Cjjt Centre §lcmwrat j
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Thursday Morning, July 11 61. I
J. J. BKISBIN, EDITOR & PUBLISHER.
W. YU. BROWN, ASSOCIATE EDITOR.
More Men Wanted from Centre.
The late Army Regulations call for the
increase of companies to one hunired and
one men. Capt. Gregg, of the Centre Guards
has sent Ist Corporal Frank McGarvoy to
this place to raise the Twenty.Four men ne
cessary to fill out that company. His re
cruiting office is at the Conrad House. A
meeting will be held on Saturday Evening,
in the Court Ilonse, for the purpose of rais
ing these men. Let the sons of Centre res
pond na they have dor.e heretofore.
CAPTURE OF A CENTRE CO.. COMPANY.
•The Capture of a company of Pennsylva
nia troops, by the rebels in Virginia, haß
caused a deep feeling of regret wherever the
fact has become known. The affair occurred
near Martiasburg, and was the result of a
surprise by a party of rebel cavnlrv, who
were mistaken for regulars of the troops cap
lured. From what we can learn, the men
were fiom what ia called'the " Loop," in
Centre county, commanded by Captain Iless,
who is well known in that county as a brave
and gallent gentleman- It is hoped that an
exehang- of prisoners will be made between
the two armies in a short time, when these
men will be released; but in tbe meantime
we fear, from what "we have learned, that tbe
Pennsylvanians are treated in the most bru
tal and outrageous manner.— Hjirr.iaburg
Ttlegoqplf
To Our Friends.
We trnst that our friends who have receiv
ed bills from us within the last two weeks
will attend to this matter promptly. It needs
ne argument on our part, certainly, to con
vince men that money is necessary to carry
on tbe publication of a newspaper these
times, and certainly we must look to our pa
trons for it. Every body knows that we are
poor and have no capital of cur own to use
in business, therefore, if we do not get mon
ey enough to piit'us through we must run in
debt, which is the ruination of any young
man ; and,more than thie, if wc do not meet
those debts when due, then our credit is run
out. Debts are pressing us now, and we de
sire to meet them. The very paper upon
which we print from week to week is unpaid
for, the rent of our office and bouse is to be
paid. Wc must have the necessaries i f life,
and to get these in Bellefonte requires mon
ey. We trust that our friends will take these
things into consideration and pay us at lenst
a portion of what is due. The first six
months of this year are about up, and those
who wish to save half a dollar would do well
to take advantage of our advance terms. We
need three hundred dollars. There are due
on our booVs, for the last year alone, < ver
SIOOO. It is a strange thing, if out of this
sum, together with shout S]SCO which is
due on this year, we cannot raise three or
four hundred dollars Let every man who
owes us consider this a dun.
Congress.
Congress met at Washington on Thursday
last—forty-three members of tho Senate and
cnedundi&l and fifty-seven members of the.
House being present Galuuha A. Grow, of
Pennsylvania, was fleeted Speaker of the
House, and Emerson Etheridge, of Tennesee,
was chosen Clerk—both on the first ballot, —
Congress is now in complete working ordvr,
and it is believed will at once proceed to con
sider and relieve the pressing wants of the
country, Bills intended to ensure an imme
diate aDd effectual crushing out of the rebell
ion h?ve already bee.D presented by Gen.
Wilson, and there can he no question of their
speedy passage. Congress exhibits a spirit
of hearty response to the suggestions corvey*
ed by the President in his special message,
and before tbe ]r:srnt week is past will
doubtless confirm his acts and place in his
hpnds tho power needed to successfully as
sert the National supremacy.
The President now reeommcrds the immc
mediate enrollment of 400,000 men, end the
appropriation of $400,000,000 t> meet
the present emergency. He is satisfied that
this rebellion can be most quickly and tffec
tually put down by an overwhelming exhi
bition of the national power. This determi
na'inn well be welcomed with joy by un
told thousands who are panting for an op
portunity to take the fi-ld agaißst tho eefiai t
traitors. There is not a foyal man in the
Free States who will not respond to h • uig
geition wiih a hearty Amen. If Congress de
sires to satisfy th 9 popular feeling, it will
grant every man and every dollar asked for
without a day's delay. Our people are rpady
to sanorios any measure that promises to
qtisll the present rebellion, and proetir? the
complete vindication of tbe supremaiy of
the Corptitu ion end a full atonement to our
violate'' laws. Given the men and money,
awd under the wise counsels nf President
Limo'n and General Scott, this result will
not be long in its development. We believe
that three leaders have been Pi&vidpntiaily
assigned to the work befi re them, and that
they will faithfully fulfill to the et d theni>
sion of preserving and regenerating tl e n#-
tin„
THE OIIIOANS IN AN AMBUSCADE.
THEY C UT THEIR WAY" THROUGH.
FIVE REBELS KILLED.
Prcxannoy V* , Julv 7 Forty five men,
belonging to the. Third Ohio regiment, under
Captain Laws< n, while on a scouting expe
dition fell in with an ambuscade of several
hundred rebels, at Yfiddlefork Bridge, twelve
tni'es east, and were surrounded. After a
douerte figh-, they cut their way through,
1 ing ore killed ar d having five wounded.
Five dead rebels were found to-day on the
vcene nf the eoofi et.
President Lincoln's Message.
