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BY S. B. E0.
. CLEARFIELD, PA., WEDNESDAY, EEBRARY 6, 1861.
VOL. 7.-NO. 23.
I
THE WAY OF THE WORLD.
Blithe Robin lost his brindled cow,
He uiourn'd. he wept, he could not buy another ;
His wife soon follows! Eager now er.
His friends advise that he his grief ehould smoth-
llere'a my daughter, young and truo,
A worthy wife she'll be to you."
Then Robin mused, and scratch'd his head,
And in reflective accents said,
Iee it clearly now
In this strange village where I live,
I lose my wife my friends toother give ;
But no one offers me anothor cow !"
THE FIVE-DOLLAR NOTE.
"What is the price of tbi dressing gown,
q ( a.lKeu a sncci-iutcu juuug 111 cuicuug
. . i t i -J : -!
the elegant, store of Huntley Warner, in a
city and the street of a city which shall bo
nameless. It was a cloudy day. The clerks
lounged over the counters, read papers and
yawned. The man to whom Alice Locke ad
dressed herself, was jaunty and middle-aged,
lie was head clerk of the extensive establish
ment of Huntley & Warner, and extremely
consequential in his manner.
That dressing gowa we value . it at six
dollars you shall have it for five, as trade is
dull to-day."
Five dollars 1 Alice looked at the dressing
gown longingly, and the clerk looked at her
Ha saw that her clothes, though made and
worn genteely, were common enough in tex
tare, and that her face was very much of the
common line. How it changed ! now shaded,
now lightened by the varied play of her emo
tions. The clerk could almost have sworn
that she bad no more than that very sum, five
dollars, in her purse or pocket.
The gown was a very good one for the price.
It was of common shade, a tolerable merino,
aud lined with the same material.
I think" she hesitated a -ent "I
think I'll take it," she said ; then seeing in
the lace before her an oxpression which she
did not like, she blushed as she handed out the
bill the clerk had made up his mind to take.
Jennis," cried Torrent, the head clerk, in a
quick, pompons tone, "pass up the detector."
Up ran a tow-headed boy with the detector,
and npand down the clerk's eyes from column
to column. Then he. looked over with a sharp
glauce and exclaimed
"That's a counterfeit bill, Miss."
Oh, how pale the sweet face grew!
"Counterfeit! Oh, no it cannot be !
The man who sent It could not have been so
careless ; you must be mistaken, sir."
"I'm not mistaken ; I'm never mistaken,
Miss. The bill is a counterfeit. I must pre
sume, of course that you did not know it, al
though so much bad money has been offered
us ot late that we intend to secure such per
sons as pass it. Who did you say sent it "
"Mr. C , sir, of New York. He could not
send me bad money," said the trembling,
frightened girl.
"Humph, humph !" said the clerk. "Well
them's no doubt aliont this ; you can look for
yourself. Now don't let me see you here a
gain until you can bring good money, for we
always suspect such persons as you, that come
vn dark days with a well made story." ,
"But sir" .
"You need make no explanations, Miss,"
m! the man, insultingly. "Take your bill and
the next time you want to buy a dressing
gown, don't try to pass counterfeit money,"
snd, as he Landed it, the bill It'll from his
hands.
Alice caught it from the floor and hurried
into the street.
Such a shock the girl had never received
in all her life belore. 11 was the tirst insult
he had ever known, and it burned her check
and pained her heart. .
Straightway, Indignant and grieving, she
hurried to a banking establishment, found
her way in and presented the note to a noble
looking man with gray hair, faltering out,
"Is this bill a bad one, sir ?"
The cashier and his son happened to be the
only persons present. Both noticed her ex
treme youth, beauty and, agitation. -The
cashier looked at it closely and handed it
luck, as with a polite bow and somewhat pro
longed look he suid :
"It'a a good bill young lady."
"I knew it was," cried Alice with a quiver
ing lip "and he dared
She could go no farther, but entirely over
come, she bent her head, and the hot tears
had their way.
"I beg pardon, have you had trouble with
it ?" asked the cashier.
"Oh, sir, you will please excuse me for giv
ing way to my feelings but you spoke so
kindly, and I felt so sure it was good ! And
1 think, sir, such men as one of those clerks
in Huntley & Warner's should be removed
iff told me it was counterfeit, and added
ome thing that I am glad my father did not
bear. I knew the publisher would not send
me Daa money."
"Who is your father, young lady?" asked
me cashier becoming much interested.
