The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-03-15

witness and share them. Inefe cOuld De no
doubt in the mind of any one that the destruc-
ton of the Union would be deplored by Mr..
Buchanan as profoundly as any living man. His
birth and rearing as a Pennsylvania leave no
other presumption possible.
Mr.. Blaine details the constitution of Mr.,
Buchanan's Cabinet, pointing out the fact that
the Southern element largely predominated, and
continues
1t was under these influences, artfully insinu-
ated and persistently piled, that Mr. Buchanan
was induced to write his mischievous and de-
plorable message of the first Monday of Deem
ber 1860-a message whose evil effect can never
be estimated, and whose evil character can
hardly be exaggerated. The President informed
Congress that 1.-The long continued and lntemper-
ate interference of the Northern people with the
question of slavery in the Southern States has at
last produced its natural effect The
time has arrived so much dreaded by the Father
of his Country, when hostile geographical parues
have been formed" He declared that he had
t'long foreseen and often forewarned his country
men of 1.-THE impending danger" Apparently
arguing the case for the Southern extremists,
the President believed that the danger does not
proceed solely from the attempt to exclude
slavery from the Territories, from the efforts
to defeat the execution of the fugitive-slave law
Any or all of these evils, he said, might have
been endured by the South trusting to time and
reflection for a remedy. THE immediate peril,
Mr.. Buchanan informed the country, 'arises from
ton in the free States has at length
produced it's malign influence on the slaves, and
inspired them with vague notions of freedom;
Hence a sense of security nolonger exists around
the family altar. The feeling of peace at home
has given place to apprehensons of servile insur-
fections, and many a matron throughout the
South retires at night in dread of what may be-
fall herself and her children before morning
The President was fully persuaded that IF this
apprehension of domestic danger should extend
and intensity itself, disunon will become iney1ta-
BILE"
Having thus stated what he believed to be the
grievances of the South. Mr. buchanan pro
ceeded to give certain reasons why the slave
holders should not break up the government
His defensive plea for the North worse if
worse were possible, than his aggressive state
ments on behalf of the South. The election OF
any one of our fellow-citizens to the Office of
President" Mr.. Buchanan complacently as
serted, docs not of itself afford Just cause for
dissovng the Union" And then he adds
traordnary qualification: ''Thisis more especial
true if his election has been effected by mere
plurality and not majority, of the people, and
has resulted from transient and temporary
causes, which may probably never again occur y
Translated into palmer language, this was an
assurance to the Southern disunionists that they
need not break up the government at that time,
because Mr.. Lincoln was a minority President,
and was certain to be beaten at the next cleo
ton. =
The President found that the chief grievance
of the South was in the enactments OF the free
States known personal liberty laws When
the fugitive-slave law subjected the liberty of
citizens to the decision of a single commissioner,
and denied jury trial to a man upon the question
of sending him to lifelong and cruel servitude,
the issue throughout the free States was made
one of self-preservation. Without having the
legal right to obstruct the return of a fugitive
slave to his servitude, they felt not only that
they had the right, but that it was their duty, to
protect free citizens in their freedom. Very
bXra
spirit of liberty, went in many cases too far, and
tended to produce conflicts between national aud
State authority. That was a question to be de
termined finally and exclusively by the federal
judiciary. Unfortunately, Mr. Buchanan carried
his argument beyond that point, coupling it with
a declaration and an admission fatal to the per
petuity of the Union. After reciting the statutes
which he regarded as Objectionable and hostile
to the constitutional rights of the South, and
after urging their unconditional repeal upon the
North, the President said: 'The Southern
States. standing the basis of the
Constitution, have a right to demand
this act of justice from the States of the North
Should it be refused then the Constitution, to
which all the States are parties, will have been
wilfully violated by one portion of them in a
provision essential to the domestic security and
happiness of the remainder In that event, the
injured States. after having used all peaceful
and constitutional means to obtain redress,
would be justified in revolutionary resistance to
the government of the Union" By this declara-
ton the President justified, and in effect ad-
Vsed an appeal from the constitutional tribu-
mails of the country to popular judgment in the
aggrieved States, and recognized the right of
those States, upon such popular Judgment to de
stloy the Constitution of the Union.
Having made his argument in favor of the
right of revolution, Mr.. Buchanan proceeded
to argue ably and earnestly against the assump-
ton by any State of an inherent right to secede
from the government at its own will and pleas
But he utterly destroyed the force of his
reasoning by declaring that after much serious
reflection he had arrived at the conclusion that
no power has been delegated to Congress, or to
any other department of the fed
cIal government, to cOerce State
into submission which is attempting to
withdraw or has actually withdrawn, from the
Union. He emphasized his position by further
declaring that, $50 far from this power having
been delegated to Congress, it was expressly re-
fused by the convention which framed the Con
stitution." Congress possesses many means"
Mr.. Buchanan added "of preserving the Union
by Cancellation; but the sword was not placed in
their hands to preserve it by force"
The fatal admission was thus evolved from the
mind of the President that any State which
thought itself agglieved and could not secure the
concessions demanded might bring the govern
ment down in ruins The power to destroy was
in the State. The power to preserve was not in
the nation. The President apparently failed to
see that if the nation could not be preserved by
force, its legal capacity for existence was de-
pendent upon the concurring and continuing will
Of all the individual States. The original bond
of union was, therefore, for the day only. and
the provisions of the Constitution which gave to
the Supreme Court jurisdiction in controversies
between States was binding no further than the
States chose to accept the decisions of the court
RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CABINET.
Mr.. Blaine discusses at considerable length
the evil influence of Mr.. Buchanan's doctrines,
claiming that their effects were not confined to
4ha clave States hut that +hox- did ;ocolovIobIa
harm in the free States, by fixing in the minds
of many Northern men the idea that the South
was justified in attempting to destroy the gov
eminent if what they termed war on Southern
institutions should be continued. The doctrines
of this message caused great uneasiness in the
North, and the pressure of public opinion soon
made itself felt General Cass, Secretary of
State WAS the first to resign from the Cah1nat