BEDFORD INQUIRER^ BEDFORD, Pa. Friday Morning. Fell. 1. IS6I. "FEARLESS AND FREE." It. OVER—Editor and Proprietor. Bedford Classical Institute. KEV. JOHN LYON, PaisoirAt. THE second session of the second school year of this institution, will open Monday February 4th 1861. No pupil received for less than 2 quarters or one session , Jan. 18,1861. ATTEHTIOV! We have been sending out for several weeks, accounts to our delinquent subscribers. We most earnestly request them to pay up. Others that wc may have overlooked, will please do the same thing. Court Week will be a favor able opportunity for them to pay. Our circum stances are suob that we must have money, as we have about §9OO, to pay on first of April. Drops have been good, aod persons have no excuse for not paying us. If they have not sold their grain, let them bring the auiouut of tbeir indebtedness to us in that kind of stuff, and we will make the money oat of it. We hopo every one owing us will pay attention to ibis uotiee. Town subscribers, please pay at tention. "The Union must and shall be Pre served."—JACKSON. MISS MEETING OF THE PEOPLE. A mass meeting of the Republican party of Bodford County, will be held at the Court Mouse, in Bedford, on the evening of Tuesday, ihe 12ib day of February, inst., being the Tuesday evening of Court Week. The members of the party, and all others who are opposed to secession and disunion, now at tempted to be carried out by the Democratic leaders of the South, all opposed to treason, and to breaking up the Government, and who are in favor of the Constitution, the Union, and the Laws, are invited to be present. By order of the County Committee. S. 1.. RUSSELL, Feb. 1, 1861 Chairman. "WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE?" Under this caption, the Gzet e of last week hue an article, in which it attempts to place the blame of tbe present difficulties be tween the North snd the South, upou the Re publican party. We ran clearly prove by the Southern traitors themselves, that it has long been ihcir titled purpose to secede from this glorious confederacy, and sat up a great cot too government, with the avowed purpose of Free Trade, and the reopening of the hellish African Slave Trade. These plaus were form ed and matured long before Hie rise of the Republican patty. What arc the facts? When, in the year 1850, it was proposed to convene a "Southern Congress" for the initia tion of measures looking to the defence of the South, a debate was had od the topic in ihe Legislature of South Carolina, from which wc lake a few excerpts, sufficient to show the spirit which then prevailed in that nodv. We quote from the Charleston Couiier'e repoit of the debate at that tiuis : "Mr. W. S. lay les said ha would not leoa pilolatc the series of wrongs inflicted upon us, end the oely quest on which ho would consid er was the remedy. The remedy is the uoioD of the South and the Jormufion of a Southern Confederacy. The friends of the Southern movement m the otbor States look to the action of South Carolina; and he would make the issue iu a reasonable time, and the only way to do so is by secession. There wouid be no concert among the Southern States until a blow is struck. "Mr. Sullivan proceeded to discuss the sov ereignty of the States and ihe right of seces sion, and denied the right or the power of the Gentr d Government to coerce the State in case of secession. Me thought there uover would he a union of the South until this State strikes the. blow, and nukes the issue. "Mr. F. D. Richardson would not rtcapitu latj Iho evils which hud been perpetrated upon the South. Great as they have been, they are comparatively unimportant when compared - w;tk the evi's to which they weald inevitably lead. V. e must not consider what we have borne, but what we must bear hereafter. — There is no remedy for these evils in the Gov ernment: we have no alternative left us, then, hut to come out of the Government. "Mr. Preston said he was opposed to calling a Convention, because be thought it would im pede the action of this State on the questions oow before the country He thought it would impede our progress towards disunion. All bis objections tj a Convention of the people tppii Mi only to the proposition to cull it now lie tjougl.t Conventions dangerous things, except v n the n • .cssui e have by this time ar rived at a decision upon the subject. "Mr. Kcitt. Sir, we are perforuiiug a great aot, which involves r.ot only the stirring pres ent, hut embraces the whole great future of ages to oowe. I have been engaged in this movement ever since 1 entered political life. — 1 am content with what has been dune to-day, and content with what will take place