It may seem out of pluce to remark on the
affile of a document whose substanoe is of
snch e-ave import, and whieh is an exposi- '
tiori of the state of tbe country in the most |
momentous crisis of its history. But there is
such a homely and honest simplicity in this j
message; its manner peems to perfect a pic
ture of the war ; it is so transparently writ
ten— to borrow one of its own expressions—
" without guTe and with pure purpose," that
it cannot fail to take a strong hold on the
popular heart, and endear Mr. Lincoln still
mora to the great body of the people, who
prefer rigorous, every day common sense,
quaint expression and shrewd mother wit, to
tbe pomp of artificial rhetoric or the stiff
formality of a mere state-paper style. Tbe
; message bears internal evidence that it is Mr.
Lincoln's own, its peculiar raciness of ex
prossion proving that it has not been retoueh
|ed by any member of the cabinet. The un
j feigned sympathy with " the patriotic in
stincts of plasn people," which runs through
it, and the original ways of putting things
with which it abounds, are calculated to
| strengthen that confidence in Mr. Lincoln's
! honesty and robust common sense, which
causes the sturdy masses t > feel that ho is a
. raan to lean against in a great etnergenoy.
The Message is calculated to set at rest all
apprehensions—if, indeed, any have ever
been honestly entertained—that the Presi
dent would ever allow this struggle to be
brought to a pusillanimous close by an igno
ble compromise with the traitors. True,
there is not in tbe Message any of that spu
r'ous ece gy wb'ch consists of the piliDg up
of vehement expressions: for the President
is perfectly self-poised, and reasons through
out the document in that easy, familiar, com
mon sense way which implirs the concious
ness of a strong nature that he will be found
equal to bis duties. But with this absence
of any straining to appear resolute there is
sufficient evidence that having " put his foot
down firmly," he will keep it down. Tbe
s'rong things in the Message aro all the more
impressive from the simplicity and absence
nf bluster with which they are expressed.—
The main reccmendation which President
Lincoln offers to Congress " for the purpose
" of making this contest a short and decisive
" one," speaks very decisively for the energy
with which he desires the war to be prose
cuted. When he asks tor at least four hun
dred thousand men and four hundred mil
lions of dollars, he indicates so clearly his
sense of importance of crushing the rebellicr
by the overwhelming exertion of force as to
dispense him from using toward the rebels
the language of strong menace. It befits the
dignity of a great nation and a strong gov
ernment to let its deeds prove to the world
tbe energy of its determina'ion. When we
put in the field au army as large as that of
France, tbe most military nation of Europe,
although France has thirty six millions of
inhabitants and tho free state of the Union
only twenty millions, neither onr own people
nor foie : gn nations will need any assistance
in drawing correct inferences as to the vigor
with which the government intends to follow
up the rebellion. President Lincoln, to
provethe possibility of raising and main'air
ing so large an army as he asks for, stn es
iliat tbe four hundred thousand men he wan s
make only one-tenth of the citizens of the
free states capable of military servic, while
the four hundred miliions ol dollars are only
one twenty-third of tbe estimated value cf
the property of these states. The interests
of freedom, of oommtrce, and of good govern
ment alike demand that this war ihill be
abort; and if the President's recomendations
are adopted by Congress, the earnest wishes
of the people in this respect will be fully
mot.
The Message seems to haTe been written
under a sense that the contrast between the
pacific tone of the Inaugural and the present
call for an array of overwhelming force re
quired a full argumentative justification of
the warlike attitude of the government. Mr.
Lincoln accordingly gives a simple, succinct
and perfectly calm narrative of the facts
connected with tbe attempt toprovi-mn Fort
Sumter, the more statement of which is a
sufficienf argument in justification of the war;
aod then, after a conclusive refutation (with
out naming him) of Chief Justice Taney's
inculpation of his action in the matter of hie
action in the matter of the habeas corpus,' 1 e
proceeds to make the most original and con
clusive demonstration of tbe absurdly of
secession that has ever been presented to the
country. He pushes tbe pretense that
only CoDgress can suspend the writ of habeas
corpus in time of rebellion or invasion to a
perfect reductio ad absurdum, by showing
that, if this position is correct, a rebellion
which should succeed in prtventirg Con
gress from n e ting, sb tbe secession rebels
threatened to do, wuuld annihilate the gov
ernment by leaving it without any power < f
self-protection. The argument against t! e
right of seoessicn, founded on the fact that
most of the members of the federal Union
were never, historically, independent states,
nor scates at all until their admission int°
the Union, will produce a great impression
on the public mind, both by its novelty and
its force. How n state tifat was elevated to
statehood from a condition of territorial de
pendence. at the sole discretion of the gov
ernaipnt of the Union, can fall back on its
original independent and sovereignty, none
of the seeessian oracles have ever told us.—
Mr. Lincoln has in his argument given them
a nut to crack that wi 1 be likely to beak
their jaws.
i here is a srasM literary purism, or rather
dihttanteis n, that may not relish the careless
and homely aptness of President Lincoln's
style, but this Message really contains more
unborrowed and vigorous thcught, chouched
in teims which wili carry it irresistly home,
and give it a spcure lodgment in the popular
mind, than is to he found in any executive
d cument since the days of Jackson. What
for example, cao be more telling than bis
argument (in his way of putting it) that, as
the states cannot expel a state from the Un
ion, they have no power to virtually do the
fame thing by all but one secediog and form
ing a new confederacy, leaving that one out
in the cold? In good truth tbe secession
absurdities have Dever been bo thoroughly
riddled as they are in this excellent and
manly Message.—AT, J*. TFo:W.
