feel that its close
proximity, so lar from assisting was gradually
destroying our liberties; and it was crly when
rebellion tore away the mask, that we saw the
III Icons fea u e. of the monster that was eat
ing out the vitals of the Republic.
If we are now astonIShed and shocked at
the exhibition of cruelty and iHgratitude
among those who, having inaugurated and
prosecuted eauseIess war against generous
government, and having been permitted to
escape the punishment they deserve, are once
more srrogautly clamoring to assume control
of the dastiuie5 of this great nation, how
much greater cause w0uld we have for sur
prise bad slavery been permitted to increase
and multiply
Boast as VIC may of our material and our
moral victories, yet is it not true that there is
no such thing as a Republican government ih
the ten States that began and carried on .fg
war? There is not, to-day, despotic State
in Europe where the rights of the individual
man are so defantly trampled under foot, as
in the sections which were supposed to have
been brought to fu'l submission to the Gov
eminent of the United States. Be- ti5 dis.
ease has suggested its Provideutfal cure.
heabhorrept doctrine that defeated treason
shall not only be magnaniuious1y pardoned
but introduced to yet stronger privileges, be-
cause of its guilty failure, seems to have heen
iuSlNltu upon, as IL 10 SIFtnglueH Ilc DeLteI
and the contrasting doctrine, that nation
having conquered its freedom, is its best guar
dian, and that those who were defeated in hon:
orable battle should be constrained to submit
to all the terms Of the conqueror.
The Y0ators of the most solemn obligas
tons, the perpetrators of the most atrocious
crimes in the annals of time, the murderers Of
our heroic soldiers on fields of battle, and il
Ioalhsome dungeons and barbarous prisons,
they must not, shall not, re-appear in the
council chambers of the nation, 10 aid in lts
legislation, or control its deSffuics, unless 1T
shall be on conditions which will preserve our
institutions from their baleful purposes ana
influence, and secure republican forms ofgovs
eminent, in their purity and yigor in sEetF
section Of the country.
That they are indisposed to accept 5ucB
conditions, is manifest from their recent and