to-mor row. We luve carried the body of this Union to ire last resting place, and now we will drop the flag over its grave. After that is done, 1 am ready to adjourn and leave the remaining ceremonies for to-morrow. "Mr Rhett. The secession of South Caro lina is not the event of a day. It is not any thing produced by Air. Lincoln's election, or by the non-execution of the fugitive shine taw. It has been a matter which has be-n gathering head Joi thirty years. Now, in regutd to the fugitive slave taw, I myself doubt its consti tutionality, and 1 doubted it on the flour of the Senate, when I was a member of that body." We think ibesa extracts prove clearly the settled purpose of these tiaitors for many yeara past to break up this government. Geo. Jack son, in a letter dated Washington, May 1, 1833, to Rev. Andrew J. Crawford, after he had put down nullification, says: The tariff, it is now kDowu, was a mere pre text. * • • • Therefore, the tariff was only the pretext, and disuniou and a Southern Confederacy the real object. The next pretext will be the J\egro or Slavery question. * * Who will say that Gen. Jackson did not un derstand these men? His prophecy has been verified to the letter. One of the pretexts of these traitors is that they cannoi have their rights in the Territor ies. In ether word.-, that they cannot carry their local 6lave institutions there. This is ali prcteusc. It is a new doctrine started at this Lie day as a pretext for their treason. The fathers of the Republic never advocated such absurd doctrine. Indeed we can prove from leadiug Southern disuoionists, that s> late as 1848, they held no such vi ws. Tho first extract we shall give is from that arch traitor, Robert Toombs, in the House of Representa tives in 1848, a the same time that Abraham Lincoln was a member. Mere it is: "To lull the popular apprehen ion at tho South, some gentlemen on this fl >or have spoken of it as u judicial question. The Supreme Court has ever been an unsafe reliance upon political questions, lis duty is to decide what liw is—and that duty it performs well—and not whit it ought to be. Their former adjudication settles these principles : thai if, under our system the Constitution of the United States does extend over our conquest* without further action of this Government, it does not otherwise j affect the question of Slavery there, except to au. tliorize the owners of fugitive slaves, who should escape to these Territories, to recover them under its provisions; that the Constitution, though it recognizes and protects Slavery both lu the States and in the Territories of the Union, when and where it lawfully exists, establishes it nowhere. Ani, as the necessary result from these adjudications. Slavery being abolished in New Mexico and Cali fornia, tlie Southern slaveholdtr who emigrates to these Territories with his slaves has no legal guar anties for the protection of this property. Let us not deceive ourselves j tli ;se questions hive al ready been settled by our courts, ait 1 if we are wise we will act iu reference to them.'' The following paragraphs from the speeches of two other distinguished Southern autism -n g to show that tiie buoys have been shifted a good deal since they navigated the Slavery waters of the Constitution in 1848. Mr. Alexander H Stephens of Georgia, in a speech in the House of Representatives, August 7, 1848, said : "The Constitution secures to all the citizens of I all the States and Territories of this Union the j rights to which they are entitled by tae laws of the place. If Virginia or Georgia should abolish Slave- I ry, the Constitution no more reestablishes it there ' than it lias reestablished it in Pennsylvania, New ! York, and other States where it his been abolished, j The Constitution no more carries the local law of I Slavery of any State into a State or Territory 1 where, by law it is prohibited, than it carries any other local law—no more thin it cirries the law of interest upon money, the statute of limitations, the laws of distribution, or the penal laws of a State. "Slavery is an institution which depends solely upon the municipal laws of the place where it ex ists." There is nothing in the speeches of these two distinguished Southern gentlemen, in 1848, claim ing that slaves are property under the Constitution, as horses and cattle are property, and that the slaveowner can anywhere hold his si ire prop erty, by virtue of the Constitution only. As to slaves being property under the Constitu tion, Mr. George E. Bidger of North Carolina, one of the ablest lawyers in this country, in a speech in the Senate of the United Spates, July 26, 1848, said : "Slavery, as it exists uuder the