Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-06-23

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ideas can only - dsissasd, IN the eyes Of
. isres part q - psspls hy ePsae,isi.s
fcr his observ.ree of tis ealcial OATH
Want Of spsee psssssss esr giving NJ
article sstirs. Which. = might b ssppas-
ed from the sspsaaiisn q the ssshsr. :
ssreag 10 in rsssssi.g an vithsriag in
its ssreasm. ~ - sassoe sssssar from
giving single extract. Which. We take
il. has ssrsag.i sncsga 10 ssea1 a'sse
anywhere:
o. course. you canaee b - iguos-
ant Of the fundamental lav ~ nos 20 know
that orr exposition Of i vss perfectly
sound and correct You never pTetssded
-ns man viii sense enough 10 knsw his
right habd from his lcft ever will pre-
tend-that The President bad eoastitn-
tional or leeal su'horlty tp make m ag-
gressive vac aGainst the State BY his own
act. nor bad Congress- any such power
But y"u think I eaght not r. have a.
swered the Presidents questions truly,
and that he oeght not 10 have been in
nuenced by constitutional scraples. That
is the rub. There is-ao dispuse-never
was aud never can be-abou. the Law !;
but Mr.. Buchanau's wickedness and trea-
son consist in obeying it when you think
he ought to have broken it. For this
cause you try to excite against his mem
DRY those bad parry passions by which he
was bounded aud persecuted during all
the last years OF his life.
will make no efEsvt to convince ron
tina: Mr.. Buchanan vas right in standing
by the Constitution which ne had sworn
to preserve. protect and defend. That l
know would be sltoge,hsr hopeless The
declared sdmirrr Of John Brown, the Do
lrical ally Of jim Lane. the partisan of
Baker, the advocate Of general kidnap-
ping and special murder By military com
missions. the open supporter of measures
which abolish the right o: trial by jury
aud build up an Asiatic despotism on the
ruins OF free government-such . man
would entirely misunderstood the reason
! (simPle as it isl upon which I put the
justification Of dead President for re-
fasing TO pe,ju-e himself. But, if can
not justify. perhaps can excuse him -
| will offer some apologies which my
possibly disarm your censare. or at least
mitigate the severity Of your righteous in
disnatiou.
=" In the FIRST place, then, Mr.. Buch-
anan was born Of Christian rarcn's, AMI
educated in Christian community. All
his lifetime aud at the moment hi. death
he felt that fear Of God which respec.a-
bic authority has declared TO be not weak
, ness. but the beginning Of wisdom" and
the only source OF true greatness. The
corruptions introduced into the church BY
the Political preachers "f New England
nev.r reached him. Ha was simply q
Christian mat and 6rm believer IN moral
ity taught by the New Testament. Now,
(yeu know. At all events you must have
heard) that persons who adhere 10 that
kind Of religion always contract = habit
Of re- arding the violation Of an oath With
inexpressiblc horror whether it be CON-
mittcd by an officer or witness; wheth-
er the Object OF i, be to destroy the char.
ac,er OF a political opponent, to promot"
the Interests OF party. or TO enslave
State. AL kinds of false swearing are
alike to them. They stubboruly reject
the reasoning which seeks to convince
them that observance Of oaths by magis-
trstes and legislators is q mere question
Of expe'iiency and self-interest. varying
with circumstances. Mr. Buchanan be.
ing . man Of this class. submit the qucs-
ton whether his prcju Ices against per-
jary Unreasonable as you may think
them) are not entitled to some little re-
| spect.
" Apart from The religious obligation
Of his oath. he ioved the c,nstitation Of
his country on his own account, as tue
best government he world ever saw. I
do not expect you to sympathize with thi.
/ feeling; your affections are other wise en-
gagged. But can you no. make some al.
lowance for bis attachment, to that grea.
compact which vas framed by our Fore
fathers to secure union, justice, peace, State
independence, aad individual liberty for
ourselves and our posteri,y?
=" Another thing: All his predecessors
governed their conduct By similar notions
Of fidelity to the constitution. In peace
aud war, in prosperity aud disaster,
through oil changes, in spite Of all threats
and provocaiioos. they had kept their
osshs and assumed no uugranted power.
Il was the most natural ah ng in the world
for Mr. Buchanan to follow the example
Of such men Is Washington, Madis,n and
jackson, rather than the trecepes of those