J. GERRITSON, Publisher. } For the Montrose Democrat. The Great Conflict between. Democ racy and AbolitiOnism—Or be tween Liberty and Despotism. 44 Centralization of power was the great evil against which the American patriots en deavored to guard the country, by se curing legislative authority to the several States. It is this feature of our Constitu tion that has' preserved the Republic so long. France has no conception of a State in which different provinces shall be self-goierning, enacting and executing their'own laws. England has just begun to discover that this is the true principle of government; ignorance of this law co st her the brightest jewel in her crown. Mier the American colonies had achieved their independence, they were jealous of their right of self-government, as inde peolent States. Any attempt to rob thdin of their sovereignty would have sig nally failed. The fathers of the revolu tion understood what the genius of free dom required. They knew that the sur est foundation for permanent, harmonious men, was the recognition of independent State sovereignty. The powers of Con gress were defined, and the field of legis lation restricted. Instead of governing the States bya central, paramount author ity, each State is guarantied supreme con trol within its own limits. All history shows that for any great extent of terri tory, a consolidated republic is an imprac ticable form of government. It must be ephemeral. It contains within itself the seeds of dissolution. It will either be broken into fragments by jarring inter- ests, or pass over into the bands of a Dic tator. The fugitive slave law thus inter feres with the sovereignty of the States, and if the claim over the States is persis ted in, collision is inevitable--revolution is begun." The above theory of our government was given by a religious organ of the an ti-slavery Society in 1857—the American Baptist—and although the return of fu gitive slaves to their masters was a com pact between the States, and one of the compromises of the Constitution when the Union was formed, these Abolition ists were so tenacious of the sovereignty of the States, and the right of each State to self-government, that they declared civil war, if the laws in regard to fugitive slaves should be carried out ; and said that resistance to those laws was as justi fiable as the resistance of their fathers to the stamp act of the British government. Yet, although they declared that cen tralization of power was the great evil it bid] the American patriots endeavored to guard their country against, they form ed a conspiracy to centralize all power in their own hands, and take away the right of self-government from eleven American States. They declared to the world that it was this very feature in our Constitu tion that had preserved our Republic so long; yett,they have proposed an amend ment to the Constitution which destroys that feature, and thus destroys the whole structure of our government, and consoli dates it into an empire. They owned that " our fathers were jealous. of the right of self-government, as independent States, and any attempt to rob them of their sovereignty would have signally failed." Yet they admit that they have waded through four years of bloody war to com pel the South to be robbed of the rights which our fathers would have yielded but with their breath. They admitted that "the powers of Congress were defined by the framers of our government, and the field of its legis lation restricted. Yet this abolition Congress claims un limited power over eleven unrepresented States, and an unrestricted field of legis lation. They admitted that "instead of States I being governed by a central, paramount authority, each State is guarantied by the Constitution supreme control within its own limits." Yet they now claim the right to govern the Southern States them selves, and usurp supreme control over the domestic affairs of six millions of pea. ple, whom oar fathers forbade their inter meddling with under the penalty of law. They asserted the fact that "all histo ry shows that for any great extent of ter ritory, a consolidated republic is an im practicable, form of government ; that it will be broken into fragments, or pass over into the hands of a Dictator." Yet with the ink still bright upon the pages which recorded„tbese declarations, this very Abolition party resolved, for the sake of power, and under the pretext of giving liberty and equality to the negro race, to overthrow the government of their fathers, and destroy the liberties of the white people of Atnerica. They con spired ag,tunst the liberties of their own race, and resolved to pass them'over into the hands of a Dictator. What, aggra vates their crimes, and makes their treas on more odious is, that they waded Oro' oceans of blood, bearing aloft: the -banner of the Union, to win soldiers to the strife, while a consolidated empire Was written beneath its folds. • ' . And now for the proof that President Johnson was right in declarixigthat 'Con gress was but a nest of traitors, trying to destroy the Union, and establish a mon archy. 