"Mr, Benjamin Locke, sir." - . -;
-uunjamin Jten lock was ne ever a
t-erk in the Navy Department at Washing
ton?" .
"les, sir; we removed from there," repli
ei Alice. "Since then" she hesitated "he
dm not been well and we are somewhat re?
weed. Ob. why do I tell you these things,
ir? '. . .. : ... . , .. . .
"Ben Locke reduced !" murmured the
"shier; "the man who was the making of me !
'we me his. number and street,, my child.
lonr father was once the best, perhaps the
only friend I had. I have not forgotton him.
Liberty street. I will call this evening.
eantinie let me have the bill let me see
r " give you another. - Come to look, I bavn't
,Te here' a ten we'll make it all right."
, l epening the inmates of a shabby, gen
cl house received the cashier of the M
Mr. Locke, a man of gray hajr, though
nwnbering but fifty years, rose from his arm
wir, and much affected, greeted the familiar
..Ce- The son of the pashier accompanied
ice0' While the e,der talked together, Al-
nd the young man grew quite chatty,
v i ir, I have been unfortunate," said
Locke, in a low tone. "I have but just
JWTerod as you see, from a rheumatic fever,
for it by un(lne exertion and had itjnot been
r 'hat SWeet crfrl nfmiiu f l-nnui nnt uhot T
Mn.iM - e-. - " ....... -
thtw .
- iidTe aone,
She, bj giving lessons in
ill it at a
cil k u icucn aDa vy writing lor perioai-
'"lli and I."- a. a 1 r . - a.- j?
..V1 CP mt o far. above want."
MeM , ",l no longet now want,
.inn tk. i . .. j
my old
iWrf u a8 caoier "I was
Tt,I that ent yur brighter
8 a place in the bank Jus mad
"It Was "kih4
to to:
made vacant
by the death of a valuable clerk, and it is at
your disposal. It is in my gift, and valued at
twelve hundred dollars a year."
Pen cannot describe the joy with which
this kind offer was accepted. The day of de
liverance had come.
On the following morning the cashier enter
ed the handsome 6tore of Huntley ani War
ner, and asked for the Lead clerk. He came
obsequiously.
"Sir," said the cashier sternly, "is that a
bad note ?"
"I I think not, sir," replied the clerk.
The cashier went to the door. From his
handsome carriage stepped a young girl in
company with his daughter.
:Did you not tell this young lady, my ward,
that this note was counterfeit And further
more, did you not so far forget self-respect,
and the interest of your employers, as to offer
her an insult ?"
The man stood confounded he dared not
deny he could say nothing for himself.
"If your employers keep you, sir, they will
no longer have my ccstom," said the cashier
sternly. You deserve to be horse-whipped.'
The firm parted with their unworthy clerk
that very day, and he left the store disgraced
but rightly punished.
Alice Locke became the daughter-in-law of
the good cashier. All of which grew out of
calling a genuine bill counterfeit.
PERSONAL SLAVERY BILLS.
It is sixteen years since the Hon. Samuel
Hoar, one of the most respectable, and also
one of the most conservative citizens of Mas
sachusetts, was expelled from South Carolina
when sent there on a diplomatic agency as the
representative of his own State. The circum
stances of that case are probably not known to
one in a thousand of the young men of the
country under thirty years of age, and imper
fectly remembered by many who are older. '
In March, 1844, the Legislature of Massa
chusetts pussed a resolution authorizing the
uovernor to appoint an agent to proceed to
South Carolina, for tho purpose of collectiug
information as to tho number and names of
colored citizens of Massachusetts who had been
imprisoned in South Carolina some of whom
had been sold into Slavery and also to bring
suits in behalf of any such citizens, that the
question of the constitutionality of the laws
under which they were imprisoned mfght be
tested before the Supreme Court of the United
States. Mr. Hoar, a gentleman advanced in
life, and a lawyer of high standing, was an
pointed such agent. Tbe laws complained of,
and which are still in full force, take out of
every ship arriving in Charleston from a Nor
thern port every colored man who may be on
board, imprisons him during the stay of the
vessel, and, on her departure, unless tbe jail
fees are paid and the man taken away, sells
him as a slave to defray the expenses of bis de
tention. The Massachusetts Legislature held
these laws to be unconstitutional, their action
a wrong to her colored citizens, and an onerous
charge to her ship-owners, both of which had
bocome intolerable. "She only asked, howev
er, that tne question might be referred by an
amicable arrangement to the Federal Courts
for adjudication.