•GFiSBGS! lo3S!:m:€>o3ei.j&L !, 3P.
The President's Message.
4G0.0G0 MEN AND 400,000,009 OE
MONEY WANTED.
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House
of Representatives. —Having been convened
on an extraordinary occasion, authorized by
the Constitution, your attention is not called
to any ordinary object of legislation. At
the beginning of the Presidential term, four
months ago, the functions of the federal
Government were found to be generally sus
pended within the several States of South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana and Florida, excepting those only
jof the Post Office Department Within
■ those States all forts, arsenals, dockyards,
1 custom-houses, and the like, had been seized
and were held in open hostility to this Gov-
I ernment, excepting only forts Pickens, Tay
' lor, and Jefterson on and near the Florida
j coast., and Fort Sumpter, m Charleston har
bor, South Carolina. The forts thus seized
j had been put in improved condition, new
■ ones had bten built, and armed forces had
i been organized and were organizing, all
• avowedly with the same hostile purpose.
i The forts remaining in the hands of the
i Federal Government, in and near these States
were either beseiged or menaced with war
; like preparations, and especially Fort Sura
; tcr, which was neatly surrounded by well
; projected hostile batteries with guns equal
in quality to the best of its own, and out
numbering the latter perhaps ten to one.
: A disproportionate share of the Federal mus
kets and rifles had somehow found their way
i inio these States, and had been seized to be
! used again-1 the Government. Accumula
| tions of the public revenue lying within them
had been seized against the Government.—
The Navy was scattered in distant seas,
; leaving but a very small part of it within
the itilmodiaie reach of the Government
j Officers of the Federal army and navy had
i resigned in great numbers, and of those
! resigning a large proportion had taken up
' arms against the Government.
Simultaneously and in connection with all
| this, the purpose to sever the Federal Union
was openly avowed. In accordance with
this purpose, an ordinance had been adopted
l in each of these States, declaring the States
j respectively to he separated from the Na
j tional Union. A formula for instituting a
; combined government for these States had
j been promulgated, and this illegal organiza
! tion in the character of the Confederate
. States was already invoking recognition, aid
' and intervention from foreign powers.
Finding this condition of things, and be-
I liavicg it to be an imperative duty upon the
| incoming Executive to prevent, if possible,
: the consummation of such attempt to de
j stroy the Federal Union, a choice of means
:to that end became indispensible. This
; choice was inatle ar.d was declared in
j the Inaugural Address. The policv chosen
j looked to the exhaustion of all 'peaceful
I measures before a resort to anv stronger
j ores. It sought only to bold only the pub-
I lie property not already wres-ed from the
i Government and to collect the revenue, rely
ing for the rest oir time, discussion and tire
ballot box. ft promised a continuance of
the mails at the Government expense to the
very people who wereSresisting the Govern
ment, and it gave repeated pledges agairst
any disturbance to any of the people or any
of their rights. Of all that which a Presi
dent might constitutionally and justifiably
do in such a case, everything was lorborne,
without which it was believed impossible to
keep the Government on loot.
On the sth of March, the present incum
bent's first full day in office, a letter of Major
Anderson, commanding at Fcrt Sumter,
written on the 28th of Febtuary, and receiv
ed at the War Department on the 4th of
-March, was by that Department placed in
his hands. This letter expressed the profes
| sional opinion of th'- writer, that reinforce -
: ra nts could not be thrown into that within
| the time for his relief- rendered necessary by
| the limited supply of provisions, and with a
view ol holding possession of the same, with
a force of less than twenty thousand good
and well disciplined men. This opinion
was concurred in by all the officers of his
i ci mirmnd, and their memoranda on the sub
| ject were made enclosures of Major Ander
' son's letter. The whole was immediately
la d before Lieutenant General Scott, who at
once concurred with Major Anderson in that
opinion. On reflection, however, he took
full time, consulting witn other officers of
the army and navy, and at the end of four
days came reluctantly but decidedly to tbe
Same cenclusi- n as before.
lie also stated at the same time that no
such sufficient force was then within the
ccnirol of the Government or could be raised
and brought to the ground within the time
when the provisions in the fort would be ex
; hausted. In a purely military point of view
i this reduced the duty of the Administration
iin t'"e ease to the mere matter of gettiog
the garrison safely out of the fort.
It was believed, however, that to so aban
don that position, under the circumstances,
would be utterly ruinous ; that the necessity
under which it was to be done, would not be
fully understood ; that by many it would be
construed as a part of a voluntary policy ;
! that at home it would discourage the friends
| of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and
! go far to insure to the latter a recognition
abroad : that, in fact, it would be oiir Na
tional distraction consummated. This
could not lie allowed. Starvation was not
I yet upon "he garrison, and ere it would be
I reached Fort Pickens might be reinforced.
This last \fould be a clear indication of pol
icy, and would belter enable the country to
accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a
I military necessity. An order was at once
j directed to be sent for the landing of the
! troops from tho steamship Brooklyn into
I Fort Pickens. This order could not go by
j land, and must take the longer nd slower
route by sea.