'We'give this same paper as an tbority. As it is what is called an ortho dox Abolition organ, it should be entitled to more credit in its assertions and dec larations of the principles of that party than the organs of the infidel Abolition ists, although they all act in concert and harmony together in the great conspira- cy for the overthrow of the government. After laboring assiduously for thirty years to drive the Southern States from the Un ion so as to bring on a civil war, the .Ab olitionists succeeded at last. War began and their hour for the consummation of their conspiracy arrived. The President of the United States called out troops to put down rebellion and "maintain the in tegrity of the National Union ;" and the Abolitionists joined in the patriotic upris ing of the people to suppress the insur rection, but with what motives will be seen in the following records of their in tentions and designs. The Abolition pa pers quoted above says, in June, 1881 : "Slavery must go down. Human laws and Constitutions that rest not on natu ral rights are as cobwebs. Temporizing statesmen and legislators, who have no higher ideas of government than are de rived from the Constitution and statute books, are not the melt for these times.— We must have magistrates of the Crom wellian stamp, who, in the absence of law for punishing the guilty, be they mon archs or subjects, will not hesitate to make one. We do not want leaders who will prate of Union, the Constitution and the Flag. The men who are in earnest value Constitutions and laws only as means to an end—instruments through which they can secure human rights ; and when they no longer accomplish the ob ject for which they were designed, they are trampled under foot as nullities. " In 1787 the Constitution was formed and we became a nation. By this instru ment the powers of Congress were en larged, bat still no distinct authority was conferred to legislate upon the internal affairs of the States. On the contrary, several provisions were inserted, though avoiding the . obnoxious word slave, and so: worded as' to snit the slaveholder's pur pose, and to admit of that construction in his favor which bas prevailed from the day of its adoption till now. Congress could declare war, but its authority to legislate for the States, or to right do mestic wrongs, was not admitted. But the tramp of armed legions echoes atone the Potomac, and it is for Congress now to make its watchword universal freedom to the slave," Finding the Constitution still in their way, in September they all conspired to gether to trample it under their feet as a nullity. They slid : " Whatever the estimation in which the Constitution has heretofore been held, and we know it, has been worshipped with a reverence nearly amounting to idol otry, it is perfectly plain that it is rapidly losing he importance in the minds of the people. The popular rallying cry is sim ply 'Union.' The Constitution is of sec ondary importance. Another change will be the further consolidation of our gov ernment. The separate States, which have heretofore been allowed almost the entire control of their own affairs, can never again enjoy the same freedom from Congressional control. The Southern States have so abused the independence they have been left to enjoy, so violated all their federal obligations, that a strong centralized government becomes an abso lute necessity. The doctrine that Con gress cannot interfere with ' social and .domestic institutions,' is not, never was, and now, as we believe, never can be, a part of our Constitution. The theory that every State can make whatever ab surd law it pleases, without interference ' from Congress, cannot be to'erated." In July, 1812, the same Abolition or gan continues thus : "By assuming the perpetuity of the Republic, it is easy to see that it must un dergo, considerable change of form and structure. The broken Union can never be restored.. The crisis through which we are passing is not a mere insurrection —it is a revolution. The result, should the nation survive, will be the more com plete solidification of the Republic. We may desire or deprecate, but no human ingenuity Can prevent it. The success of the national arms ensures a consolidated empire. We may change our Constitu tion,'or retain it as it is; but its practical working will be centralization. The pow er of the separate - State governments will be reduced to the smallest' proportions.