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 <s of the country ab
solutely tit-maud th in. Me said he hid adopt
ed the course he b*J taken on these weighty
matters simply and entirely with the view oj
hastening the dissolution oj this Union.
"Mr. ICeiU said ha would sustain the bill
tor electing delt gates to a Southern Congress
because he thought it would bring about a
more speedy dissolution oj the Union."
Equally significant arc the declarations made
lu tho open sessions of the "Sovereign Con
vention" lately assembled at South Carolina.
A few extract* from the debates had ou the
passage of iho ordinance of seecisior, and
other proceedings, will set this point in a clear
light:
"Mr. 1 atker. Mr. President., it appear* to
Hie, with great dt-fciencc to the opinions tbut
btivc been expre-sed, that the puHto mind is '
fully made up to the great occasion that now
awaits us. It wno spasmodic effort that has
comt suddenly upon us, but it has been gradu
ally culminating jor a long set ies of years,
until at last it has come eo that point when w
may say the matter is entirely right.
Mr. Loglis. Mr. President, if there is any
gentlcuiiu preseut who wishes to debaietbis
matter, of course this body Will liiui; but
as to delay for the purpose of a discussion, 1
for'one am opposed to it. As my friend (Mr.
Parker) has said, most of us have had this
matter under consideration Jor the last twenty
years, and 1 pie&ume u>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.