Mr. Hoar arrived in Charleston in Novem
ber, 1844, and immediately announced hfsfar
rival and his errand to the Governor of the
State, J. H. Hammond, and the next morning
sought the Mayor for the same purpose. From
the Governor he received no reply, and tbe
Mayor wa9 absent from the city : and for three
days no notice whatever was taken of his pres
ence. At tne end or that time he heard that
his letter had been communicated to the Le
gislature by the Governor, and had created
some excitement. An hour or two afterward,
on entering his hotel, he was accosted by one
of three persons, who announced that he was
the Sheriff of Charleston, adding, with great
warmth and earnestness, "I have some busi
ness with you, Sir." He then introduced his
companions as the acting Mayor and an Alder
man of the city, and a conversation ensued, in
the course of which the Sheriff informed Mr.
Hoar that "he was suspected of being an Abo
litionist," and that the mission "was supposed
to be a hoax, as he had presented no creden
tials." The credentials were produced, and
he was then assured "that it was considered a
great insult to South Carolina to send such an
agent;" and that be "was in great danger and
had better leave the citvas soon as noasihta "
A letter frem the Attorney-General of the
State was read to him, in which the writer
urged that lynching be avoided, and called up
on the Sheriff to prevent that process. The
Sherifi further urged the existence of great
public excitement, and doubted if it would be
in his power to protect the stranger. To all
which Mr. Hoar replied tbat having been sent
there on a legal errand, as the agent of a sov
ereign State, he should not leavo without some
attempt to fulfill his mission. A second inter
view took place the following day with the
Sheriff, when Mr. Hoar was again urged to
leave, and on the same plea. "What do you
expect ?" said the officer, "You can never get
a verdict, and if you should, the Marshal would
need all the troops of the United States to en
force a judgment." Several gentlemen called
in the course of the day, and informed him of
various plans to rid the city of his presence,
the mildest of which was to take him by force
on board a packet and ship him to New. York.
But Mr. Hoar waa immovable. At length a
proposition was made to him, on tbe part of
the Sheriff, that a case should be made up to
be submitted to the Circuit Court, and then
carried to the Supreme Court for final decision, .
provided ho would go ; and to this he assented.
In waiting the next day upon the Sheriff,
this proposition was withdrawn, on tie iUwUiia
that if adhered to, "the purposes of the State
might bo thwarted ;" that it was an "insult in
Massachusetts to send any person ou such busi
ness," and that there was "a determination to
rid themselves of him by some means." On
returning to his hotel, Mr. Hoar was co?tod
by a 'decently-dressed man,' who said : "You
had better bo traveling, and the sooner the bet
ter for yon,, I can tell you ; if yon stay here
till to-morrow morning you will feel something
you will not like, I'm thinking." lie was a-
gain nrged by gentlemen, to whom he had
brought letters, to leave at once, but ne resist
ed their persuasions. That nighj he expected
an attack unon the hotel, which he afterward
learned, was prevented by the promise of his
remoyaj py steamboat tne next aay.. iuc iui
lowinar dav was consumed in further nezotia-
tlot; which led to no result. Mr. Hoar kept
to bis hdtel, and avoided insult. Tne excite
ment outside, meantime, fbcreased, but tbe
fact that Mr.' Hoar had bis daughter with him
probably delayed a resort to extreme measures.
One of the persons who waited upon htm said
"It is that which creates, or created, our em
barrassment." But the day following, the
Committee waited upon him, and announced
their intention of conducting himo the boat.
"Fighting on his part," Mr. Hoar faid, "would
be loolish, and he was too old to run." "it
seemed, then," he says, "that there was but
one question for me to settle, w hich was wheth
er I should walk to a carriage or bo dragged
to it." He preferred the former, and went
peaceably. On the boat a man was pointed
out to him who bad offered his services as "a
leader of a tar-and-feather gang to have been
called into the service of the city."