— Henceforth we are a United. State rather than States; a consolidated Republic ; or it may be,an ImperialDespotisin. t We protect and defend the , rights of univer sal man' will be the motto of the age now coming. Johu Brown caught a glimpse of that glorious idea when he told hie cap tors that the Golden -Rule was his war rant for delivering the captives froze their bonds. The soul of the -gallant old hero is marching on; and is giving shape and substance to the Republic that is to be." Au imperial despot, protecting and de fending the rights of universal man! Such is the government:the Christian Aboli- Oculists of ournountry - have been prepar ing for us, under the leadership of the MONTROSE, PA., TUESDAY, JULY 31, 1866. spirit of old John Brown. Carlyle, in his history of the French revolution, says : " Very frightful it is when a Nation, rending asunder its Constitutions, seeks its wild way through the New Chaotic." Such a frightful vision bas been before the minds of the thinking people of the North for five long years. It was asked by Conthon of one of the Jacobins is the French revolution, of which the late war is almost au exact repetition—history re peating itself—" What haat thou done to be hanged, if counter revolution should come 2" The Sacobins of America may welt ask this question of eat h other ; for, as they have often said, " revolutions never go backward." They should remember that in France it devoured its own authors.— Are the followers of John Brown who are trying to establish the same kind of government in America that Robespierre tried to establish in France, (as we shall prove,) any better than the followers of Robespierre ? Andrew Johnson said in 1859: " I want all these'modern fanatics, who have adopted John Brown and his gallows as their Christ and their Cross, to see who their Christ is He stands before the country as a highway robber, and a mur derer. He whose bands were red, crim son with the blood of a father and his two sons, fell at Harper's Ferry with his two sons. It seems that Divine Providence intended it as an illustration that ven geance will not only overtake its victim, but mete out justice in a similar manner!" Justice having overtaken the leader of those blood-thirsty fanatics, it is reasona ble to believe that it will yet overtake his followers. Their war records are not all yet brought out. The next number will exhibit more fully their high-handed trea son. My Mother's Voice. There's music in the Autumn wind, Around the dripping eaves, And where its pinions stop to play Among the fallen leaves. There's music in the river's flow . Along the pebbly shore, When all the winds have gone to sleep, And boughs are swayed no more. There's music in the cricket's song hoar through avaninfea And in the low of distant herds Returning from the glade. There's music in the household tones That greet the sad or gay, And in the laugh of innocence Rejoicing in its play, But there's music sweeter far In memory than this— The music of my mother's voice, Now in the land of bliss. A music time may Dever still ; I hear it in my dreams, When all the fondness of her face Once more upon me beams. I know not what the angels bear In mansions in the skies, But there is not a sound on earth Like mother's gentle voice. The tears are in my cicuded eye, And sadness in my brain, As Nature whispers in my heart, She will not come again. A mother ! oh, when she departs Her like is never known • The records of affection sp eak Of only, only one I And brighter will that record grow, Through all the changing years, The oftener to the lip is pressed The cup of Sorrow's tears. ilgr'General Sherman in a recent speech at New Haven talked very plain ly. He told the crowd gathered to re ceive him, that the people of New Eng land had been too hard on the South, and were too strong in their prejudices, but perhaps they were not responsible for it, as they have been so educated. He was for the whole country, North and South alike, and he was willing to forget and forgive all past. differences. His sentiments are those of nine-tenths of the gallant men who did the fighting during the war. The radicals, who staid at home, are the men in favor of exterm ination. THAD'S FLOCK.