Constitution of the United States, is a State institution. • • • •It does not exist as an institution of the Uni ted States. • • • • Nor is it recognized as an institution of the United States, otherwise than as a State institution. "Gentlemen say that every American citizen has a right to go into the new'y-acquired territory. It is needless to examine that, for no one proposes to exclude tnem. But it is another and a different question whether he has a right to cany a slave there; and, because the slave was recognized as p;nje: ty iu the State from which he came, to insist that, therefore, such slave shall bo recognized as property to the Territory to which he goes. The j affirmative of this question cannot, in my opinion, i be maintained." There is the Republican doctrine for you, 1 announced by Southern members and Senators thirteen years ago, and long before the Ilepub iioan party bad an existence. Is it treason for I Republicans to hold to those principles now— \ rather is it not patriotism? The venerable and gallant John E. Wool, j the Commander of the Northern Division of the U. 8. Atiny, himsoir a Democrat, sud frequent ly mentioned in connection with the Presidenoy by that party, in a letter to a member of Con gress, dated Troy, N. Y. Dec. 10, 1860, eajs: "It is suggested that jbe Constitution ought BEDFORD IMOUIREIt ' I to be so amended as to conform to tbe views and | wishes of the South. The Constitution needs iuo amendment. All that the Sooth requires I ore be accomplished through Congress and the Supreme Court. It appears from the Press that j Sorters Davis and Iverson ridiculed the idea ! that the non execution of the Fugitive Slave j law, or the Liberty bills of certain States, bad ! anything to do with the secessiou movement. — They both, no doubt, uttered the truth. The . movement is not influenced by the one or the i other, that is, so far as South Carolina is con* ! cerned. Her object, at least that of her lead i ere, is to leave the TJoion and to form a graud ! independent Slave Confederacy i No. The Republican party is not responsi hie. Toombs says this secession business "has : been gathering head for thirty years." It was i not the election of Lincolu and Hamlin. It is I was not the violation of the fugitive elave law; > for Toombs says "1 inysclt doubt its constitu tionality." Tbe true reasons are, their anxiety for a Crest Southern Confederacy, cheap nig gers, Free Trade—and a particular dislike to the rapid progress in population and wealth by the North, in fact, "figure three complaining that it is not equal to figure five." These are the true reasons, and it is no use to attempt to conceal them. HH;U TREASON DEFINED. The excitable people of Now York appear to have been completely surprised at the charge delivered in that city by Judge Sroalley (a Democrat) of tbe United States Circuit Court, to the Grand Jury, on last Monday two weeks, defining the crime of high treason, and showing that not only those who are now active? ly engaged iD the secession movemeut in South Carolina are guilty of that offence, but that also those who furnish them aid and comfort encounter tbe risk of incurring the penalty of death, which the law of 1790 affixes to this crime. The gist of tbe doctriue laid dowo may be found in the following extracts from tbe chat go referred to : ' "What overt acts, then, constitute treason? A mere conspiracy to subvert by force the Government, however flagitious the mime may be is not treason. To conspire to levy war, and actually levying war, are distiact of fences. "If a body of people conspire and meditate j aD insurrection to resist or oppose the laws of f the United States by force, they are only guil ! ty of a high misdemeanor; hut if they proceed | to carry such intention into cxecutian by fotoe they are guilty of high treason by levying ! war.. In tbe language of Chief Justioe Mar ! shall, "It is not the intention of the Court to j say that no individual can 'he guilty jpf this crime who has not appeared in arms against his country. "On the contrary, if war he actually levied that is, if a body of Rico be actually assem bled for th purpose of force a treasonable purpose— all those who perform any part however minute, or however remote 1 jrom the scene oj action, sud wbo are actually leagued in the general conspiracy, are to be considered as traitors." "As the court lias already said to you, the combination and assemblage of a body of aien with the design of seizing, and thi actual seiz ing of the forts and other public property in ami near Charleston, South Carolina, and in some other S f ates, is a levying of war against the United States. Consequently, anv and every person who