JLU
1
BY S. J. ROW.
CLEARFIELD, PA , "WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1861.
VOL. 7-JfO. 47.
r ;
THE TRUTH DOTH NEVER DIE.
Though kingdoms, and Empires fall,
And dynasties decay ;
Though cities crumble into dust,
And nations die away ;
Though gorgeous towers and palaces .
In neaps of ruin lie, .
Which once were proudest of the proud
The Truth doth never die !
"'We'll mourn not o'er the silent past'
Its glories are not fled, - .
Although its men of high renown -
lfr numbered with the dead,
We'll grieve not o'er what earth hath lost,
It can not claim a sigh ;
For the wrong alone hath perished,
The Truth doth never die !
-All of the Past are living still,
All that is good and true ;
The rest hath perished, and it did
Deserve to perish too ! .
The world rolls ever round and round,
And time rolls ever by ;
And the wrong is ever rooted up,
But the Truth doth never die !
REPORT OF COUNTY STJPEBINTEITDEI7T.
In compliance with the- law, I proceed to re
jtort the condition ot the sbools in Clearfield
County, for the school year 1861. The coun
ty contains thirty school districts, all organ
ized and in operation.
Thirteen new school houses were built da
ring the past year ; this is an improvement in
the right direction, and confers great credit
upon the directors who had them under care ;
indeed old houses are being replaced by new
ones on improved plans, and in more desira
ble locations, as fast as the means of the Dis
tricts will admit. A number of new houses
are now under contract, some of which are ta
ken at so low a figure, that inferiority in one
way or another must bo expected; this is im
proper inasmuch as it is a waste ot funds.
Many of our old bouses arc bituated in the
most uninviting places imaginable, and not
one in the county new or old, is enclosed by
ven the rudest kind of fence, shade trees
flowers, and shrubbery, (except such as nature
planted,) and other things that would render a
nchool room attractive, are sadly neglected
There are but seventeen houses in the county
sufficient in all respects to be the training pla
ces of youth according to my standard. Six
ty-two defective in many respects, but snscep
lible by repair or alteration ot being made suf
ficient ; Fifty-three wholly defective, and in
jurious to the health of our children and youth
making a total of one hundred and thirty-two
bouses, as shown in the following table :
Names or
Districts.
1. Beccaria,
'J. Bell,
3. Bloom, (new di)
4. Boggs,
5. Bradford,
6. Brady, ;
Bnrnside,
Chest,
Clearfield,
Covington,
Curwensville,
Decatur,
Ferguson,
Fox,
Girard,
10. Goshen,
17. Graham,
18. Guelich,(n-dist)
10. Huston,
20. Jordan,
Karthaus,
Knox.
Lawrence,
Lumber-city,
Morris,
X. Washington,
I'enn,
Pike,
7
y.
10.
n.
12.
13.
11.
15.
M
"2.
2a!
24.
25.
20.
27.
28.
2'J. Union,
30. Woodward,
Total,
tf - si' 2 '52.
-5 B as I C3?
g s o e
P . a o ? g
r 7
7 0 0 1 6
7 0 0 3 4
3 1 1. 2 0
3 1 0 2 1
6 0 1 4 1
10 0 0 6 4
9 117 1
5 112 2
10 0 10
5 0 0 1 4
10 0 1 0
6 -1 1 1 .4
1 1 0 2 2
1 0 0 0 1
3 2 111
3 1 11 1
4 0 0 3 1
5 0 0 2 3
3 0 2 0 1
3 0 0 2 1
3 0 0 2 1
4 1 1 0 1
11 2 3 5 3
10 10 0
C 0 1 5 0
10 10 0
4 1 11 2
7 0 0 2 5
3 0 0 2 1
3 0 0 j 1 2
132 13 17 I 62 53
One new house in Burnside, one in Chest.
one in Decatur, one in Girard, one in Goshen,
one in anui, one in juawrenco, and one in
Penn, deserve particular notice for their neat
ness aud good arrangement. They are built
ol plank, weather boarded and painted on the
outside ; are well seated and have an abundance
of blackboard surface, one end being witbont
windows for that purpose. They however, as
w ell as all our other bouses, are destitute pt
nearly every other essential article for con
ducting well regulated schools ; such as globes,
maps, charts, blocks and such like things.