Thus tho sovereign State ot South Carolina
disposed of the sovereign State of Massachu
setts, through her representative, by virtually
kicking her off the premises. The retaliatory
measure ot Massachusetts has been to come to
the conclusion that a system which thus defies
the rights of a sister State, and refuses to re
cognize the power of the Supreme Court of
the United States, had better not, for the good
of all concerned, bn permitted to extend its
dominion over the Territories. But South
Carulina did not stop there. Her Legislature
immediately passed an act by which it is pro
vided that any person coming into the State on
his orn behalf, or on behalf of any State, to
disturb the laws in relation to colored persons,
bond or lree, shall be held to be guilty of a
misdemeanor, be imprisoned in the common
jail for trial, and on conviction be sentenced
to banishment, and to fine, and imprisonment
at the discretion of tbe court; and for a sec
ond offense the penalty is seven years impris
onment, a fine of a thousand dollars and ban
ishment from tbe State. The penalty first
namedtattaches also to any person coming with
tbe same purpose, who disobeys tbe warning
of the Governor to leave the State within 48
hours, and any citizen of the State accepting
a commission for snch a purpose from another
State, shall be punished, for the first offense,
by a fine of one thousand dollars, and impris
onment not more than one year; and for the
second offense, by imprisonment lor seven
years, and a fine of a thousand dollars, or ban
ishment, as the Court may see fit. Thus, if
any Northern colored citizen, whoso son or
whose brother may have been sold in Slavery
by the cruel laws of South Carolina a thing
that has happened far oltener, without doubt,
than any fugitive slave of that State has es
caped to the North shall go there to redeem
him from Slavery, or any ono for him, not on
ly is it held that he has no rights which the
State is bound to respect, but he is fined and
imprisoned for venturing to assert them. The
personal liberty bills ot the Northern States
have never freed a slave ; but every Northern
vessel that enters the Port of CLarlealort"wTth
a colored man on board is compelled to sur
render him to imprisonment so long as she
remains; and not only has lie no redress for
this gross injustice, but to attempt his redemp
tion, should the captain choose, for any rea
sou, to leave him behind, is a penal offense for
which there is no remedy. When, in the
course of compromising, we come to the con
sideration of bills enacted to prevent kidnap
ping, lei us veuture at tne same time to lnqr.:ro
for laws created to make kidnapping easy.
The Catholic Church and Secession. A
few Sabbaths since, the Most Rev. Archbishop
Puree!!, delivered an address at Cincinnati, in
tbe course of which be said : "Everj'wbere
throughout the world the clouds hang in dark
ness. It would seem as if tbe death-knell of
our glorieus Union had already been beard ;
that it was to be dismembered and torn into
fragments ; that State would part from State,
snd Cities from tbe States to which they be
long. Oh, what is the treason of those men
who thus sacrifice the noblest hope of man?
And who is there that would not lay down bis
life a willing sacrifiec to preserve the union of
these States 1 There is an incident recorded
in Holy Writ, in which it is stated that when
ever a dead body was found upon the highway,
all whose steps led from the spot were brought
to the corpse and made to swear that thev
were not the murderers. If it should so be,
that our Union is to be severed, every Catho
lic in the land may come, and extending his
hand over the bier, say : 1 am guiltless of its
death. When you look around this hail, and
see the beautiful stars and stripes that adorn
it, pray, ob, pray ! that the hideous rattle
snake may never sting them, but that the rat
tlesnake ot secession may be crushed, even as
the serpent that caused onr fall."
Universal White Sltfraqe to bb Abol
ished. lhe Southern Literary Messenger for
January, published at Richmond, in Virginia,
has just been revealing some of the purposes
ot the slaveholder rebels, in breaking rp tzz
Union. One of them, and the main one, is to
abolish universal white suflrago. It declares
the experiment of a Republican Government,
based upon the universal suffrage of the white
man, to be a disgraceful failure, and openly
avows the design of the rebels to be to create
a Southern Republic, upon a white suffrage,
limited to men of sufficient property for annu-
alasubsistence upon usufruct! In other words,
the policy of these rebels is, to reduce soci
ety in the Slave States to the feudal condition
again, with African Slavery for its basis, and
to adopt such legislation as will compel the
poor white man to emigrate, and to confine tbe
dominant class to the fewest possible numbers.
lhis is but a natural sequence of the policy of
the disuniomsts.
Starvation and Distress in Enol and. The
London and Liverpool papers continne to be
filled with dreadful accounts of starvation and
suffering in the manufacturing districts, in
consequence of lhe lack of employment, re
sulting mainly from the countermanding of or
ders from tbe United States, and the conse
quent suspension of labor. - There is a loud
call for tho organization of "relief societies,"
"soup houses,' (f uel and clothing associations,'
&c.', in all tbe great towns aud cities. Tbe
reports from tbe trade circulars show the con
dition of things in Manchester, Leeds and Hud
dersfield to be distressing. Nottingham, too,
is a serious sufferer. One of the journals states
officially tbat "the number of in-door poor, at
the poorbouse, exceeded by 415 those from the
corresponding period of last year.wbile tbe out
door recipients amounted to 2,016 more than
last year." s . . ' '
'A ictircd schoolmaster excuses bia passion
for angliDg by saying that, from constant babit,
he ncyer feels quite himself unless he Is hand
ling tho rod.
