r
Two Dollas per Aiinnn.
. UYJACOBY, I'ublislicrO
Trntb and Right Cod and oar Country.
BLOOMS BURG. COLUMBIA COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY AUGUST 26, 1863.
NUMBER 44
VOLUME 14.
E NQETH.
r
OF
STIR OF THE NORTH
rUlU9B 1T1KT WlDXiaPiT IT '
Wm. a. JAcoBr,
Cfflce oa aiainlSt., 3rd Square below Market,
TERMS: Two Dollars per annom Upaid
within six momhs from the time of subscri
bing : two dollars and fifty cents if not paid
within thfc year. No subscription taken for
a less period than six months; no discon
tintiance permitted until all arrearages are
" pai J, unless at the option of the editor.
'Iki terms of advertising will be as follows :
Ons square, tw elve lines three times, SI 00
Evury subsequent insertion, ..... 25
Onu square, three months 3 00
Onu year, ... 8 00
(Erjoicc rjoetrrj.
THE PRHTEIl 1SD THE PRESS.
The Printen! How I love them !
: For what you'd hardly guess :
Lore them lor patient, honest toil,
Their fellow men to bless.
They falter rot, though oftentimes,
These poor men go unpaid;
And every line the sheet contains,
Is sert without our aid.
JIow ignorant we all should be,
Without them and the Press,
To furnish, for our famished miuds,
A L'uenirj Mess."
The Printer and the Press,
God bless them, day by day,
For every high and noble thought
They shed around our way.
May wreaths of heavenly love entwine,
The Press Inventor's soul,
While knovfledge spreads from clime to
And truth from pole to pole. dime,
CO Jl I C ATEtt.
Improvement of ton Mind.
The mind is a strong piece of machinery,
. that no one can fully understand, save he
who first placed it in ihece mortal bodies of
ours. In regard to depth it is like an un
. .fathomable water. In width it is without
; boundary. In length it lives through all
time and we believe through all eVrnity.-.
In bright it, reaches above the per. enable
things of time. In regard to motion it is
rusver at retl, and is never satisSed with
present attainments, but each draught we
drink from the wells of science, serves but
to create a (hirst for more, and every new
idea that strikes the brain finds for itself a
. ready channel to the mind. Even when
all nature lulls nt to repose and we close
our eyelids in slumber, when thus there
suem to be a sort of forgetfuloess to sur
rounding objects, the mind rests not wholly,
for it. oft leaves these weary bodies and
Hike air) flight to visit distant lands and
absent friends, and when our bodies have
been refreibed by rest i again ready to
: reign supreme master of every movement
But what is mind without improvement?
- Unless we cultivate it, it is as unproductive
as the barren fields without tillage, as use
' less as the untouched oar in the mountain,
as rude as the marble without a sculptor.
' We do not believe in natural genious or
superiority of mind; that there are and ever
fcave been great and magnanimous minds
.-ire do not doubt, but that tbey were natur
ally so far imperior to others we do doubt.
We think it more the result of extraordinary
eiertions and perhaps partly owing to the
peculiar circumstances in which those great
minds may have been placed. Very often
situation in which we have been placed
gives formation to the mind. Early impres-:
ions made upon the mind of the child are
tever wholly erased. It is while very young
the mind should be taught to labor and to
think. If the . mind of the child is early
taught to love indolence and ease such a
life becomes natural, and a love of ease
predominates over all the other faculties of
lh mind. When we see uncommonly dull
or careless children we generally find that
- the aspirations of their young minds have
bee a kept down by the debasing influences
around tbm , or by the mistaken kindness
of their parents who fearing, to overtask
. their minds, have failed to give them the
"iequiiii8 amount of food. And have we
. not often aeec .children whom we have
. looked upon as dull boys when through the
icisituds of fortune orihe dispensation of
ja Divine Providence, they have been called
apon to take their place in the busy world
and depend upon their own exertions, make
' i:he most intelligent and useful men. The
" micd has i.hus been called into action, its
" donoant faculties awakened, the fire of am
fcilion kindled within and thus they have
begnn ihelir work in earnest. -
- The mind that would be strong and ac-
" tire must Searn to labor early and late with
, out hope of reward except that of being
Abla under every circumstance and in every
isitoatioa to "administer to its own comfort
and consolation. And what greater reward
can we desire than to know our own minds
thoroughly, to have them well stored with
useful knowledge, to be able to draw there
ifioa a balm for a very wound inflicted upon
erring humanity. The truly cultivated mind
" jSnds pleasure and happiness in every ob
. iet around it, no matter how humble the
js ' "
position, how lowly the circumstances in
- which it may be placed, it soars triumphant
above tbein all. Mind is the man or wo
jsjaia ni7 Parl worth -adorning, the only
part that ican command either respect or
,et!!era; we may envy the rich man his
' ihcarded weakh and broad domain, but we
xsrpucl him not for all these. Well has the
Pott said ."our hearts ne'er bow but to an-
- perior wotth nor ever tan oi iaeir at.egiasjco
;ihe ." VteKuat , labor if we wish to be
esti er usaj ul cr happy. Fnend.3 nor fortune,
fccci ec -schools-cannot do .tkia for usj
they may sometimes assist us in removing
some obstructions that crowd our pathway,
but the work is ours and we must perform
it if we wish to obtain the reward.