Our school buildings are also entirely destitute
ot out-houses and other conveniencies needful
lor comfort.
In the seventeen first class houses the teach
ers desks are properly located ; the tables and
seats for pupils tastefully arranged. The six
ty two hare scarcely medium furniture and
very little sparatus of any kind. The fifty
tbreeare destitute of nearly all furniture and
apparatus desirable in a school room. Three
bouses were burned within the year.
Clearfield and Curwensvill are the only Dis
tricts that make any pretention to graded
chools; they have three each. The number
of ungraded schools itb proper classification
Aod nnformjty of books in all the branches, is
sixty-seven. One half the Districts at least
fail to classify all their schools in all the branch
es, for want of books in some branch or other.
I have advised Directors to insist upon a bet
ter supply of books in some schools.
Fifteen teachers with county certificates da
ted in '58, '59, '60 gave general but nor full
satisfaction. One hundred and twenty-four
" li provisional certificates; a part of whom
taught in summer that did not in winter a
jvge majority gave middling good satisfaction,
chough in almost every neighborhood there
as found some one to complain. Some twen
J gave very poor satisfaction indeed ; such
teachers had better observe the precept "quali
.Jour8e,ve8 before undertaking to instruct
,.,.er8" Twenty-three teachers received 0
'tner in Mental Arithmetic, Geography or
grammar, or in all. la writing, three was the
, tst grade as low as four was given to some
chers, either in one, two or three branches.
. f Prhable scarcity of teachers on account
nnt v War lndQce me to believe, that I shall
"l able to raise the standard of qualifica- '
bond Present year above the last. One
D1red and forty -eight teachers examined J
within the year one applicant only rejected
In some Districts the attendance of teachers
and people was quite respectable, in quantity
and quality : In ten Districts I failed to meet
either teachers or Directors. In consequence
of this failure, 1 gave private audience to more
than fifty teachers ; this was attended with
great loss of time in visitations. No certifi
cate annuled. '
Meral Instrnction is given' in three fourths
of onr schools, either by Scripture readings,
text-book, orally or by precept. I mnst, how
ever in truth but with pain say, that in many
schools no such instruction is given in any
way whatever, as far as I could see or learn.
All the schools in every District were visi
ted once, excepted eleven ; twenty-eight twice,
and nine a third time. The average length of
visits ninety minutes.
The whole number of Directors in the coun
ty, when the Boards are J"ull, is one hundred
and eighty; not more than two at any time
accompanied me at visitations ; much more
frequently none.
No County Institutes this year political ex
citement in the fall, and war excitement in the
spring seem to forbid or excuse them. In the
Districts of Beccaria, Burnside, Guelich and
Morris, Institutes were regularly held one eve
ning every other week ; in two of which, the
good effects on the Districts were very evident.
In Pike, the Directors had a clause in their
articles, providing that the teachers should
establish and attend an Institute one day in
every alternate week during the term; but
for some cause or other it never was carried
into operation. I should be glad to see this
feature of the system carried into effect in
every District at the commencement ot the
next term.
District Secretaries acting as District Super
intendents none worthy of the name. 'Recor
ding Secretaries of the Board receive from
two dollars and fifty cen's up to ten dollars
each annually.
Good progress is manifest in some schools
in evert District : In others no perceptible im
provement worth naming; though 1 am well
satisfied no retrograde movement can be laid
to our charge.