The first return news from the order was
received just one week before the fall o f
Fort Sumter. The news itself was that the
officer commanding the Sabine, to which ves
sel the troops Lad been transferred from the
Brooklyn, actmg upon some quasi armistice
of the latt Administration, and of the exis
tence of which the present Administration,
up to the time the order was despatched,
had only too vague and uncertain rumors to
fix attention—had refused to land the troops.
To now reinforce Fort Pickens before a
( crisis would be reached at Foit Sumter, was
impossible, rendered so hy the near exhaus
tion of provisions in the latter named Fort.
In such a conjucture, the Government
had, a few days before, commenced prepar
ing an expedition, as well adapted as might
' be, to relieve Fort Sumter ; which expedi-
I tion was intended to be ultimately used or
: not, according to circumstances.
The strongest anticipated case for using
| it was now presented, and it was resolved to
send it forward, as had been intended in this
contingency. It was also resolved to notify
the Governor of South Carolina that if the
attempt should not be resisted, there would
be no eflort to throw in men, arms, or am
munition without further notice, or in case
of au attack upon tbe fort. This notice
was accordingly given, whereupon, the fort
was attacked and bombarded to its fall,
without even awaiting the arrival of the
provisioning expedition. It is thus seen
that the assault upon and the reduc
, tion of Fort Sumpter was in no sense a
matter of self defence on the part of the as
sailants. They well knew that the garrison
j in the fort could by no possibility commit
' aggression upon them. They knew—they
were expressly notified—that the giving of
bread to ihe-fe.w iuavc- and hungrj* men of
the garrison was all which on 'hat occasion
couid be alteßipfod. unless themselves by
resisting *so mm h. should provoke more.
They knew that this Government desired to
keep this garrison in the fort, not 'O assail
them, but merely to maintain visible posses
sion, trusting.as herein before stated,to time
discussion, and the ballot-box, for final ad
justment. And they assailed and reduced the
fort for precisely the reverse object, to drive
out the visible authority of the Federal Union
and thus force it to immediate dissolution.
That this was their object, the Executive
well understood, and having said to them in
tiie Inaugural Address, -'You can have no
conflict without being yourself the aggres
sors," he took paios not only to keep this
declaration good, but also to keep the case so
i free from the power of ingenious sophistry
[ as that the world should not bo able to mis
i understand it. By the affair at Fort Sumpter
; with its surrounding circumstances that
I point was reached. Then and thereby the as
| sadantsof the Government began the conflict
: of arms without a gun in sight, or in expec
] taney, to return their fire, save only the few
j in the fort sent to that harbor years before
! for their own protection, and still ready to
! give that protection in whatever was lawful.
| In this act, discarding all else, they have for
| ced upon the couutry the distinct issue—isn
mediate dissolution or blood.
And this issue embraces more than the
fate of the United States. It presents to the
whole family of uiw the question whether a
Constitutional Republic or Democracy —a
government of the people by the same peo
ple, can or cannot maintain its territorial in
tegrity against its own domestic foes. It
presents the question whether discontented
individuals, too few in numbers to control
the administration according to the organic
law in any case, can always, upon the pre
tences made in the case or on any other pre
tence, brtak up their government and thus
practically put an end to free government
upon the earth.
It forces us to ask, Is there in all Repub
lics this inherent and fatal weakness ?
Must a government of necessity be too strong
for the liberties of its own people, or too
weak to maintain its own existence ?
So viewing the issue, no choice was left
but to call out tbe war power of the govern
ment, and so to resist the force employed
for its destruction, by lorce for its preserva
tion.
The call was made and the response of
the country was most gratifying—surpass
ing in unanimity and spirit, the most san
guine expectations.
Yet none of the States commonly called
Slave States, except Delaware, gave a tegi
ment, through regular State organizations.
A few regiments have been organized within
some others of those States by individual
enterprise, and received into the government
service. Of course, the seceded States so
called, and to which Texas had been joined
about the time ot the inauguration, gave no
troops to the cause of the Union. The Bor
der States so called were not uniform in
their action, some of them being almost for
the Union, while in others, as Virginia and
North Carolina. Tennessee and Arkansas,
the Union sentiment was nearly repressed
and silenced.
The course taken in Virginia was the most
remarkable, perhaps the most important.—
A convention elected by the people of that
State to consider this very question of dis
rupting the Federal Union, was in session
at the capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter
fell. To this body the people had chosen a
large majority of professed Union men. Al
most immediately after the fall of Sumter,
many members of their majority went over
to the original disunion majority, and with
them adopted an ordinance for withdrawing
the State from the Union.
Whether this change was wi ought by
their great approval of the assault upon
Sumter, or the great resentment at the gov
ernment's r: sistance to that assault, is not
definitely known. Although they submitted
the oidmance, for ratification, to a vote of
the people, to be taken on a day, then some
what more than a month distant, th-> Con
vention and the Legislatures, which was al
so in session at the saute time and place,
with leading members of the State, not
members of either, immediately commenced
acting as if tbe State were already out of
the Union. They pushed their military
preparations vigorously forward all over the
State. They seized the United States Ar
mory at Harper's Ferry and the Navy Yard
at, Gosport, near Norfolk. They received,
perhaps invited, into their State large bodies
of troops with their warlike appointments,
from the so called Seceded States. They
formally entered into a treaty of temporary
alliance and co operation with the so called
Confederate States, and sent members to
their Congress at Montgomery, and finally
they permitted the insurrectionary Govern
ment to be transferred to their C.pi.tal at
Richmond.
