The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1867-08-15

~ 10 lnnuencc, n not control. every
department of the National Govern.
ment. The slave power became some.
thing more than phrase--it was
definite, established, appalling fact.
The Missouri controversy, South Car
oliua nulli6cation, the Texas coutro
versy, the adoption Of the comprc;niae
measures of 1850, and ths repeaI Of
the Missouri compromise in 1884
were all o".Ssions when the country
as compelled to seek the magnitude
tho energy, the reeklessness, aud
the arrogance of the slave power.
Precisely when tho men who wiold-
ed that power determined TO destroy
the Union. it is not now necessary to
inquire. Threats Of disunior were
made in the frst Congress that as.
sembled under the Constitution Up.
on various preteKts they we're repeat.
ed from time TO time, and no one
doubts that slavery was at the bot
tom of them. In 1888 General Jack.
son wrote to Rev. A. j. Crawford
Take care of your nullifors; you
have them among you; let them meet
with the indignant frown of every
man who loves his country. The ta
riff it is now known was mere pre-
text, aud disun-
lou and southern Confsderacy the
real object. The next protext viii be
the negro or slavery question" Gen.
Jackson was no doubt right as TO the
existence Of settled purpose to
break up tho Union, aud to estah.
lish Southern Confederaoy, as long
ago as 1882. But why was there
such n purposep On what ground
did it stand2
Great political parties, sectional OF
otherwise, do not come by accident,
nor are they the invention of poliii
cal intrigue. A faction born of a
clique may have some strength at one
or two elections, but the wisest poit-
ical wire workers cannot, by merely
taking thought" create strong aud
permanent party. The result Of the
Philadelphia Convention last summer
probably taught this truth to The su.
thors of that movement. Great po.
litical movements always have some
adequate cause.
THE BASIS OF DtsUNIoN IN THE SOUTH
Now, on what did the conspirators
who plotted the destruction of the
Union aud the establishment of q
Southern Confederacy rely2 In the
6rst place, they taught n false con.
struction of the National Constitu.
tion, which was miscalled State
Rights, the essential part of which
was that "any State Of the Union
might secedo from the Union wheuev.
or it liked" This doctrine was the
instrument employed to destroy the
unity Of the nation. The fact which
gave strength and energy to those
who employed this instrument was
that in the Southern half of the Un-
ion, society, business, property, reli-
gion, aud law were all based on the
proposition that over four millions of
our couutrymen, capable of civilian
ton and religion, were, because of
their race and color. $50 far inferior
that they had no rights which the
white man was bound to respect -
The practice. founded upon this do.
NAL Of the Declaration OF Independ.
ence, protected by law aud sanction
ed by usage, was our great national
transgression, and was the cause oil
our great national calamity.
FORMATION OF PARTIES ON THE IssU
Es MADE BY THE SHAREHOLDERS.
In a country were discussion was
free, sooner or later, parties were sure
to be formed on the issues presented
by the Shareholders. The supporters
of the Union aud of human rights
would band together against the sup
porters of disunion and slavery For
many years after the struggle really
began the issues we're not clearly de-
fined, and neither party was able to
occupy its true and final position, or
to rally to its standard all who we're
in fact its friends. Old parties en-
numbered the ground Men were slow
|, to give up old associations, and leave
the discussion of obsolete, immaterial
or ephemeral Issues.
At last the crisis came. In 1860
Mr.. Lincoln, who was unfrieudly to
slavery and faithful to the Union, was
elected President. The party of dis.
union and slavery we're prepared for
this event. Their action was prompt,
decisive and defiant. They proceeded
to organize Southern conventions,aud
formally to withdraw from the I'm
ion, and undertook to establish new
government aud new nation on the
soil of the United States.
Prior to 1860 the party calling L.
self Democratic had gathered under
one name aud one organization almost
the whole Of the secessionists Of the
South, and a large body Of the peo-
pie of the North, many Of whom had
no sympathy either with secession or
slavery. In 1860 the seeessionists
were so arrogant in their demands
that the great body Of the Democrat
ic party ia the north refused to yield
to them, aud supported Mr.. Douglas
in opposition both TO Mr.. Lincoln,
aud to the disunion and slavery can
didate, Mr.. Breckenridge. Bat twas
known that many leading Democrats
who supported Mr. Douglas leaned
strongly toward the Southern Cal
noun Democracy, and that their sym
pathies we're with slaveholding, or al
least with shareholders.
OPINIONS AND ADVICE OF Nh. PEN
DLEToN.
The evidence Of this is abundantly
furnished in their recorded opinions
The most distinguished, and perhaps,
the most influential Democrat now
actively engaged in politics in Ohio,