PLAIN TRUTHS PLAINLY TOLD.
In the nouse, at Washington, on the 2Gth
-an., tne Keport of the Committee of Thirty
three beinz under consideration.
Mr. Gilmer, (Amer.) of North Carolina, said
a desperate struggle was now going on in all
the Southern States to consummate that which
South Carolina now avowed she had at heart
for the last thirty or forty yeais. When he
" ooy me aocinne ot numacation was
preached in that State. It was declared to
be a peaceful remedy, the only remedy by
which the differences which then existed be
tween that State and" the General Government
could be settled, and by which the Union could
be saved ; but when that doctrine was crushed
out by Gen. Jackson, tbe next resource was
secession, and in order to give some little
piausioiiuy xo it, it was said to bo of a most
peaceful character. Nullification could nev
er have many friends, and secession would
have but very few friend's were it not for that
decoy doctrine, the fruitful and seductive re
commendation which was attached to it, tbat
it was peaceful in character. He would come
to tho history of events within the last twelve
months to the time when the Democratic party.
wnicn nad been broken up by the nuMiners and
seceders at Charleston and Baltimore. Their
nullifying friends on that occasion relied upon
tne action they might take In a separate Con
vention, which it was said contained many
prudentand patriotic men. They did not then
hold out the idea that the election of Lincoln
would be a just cause for disrupting the Gov
ernment. They held out the fact that they had
made a Union nomination, and placed at tbe
head of their ticket Union-loving men. But
when they were charged with having had
design to disrupt the Government in case they
were defeated, and in case Lincoln was elected,
these men universally and generally through
out the South denied this charge most manful
ly. The men who controlled that party the
men who were first on tbe Breckinridge ticket
and who declared tbat nullification was peace
ful and secession was a proper and peaceful
remedy where were they now ? They were
scattered everywhere over the Southern States,
doing all they could to destroy the Govern
ment and break up the Union. What was the
course being now pursued ? Were they giving
the country time for reflection 1 W here they
giving it time for thought and consideration ?
No; but while they found State after State
going out of the Confederacy, they still found
men indisposed to let the country nave an
hour to do what it should do in this crisis
While the Gulf States were calling for con
ventions, what did tbey see? They found
that dispatches were going from this place
dispatches, not of peace, not for reason, not
for reflection no, but dispatches calcula
ted to Irritate the public mind, and still more
to fire the Southern heart, and to spread a
mong the Southern people that madness under
wi.icli they were now acting. Mr. Gilmer
then read from tbe Virginia manifesto, which
declared tbat the Republicans were determin
ed to precipitate civil war upon tbe South.
There were two propositions, dangerous in
character, in tbat manifesto. The first was
that Virginia's only safety was in leaving the
Union: and the second, equally fallacious,
equally dangerous, equally destructive, was,
that this was the only way to reconstruct the
Union, ne would also refer to a letter writ
ten by Scator Clingman to The Democratic
Standard, a paper published in North Carolina,
in which the people were warned that it was
tbe determination of the Rnpublican party to
subjugate the South, and finally to abolish
Slavery in the States, even at the risk of civil
war. This idea of reconstruction was only
part and parcel of that fruitful source through
which the public mind in the South was to be
lulled for a time, until they were precipitated
into a civil war and a disruption of the Union.
But was the separation of the fifteen Slave
States from the eighteen Free States the pro
per mode to be pursued to secure a reconstruc
tion of the Government ? There was a pur
pose and design in all this; but he continued
to assure them tbat if the people of tbe bor
der States could be assured that the object of
these men who were hurrying the South into
extremes was to break np the Union, they
would shudder with horror at the very idea, as
the men who voted for Breckinridge would at
the knowledge of tho truth, had they been
told, as they ought to have been told, that the
men who put Mr. Breckinridge in nomination
intended to break up the union If they failed.