The people of Virginia have 'bus allowed
this giant insurrection to make its nest with
in her border, and this government has no
choice left but to deal with it whe e it finds
it, and it has the less regret, as the loyal
citizens have in due form claimed its protec
tion. These loyal citizens, this government
is bound to recoguize and protect as befog
Virginia.
In the Border States, so called, in fact the
Middle States, there are those who favor a
pol'cy which they call armed neutrality
that is, an arming of those States to prevent
the Union forces passing one way or the dis
union the other over their soil. This would
he disunion completed, figuratively speaking.
! It would be the building of an impassable
wall along the lin of separation, and yet
not quite an impassable one ; for under the
j guise of neutrality, it would tie the handsof
the Union men. and freely pass supplies from
among them to the insurrectionists, which it
could not do as au open enemy. At a stroke
it would take all the trouble off the hands
of secession, except only what proceeds from
the external blockade. It would do for the
disunionists, that which of all things tbey
most desire—feed them well and give them
disunion without a struggle of their own.—
It recognizes no fidelity to the Constitution,
no obligation to maintain the Union, and
while very many who have favored it are
doubtless loyal, it is, nevertheless, very in
jurious in effect.
Recurrfog to the action of the Government,
it may be stated that at once a call was
made for 75.000 miHtia, and rapidly follow
ing this, a proclamation was issued for clos
ing the ports of the insurrectionary districts
by proceedings in the nature of a blockade.
So far all was believed to be strictly legal.
At this point the insurrectionists announc
ed their purpose to enter upon the practice
of privateering. were made for
volunteers to serve three years unless sooner
discharged, and also for large additions to
the regular army and navy.
These measures, whether strictly legal or
n6t, were ventured upon under what ap
peared to be a popular demand and a public
necessity, trusting then as now that Con
gress would readily ratify them. It is be
lieved that nothing has been done boyond
the Constitutional competency of Congress.
Soon after the first call for militia it was
considered a duty to authorize the command
ing general, in proper cases,according to his
discretion, to suspend the priviledge of the
writ of habeas corpus, of in other words to
arrest and detain, without resort to the ordi
nary processes and form of law, such indi
viduals as he might deem dangerous to the
public .safety. This authority has purpose
ly been exceiciseil but very sparingly. Nev
ertheless, the legality anil propriety of what
has been done under it are questioned, and
tike attention of the country has been called
to the proposition that one who is sworn to
take care that the laws be faithfully executed
should not himself violate theui. Of course
some consideration was given to the ques
tions of power and propriety before this mat
ter was acted on.
The whole of the laws which were required
to be faithfully executed, were being resis
ted, and failing of execution in nearly one
third of the States. Must they be allowed
to tinnally fail of execution, even if it had
been perfectly clear, that by the use of the
means necessary to their execution, some
single law made in such extreme tenderness
of the citizens' liberty, that practically it
relieves more of the guilty than of the inno
cent, should to a very limited extent, be
violated.
To state the question more directly, are
all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and
the Government itself to go to pieces lest
that one be violated ? Even in such a case
would not the official oath be broken off if
the Governmont should be overthrown, when
it was believed that disregarding the single
law would tend to preserve it i
But it was not believed that this question
was presented It was not believed that any
law was violated. The provision of the
Constttutien that the priviledge of the writ
of habeas corpus shall not be suspended
unless when in cases of rebellion orinvasion
public safety may require it, is eqivalent
to provision that such priviledge may be
suspended when in cases of rebellion or in
vasion the public safety does rt quire i.—
It was decided that we have a case of rebel
lion. and that the public safety does require
the quallified suspension of the privilege of
the writ which was authorized to be made.
Now, it is insisted that Congress, and not
the Executive, is vested with this power.—
But the Constitution itself is silent as o
which or who is to exercise the power, and
as the provision was plainly made for a
dangerous emergency, it cannot be believed
that the framers of the instrument intended
that in every case the danger should run its
course untill Congress could be called togeth
er, the assembling of which might be pre
sented. as was intended in this case by the
rebellion. No more extended argument is
now offered, as an oppmton at some length
will probably be presented by the Attorney
General. Whether there shall be any legis.
lation upon the subject, and if any what, is
submitted entirely to the better judgement
of Congress.
The forebearange of this Government had
been so extraordinary and so long continued
as to lead some foreign nations to shape
their actions as if thoy supposed the early
destruction of our National Union was pos
sible. While this on discoveiy gave the
Executive some concern.; he is now happy
to say that the sovereignity and rights of
the United States ape now everywhere prac
tically respected by foreign powers, and a
general sytn athy with theoountry is mani
fested throughout the world.
The reports of the Secretaries of the
Treasury, War and the Navy will give the
information in detail deemed necessary and
convenient for your deliberation and action
while the Executive and all the Departments
will stand ready to supply commissnns, in
to communicate new facts, considered im
portant for you to know.