Almost everything depends upon an efficient
Directory which is the back-bone of the sys
tem, and regular attendance of pupils if the
people could only see it: irregularity in at
tendance is the greatest drawback we have to
contend with. Public sentiment is mostly fa
vorable to the school system ; it is taken to be
a fixed fact, though occasionally I hear it de
cried. I have been mure or less connected u'ith
the schools of this county for the past eight
years ; and although the advancement has not
been as manifest as I could desire, yet there
has been an improvement in public sentiment
favourable to education, and prospects bright
ened withia that period which cannot well be
over estimated.
No new or untried plans for next year have
been matured, nor is it intended to experiment
upon any thing of doubtful expediency. The
opposition to the countysuperintndency that
has been felt to exist, is fast giving way ; and
8 prudent course pursued, by that officer will
enable him to blend into harmony the most
discordant elements of public opinion in rela
tion to it.
A few boards of Directors, not having the
fear of the county superintendent before their
eyes, continue to employ teachers without
certificates. This course is very reprehonsible
and cannot longer be tolerated. There is no
justice in subjecting one class of teachers to
the ordeal of an examination, and let another
class, not more meritorious, escape. I have
refused to recognize or visit such illegal
schools. Teachers next year rimy desire the
same privilege and claim this as a precedent,
and there would be no end to the difficulty.
It would be well if Directors and parents could
visit the schools more frequently ; none of
them visit very often, and some not at all ;
true there are a few worthy exceptions.
A goodly number of teachers are laboring
with commendable zeal to make improvement
in other departments of learning, so that they
may be able the better to give instruction in
those named in the law ; for it is a fact, that
teachers cannot know too much to impart in
strnction even in the most elementary branch ;
they are also shaping their course towards ob
taining the county certificate. If other teach
ers could be induced to imitate this example
successfully, they would be wore fortunate in
procuring employment, and would likely ob
tain better compensation for their services,
than at present. Jesse Broomall,
County superintendent.
Curwensville, 6th mo. 25th, 1861.
Ltnchiho a Woman. According to the
Mobile papers, some ot the ladies of that city
recently waited upon a female teacher, who
was reported to have spoken against disunion
and the Southern Confederacy, and gave her
notice that she would be taken severely in
hand if she did not leave by a day they named.
Tbey say she left. Not merely hundreds but
thousands of the mothers, wives, sisters, and
daughters of the Southern disunionists have
been going North dnring the last few months
and are still going North for the purpose of
security. Beyond all doubt they have found
and will find the security sought. They can
say in any Northern State what they please
about the North and the war, and no commu
te of women or men will call to notify them
that they must quit the latitude or expect a
dozen lashes upen their bare backs. What
people were ever more renowned for most
cbivalric and knightly bearing towards women
than the people of the South 7 Surely the
spirit of secession works sad and direful chang
es in the souls of human beings.
Warmth. The best fire in winter is made
up ol exercise, and the poorest, ot whiskey-
lie that keeps warm on liquor is like a man
who pulls bis house to pieces to feed the fire
place. The prudent and temperate use of
liquor is to let it alone, if you don't touch
it, it certainly won't bnrt you ; he that says
there is no danger, boasts that he is some
thing more than other men.
Two eentlemen noted for their fondness of
exaggeration, were discussing the tare at dib
erent hotels. One observed that at his hotel
he had tea so strong it was necessary to con
fine it in an iron vessel. "At mine," said the
other, "if is made so weak it has not strength
to run out of the tea-pot.
An old fashioned tea-party, participated in
ny old women, was recently held at Koch
dale, France. The average age was 67 years.
The oldest lady present was 105. :
SEEM0JT OF REV. B. A. CAEUTHEKS. :
FCBLJSUED BT REQUEST.
'The powers that be are ordained of God. He
is the minister of God to thee for good. For this
cause pay ye tribute also." Rom. 13.