They would have shuddered at the idea of as
sisting In such a work. Tbe honest farmers
and mechanics and traders of the South would
shudder if they were told that the movement,
represented to them as one intended for the
purpose of securing Southern rights under a
reconstruction of the Government, was, in
fact, designed by the men of tbe Baltimore
platform to dissever the Union and break up
tho Government. Tbe men of the South
would shudder at the great mistake they had
made in voting in compliance with those se
cessionists and disunionists. They might as
well hope to put together tbe delicate machin
ery of a watch, after it had been broken into
atoms by the heavy strokes of a sledge-hammer,
as to hope for a reconstruction of this
Government and Union, after a virtual separa
tion. He would have Virginia, North Caroli
na, Tennessee, and the other border States, to
remember what these Breckinridgers bad told
them before the election, and w"hat these men
had since done.so that they might fully under
stand in time what was meant by reconstruc
tidn of the Government. He would say to his
Northern friends, in the face of those things,
that they had it in their power, without -the
surrender of an iota of a single principle, to
crush out these men and their taechings in an
hour. They had it In their power, by a single
act in that House, to crush fovever those whom
tbey considered their enemies, and the ene
mies of this Government this great and glo
rious country.' Let them but give tbe coun
try the assurance tbat tbey are willing to meet
tbe exigencies of the moment, and tbat hour
consigns those secession leaders to the tomb.
It was not because tbe 'secessionists consider
ed the Crittenden propositions of any great
value to tbe Sooth that tbey asked them, nor
because it would injure tbe North' to grant
them ; but because those men thought tbat
they were safe in making issue- upon them,
believing that tbe North would not concede.
By refusing them he could assure them tbat
the work of inflaming the Southern mind
would go on, and it would never rest till tbe
Union was irrevocably' broken np. And yet
by offering tbe Missouri Compromise line they
would fa fact yield no principle. There was
not a man in the House who would pot his
hand on his breast and say that he believed
that the concession would make one Slave
State more or less, or the Free States one more
or less. Let them do this, and tho question
would be settled forever, and those disunion
ists who were still among them wonld go hence,
weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth,
at the downfall of all their cherished hopes
and ambitious designs. It was upon the prin
ciple reconized by Southern men that Slavery
should not exist in Kansas, it being North of
the line of 36 S3 that the Republican party
had triumphed a principle which no man in
the South would to.day gainsay. Upon it
they bad elected their President, and had got
into power. . . . He was anxious for tbe a
doption of the Crittenden resolutions, not be
cause he thought them best, but because they
would be acceptable to the people of the
South. Give the people these propositions;
but if you do not, then give the Border States
propositions or the propositions of the Com
mittee of Thirty-three. Let them woik to
gether on this point like men who loved the
country, and who desired the perpetuity of
the Union. He had carefully weighed these
propositions; and ho would not give a snap of
his fingers for distinctions that he could not
observe between them. In his own judgment,
be conceived the propositions of the Commit
tee of Thirty-Three were the best of the whole,
inasmuch as they showed a disposition on tbe
part of the Northern gentlemen of conciliation
and compromise which be had not expected
from them. The only question of real impor
tance which had agitated the South was in
connection with the fear they had been taught
to eutertain. that the North at sometime or
other designed to interfere with Slavery in
the South. A constitutional pledge bad been
proposed to quiet the mind of tbe South on
this point. Let that pledge be eiven. Let
there be a perpetual bond against the inter
ference with Slavery in the South, and that
said amendment shall never be altered or a
mended unless by consent of all the States of
the Union, and then he could say to his people
that their apprehensions as to tbe people of
the North interfering with them were remov
ed forever; and this would allay those feelings
that had been engendered in their minds, and
bring them back to the feelings of friendship
and peace. He would remind them that they
had fifteen great States, having 950,000 square
miles of territory, possessing the best rivers in
world, the most valuable and productive cli
mate, and institutions most beneficial to
them, and these, with all the blessings of a
cheap and free Government, were guaranteed
to tly?m forever.