It is now recommended that yon g ; ve the
legal means for n aking the contest a short
and a decisive one: that ynu place at the
control ot the G jvern uent, for the work, at
least 400,000 men, a>d §4OO 000 00(k J'hat
number of mm is about one-tenth of those
if proper ages within the regions', where ap
parently, all are willing to engage, and the
sum less than a twenty-third part of the
money value ovyied by the men whif seem
ready to devote (lie whole,
A debt of $600,000 000 now is a less sum
rer bead than was the debt of our reyolurion
when we came out of that struggle, and the
money value in the country now boars even
a greeater proportion to what it was then,
than dees the population. Surely each man
has as strong a motive now to preserve our
liberties as each-had thtirto establish them
A right result at this time will be worth
more to the world that* ten tiroes the men
and ten times the money. The evidence
reaching us from the country,leaves no doubt
that the material for the work is abundant
and that it needs only the hand of 1 gisia
tion to give it legal sanction, and the hand of
the executive to give it practical shape and
efficiency.
One oi'the greatest perplexi'ies of the Gov
emmer.t is to avoit^receiving troops faster
than it can provide for them.
In a word, the people will save their G >v
ernment, if the Government itsilf will do its
part only ind fierently well. It might seem
at first thought, to be of little difference
whether the present movement at the South
be called secession or rebellion. The tnov
era, however, weli understand the d ff-rence.
At the beginning they knew they could nev
er raise their treason to any respectable mag
nitude by any name which implies violation
of law. They knew their people possessed as
much of moral sense, as much of devotion to
law and order, and as much pride in, and
reverence for the history and Govern ent of
their common as any other civilized
and patriotic people.
They knew they could make no advance
ment utrectly in the teeth of these strong and
noble sentiments. Accordingly, they com
menced, by an insidanns debauching of the
publ.c mind. Titey invented an ingenious
sophi-m which, if co- ceded, was followed by
perfectly logical steps through all the inci
dents to the complete destruction of the
Union. The sophism itself is that any State
of the Union may, consistently with the Na
tional Constitution, and therefore lawtu ! ly
and peacefully, withdraw from the Union,
without the consent of the Union cr of any
other State. The little disguise, that the
supposed right is to be exercised only for a
just cause, because they themselves are to be
ihe sole judges of its justice, is too tbin to
merit any notice.
With rebellion thus sugar-coated, they
have been dragging the public mind of their
section for more than thirty years, and until
at length they have brought many good men
to a willingness to take up arms against the
Government the day after some assemblage
of nnea have enacted the farcical pietence of
taking their State out of the Union, who
could have been brought to DO such thing the
d iy before.
Thie sophism d trives much, perhaps the
whole of itsctrreiey, from the assumption
that there is some omnipotent and sacred su
premacy pertaining to a state, to eaoh State
of our Federal Union. Our States have
neither more nor less power than that reserv
ed to them in tbo Union by the Constitution,
no one of them ever having been a State out
of the Union. The original ones passed into
the Union even before they east of their Brit
ish Colonial dependence, and the new ones
each came into the Union directly from a
condition of dependence excepting Texas ;
and even Texas, in its temporary indepen
dence, was never designated a State. The
new ones only took the designation of States
on coming into the Union ; while that name
was first adopted for the old ones in and by
the Declaration of Independenoe. Therein
the United Colonies were declared to be free
and independent States.
But even then the object plainly was not
their independence of one another,
or'of the Union, but directly tha contrary, as
their mutual pledge and their mutual aetion,
I before, at the time ami afterwards, abun
dantly show. T>e express piighting of faith,
t> each and all of the original thirteen, in
the articles of confederation, two years later,
that " the Un'on -hall bp perpetual," is most
conclusive. Hciviug never been States, eitn
i er in substance or in name outside of the
' Union, whence this magical omnipotence of
State Rights asserting a claim ot power to
! lawfully destroy the Union itself? Much is
! said about the Sovereignty, of the States, but
the word even if not in the National Consti
tution, nor as is beleived in any of the State
Constitutions. What is a Sovereignty, in
the political sense of the term? H'ould it
be far wrong to define it " a political com
munity without a political superior ?" Test
ed by this, no one of our States except Texas
ever was a sovereignty, and even Texas gave
up the character on coming, into the Union,
by which act she acknowledged the Consti
tution of the United States and the laws and
treaties of the United States, made in pursu
ance of the Constitution, to be for ber the
Supreme law of the land The States haye
their status in the Union, and they have no
other legal status. If they break from this,
they can only do so against law and by rev
olution. The Uoi>n, and not themselves sep
arated, procured their independence and
their liberty. By conquest or purchase, the
Union gave each of them whatever of inde
pendone and liberty it has. The Union is
older than any of the States, and iu fact it
created them as S'ates. Originally some de
pendent colonies made the Union, and, in
turn, the Union threw off their old depen
dence for them and made them States, such
as they are : not one of them ever bed a State
Constitution independent of the Union.
Of course it is not forgotten that all the
new States framed tbeir Constitutions before
they entered the Union ; nevertheless depen
dent upon, and preparatory to coming into
the Uni n.
Ui questionably the States hsve the pow
ers an a rights reserved to them in and by the
National Constitution; hut among those,
surely, are not included all conceivable pow
ers, however mischievous or destructive, but
at most such only are known in the world at
the time, as Governmental powers, and cer
tainly a power to destroy the Government
itself had never known as Governmental a
merely administrative power.
This relative matter of National power and
Sta'e Rights as a principle, is no other than
the principle of generality and locality.
Whatever concern? the whole should ho
confided to the wnole, to the G n neral Gov
ernment ; while whatever concerns only the
State should be left exclusively to the S'ate.