The human family are the subjects of a two-
lold relation, embracing our duty to God and
the relations we sustain to each other: God,
the supremo Ruler of the universe., has made
provisions for the regulation of both ; for the
nrst in ecclesiastical law, and for the second
in civil government. The powers that bp are
ordained of God; hence, whatever partains
truly to the political interests of the nation is
the legitimate work of men fearing God and
working righteousness.-
As God has constituted mankind the proper
subjects of government, and has ordained
powers for that purpose, it will "follow, from
the consistency of the divine mind, that there
is a perfect harmony between the law and the
wants of Its subjects such a complete adapts
tion of the one to the other, that w here the
law is properly administered the subjects will
not be sensible of the restraints which it im
poses. Such has been the Government of the
United States, when administered according
to its constitutional provisions. Wherever the
principles of the Declaration of Independence
have been regarded, the law-abiding portion
of community have grown old and gray-beaded
without having realized that they were govern
ed at aU. Law only galls and irritates the
lawless. "
Law, to be correct, must be based npon the
Scriptures. The Bible is true to nature, to
the nature of God, and the nature of man.
Its object is to reprove the evils of our cor
rnpted nature, and to bring us into harmony
with the mind of God. That form of junspru
dence, then, which will best promote the le
gitimate interests of the human family, must
reuect me principles ot the law ol Uod, a
synopsis of which is found in the Golden
Rule, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them." Matt, vii, 12. A transgression
of the law is sin ; and this axiom of the Bible
is true, whether we speak of our physical,
mental, or moral nature ; whether we have
respect to our dudy to God, to our neighbor,
or to ourselves ; and the uncompromising de
mand of the law, according to the high pur
pose of God, is, "The soul that siuneth.it
shall die." Sin is an element of destruction:
it is a disease in tne organic structure ot a
thing; it is a beginning of dissolution a
suspension of the laws of being. The per
fection of sin is death. Sin destroys the sin
ner, but leaves tne law intact. The man that
sins against the laws of his organism does not
destroy the laws of organism; he only sus
pends their operation m respect to his own
person, and destroys himself, lie that in his
own person violates the laws of sight becomes"
blind ; he that violates the laws of mind 02
comes insane ; he that violates the moral law
of God destroys his morals ; he that sins a
gainst Christ forfeits his Christianity. So
also political transgression will result in po
litical death, and a violation of the scriptural
basis oi government will work ruin in every
department of the body politic, whether we
speak of civil, political or ecclesiactical law
American slavery, in exacting more of our
neighbor than we are willing to concede to
him, is a violation of the Golden Rule; in
withholding from the bondmen an open Bible;
a sacred marriage relation, and in the separa
tion of families, it is a sin against God; and
in depriving him of liberty it is a sin against
the Declaration of Independence, which pro
claims liberty as inalienable, God-given right
And because it is ain, it has proved itself
to be an element of destruction wherever it
has been even tolerated.
Jt is true, the Hebrews had a form of scrvi
tude, but it was not the form existing in the
United States; it differed from it in many im
portant particulars. I he Hebrew law recog
nized no right in a Jew to sell a servant ; uuty
could only be bought of the heathen. The
law required the circumcision of the servant ;
and, ascording to the best Jewish historian,
the rite must be conferred within a year from
the time of purchase, and. by the consent of
the servant ; otherwise he was sent away
without the benefits of a disciplinary probation
as a member of a Jewish family to wit, mcor
poration into the Church of God, and the
right of citizenship to himself ami his chil
dren after him forever. For being circum
cised he became an entered apprentice to the
Jewish polity, both secular and religious, and
in due time graduated into all the rights and
privileges ot the native born circumcised sons
of Abraham. This emancipation might take
place at any time by the consent of the
Master, but was affected by force of law every
fity years at the greater Jubilee. On the
seventh year the Hebrew servant "went out
free for uothing," but at the end of seven
sabbaths of years liberty was proclaimed
"throughout all the land unto all the inhab
itants thereof." Levit. xxxv. 11. To whom
does a proclamation of liberty apply 7 Not
to freemen, of course. Bondmen alone can
go out free. In the case before us the ser
vant of Jewish extraction was already free.