POSITION OF HON. SIMON CaMEEON,
Senator Caneron arrived in Philadelphia on
Saturday, January 26tb, and took lodgings at
tbe Girard nouse. A number of his political
friends serenaded him, and the Geperal ap
peared at the front of the house, although ii
was snowing at the time. He was introduced
to the serenading party by Mr. John M. Cole
man. Gen. C. declared bis inability to make
a speech in the open air, and after a few re
marks about the manufacturing interests of
the city, and of bis devotion to their further
ance; the party went inside of the hotel.where
Gen. Cameron made a conversational speech,
in which he referred to tbe secession move
ments, and the deplorable condition of the
country in causequence of them. He said :
Xellow citizens of Philadelphia: I thank
you for this demonstration. I am not vain e-
nough to believe that it is because of any per
sonal merit in myself. I know it arises from
the deep interest you take in the unfortunate
condition of public affairs. Philadelphia is
the metropolis of our State, in which every
Pennsylvanian takes a great pride. Tbe labor
of her working men and mechanics has not on
ly built up and embellished this great city, but
has developed the resources and power of our
Commonwealth. You believe that, in all things.
I have sympathized and acted with you, and
therefore you honor me by your presence. It
has, indeed, been ever my pride to have at
heart, and to promote, to the extent of my
feeble ability, the interests of the laboring
classes. Myown early life was employed in
manual labor, and in after life, in every pub
lic station which I have occupied, ray mind
and energies have been devoted to the inter
ests of the working men and the development
of the resources of the country. Your ap
pearance hero convinces me that my course
is appreciated and approved by yon.
But, you ask me to speak of tbe Union. It
is in danger. Misguided men in the South,
acting under imaginary wrongs, have control
led public opinion there against the Union.
The calm, sensible and patriotic men there
I are prevented from exercising tbe influence
which is due to their positions to tne public
welfare. Tbe mob spirit reigns triumphant.
Six States have declared themselves out of tho
Union, and in several of them armies have
been organized and put in the attitude of war.
Our forts and onr arsenals have been seized,
and the public property of the country has
been forcibly taken possession of by men who
set tbe Constitution and laws at defiance.
, To stay the progress of this rebellion, and
to preserve the integrity of the Border Slave
States, which have, as yet, maintained their
fidelity to tbe Union, something is required to
be done on onr part to strengthen the power
and. influence of the Union loving. men of
those States. In Maryland, such men as the
heroic Hicks, tbe tearless Davis, and tbe learn
ed and patriotic Reverdy Johnson ; in Virgi
nia, such spirits as Wm. C. Rives, Sherrard
Clemens, John M. Botts, James Barbour,
and others ; in Kentucky such patriots as
Crittenden, Guthrie, Powell, Prentice, and
their like ; in Tennessee, the lion-hearted
Andrew Johnson, John Bell, Ethridge, Nel
son, and a host of others ; in North Caroli
na, such as Morehead, Graham, Badger, Gil
mer, and many others like them in all the
Southern States, deserve and commend them
selves to our kindliest sympathy. The cob
duct of these noble spirits appeals to ns for
emulation of their own self-sacrificing spirit.
Shall wo, my fellow citizens, be less generous
than they prove themselves to be ? Unless
the Border Slave States adhere to their integ
rity, tbe Union will be at an end. If we but
afford those men ground to stand upon, to
maintain themselves in resisting the mad spir
it of secession which surrounds them, the in
tegrity of those States will be maintained and
tbe Union be preserved. Shall Pennsylvania,
herself a Border State, hesitate in this emer
gency, to extead to thea ter sympathy and
her support In their effort to sTe the Union.
I am one of those who supported th eieo-
tlon, and mean to sustain the Administration f
of Mr. Lincoln, cordially and faithfully, upon
the principles laid down in the Chicago plat
form. But I am willing to make any reasona
ble concession not involving a vital principle,
to save this great country from anarchy and
bloodshed, and to preserve tho proud position
which it occupies lefore the world. We may
have material prosperity in a Northern Re
public, but a separation brings with it a loss of
all influence upon the destinies of tho world.
It is not necessary to take a step backwards
in supporting tbe resolutions of Mr. Critten
den, which seem to meet the full approbation
of the people of this city, if it be amended so
as not to extend to territory hereafter acquir
ed, and to remove from it the feature which
proposes to incorporate into tbe Constitution
the doctrine of the Dred Scott decision. I
prefer to leave tho Constitution on that sub
ject as made, by our fathers, until reason shall
have again resumed her proper sway over the
public mind. In other words, 1 am ready and
willing that the Missouri Corn prom isr shall bo
restored. The repeal of that measure led to
the organization of tho Republioan party.