--A southern paper says that 127 negro babies have been born in a neighboring county since the meeting of Congress. Of this number more 'than fifty were named Thad. Stevens. The as sessor asked the mothers the reason for naming their babies that name, and they universally replied that they had been told that there was d great man in Con gress by that name whose wife is a negro woman. —The N. Y. Independent. says : "The name that nerved our volunteers and gave us victory at last over rebellion, was the saintly one of old John Brown." This may be true as regards such soldiers as Gen. Geary. It was Stonewall Jackson's name, however.that , nerved the Gener• 'al's legs when be put . Snichersville so far I:iebind him. HIS WITS ABOUT RIM. I certainly thought he was " out of his head"' Be had such peculiar ways; said peculiar things; and he went about as it he was in a somnamhulio state almost; that is, I don't quite mean that; but he never seemed to take the same notice of what happened about him that other men do. And, as to his ever being surprised at any thing, 1, never knew him to show surprise on but one occasion in his life. What that occasion was, I shall naturally men tion before I am done. His name was Joseph Harrison, and he was a student at the academy at Sandford, one of the style of academies that seem to have nearly gone out of date now, where both sexes were taught under the same roof. I attended the Sandford school. The principal's house was on the corner across the way from the academy, and he boarded a dozen or so of the students. I was one of these boarders. I shall never forget the day Mr. Harri son came to the house to board. I was sitting on the floor piazza, studying. It was late in a summer's afternoon. As he entered the gate I leaned over to look at him, and when he was just underneath, I chanced to drop my book. It struck him on the shoulder, and fell thence to the ground. He turned and looked at it qui etly, and then poked it aside with his big cane. What does he carry that big cane for ? thought I; and why don't he pick up my book, or look up at me, or do any other thing that a rational being would He rung the bell, and I saw no more of him till tea time. He sat directly op posite me at the table. Would you be lieve it he never looked at me once—nor, indeed, at any one else, it sseemed—which was the reason, perhaps, why I looked at him more than I ever did at any other young man in my life—in the same length of time. After tea, we gathered in the parlor, as we were in the habit of doing, and be was introduced to me. He bowed, and then, for the first time, looked at me—or rather, he looked through me—as if be saw something behind me, and my head were as transparent as glass. Then he smiled and turned away. I confess I was provoked at the pecu liar manner of the young man. What amused him, I should like to know. When Belle, Harrison asked me, afterward, how I likeiraer ceetne, x at all. She only laughed, and sam sue believed nobody ever did like him at first. Somebody asked me to sing. I seated myself at the piano, and gave a song in my best manner—which I bad been taught to believe was not an inferior man ner, by any means. My voice is good, and I had received the best musical cul ture. What mysterious influence was at work upon me I did not know; for, if ever I thoroughly disliked a person in my life, I certainly disliked this Mr. Harrison; but it is true, notwithstanding that I sung for him; and when I turned away from the piano, it was with some special curi osity I anticipated his comments, if he chose to make any, or his manner and its meaning, if he chose to hold his tongue. If you w ill believe it, the man was look ing at a painting on the wall—looking at it standing up, with his bands clasped behind him, and his back to the company. Was there ever such a clown ? ' " What was the name of that beautiful song ?" asked 'Orville Red way, a young mau from the village, who had been invi ted to tea, and now sat with us in the parlor. I told him. " I must have it," said he; "it is ex quisite." And be took out his lead pen cil to write on a card the name of the I ) • iece He broke his pencil lead. " Will some one lend me a knife ?" he asked. " I have left mine." Mr. Harrison heard the question, tho' he was still looking at the painting, and produced a. large pocket knife, which be handed to Mr. Red way. "It's very sharp," said he; " be care- ful." The first thing Redway did was to cut his hand. The blood spurted out in jets. He turned pretty white, but just gather ed his band in his handkerchief, and said it was " a mere scratch, of no consequence." " Reg your pardon, sir," Mr. Harrison spoke; "it's of some consequence. You'll lose your life, if you don't look out. ril fix you." He took his own handkerchief and tied it loosely around Redway's arm. Then he took his knife. Shut it carefully, put it under the handkerchief next to the arm, and began to twist it about. As the handkerchief tightened on the arm, the blood ceased to flow. " Send for a doctor," said Mr. Harri- son. " A doctor !" uttered Red way. " Isn't this a good' deal of fuss over a little cut?" "A little cut," said Mr; Harrison, "when you cut an artery, it is a big cut." Dr. Miner was three doors off, and he came in a few minutes. He expressed great approbation of you Harrisons s con duct. Young Harrison as unconcerned as a post, bad.returned ,to his inspection. of the, painting be seemed to admire so much. Ur. Itiftwar soon went on' with the doctor. The knife lay on the