Inertia is not a law of nature, it is merely
a law of circumstance or of chance. All
things in. nature labor. The Planets pur
sue their unceasing course from day to day.
The earth fails not in yielding her produc
tions. The waters pursue their course obe
dient to the Heavenly mandate, all in order
and harmony. We must also observe order
in mental labor less by over exertion on
one day we destry our strength for the next
and thereby lose more than we gain ; we
should never overtask the mind, but en
deavor to enlarge before we enlarge the
task, otherwise what we intend as healthful
food for the mind will but serve to weaken
and disorder it, and instead of opening the
deep fountain of thought will but throw
obstructions in its course.
Some persons, it is true, slide along very
easily through the world, without ever hav
ing a thought of their own, living on other
people's thoughts and works, but it is scan
ty fare, and worse than folly to steal from
their neighbor's gardens and leave their
own uncultivated. This is why there are
so many in our country who as we often
say have no minds of their own. They
certainly have no lorce of character, no
purpose of mind no course marktd out
which they intend to pursue. Such persons
never coin new thoughts from the well
within their own minds. They are one day
copying after some person whom their fan
cy may have painted as perfection, and
perhaps the very next day copying after
another One week courting the friendship
of one set or class of people, and per
haps the very next week trying to gain
popularity with another.
A man or woman without purpose of
mind and force of character sufficient to
enable them to pursue the right course
whithersoever it may lead, is like a ship
tossed to and fro on the Ocean, in a raging
storm, without a Captain to command and
without a port in view. We can never be
come learned by following in the footsteps
of another, not because he did. not succeed
nor because he is not our superior, but
merely because his thoughts do not become
oar thoughts or rather we having a supply
of his at hand, do not deem it necessary for
us to think at all, but are content to be only
j imitators, using counterfeit thoughts instead
' of real, merely because they ara better pol
ished and save us the trouble of thinking
for ourselves. I love to think of the great
' minds that have gone before us and have
trod the paths of wisdom and of knowl
edge, and as loig as they assist as in think
ing and teach ns to improve ourselves they
are useful, but not when they induce us to
build airy castles upon imitation.
The greatest poets, orators, statesman,
and historian labored to become great, and
the most obvious reason why they succeed-
j ed and surpassed others, is because they
I have taken a wider view and made greater
i exertions to attain it. There are instances
1 to the contrary, but generally the lives of
all truly great men have been a course of
continued study. Milton was regularly at
his studies and pursued them until be had
masiered the wisdom of his age. Pascal
killed himself by study. Cisero's health
was impaired by the same course. And
although it is not necessary nor indeed
right for us all to study, so as to impair our
heahh. Yet when we speak of great minds
we should count the cost of their greatness,
and the sacrifices tbey have made to be
come distinguished. Then perhaps we will
not envy them their high position in knowl
edge nor think that nature placed them up
on the summit while we must remain at
the bottom. Our Washington was a good
and great man, but not naturally so. His
tory tells us he was a man of strong pas
sions but be strove to bring them In sub
jection to his Heavenly, master's will. That
he was a great or a successful man without
labor no one can for a moment imagine.