engiges thraeiu is by tho hw regarded as levying war against the United States; and all who adhere to th:m are to be regarded as enemies, and all who give aid and conforl in South Carolina or jYew York, or in any other portion of the United States or els-where, come within the express provisions of the first section of the act of 30tb April, 1790, au 1 are guilty of treason. "Whit amounts to adhering to and giving aid anl comfort to our enemies, it is somewhat difficult io all eases to define; but certain it is that furnishing then with arms and muni tions of war, vessels, or other means of trans pollution, or auy materials which will aid the traitors in carrying out their Irailorous pur poses, with a knowledge that they are intended for such purposes, or inciting and eueour aniug others to engigo in or aid the traitors in any way, does come within the provisions of the act. And it is iinuirterial whether such acts are induced by sympathy with the rebel lion, hostility to the Govemmen', or a desire for gain. '• Under the second section of the act of 1790, all wbo have any kuowlodge of any suoh acts of treason, and do not, as soon as possi ble, make it known iu the manner therein pre scribed, arc guilty of misprison of treason, and subject to the punishment therefor." Considering that contracts are even now being daily made for the delivery of arms and ammunition to those who have already defied tbe authority of the Federal Govern ment, and openly announced their determina tion to overthrow it, Judge Soialloy has not spoken a moment too soon, and his remarks shouid servo as a warning to ajjj wbo are soli cited t> strengthen the hands of the avowed enemies of the country in their treasonable j movemeuts. Several arrests, it is thought, ' will be mado of persons who hive sold arms to the traitors. Tbe liouse of Representatives, on Monday list, j concurred ia the Senate amendment in relation to j the admission of Kansas, ps a State in the Union, j She is now, consequently the 84th member of the ' confederacy, and the 19th free State. For the year ending 31st Deo. last, there; wis transported over the Broad Tup Railroad, one hundred and eigbty-seveu thousand, eight hundred and fifty-three tuns of coal. Mr. Buchanan sent into tho House on Monday,a ' pe ci al message favoring the Virginia Itesolu tiSns. j Ex-President Tylor was the Commissioner froms that State to the President. We call attention to the able speech on our out- ' side, to-day, by Col. S. S. Wharton, our State Senator. His remarks are appropriate, and we hope his speech will be raid by ail our readers. THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE. There is such an evident misapprehension in the minds of many, with regard to the so called compromise, prepared by Mr. Crittenden and such ire effort making by the locofocos— particularly of the Breckinridge stripe—to impress npon the uninformed tho idea that it is identical with the 'Missouri Compromise," that wc republish the Crittenden resolutions in an other column, and call uttontion to their plain purport as proving the utter lack of identity betweeu thein and the Missouri Compromise. It will he rembcred that tho Federal Gov ernment acquired by purchase from Franco the territory of Louisiana. In 1820 tho State of Missouri was carved out out of a portion of this Territory, and applied for admission into the Union as a Slavo State. Her admission as such was contested, a struggle ensued that threatened a disruption of the Union, and fi nally a compromise was made by which it was agreed that in consideration of tho North as senting to her admissiou as a Slave State, ibt slavory should forever thereafter be prohibited io tbe rest of the old Louisiana territory which lay north of the south boundary line of Mis souri, which was tbe parallel of 36 deg. 30 min., uud uo'hing was said or done as to tbe remainder of tho territory south of that lioe. Thus the North for agreeing to too admission of Missouri as a Slavo Stato secured by the compromise tbe freedom of all the territory north of 36 deg. 30 min. Now, what does Mr. Crittenden's resolution propose To ex tend the Hue of 36 deg. 30 min. to tbe Pacific, prohibiting slavery north of that line, but also to incorporate into the Constitution an articlo recognizing and protecting slavery by Federal power in ail the territory we now have or may hereafter acquire south of that line. Is this restoring tbe Missouri Compromise? is it not rather incorporating tlm Breckinridge Platform into the Constitution of the United States, and making it irrepealablc? Recall for a moment the history of this pro posed Federal protection of Slavery. Puriog tho last sessiuu of Congress, Senator