table. Out of pure impudence, or some similar feeling, I took up this terrible knife, and acciden- tally cut the end of one of my fingers nearly off. I screamed loudly, for it was a horrid wound, and the blood flowed co piongly. " Well, upon my word I" remarked Mr. Harrison. " Here's another !" Another! How contemptuous the word sounded me ! I, Margaret Baily Monroe, confessedly a belle, a beauty, and a lady of rare accomplishments, besides being heiress to a hundred thousand dollars—l was just " another !" Why didn't he call me a person, and done with it ? " Well, what would he do with my frightful wound ?" "Mix a little flour and salt and put on it," said he; that will stop the bleeding. It is a mere trifle." It may have been a trifle, but it was en ough to make me swoon. Or perhaps I swooned out of downright vexation at the man. When I recovered, he was gone. By and by when Belle and I were alone—we roomed together—l asked her what Mr. Harrison said and did when I fainted. "He said," Belle answered, " lay her on her back, and leave her alone ?" "Is that all be said P" "No; not quite. Some one brought the flour and salt, and be put it on your finger, and said, " There tie a rag around it." A rag! I should certainly hate this young man. After that be became such an object of interest to me that I could scarcely keep my mind off him an hour at a time. I was not long in learning something of his history. It seems that a love of ad venture bad sent him on a cruise round the world, when he was a boy of about sixteen, both his parents being dead. He bad been absent from his native country four years without interruption, and on his return bad decided to go to the acad emy a short time to correct certain lacks in his education. This explained why a man of his advanced age should be at tending school—for he was twenty one if he was a day, Belle assured me. I my self was about seventeen. I was the on ly female student of German at the acad emy, and it was on that account that Mr. Harrison manifested some degree of inter est in me, I suppose, for he was almost enthusiastic in his admiration of that scho lastic tongue. So I saw a good deal of b W i ler 0 tow ing , Sand's, in Sandford, one bitter cold night, I chanced to be alone with Nellie Wells one moment in an upper chamber which was used as a cloak room for the lady guests. There was a furious fire in the stove, and its sides were red hot. Nellie was a pretty girl, but rather dull. She wore a dress of some gauzy fabric, and going too near the stove, it took fire. I ran out of the room, screaming at the top of of my voice : "Mr. Harrison ! Mr. Harrison ! Oh, Mr. Harrison !" He came quickly into the hall; saw me; was up the stairway with a bound; and as I was running back into the room, he went past me, pushing me aside rather rudely, and took in all with a quick cool glance. Nellie had hauled a quilt from a bed that was in the room, and was trying to stifle the flames. He threw her on the floor, rolled her over and over in the quilt, like a mummy; and extinguished the flames at once—bugged her, too. She was very badly burned, after all; but her rice was not touched by the flames; so that she was just as pretty as ever. " Remarkably sensible girl," said Mr. Harrison afterward, to a group that taus tared about him in the parlor. "Most girls would have rushed headlong into the hall, screaming like"—be looked at me—" like mad," he added, with a quiet smile. "If I ever marry," said he, "which I probably never shall, 1 shall marry a sensible woman—a woman who would not set up a scream if our youngest should fall into a tub of hot water, but would pull the child out as quickly as possible, and send for a doctor.' Somehow, I was vain enough to think this sarcastic speech was intended solely to rebuke me. I knew I should certainly scream in such case. It was my nature to scream, and how could I help my na ture P As for that poor little. Nellie Wells, I hated her and almost wished it had been my own dress that had caught fire—only I should certainly have burned to death before Mr. Harrison would have come and wrapped me in a 4uilt and hugged me. From that day forward, some power ful influence was at work upon me. I struggled hard after that cool manner in danger which Mr. Harrison possessed in so eminent a degree. I even ventured in the pursuit of perfection, to ask him how he could do it. " I suppose," said he, "it is because I naturally have such an extreme terror of danger in every shape—such a lively spil -1 pathy with those in peril—that I feel very strangely the necessity - for being calm when the others are excited. I -Think that whatever excuse a lady may have for llosing her. wits—and that, is, at the best, very little—a man has UQ. excuse whatev er. I always try to keep my wits about me. {VOLUME XXIII, NUMBER 31. "To