1 His boyhood was a life of hardy endurance,
and danger never moved him where duly
was concerned. The All-wise Creator has
placed as here upon this earth and left us
to choose good or evil, knowledge, or igno
rance. All nature teaches us that be delights
in our happiness and improvement. The
study of his great work advances both.-
And if we fail to study them we are diso-
beyingbim just as much by omiting to
improve as by really doing wrong. He has
spread out before ns an unexhauatible
course of study from which we may con
tinually drink refreshing draughts, yet ever
thirst for more. The Planet on which we
live is filled with matter to urge us to search
out its hidden mysteries. -
He who best improves his mind, and
studies moat, nature's works lives uearest
to their Author, and enjoys his approbation.
His great work was not finished until he
created man to reverence and adore the
author of so much wisdom and goodness.
He could have created the mind large
enough to have comprehended all his works,
and perhaps would have done so, had be
not designed us to labor and receive pleas
ure in improvement.' .
Aug. 26, 1363. c. wtw.
A coquette is a young lady of more beau-
t than sense ; more accomplishments than
learning ; more charms of person than
grace of mind ;more admirers than friends;
more fools than wise men for attendants. .
Mint women thins of nothing but dress.
To them, the horizon is but the blue crino
line of creation.
SPECIFIES OP REBEL VERSE,
(Fjom the Richmond Dispatch.)
A SOUTHERN SCENK.
Oh ! mammy have you heard the newJr
; Thus spoke a southern child,
a in ine nurse s ageu lace
She upward glanced and smiled.
What news, you mean, my little one !
It must be mighty fine,
To make my darling' face so red,
Her sunny blue eyes shine.
Why, Abraham Lincoln, don't you know,
The Yankee President,
Whose ugly picture once we saw,
When up to town we went.
Well, he is going to free you all,
And make you rich and grand,
And you'll be dressed in silk and gold,
Like the proudest in the land.
A glided coach shall carry you,
Where'ere you wish to ride;
And, mammy, all your work shall be
Forevei laid aside.
The eager speaker paused for breath,'
And then the old nurse said,
While closer to her swarthy cheek
She pressed the golden head :
My little missus stop and rest,
You're talking mighty fast;
Jes look up dere, and tell me what
You see in yonder glass '?
You sees o'd mammy's wrinkly face,
As black as any coal ;
And underneath her handkerchief
Whole heaps of knotty wool.
My darliu's face is red and white,
Her skin is sott and fine,
And on her pretty little head
De yallar ringlets shine.
My chile, who made dis difference
'Twixl mammy and ;twixt you 1
You reads de Lord's blessed book,
And you kin tell me true.
De dear Lord said it mast be so,
And. honey, I for one,
Wid thankful heart will always say,
His holy will be done.
I tanks mas Linknm all de same,
But wheu 1 wants for free,
I'll ask de Lord of glory,
Not poof buckra man like he,
And as for gilded carriages,
Day's noihin' 'tall to see;
My massa's coach what carries him,
Is good enough for me.
And honey, when your mammy wauls ,
To change her homespun dress,
She'll pray like dear old missus,
To be clothed with righteousness.
My work's been done dis many a da,
And now 1 takes my ease,
A waiiin' for de master's call
Jest when de master please.
And when at last de time's done come,
And poor old mammy dies,
Your own dear mother's solt white hiiud
bnali close dete tired olJ eyes.
De dear Lord Jesus soon will call
Old many mammy home to him,
And he can wash my guilty soul
From ebery spot of sin.
And at his feet I shall lie down,
Who died and rose for me ;
And den, and not till den, my chile
Your mammy will be lree.
Come, little misses, say your prayerti,
Let ole ma Linkum lone.
The debit knows who b'longs to him,
And he'll take care of hi own.
ADDRESS
or THB
DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE.
To the People of Pennsylvania :
An important election is at hand, and the
issues involved in it may now claim your
attention. The tide of war has bee t rolled
back from our borders ; and with thanks to
God, and gratitude to the skill and valor
which, by his favor, achieved the prompt
deliverance of our invaded Commonwealth,
we may now give our solemn consideration
to the causes that have brought to its pres
ent condition a country once peaceful, uni
ted and secure. It is now the scene of a
great civil war, between States that lately
ministered to each other's prosper ty in a
Union founded for their common good. It
was this Union that gave them p eace at
home and respect abroad. They coped
successfully wiih Great Britain- on the
, f
' i . i tii .-., i i n :
ocean, anu me uucmnn miereu vy f iei-
dent Monroe warned off the raonurchs of
Europe from the whole American continent.