Hunter, of V irginia, intro iuced a set of resolutions proposing to torm a sl.ve code for the territo ries, aud thereby protecting, by Congressional enactment, slavery in all our territories. Tbe proposition was lust, aud was treely denounced throughout the North without distinction of party, ihe Democratic Natioual Convention assembled at Charleston aud alterwirds at Baltimore, and was totally split asunder, be cause the Breckinridge uien insisted upon in corporating into tho Cincinnati platform reso lutions precisely like Mr. Crittendeu's, recog nizing and protecting slavery iu the territo ries. Ihe Douglas men refuted this, and nomi nated and supported their candidate on the ground that tue question of slavery in the terntorios should be left to the decisioo of the people of the territories alone. This the principil issue ot the last campaign. And uow, after the Douglas men refused to let this proposition be injected into their platform, af ter toe people at the pulls rejected it by a most overwhelming majority, it is gravely pro posed by Mr. Crittenden to incorporate it iuto and make it part of the Constitution ot the United States. The fifth clause of these propositions have also apparently escaped observation aud are invariabiy ignored by the advocates of the compromise iu this region. Do our people waut a clbuso in the constitution couipuliiug tbcui to pay for rescued slaves? Suppose some bigoted and laudless citizen lends himself to rescue a fugitive, would we be grateful at be ing made to pay for his folly? Ami yet here , it is proposed we should do so. Tho owner sues tbe State, tho State the county, and the county tbe individual. The latter beiug worthless, the Couuty must pay. Will the advocates ol this measure stand surety in time to come that our couuty will never coutiiu a citizen loolish enough to resist the recapture of fugitives? For our part, we are inexorably opposed to these resolutions—lst. Because they propose aa alteration of the constitution made by the wisest, purest and best men the world ever ■haw, and under which our couuty has arrived at its preseut eminent greatness. 21. Be cause they proposo amending the Constitution in an unconstitutional way. 3d. Because they concede the newly invented doctrine that slaves ere property. 4th. Because they propose to incorporate into the Coustituiiun the Breckinridge platform, of a slave code for the territories, when an overwhelming public sentiment has just pronounced against it.— sth. Because they provide for the surrender to slavery by constitutional amendment of all territory hereafter acquired, it bring notorious that we cannot acquire any more territory ex cept sou'h of that line. 6th. Because it makes entire localities amenable in damages for tbe acts of individual citizens. 7th. Be cause it is not a compromise, but simply a con cession, the north deriving no benefit but sur rendering everything by it. And Bth. Be cause the parties whom it proposes to concili ate nut only reject, but spurn it. Those who think that the present Constitu tion aud laws are not sufficient to sustain the government and maintain peace, may if they please bind themselves and their children's children by this cunning scheme to protect, extend and make perpetual slavery, but for our part, we stand by the Constitution as our fa thers made it, and insist on its preservation by all the means and power of the govornmeut. Somerset Herald and fFAig. The ippoiutment of Gen. Cameron. HARUIBBUUQ, Jan. 27 Mr. P. Fassett, one of the committee from tbe Republican Club of Philadelphia to Springfield, has just return ed to this place. He says that tbe appointment of Hen. S;mon Cauierou as Secretary of tbe Treasury, is certain. Tbe opposition to his appointment, he stitcs, w as confined to a very small circle in this State, it being principally free traders of New York. Mr Buchanan has withdrawn from his official or gap, The Constitution, all the Executive advertise ments, and has given thetn to The Intelligencer, which will hereafter express the views of the Ad uii lustration. The luti attack upon the President aud Mr. Secretary llolt, which appeared in The Constitution, and the ultra disunion sentiments ad vocated iv its alieu British editor, have caused this change. In the venerable old Intelligencer the President will have what lie has never hail before, a respectable orgau. * Bailey, the South Carolinian who stole the In dian securities at Washington, is one of the Clerks wlw gave notice that he wouldn't servo under Lin coln ! It is alleged that soma of the fund 9 thus abstracted mo used in tbe Secession movement.