Upon that question it gained its strength
and secured its victory. If now our Union
loving brethren of the Slave Border States
shall be willing to unite with us in its res
toration, and accept that as the basis of set
tlement of existing diificujties, why should
we hesitate thus to meet them 1
These sentiments I took occasion to express
a few days since, in my place in the Senate of
tbe United States. In doing so, I didvot mean
to endorse all the sentiments expreosed by my
colleague (Mr.Bigler), but only meant cordial
ly to express my approbation of the spirit and
sentiment in favor of the Union which he ex
pressed. I did, however, express mv willing
ness to support and vote for his proposition,
if that would satisfy the riolcnt men of the south,
and bring them back to their duty. His propo
sition is simply to submit the Crittenden a
mendments to a vote of tbe people ot tbe
States for their adoption or rejection. As a
last resort, when Congress shall prove itself
incompotent to adjust existing difficulties,
and when the disruption of tho Union into
two Confederacies shall become inevitable,
I shall bold it to be my duty to join in an
appeal to the people to take the matter into
their own hands, and determine it in their
own way, as they may deem best.
For a lifetime I have never yet seen public
opinion wrong, formed after due deliberation
and reflection. This is a Government, not ot
States, but of tbe people of tbe States, and
they will not suffer this glorious Confederacy
to be destroyed at tbe dictation of selfish agi
tators who may be governed by personal am
bition. Failing in all efforts, either -in Con
gress or by the action on the part of tbe peo
ple themselves, to restoro concord and har
mony, and civil strife mnst come upon ns, I
shall be found among the sons of Pennsylva
nia, in defence of her soil, her principles and
her interests.
THE N0ETH, AS A CONFEDERACY.
'As tbe tido of disunion rolls along in the
son h. aid State after State is wheeling intor
the line of secession, now including South
Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Miss-,
issippi ; with a tendency that way on the part
of others, the press is beginning to canvas
what the condition of tbe north would be, in
case the disunion of tbe states should be con-
sumated. The following view of the question.
we condense from an article in the Boston
Traveler :
'If the worst should come to tbe worst.
and tbe Union be dissolved, though such a re
sult ot .our experiment would be mortifying,
mere mignt not De much loss experienced br
the North as a consequence of the dissolution
of the quarrelsome firm. If all tho free States
could manage to hold together, and to form a
Union not materia ly'dlnerent in the provisions
of its Constitution from that which now (nom
inally) exists, all that we could have under
any circumstances would bo had. The free
States could form a great nation, which would
oe in some respects stronger than tho present
Union, for it would not be liable to cost and
convulsions of a servile war, and would not
be looked upon by foreicn nations as a prac
tical satire on freedom.
"The population of a free States Union
would not be mhch under twenty millions.
and as there would not be a bondman in the
whole number, save the few persons who should
be deprived of their freedom as a punishment
lor crime, the new Union would be physically
as strong as the existing one is, and moral-'
ly stronger. The free States could construct
a new railway to the Pacific quite as easily, to
say the least of it, as the preaent Union could
construct two' such railways. They wonld
have as much maritime strength as the' Union
now has, for the Southern States contribute
few seamen to our commercial marine, and
consequently few to the national marine. A.
free States Union would not have to pay tbe
cost of tho post office for the slave Status, and
in that way the people would get rid of
heavy charge which they now fed, and which :
is one of tbe items of the cost of the Union,
to them which they would continue cheerful
ly to pay so long as the Union could be main- '
tained on honorable, terms. In 1859, the cost-
of tbe post office business in tbe seven Cotton
States Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas, ex
ceeded the revenue therefrom in the enormous
sum of $2,202,879,03! This could all be saved
if the Union were lost through the exertions of
tbe very States which are so much benifited.
by Its existence in this one respect alone. A
free States Union could institute a uniform
two-cents rate of postage, which would be
the same thing as the English penny postage,
and the system would then be self-supporting. .
By a judicious system of protection, manu
factures, could be as well supported as they'
now are, and those engaged in them would be
subjected to none of those fluctuations that
have been so common in consequence of tint:
erings of the tariff by politicians from year to
year. Flax, which is susceptible of being '.
produced to an unlimited extent in the North
and West, could be largely substituted fcr '
cotton, if any change should be found necessa
ry in consequence of restrictions being placed
on our commerce by the South. . We should
be able to import sugar, which bas ceased to '
be a luxury, and bas become one of the ne
cessaries of life, free of doty, and atop paying
tbe annual millions which we contribute in
aid of tbe cane growers of Louisiana, Texas,
and Florida. There wooli bo as end to our
duties' as catchers and retsrsers of fugitive
slates." . - . . :
'He who marries for wealth sails his liberty.
tr'
I