Now, France carves out of it an empire,
and ships built in England plunder our
commerce on every sea. A great public
debt and a conscription burden the people.
The strength and wealth of the nation are
turned from productive industry and con
sumed in the destructive arts of war. Our
victories all fail to win peace. Throughout
the land, arbitrary power encroaches upon
civil liberty.
What has brought the disastrous change ?
No natural causes embroiled the North and
the South. Their interchangeable p roducts
and commodities, and various institutions,
were sources of reciprocal benefit, and ex
cluded competition and strife. But an arti
ficial cause of dissension was found in the
position of the African race; and the ascend
ency in the national councils of men pledg
ed to an aggressive and unconi tutional
Abolition policy, has brought our country
to the condition of "the house divided
against itself." The danger to the Union
began where statesmen had foreseen it ; it
began in the triumph of a sectional party,
founded on principles of revolutionary hos
tility to the Constitution and the laws. The
leaders of this party were pledged 13 a con
flict with rights recognized and sheltered
by the Constitution. They called this con
flict "irrepressible;" and whenever one
party is determined to attack what another
is determined to defend, a conflict can al
ways be made irrepressible." They count
ed on an easy triumph through tha aid of
insurgent slaves, and, in this reliance, were
careless how soon they provoked -i collis
ion. Democrats and Conservatives strove
to avert the conflict. They saw that Union
was the paramount interest of their country,
and they stood by the great bond of Union,
the Constitution of the United States. They
were content to leave debatable questions
under it to the high tribunal framed to de
cide them; they preferred it to the sword
aa an arbiter between the States ; they
strove hard to merit the title which their
opponents gave them in scorn the titipof
'UnioP-savers." We will not at length re
hearse their efforts. In the Thirty sixth
Congress the Republican leaders refused
their assent to the Crittenden Compromise.
On this point the testimony of.' Mr. Douglas
will suffice. He 6aid :
"I believe this to be a fair basis of ami
cable adjustment. If you of the Republi
can side are not willicg to accept this, nor
the proposition of the Senator from Ken
tucky (Mr. Crittenden), pray tell ns what
you are willing to do ? I address the inqui
ry to the Republicans alone, for the reason
that, in the Committee of Thirteen, a few
days ago, every member from the South in
cluding thoee from the coiion States (Mesrs
Davis and Toombs), expressed their readi
ness to accept the proposition of my vener
able triend from Kentucky, Mr. Crittenden,
as a final settlement of the controversy, if
tendered and sustained by the Republican
members. Hence the sole responsibility of
cur disagreement, and the only difficulty in
the way of an amicable adjustment, is with
the Republican party." Jan. 3, 186).
The Peace Congress was an'other means
by which the border Stales strove to avert
the.impending strife. How the Republican
leaders then conspired against the peace of
their country may be seen in a letter from
Senator Chat.dler, of Michigan, to the Gov
ernor of that Slate :
"7o His Excellency, Justin Blair :
4 Governor Bingham and myself tele
graphed you on Saturday, at the reqnet of
Massachusetts and New Yoik.tosend dele
gates to the Peace or Compromise Congress
They admit that we were right and that
they were wrong; that no Republican State
should have sent delegates but they are
here and cannot get away. Ohio, Indiana
and Rhode Island are caving in.and there is
danger of Illinois ; and now they beg us for
God's sake to come to their rescue, and
save the Republican party from rupture. I
hope you will send stiff backed men or none.
The whole thing was gotten up against my
judgment and advice, and will end in thin
smoke. Stilt I hope as a matter of courtesy
to some of our erring brethren that you will
send the delegates,
"Truly, your friend,
'Z. Chandler.''
'P. S. Some ot the manufacturing States
think that a fight would be awful. With
out a little blood letting this Union will not,
in my estimation, b worth a rash.
"Washington, Feb. 11, 1861."
In Pennsylvania, too, the same spirit pre
vailed. It was not seen bow necessarily
her position united her in interest with the
border States. She learned it since, from
contending armies trampling out her har
vests and deluging her fields with blood.