— The Congressional investigating Committee has not yet reported. iien. Cameron and tbe Crisig, Io the Senate on Monday week the Oitten den Resolutions were tskea up. Mr. Bigler spoke at considerable length in favor of their passage, and argued the neces sity and propriety of a Convention of the peo ple to adopt amendments to the Constitution, lie urged tlie Republican Senators to consider tho necessity of the passage of these or simiisr resolutions. He appealed to the South 'o con sider if its rights could not Le obtained ic tbo Union. He opposed secession, but could not see bw tbey could coerce-a State. Coercion ws delmriou. Mr. Cameron would oot mike a speech, for though Lis col league offered the olive branch, the other side would not listen or respond. He was iueliued to do ail he cou.d to save the Union. Mr. Green said the well known patriotism of tbe Senator from Pennsylvania precluded tlm necessity of watching hia>, but the other side could not hear the words of patriotism Mr. Cameron was soiry that the S-uators who left would uot wait till tbey heard from Pennsylvania. Mr. Iveraou asked if Mr. Cameron approved of Mr. Bigler's speech. Mr. Cameron—Very touch; and will vote for his proposition it it will savo tbe country. Mr. Saulsbury thought that Mr. Cameron's devotion to the country might well be imi tated. Mr. Cameron 1 say to Senators from Geor gia aDd Alabama, if they will take my colleagues proposition, we will pass it. Mr, Iversoo asked if he approved of the S'-n --tiuieuts of his colleague agaiust coercion? That's the point. Mr. Cameron—Coercion is the last rcutady. Mr. Green— Is it a roiueiiy at all? Mr. Cameron—lt is a hud remedy. Don't know us wc shall ever resort to it. It is cer tainly a last remedy. Mr. Mason relorred to the foot that the Sen ator voted aguiusi the Critteudeu resolution? and lor tue amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire. He also said that Wade pre sented resolutions from Ohio, one of which w.s against the Personal Liberty bill, while the Ouio L egislature refused to pass teat bill. He wattled to 6bow the people the difference between professions here and practice tuere. Mr. Cameron said Mr. MISOD seetued anxious for an excuse for leaving the Union. He bad voted a? he did, because he suw no disposition of compromise from the other side, uulesß he went ou bended knees aud asked forgiveness because he hail done no wrong, hut was still willing to forgive the backsliding South. He weuld do ail be could to preserve the Union, but wis uot to be dragooned or driven. Mr. M ASOU was unconscious of saying aught ,to arouse the wrath of Mr. Cameron. Did uot ! w.iDt nu CX JU to leave, but did want an ex cuse to remain in the Union. Six Senatorial chairs were vacated to-day, and the Union was practically dissolved. What is the remedy?— Coercion? Would you use the discipline of the pedagogue? Would to God the Senator from Pa. would give me an excuse to stay in the Uui n, Mr. Cameron had not beard of any threats of war, but if it must conic, Pennsylvania is ready to meet it. The people of this State are ready for any | tbiug honorable to save ibe Union, and are ready to yield all prejudices. The North has . done no wrong, and bullying caonot drive them. If you waut tbe Union preserved !dt us know j what is wrong aud wc will redress. Mr. Saulsbury believed the Senator sincero, and though four States had gone he thought that if this side would meet tbe Senator with ! the tame spirit the Union would still rcmaiu. Mr. Crittenden urged the iaiportsuce of the ! measure, and spoke against tho postponement, i Adjourned. The Crittenden Compromise. \Vbereas, Alarming dissensions have arisen between the Northern aud Southern State" as : to the rights to tbe common territory of the j Uuited Strtos, it is eminently desirous and proper that such dissensions should bo settled by tbe constitutional provisions which give equal justice to ail sections, whereby to restore peace. Therefore, Resolved, By the Senate and House of Rep resentatives, that the following at tide be pro- ! posed and submitted as an amendment to tbe Constitution when ratified by conventions of i three-fourths of the'pecple of the States. 1. Iu all the territories now or hereafter ac- i quired north of latitule 36 degrees 30 minutes, slavery or iuvoluutary servitude, except puu- ! ishment for crime, shall bo prohibited; while South of that latitude, slavery is hereby rec- \ oguixcd us existing, and not to be iutoiferred with by Congress, but bo protected as property by all departments of the territorial govern- i rnent, during its continuance as a territory.