Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1867-06-06
rUr T.fR.uER REPUBLIC.
SPEECH OF
HON. GEORGE H. PENDLET0N

05th OF April last, assemDleu uhuer
the auspices of the Democratic Club
of that place and was listened to with
marked attention, and was rapturous-
IL appla auded. Mr.. Pendleton said;
When received the invitation to
address you this evening, | hesitated
TO accept it, | am profoundly sensi.
Bile that we are in the midst of rev.
olution, attacking the essential spirit
of our system of government, whose
courses and limits no human sagacity
can predict; and ! feel that no one
ought lightly to assume to give coun-
sci to his countrymen in such an
emergency.
Yet, in a Republic, where every
man, by his vote, participates active
ly in the government, the State may
Tightfully command from every citi-
zen the performance Of any duty,
whether of counsel or of arms 50,
also, may his fellow-citizens, who
alone WELD the vital power of the
State, call on every member for his
opinions, and the reasons which sus-
tain them. The demand at once con-
fers an honor and enjoins a duty-it
is none the less imperative because it
is made on the humblest of them ALL
An opinion it is his duty to have
Ii should be formed with whatever
ability God has given him, under the
influence OF pure motives and high
purposes, of a calm and candid and
truthful spirit, Of conscientious effort
to be right, of modest diliidence in
ones self, of due appreciation Of an
other, of perfect liberation for all.
And | confess | have always admired
the patriotism which, invoking these
influences in the formation Of opinion,
gives, with becoming moderation of
expression, a prompt and ready re-
gponse TO the summons to announce
them.
You have here the reason for my
hesitation and of my acceptance OF
your invitation.
intended to have spoken to you of
the measures of the Congress which
has Just adjourned, and OF the various
questions connected with the present
canvass, when a single sentence from
speech delivered years ago chanced
to meet my eye, and changed the cur
rent of my thoughts. The sentiment,
the occasion, and the author, arrested
my attention, and led me from the
consideration of special acts of legis.
lation under the Government, and
appropriate to times of peace, to that
Of the mighty changes in the organic
law of government, whose arbitra-
ment is usually the sword. | shall
consider parties and politics, not in
their ohai acter as the administrators
and subjects of government, but in
the higher character of the founders
and destroyers and restorers of gov
ernment.
In the spring of 1862, almost before
the active operations of the war had
commenced, a gentleman addressing
a New England audience on its causes
purposes and progress, said
81 warn you that none Of you will
ever again see the Farmer Republic
under which you were born"
lie is an accomplished speaker, an
eloquent advocate, learned scholar
the type of class, the pioneer OF
sthool. Wealth and leisure had ena
bled him for many years to consul
his taste in the mode and purposes o
his lie; and, as he himself boasted il
a lecture in the city of Washington
in the presence of Mr.. Lincoln anC
members of his Cabinet, he had devo
ted it for nineteen years to the dis
ruption of the American Union, anC
the overthrow OF the Constitution
which formed it.
81 warn you that none Of you vii
ever again see the Farmer Gepubli'
under which you were born"
Why not? The war then being
waged was avowedly to maintain thi
Farmer Republic. The seeded State
claimed to dismember its territory
but otherwise to leave it untouched
The Administration asserted its pur
pose to maintain territorial limits, ant
declared that its form and spirit wer
in no event endangered The leadin.
member of the Cabinet, speaking L
the world through the ministers, said
"The rights of the States, and th'
condition of every human being II
them, will remain subject to exactl.
the same laws and forms Of admins
tration. whether the revolution shal
succeed or tail. In the one case th
States would be federally connecte'
with the new Coniederacy; in tn
other they would as now, be men
bers of the United States, but thei
constitutions and laws, customs, hal
its and institutions in either case wi
remain the same" And this wa
necessarily the theory of the war o
the part of the Federal Government
Otherwise it would have accepted th
issue of revolution; otherwise it woul
have taken up arms to affect "A chang
in its own form and nature and thus
transcending all its power, would, ]
the forum of conscience and morali
have released its citizens from all th
obligations of allegiance.
While Mr.. Seward thus, on beha
of the Government, portrayed th
issue of the war, this prophet
"Phrophet, said Il, thing Of evil
phrophet still, II bird or devil
proclaimed that the revolution wa
progressing-that its result was Gel
tain-and warned his hearers to b
ready to see that cold things ha
passed away, and all things had b'