Gov. Curtin sent to the Peace Congress Mr.
Wilmot and Mr. Meredith.
Mr. Wilmot was chifly known from the
connection of his name with the attempt to
embroil the country by the "Wilmct Pro
viso," baffled by patriotic statesmanship, in
which Clay and Webster joined with the
Democratic leaders ; just as Clay and Jack
son had joined in the Tariff Compromise of
1863. Mr Meredith had published his be
lief that the mutterings of the rising storm
were what he called "stridulous cries," un
worthy ol the slightest attention.
By Mr. Lincoln's election, in November,
1860, the power to save or destroy the Un
ion was in the hands of his party, and no
adjustment was possible with men who re
jected the judgment of the Supreme Court,
who scorned conciliation and compromise,
and who looked to a "little blood-letting"
to cement the American Union. Till this
time, the Uojon men of the South had con
trolled, with little difficulty, the small but
restless class among them who desired a
separate nationality. The substantial inter
ersts of the Sooth, especially the slavehold
ing interest, were drawn reluctantly into
secessiou. Gen. F. P. Blair, of Missouri,
an eminent Republican, said very truly, in
the last Congress :
"Every man acquainted with the facts
knows that it is fallacious to call thin "a
slaveholders" rebellion. A
closer scrutiny demonstrates the contrary to
be true; such a scrutiny demonstrates that
the rebellion originated chiefly with the
non-slaveholders resident in the strongholds
of the institution, not springing, however,
from any love of slavery, but from an an
tagonism of race and hostility to the idea of
equality with the blacks involved in sim
ple emancipation."
It was the triumph of the Abolitionists over
the Democrats and Conservatives of the
North, that secured a like triumph to the
secessionists over the Union men of South.
The John Brown raid was taken as.a prac
tical exposition of the doctrine of "irrepres
sible conflict." The exultation over its
momentary success, the lamentation over
its failure, had been swelled by the Aboli
tionists, so as to seem a general expression
of Northern feeling. Riots and rescues had
nullified the constutional provision for the
return ot fogilives The false pretence that
slavery would monopolize the territories,
when we had no territories in which it
could exist, had been used as a means of
constant agitation against slavery in the
Southern States. A plan of attack upon it
had been published in Hepler's book, for
mally endorsed and recommended by the
leaders of the party that was about to as
sume the Administration of the Federal
Government leaders who openly inculca
ted contempt for the Constitution, contempt
for the Supreme Court, and profesoed to
follow a "higher law." Thus the flame of
revolution at the Sooth was kindled and j
fed with fuel furnished by the Abolitionists
It might seem superfluous to advert now to
what is past and irrevocable, were it not
that it is against the same men and the
same influences, still dominant in the coun
cils of the Administration, that an appeal
is now to be made to the intelligence of the
people. The Abolilionsta deprecate these
allusions to the past. To cover up t-heir
own tracks, they invite us to spend all our
indignation upon ''Southern traitors ;" but
truth compels us to add, that, in the race of
treason, the Northern traitors to the Con
stitution bad the start. They tell us that
slavery was the cause of the war; therefore,
the Union is to be restored by waging a
war upon blavey. This is not true ; or only
true in the sense that any institution, civil
or religious, may be a cause of war, if war j
is made iipon it. Nor is it a just oonclu- i
sion that if you take from your neighbor
his "man-servant or his maid, or anything
that is his," you will thus establish har
mony between you. No danger to the
Union arose from slavery whilst the people
of each Stale dealt calmly and intelligently
with the equeslion within their own Slate
limits. WheYe little importance attached
to it, it eoon yeilded to moral and economi
cal considerations, leaving the negro in a
position of social and politcal subordination
no where more clearly marked than in the
Constitution and laws of Pennsylvania.