— • When Territory north or south of such line, within such bouudarios as Congress may pre- ! scribe, sbail oontain the population necessary for a member of Congress, with a republican form of government, it shall be admitted into the Union on an equality with tue origiual States, with or without slavery, as the Consti tutiou of the Slate may prescribe. 2. Congress shall have no power to abolish j slavery in pi tees under its jurisdiction, or in 1 States permitting slavery. 3. Congtcss shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia while i, exists iu Virginia or Maryland, or either. Nor Congress shall never, any time, prohibit the offiocts of tbe guvcrunieDt, or members of Con gress, whose duties require ihom to live in the District of Columbia, and bringing shves. from holding them as such. 4. Congress shall have no power to hinder tbe transportation of slaves from one State to another, whether by land, navigable rivers, or by sea. 5. Congress shall have power to provide by law, and it shall he its duty so to provide, that the United Stages shall pay to the owner who shall apply for it the full value of his fugitive i slave in all cases when tbe marshal or utber ! officer whose duty it, was to arrest said fugitive j was pieveuted frouu doing so by violence or ; intimidation, or when, alter arrest, said fugitive '< was rescued by force, and tho owuer thereby , prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of bis • remedy lor the reoovery of bi* fugitive slave. And iu ali suoh cases, when tho United States shall pay lor such tugitivu, they sbail have tbo tight in their own uarne to sue the county in which said violeuce, intimidation or rescue was committed, and to recover from it, with interest aud damages, the amount paid by theui for said ' fugitive slave. And tlie said county, afte, r has paid soi l amount to the United States, miv for its indemnity, sue and recover froiL the wroog-ioers or rescuers, by whout the owner was prevented from the- recovery of his f'.gi,j te i slave, in like manner as the owner himself might J have ?ued and recovered. 6. No future amendments shall affect iU | preceding articles, and Congress shall never I have power to iuterfere with elavcry in the I States where it is now permitted. WASHINGTON , January 2j, 1861. Startling Bhtclosares—indictment or an ex->lciiif>ei of the Cabinet j The Grand Jury o; the District of Columhia' u day presented J.B.FLOUI f„ r TIL feasance in office, and conspiracy to defraud ti Government, Thomson, late Secretary of t >,- r terior. DrinkarJ, chief clerk of the war Den H went, and other high Government officials. examined before the jury, anil upon their testimn. J and facts derived fro3i the House Commit:. .. f r ' regard to the stolen bonds, that present!!. ..."' '' made. Startling disclosures ol the most viihiL..... frauds are spoken of, aud the fact is very evil,, . that the Secession movement was nothi:** hut ar attompt to scuttl. 1 the ship after robbing it? THIS ABANDONED POUTS IS XLOBIOA. Commodore Armstrong, late commauder at lVn sscola, was before ttie special commit'- e on rresidenl s late message. The comm itoo inland thoroughly to investigate the condition of „li Southern lortifio itions, and the cireumstauces at tending their suttender to ttie Disunionists. with a view to ascertaining wheti-r there has not been a criminal neglect of duty by the President in V premilea. ue A ROAD VOR THE GUILTR TO ESCAPE. In tlie event of ar indictment bv the Grand J u - V now investigiting the charges against Win. H. kuV sell, and others, tor the abstraction of tao in]j." trust bonds, from the Department of the interior' it is said by the 1-gal profession that new questions arising under a recent statute, will be presented for tlie consi aeration of the court. The second section of the act ofJasuirv "t 1357, is as follows; - - >■ "find be it further enacted, That no person ex amiu ;d and testifying before either House of Con gress, or any committee of either House, shall be held to answer criminally in any court of justice or subject to any penalty or forfeiture, for am- fact or act touching which he shall be required to tes tify before either House of Congress, or committee of either House, as to what he sUall have testified whether before or after the dite of this act, and that no statement made or paper produced bv any witness before either House of Congress, or he fore any committee of either House, shall be com petent testimony in any criminal proceeding against such witness in any court of justice; and no wit iiesa shall hereafter be allowed to refute to testify to any act, or to produce any paper touching which he snail be examined by either House of Congress, or any committee of either House, f r the reason that bis testimony touching such'fact or the production of such