be calm, then," said I, with the withering irony common to girls of from fourteen to eighteen, " one only ngeds to have his wits about him." " Exactly," said he ; "or change the sex, her wits about ber." " Just as," I added, " the secret of wealth is to get money." " And to keep it said be. On one thing I was fully determined— he never should bear me scream again. However, he left school soon after; and I did likewise in about six months. I had effected a great change in myself when we met again. It was in the summer of the year which saw me pass my twentieth birth day, that we met at Niagara Falls. lie was there with his cousin, my dear friend Belle Harrison, and I with my mother and sister. On a certain day, we were all taking a walk on Goat Island, when mother dropp ed her parasol, and it slid down the bank some fifteen or twenty feet, and out of reach. Mr. Harrison descended the bank after it, but though he used proper can- Lion, his foot slipped on the treacherous soil, as he was returning, and he slid rap idly down, to the very verge of the pre cipice. I expected nothing else than to see him go over, and be dashed to pieces on the rocks a hundred feet below; but though the three other ladies screamed loudly, I did not. You see, I was pretty thoroughly drilled by this time. How ever, as Mr. Harrison neared the edge of the precipice, he threw out his right hand —still holding the parasol in his left—and seized the upturned roots of a tree which leaned out over the chasm shook violently under the sudden shock, and the roots began to tear themselves out of the •thin soil slowly and steadily, under the influence of this superadded weight. In a few minutes more it would give way, and then Mr. Harrison would be killed. I knew my face was pale, and I was terribly frightened; but I leaned forward and spoke to him : " Tell me what to do." • "Take all the ladies' shawls, skirts, and any other articles of dress . that you can spare, and which are strong; cut them in, wide, strong strips; tie them firmly to- gether and make a rope." I obeyed as calmly as I knew be would have done, bat none the less expeditious ly on that: account, be, very sure. He A Li:inter* while I was doing his bidding, a - spoke as deliberately as if he stood in safety by my side. " Your calmness is quite charming, Miss M9nroe," said he. "Be sure and make the knots tight. I judge that this tree may be relied on with perfect con fidence for ten or fifteen minutes yet. Your rope is long enough, now, I think. Tie a stone to the end, and let that end down to me. That's it. All right now. Do nothing but hold fast and stand still, ladies, and I will home up to you." He drew himself up, hand over hand, with extreme caution, and was saved. My mother's parasol was restored to her with a courtly bow; and he brushed the dust from his clothes and walked away with us. I walked by his side; but he made no reference to the peril just passed. That evening however, as we sat on the piazza of our hotel, where it overlooks the river—how well I remember the rush ing sound of the waters down below ! he said : " We are alone now, Miss Monroe, and I can thank you for saving my life, with out offence to the other ladies." . It was too dark, out there, fur him to see the blush of delight that went over my face at these words. How much they meant to me " I knew I was as good as saved," said be, " when I saw you standing with tight ly clasped hands and your under lip sup pressed by your shining teeth, while Belle and the other ladies were trying to drown the roar of old Niagara with their shrieks. I never saw one of your sex before'who had the control over herself which you manifested to day. If I had seen snob an exhibition anywhere it would naturally ' have awakened my admiration; bat when it happened to be an exhibition in which my own life or death was concerned, you may, imagine my feelings." The tone in which he uttered' these words was so tender and true !-- r it said so plainly that he would gladly devote all his future life to me ! But; though tone and manner said this, his words' did not say it; and I knew the . . reason.. Hein lieved me already betrothed. William Willis was the'son 'of a New York merchant who had been a. school mate with my father. It was my father's wish that we should be married. . I loved my father, and was anxious to be' pleased with his friend's, son. Young Willis had been a frequent guest and many considered us already betroth ed. He was an agreeable companionin the parlor—a good dancer, and all that; but oared I more for one look of ,Toseph Harrison's earnest, honest grayeyt) . s than I did for William whole , According _to a previous appointment, Mr. Willis came to the Falls urine our stay. He arrived on the evening of the The tree
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