The strife bean when people in Slates
where it was an immaterial question under
took to prescribe the course of duty upon it
to States in which it was a question of great
importance and difficulty. This interfer
ence became more dangerous wh i at
tempts were made to use the power of the
General Government, instituted for the
benefit of all the States, to the injury and
proscription of the interests of some of the
Slates It was not merely a danger to the
institution of slavery, but our whole politi
cal system, in which separate and distinct
colonies became, by the Declaration of Inde
pendence, "free and independent States,"
and af'erwards established a Federal Un
ion ander the Constitution of the United
States. That instrument, with scrupulous
care, discriminates the powers delegated
to the General Government from those re
served "to the Slates respectively, or to the
people." And let it be noted, that . in
speaking of the powers so delegated and
reserved, we refer to no vague doctrines or
pretentions, but to the clear provisions of
the written instrument which it is the doty
of every citizen, and especially of every
public functionary, to repect and maintain.
The protection of American liberty against
the encroachments of centralization was
left to the States by the framers of the Con
stitution. Hamilton, the most indulgent of
them to the Federal power, says : "It may
be 6afely received as an axiom in our politi
cal system, that the State Governments will
in all possible contingencies, afford com
plete security against invasions of public
liberty by the national authority." Who
can be blind to the consequences that have
followed the departure from the true prin
ciples, of our Government? ' Abolition"
vies with "secession" in sapping the very
foundations of the structure reared by our
forefaiherc In Pennsylvania, the party on
whoe acts you will pass at the ballot-box
has trampled upon the great rights of per
sonal liberty and the freedom of the press,
which every man who can read may find
asserted in the Constitution of the Stale and
the Constitution ot the United Slates. The
dignity of our Commonwealth has been in
sured in the outrages perpetrated upon her
citizens. At Philadelphia and at Harris
burg, proprietors of newspapers have been
seized at midnight and hurried off to mili
tary prisons beyond the limits of the Stale.
Against ac'.s like thee, perpetrated before
the eyes of tha municipal and State authori
ties, ihere is neither protection nor redress.
The seizure of a journal at West Chester
was afterwards the subject of a suit for
damages in the Supreme Court of Pennsyl
vania. It came lo .trial before Chief Jus
tice Lowrie. Rehearsing the ancient prin
ciples of English and American justice, he
condemned the acts of the Federal officers
as violations of the law that bind alike the
private citizen and public functionary. He
6aid ; "All public functionaries in this land
are under the law, and none, from the high
est and lowest, are above it " Impatient at
any restraint from law, a partisan majority
in Congress hastened to pass and to take
from the State courts to the United States
courts, all suits or prosecutions "for tres
passes or wrongs done or committed by
virtue or nnder color of any authority de
rived from or exercised nnder the President
of the United States;" and such authority
was declared to be a full defence for the
wrongdoer in any action, civil or criminal.
The American Executive is, as the word
imports, the executor of the duly enacted
law. Yet the pretension is made that his
will can take the place of the laws. The
liberty, the character of every citizen, is but
at the mercy of new functionaries called
''provost marshals." Secret accusation be
fore these officials takes the place of open
bearing before a lawful magistrate, and no
writ of habeas corpus may inquire the cause
of the arrest. To illegal arrests have been
added the mockery ot a trial of a private
citizen for his political opinions before a
court-martial, ending in the infliction of a
new and outrageous penalty, invented by
the President of the United Sates. We need
not comment upon acts like these. The
President of the United States has no au
thority, in peace or war to try, even an en
listed soldier by court-martial, save by vir
tue and in strict confirraity with the milita
ry law laid down in the act of Congress "es
tablishing rules and articles for the govern
ment of the armies of the United States."
Yet by his proclamation of September 24th,
1862, he has assumed to make all citizens
amenable to military courts. He has vio
lated the great principle of tree government
on which Washington conducted the war
of the Revolution, and Madison the war of
1812 the principle of the subordination of
the military to the civil power. He has as
sumed to put "martial law," which ia the
rule of lorce at a spot where all laws are
silenced, in .he place of civil justice thro'
out the land, and has thus assailed, in some
of the States, even the freedom of the baU
lot-box. These are not occasional acts,
done in haste, or heat, or igoorance ; but a
new system of government put inline place
of.that ordained and establi&tjeJ by the peo
ple. That the Queen could not do what he
could, was Mr. Seward's boast to the Brit
ish Minister.