paper, may tend to dis ; grace hi>a or otherwise reader biin infamous, pro vided, that Dothing in this act shall be construed j to exempt any witness from prosecution and pan j ishment for peijury commuted bv biin in testify j ing as aforesaid." Now, Mr. Russell, having been several tinuser. ; arnined before the Special Committee of the House ; ol Representatives, and having tes'ified, cannot ; "be held to ansutr criminally in any court of j tut ice" ' , * "for a„y fact or act, touching ! which he shall be required Io testify," aDd may suc i ccssfully plead this law in bar of any indictment i that may be louud against bim touching the mat ter of the abstracted bonds. Th:s defence will aiao ! be available to all the officials implicated in the bond larceny, abstraction, as it is softly called, from the highest to the lowest, as wl! as to their out-door agents, who may have been so fortunate as to have been examined aud testified before the Morris Committee of the House. This law was framed lor good purposes, but may turn out to be the gite-way for the escape of the guilty. It can only be* pleaded after indictment, aud may not be available if the party should have refused to au swer all questions propounded by tlie Committee. All peisons connected with the abstraction of the I bonds an i their circulation, so far as the Commit ■ tee could reach them, havo been examined, except i Bailey, who is the only one left as a victim la satisfy tlie ofl'euded law. I EX SECRETARY THOMPSON AXB THE MISSING BONDS. It is said that the ex-iSecretary is alarmed at the prospect of l>eing made liable for tlie value of all the missing Indian trust fund bonds. He was the 1 gal custodian of this property, gave a receipt to Ids predecessor in otlice, Mr. McClelland, for them, and they are charged up against bim on the books of the Government. When a public officer is charged with the keeping of public property be must account for it, and no person has been more stern and firm in enforcing this accountability than Mr. Thompson. Many a poor devil iu the Indian service, toe wagon-road expeditions, and other branches under the Interior Department, has felt the severity of this "inflexible Administration offi cer" of "J. B." The loss of money by a public officer, be it accidental or otherwise," even if stolen from hiia, or from the Sub-Treasury in bis charge, will not relieve him, and no power but Congress, in such event, can balance lus account. Let Mr. Thompson's account be settled, and it the Gov ernment can make out a case ol gross negligence on his part, he will be clearly iiab.e for the loss of the bonds; au.l it report speak truly of his large fortune, it will not be much inconvenience for bim to pay the amount. THE I'ENSACOLA TRAITORS. A draft for $74,000 in lavor of the Navy Agent at Fensaeola was stopped at the Treasury when just on the eve of being sent off". It would havo beeu applied to the pay of Mr. Keusbaw and sthei ex-officers who were engaged iu tlie treasonable conspiracy to surrender the Navy-Yard, ami who disgraced tlie American flag. Perhaps they will get paid by Florida, and perhaps not. .Mr. Yulee can give them plenty of Pernandina Railroad I Kinds. A CONSULTATION. A limited conference was held last night, at which Messrs. Crittenden, Douglas, Seward and Dixoa were present, with a view of considering some com mon basis of adjustment that might be shaped to satisfy these various interests. Ttiey did not agree upon a plan, hut .separated with a good understand ing. PEACEABLE SECESSION. —The friends of South Carolina boast that she has a right to secede peaceably, which ouurse, tbey allege, she has pursued: The following is the progress of ber "peaceable secession:" Castle Pincknsy; taken by storm. Fort Moultrie; oaptured. The Uuited States Arsenal at Charleston; seized. The U. S. Custom Houso and Post Office in Charleston; seised. United States Revenue Cuitar brig Aiken, taken. New fortifUations raised on Sullivan's sue Jubnsou's Island. Hajor Anderson, beseiged in Fort Sumter. Oua thousand uegro slaves brought into ser vice raising fortifications to (rapture Maj. Au deraon. The commander of the slaver Boaita taken violently from the custody of the authority of the Untied States. Seizure ol uciiht.ru merchant vessels. Firiug npoo the United States Flag, ami at tempting to sink a (J. S. £ up. A STATUE MADE TO SDIAK.- The statue of Gen. Jackson, before the Fresid .it's >a< msi curiously ornamented the other uoiaib.g. Ifwh anti-Secessionist held in his hand too s u : -i stripes, while the bluo cockade w w i.e i 'r the tail f tlio horse. Gtc : in .-.n. :;oii - ■ ■') the seceders, and it is rumored > . . <• quest the Commissioners to ask f.