This is all there is of original principle about
it. Whether the National Constitution, in
defining boundaries between the two, has ap
plied the principle with exact accuracy, is
not to be questioned. We are also I ootid by
that defining, without ques ion. What is
now comba r ted is the po-inon that Secession
is consistent with the Constitution, is lawful
and peaceful. It is not contented that there
is any express law for if, and nothing should
ever tie implied as law which leads to unjust
or absurd conseq lenues.
The Nation ourtfhiiS-d with money the
countries out of which several, f these St.-ve
were formed. Is it ju-t that they shall go off
without leave and without refunding? The
nation paid very large sums—in the aggre
gate. I believe, a hundred millious—to re
lieve Florida of the Aboriginal tribes. Is it
just that she shall now go off without consent
or without making any return? The nation
is now in debt for money applied to the ben
efit of those so called seceded Stares iu com
mon with the rest. I- it just either that
creditors shall go unpaid, or the remaining
S:ates pay the whole? Parr, of the pre-ent
national debt was contracted to pay the old
debts of Texas. Is it ju-t that sh- shall lcavo
an t pav no part of this herselt ?
Again, if one State mav secede, so may
another, and when a.l shall have seceded,
none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite
just to creditors? Did we notify them of
this sage view of ours when we borrowed
their money? If we now recognise this doc
trine by allowing the Seceders to go in peace
it is difficult to see what we can do if others
choose to go or to exboi t terms upon which
'hey will promise to remain.
The Secedtfi insist that our Constitu'im
admits of Socession. They have assumed to
make a National Constitution of their own.
in which of necessity they have either dis
carded or retained the right of Secession, as
t'i?y insist it exists in nir?. If they have
discarded it. thereby admit that on principle
it ought not to be in our-- If they have re
tained it by their own construction of ours,
they show that to be con-istent they mu-t
accede from one another whenever tLey shall
find if the easiest, way of settling their debts,
or effecting any other se'fi-h or unjust object
The principle itself is one of dl-integration
and upon which the Government can possibly
endure.
If all tho States save one, should nssert
the power to driye that one out ot the Union
it is presumed the whole class of seee-dr
politicians wou'd at once deny the power,
and denounce 'he act as the greatest out
rage on State rights.
But suppose that precisely the same act,,
instead of being called driving the one out
should bo called the seceding of the other
from that one, it would be exactly what the
seceedvr? claim to do, unless, indeed, they
make the point that the one, because it is the
minority, may lightfully do what the other,
because they are a majority, may not right
fully do, Ttiese politician- are subtle and
profound on the right of minorities p they
ere not partial to that power which made the
Constitution, aud speaks from the preamble
calling itself "the People." If may well be
questioned whether there i? to-day a major
ity of the legally qualified voters of any State
except perhaps South. Carolina, in favor of
I disunion. Tnereismuch reason to believe
1 that the union men are the majority in many
if Dot every other one of the so called ex
ceeded States. As the coDtiary has not been
demonstrated in any one of rh n m, it is ven
tured to affirm this even 'if Virginia and
Tennessee, for the result of an election, held
in military camps where the bayonets were
all on one side of the question voted upoD,
can scarcely be considered a demonstration
of the popular sentiment. At such an eieo
tion, all that large class who ere not at ouce
for the Union and against coercion, would be
coerced to vote against the Union.
It may be affirmed, without extravagance
that the free institutions we enjoy have de
veloped the power and improved the condi
tion of our whale people. beyond any exam
ple in the world. Of this we now have a
striking and impressive illuetat on. SJ large
an army as the Government has now on foot
was never before known, with >ut a single
soldier in it but who had taken his place of
his own free choice.
But more than this. There are many sin
gle regiments whose members one and an
other possess full practical knowledge of all
the arts, sciences, professions, and whatever
else, whether useful or elegant is known in
the world ; and there is scarcely one from
which there could not be selected a Presi
' dent, a Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a
! Court abundantly competent to administer
| the government itself. Nor do I stpy this is
: not true also in the army of our late friends,
i now adversaries in this contest. But if it is
so, so much better the reason why the Gov
ernment which has conferred such benefits
j on both tb< m and us should not be broken
| ttP-
Whoever, in any section, proposes teaban
don 6uoh a Gorerntneat, wonld do wolf to
' consider in reference to what principle it is
that he does it. What better be is iikely to
; get in its stead. Whether th.- substitute will
i give, or be intended, to give, so much good
to the perple. There arc some for-had w
ings on this subject. Our advercaiies have
adopted some declarations of independence
in which, unlike the good old one, penned
by Jefferson, the omit thev words "all men
are created equal-'' Why ? They have
i adopted a temporary National Constitution,
in the preamble of which, unlike our good
old one, signed by Washington, they omit,
"We, the people." and substitute, "We the
deputies of the sovereign and independent
States."
VVhy ? Why this deliberate pressing out
of view the rights of men and the authority
of the people ?
This is essentially a peoples' contest. Ou
the side of the Union it is a stiuggle for
maintaining, in the world, that form and
substance of government, whoee leading ob
ject is to elevate the condition of men ; to
lift the artificial weights from their should
ers ; to clear 6be paths of laudable pursuit
for all ; to afford men an unfettered start,
and a fair chance in the race ot life.