The "military arrests" of Mr Stanton re
ceived the "hearty commendation" ef the
Convention that renominated Governor Cur
tin ; and it pledged him and his party to
"hearty co-operation" in srch acts of the
Administration in future. Such is the de
grading platform on which a candidate for
Chief Magistrate of Pennsylvania stands
before her people. These pretensions to
arbitrary power give ominous significance
to a late change in our military establish
ment. The time-honored American sys
tem of calling on the States for dralts from
their militia, has been replaced by a Fed
eral conscription, on the model of Europ
ean despotisms. We would not minister
to the excitement which it has caused
among men of nil parties. Its constitutional
ity will te tested before the courts. If adjud
ged to be within the power of Congress, the
people will decide on the propriety of a
stretch of power on which the British Par
liamentstyled omnipotent has never
ventured. On this you will pass at the
polls, and the next Congress will not be
deaf to the voice of the people. For all
political evila, a constitu'ional remedy yet
remains, in the ballot-box. We will not
entertain a fear that it is not safe in the
guardianship of a free people. If men in
office should seek to perpetuate their pow
er by wresting from the people of Pensyl
vania the right of sufierage if the servants
of the people should repeal against their
master on them will res: the responsibility
of an attempt at revolution, of which no
man can foresee the consequences or the
end. But in now addressing you upon fhe
political i-sues of the times, we assume
that the institutions of our country are de
stined to endure.
The approaching election derives further
importance from the influence it will exer
cise upon the policy of the Government.
The aim ot men not blinded by fanaticism
and party spirit would be to reap the best
fruit from ;he victories achieved by our
gallant armies the best fruit would be
peace and the restoration of the Union.
Such is not the aim of the party in power.
Dominated by its most bigoted members, it
urges a war for the negro and not tor the
Union. It avows the design to protract the
war till slavery shall be abolished in the
Southern States ; in the language of one of
its pamphleteers, "how can a man, hoping
and praying for the destruction of slavery,
desire that the war shall be a ehort one?"
Mr.Thaddens Stevens.the Republican leader
in the last House oi Representatives de
clared, "The Union shall never, with my
connent, be restored under the Constitution
as it is, with slavery to be protected by it."
The same spirit appear in Mr. Lincoln's
lale answer to ci'izens of Louisiana who
desire the return of that State under its
present Constitution. Mr. Lincoln post
poned them till that Constitution shall be
amended. The Abolitionists desire the war
to last till freedom is secured to all the
slaves. Hordes of politicians, and con
tractors, and purveyors, fallen on the war,
de-ire it to last forever. When the slaves
are all emancipated by the Federal arras, a
constant military intervention will be need
ed to keep them above or equal with the
white race in the Southern Stales. Peace
has no place in their .platform. It pro
claims confiscation and abolition as the ob
jects of the war, and the Southern leader
catches up the word to stimulate bis follo
wers to tight to the last. It is not the in
terest of Pennsylvnia that a fanatical faction
shall prevert and protract the war, or ru
inous, perhaps unattainable ends. What
the North needs is the return of the Sonth,
with its people, its territory, its staples, to
complete the integrity of our common coun
try. This, and not mere devastation and
social confusion, would be the aim of pat
riots and statesmen. The Abolition policy
promises us nothing better than a Southern
Poland, ruled by a Northern despotism.
But history is full of examples how wise
rulers have assuaged civil discord by mod
eration and justice, while bigots and des
pots, relying solely on force, have been
baffled by feeble opponents. That a tem
perate constitutional policy will fail, in our
case, to reap the fruit of success in arms,
cannot be known till it is tried?
The times are critical. France, nnder a
powerful and ambitious monarch, is enter
ing on tbescane, willing again to play an im
portant part in an America revolution. The
English Government is hostile to us; it has
got all it wanted from abolition, and will
have nothing more to do with it. The se
cession leaders, and the presses nnder their
control, oppose re-nnion preferring, per
haps even an hcroble dependence npon
European powers. But from many parts of
the South, and across the picket lines, and
from the prisoners and the wounded, baa
come the proof of a desire among lbs
people of the South to return toonstiio.
tional relations with the people of the
North. Early in the contest this desire was
shown in North Carolina, one of the old
thirteen associated with Pennsylvania ua
the page of Revolutionary history. Bat the
majority in Congress made haste to show
that Abolition, not reunion, was their aim.
In a moment ot depression, on the 22d of
July, 1861, beiag the day after the battl of
Bull Run, they allowed the passage of a
resolution, offered by Crittenden, defining
a policy for the restoration of the Un;on.