Yielding to partial and temporary depnr
ures from necessity, :his is the leading ob
ject of the Government tor whose exis'eooe
' we contend.
j lam most happy to believe that the plain
■ people understand and appreciate this. It is
I worthy of note that while in this, the govern
j meut's hour ot trial, large numbers of those
in the army and navy who have been hou
| ored with offices have resigned and proved
j false to the hand that had pampered them.—
Not one common soldier or common sailor
;is known to have' des-rfed his fiag. Great
honor is doe to those officers who remained
true, despite the example of their traitorous
associates. But the greatest honor and the
I most important fact of ail, is the unanimous
, firmness of the common soldiers and common
I sailors. To the last man so far as known,
they have successfully resisted the traitor
ous efforts of those whose commands but an
hour before they obeyed as absolute law.—
This is the patriotic instinct ot a plain peo
ple. They understand without an argument
that the destroying of the Government which
was made by Washington, means no good to
them. Our popular G .vernment has often
; been called an experiment. Two points in
; it our people have already settled. The suo
i cessful estab'iehing and the successful ad
j ministering of it One snli remains. Its
, Bucces-fal ni'itntainance against a forinida
: blo interna! muiiipt to overthrow it. It is
i for them to demonstrate to the world, that
| thus* who can fairly carry an election can
■ also suppress a rebellion; that ballots are the
! rightful and peaseful successors of bullets
and that wheu ballots have fairly i,a 1 Oon
l stitutionally decided, there can be i.o suc
cessful appeal back to bullets, that there can
i be-no successfgl appeal except to ballots
themselves at sncoeding elections. Such
I will be a great lesson of peaee, teaching men
| what they cannot take by an election, neith—
i er can they take it hy war ; teaching all the
: folly of being the beginners of the war.
Lest there he some uneasiness in the
minds of candid men as to what is to be the
1 course of the Government towards the South
| em Stales alter the rebellion shall have been
| suppressed, the Ex cutive deems it proper to
j say it will be his purpose then, as ever, to he
i guided by the Constitution and the laws,
and that lie probably will have no differ*nt
understanding of the powers and duties of
the Fedetal Govern*ent, relatively to the
rights of the States and the people under the
Cons'irution then rxpre.-spd in the Inau Ural
Addiess, He desires to preserve the Gov
ernment that it may he ad ministered to all as
tt was administered hy the men who made it.
Loyal citizens everywhere have the right to
claim tb s of tneir Government, and the Gov.,
ernment has no rig' t to withhold <<r neglect
it. It is not pireptved that in giving it tt.ere
is any coercion, and conquest or subjugatiou
in HI y just sens? of those terms,
i The Constitution provides, and all the
State- have accepted the provision that the
United States shall guarantee to every State
in this Union u Republican form of Govern
ment. But if a State may lawlully go out i f
the Union, having done so it may also dis
card the Republican form ol Government, so
that to prevent it? going on, it is all indis
pensable to use every means to the end of
maintaining the guaranty. When an end is
lawful and obligatory the ind : 8| ensable
means to obtain t> are also luwtul and obli
gatory.
1 was with the deepest regret that tl e
Executive found the duty of employing the
war power in defence of the Government for
| ced upon him. He could but perform this
j duty or surrender the existence nf the Gov
j eminent. No compromise by public ser
| vants could in this ease be a cure. Not that
1 compromise are not often proper, but that
no popular movement can long survive tu
i marked precedent. That those who carry
! an election can only save the Government
i from immediate disruption, by giving up the
I main p'.-iot, upon which the people gave the
I election. The people themselves, and pot
their servants can safely reverse their own
deliberate decision*.
As a private citizen, the Executive could
not have consented that these institutions
shall perish much less would be in betrayal
ot so vast and so sacred a trust as these free
people had confided to him.
He felt that ha had no ruoral right to shrink
i nor even to court the chances of his own life
'in wh.-.t might follow. In full view of his
i great responsibility, he has so far done what
Ihe bad deemed his duty. You will now,
| uecordiug to your own judgement, perform
i yours. lie sincerely hopes that your views
Bnd your actions may so accord with his as
: to assure all faithful citizens who have dis
turbed ic their rights of a certain and speedy
restoration to them under the Constitution
and the laws.
And having thus chosen our course with
out guile and pure purpose, lat us renew our
trust in God, and go forward without fear
and with manly hearts.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
JCLT, stb, 1861.
Skirmish with Gov. Wise's Body Guard-
Gov. Wise reported Mortallv Wounded-
FORTY REBELS KILLED.
CINCINNATI. July 7. —A special dispatch
to the Commercial from Pnmeroy, Ohio states
that Col. Norion with 150 men had just re"
turned from an expedition into Virginia, du
ring which they captured four horses, six
teen head of cattle, and two mules from the
rebels.
Gov. Wise, with a body guard of fifty men
under Captain Patton, had been fired at by
the native Virginians near Sessonville and
l Wise and Patton were supposed to be mor
tally wounded. Forty of the guard are alga
J said to be killed. Sessonville is in Kanawha
j county about twenty five miles from the
Ohio river.
j The report is undoubtedly true in sub
stance. hut the wounding of Wise and Pat
ton needs confirmation.
J. M. Mc- n.—Owing to the length of
the President's Message your communica
tion has been crowded out this week. We
I will, however, give it room in oar next week's
paper.