But they soon rallied, andfiilledthe statute
book with acts of confiscation,' abolition,
and emancipation, against the remon
strances of eminent jurists and conservative
men of all parties. ' Mr. Lincoln, loo yield
ding, he said, "to pressure," but his proc
lamations in place of the Constitution and
the laws. Thus every interest '.and senti
ment of the Southern people were enlisted
on the tide of resistance by the policy of a
party which as Mr. Stevens said will not
consent to a restoration of the Union" "with
"the Constitution as it is." It is this policy
that has protracted the wcr, and is now the
greatest obstacle to its termination.
The reunion of the States can alone "ive
them their old security at home and power
and dignity abroad. This end can never
be reached upon the principles of the party
now in power. Their principles are rad
ically false, andean never lead to a gool
conclusion. Their hope ot setting up the
negro i n me place oi tne wmte man runs
couiitecto the laws of nature. Their states
manship has been weighed in the balance
and found wanting; their "little blood let
tin?" has proved a deTuge. Tnefr inter
ference with our armies has- often frustrated
and never aided their success, tilt it has
become a military proverb that the bet
thing tor a general is to be out of reach from
Washington. The party was founded npor,
the political and moral hereby of opposition
to Compromise, which is the only means
Union among States, and of peace audgood
will on earth among men.
In a popular Government, the people
are soverign, and the sound tense of the
whole community corrects, at the polls, the
errors of political parties. The people of
Pennsylvania have reen, with regret, the
unconstitutional aims of the Abolitionists
substituted for the original objects of the
war. They have seen with indignation
many gallant soldiers of; the Union driven
from it service, because they have not
bowed down to the Abolition idol. They
will see with horror the war protracted in
order to secure the triumph of a parly plat
form, or, as Mr. Chandler said, "to save
the Republican party from rupture." The
time is now at hand when the voice of the
people will be heard. The overthrow of
the Abolitionists at the polls and the re
establishment of constitutional principles at
the North is the first, the indispensable
step towards the restoration of the Union
and the vindication of eivil liberty. To thin
great service to his country each citizen
may contribute by his vote. Thus the
people of the North may themselves extend
the Constitution to the people of the South.
It would not be a specious offer of politi
cians, to be observed with no better faith
than the resolutions ol July, f861. It would
be a return to the national policy of the bet
ter days of the Republic, through the intel
ligence of the people, enlightened by ex
perience. It would strengthen the Govern
ment; for a constitutional Government is
strong when exercising with vigor its legiti
mate powers, and is week when it sets an
example of revolutionary violence by inva
ding the rights of the people. Our prin
ciples and our candidates are knownto yon.
The resolutions of the Ia'e Convention at
Harrisburg were, with some additions, the
same that had been adopted by the Dem
ocracy in several Slates, ana by the Gen
eral Assembly of Pennsylvania. They de
clare authoritatively the principles of the
Democratic party. It is, as it has always
been, for the Union and the Constitution
against all opposers The twelfth resolution
declares, "that while this General Assem
bly condemns and denounces the halts
of thia Administration and the encroach
ments of the Abolitionists, it does, also,
most thoroughly condemn and denounce
the heresy of secession as an warranted by
th Constitution, and destructive alike of
the security and perpetuity of Government
and of the peace and liberty of the people
and it does hereby most solemnly declare
that the people of this State are unalterably
opposed to any division of the Union, and
will persistently exert their whole influ
ence and power, under tha Constitution, to
maintain and defend it."
We have renominated Chief Justice Lowrie
for the bench which be adorns. Our candi
date for Governor, Judge Woodward, in his
public and private character, affords the
best assurance that be wilt bring honesty,
capacity, firmness and patriotism to the di
rection of the affairs of the Commonwealth.
Long withdrawn, by judicial functions, from
the political arena, he did not withold his
warning voice when conservative men took
counsel together upon the dangers that
menaced our country. His speech at ihe
town meeting at Philadelphia in December,
i860, has been vindicated by subsequent
event as a signal exhibition of statesman
like sagacity.
Under his administration we may hope
that Pennsylvania, with God's b!einr, will
resume her place as ' the Ketoa of tha
Federal arch."
Chailxs J, Biteli, Chairman.
i --
in
V