Other provisions applied to his casa ; but
here all the residue of the inhabitants in
bonds are made free ; and to whom could it
apply but to the persons bought of the hea
then? Hence, upon the proclamation of the
trumpet of liberty not a bondman was left
in all the borders of Israel. Give us such
provisions to regulate American slavery ; buy
none but fuch as you are willing to incorpo
rate into your family and instruct religiously;
give them an open Bible and a sacred marriage
contract; allow them a family hearth and a
family grave-yard, and once in fifty years pro
claim liberty to all the inhabitants of the land,
and our opposition is at an end. But the A
merican slave is not thus compensated for
bis years of toil and suffering ; bound to the
car, and lashed on forever, he is made a mere
chattel, and taught no higher aspirations than
beasts with horns and hoofs.
American slavery has lived long enough to
have a bistoiy, and the character it has de
veloped proves it to be a monster ruinous as
death and as unsatisfied as the grave ; the
plague-spot marks the band that touches it,
and those that would befriend it are the first
to be sacrificed upon the altar of its cruel lust.
To satisfy ourselves of the despotic nature of
that system covertly mtroduced into our na
tional structure, in the nse of the terms "oth
er persons" and "persons held to labor," let
ns turn to the history of the M. E. Church.
No other document in the land so well indi
cates the change wrought in the Southern
mind upon the subject of slavery as the Meth
odist Discipline. From the first it has been
opposed to the system.. In 1784 the question
was asked, "What method can we take to ex
tirpate slavery 7" and that question has in
some form been asked ever since. The gen
eral rule prohibiting the "buying and selling
01 men, women and children, with an mten
tion to enslave them," has had a place in the
BQok since 1789 ; yet with such sentiments as
mese sentiments which forbade the slave
traffic and looked to the extirpation of the
system altogether, and by which every minis
such as would ignore the fundamental basis
of the Government itself.
Slavery agitation has brought the nation up
on the eve of dissolution j but who have been
the real agitators 7 I reply most emphatical
ly, the South. Who but such as were thor
oughly impregnated with the spirit of slavery
would have dreamed of property mere chat,
tels being represented in the legislative halls
ot freemen 7 Yet that was slavery's earliest
demand. To concilliate the South, three-fifths
of her slave population are represented in
ter and member of the Church was pledged to. Congress, and the self-constituted representa
seek its overthrow, the M. E. Church was re
ceived with a hearty welcome into the very
heart of the South : even South Carolina re
joiced m the labors of the itinerant messenger
or uod with bis open Discipline and constitu
tional opposition to slavery. So large, indeed,
was me proportionate innuence of Methodism
in the South that for the first half of the whole
period of her existence her General Confer
ences, with a single exception, were held with
in the bounds of slave territory. For forty
years she was the child of the South, and her
discipline was the true exponent of the pub
lie mind upon the subject of slavery. The
Book remains unchanged : no more opposed
10 slavery now than then ; yet in tl
is now a book of treason, and the man that
would openly avow its sentiments would be
hanged upon the nearest tree. Side by side
with him, too, would swing the man that would
dare to avow the doctrine of the Declaration
of Independence principles to maintain which
southern blood was shed upon the field of bat
tie, but which now finds no place in the hearts
of their degenerate sons.
Long begging for an existence, cringing for
a place among its betters, tolerated only upon
the grounds ot expediency, slavery increased
in arrogance as she increased in strength, un
til, like a true daughter of the old serpent,
she would swallow everything that would cross
her path. Once she was subject to law ; now
she gives laws to the nation. Her motto is,
Rule or Hum, and the terras of her eivinc
lives of the cotton fields mingle with the rep
resentatives of the freemen of the North. It
was the slave power in Congress, the represen
tatives of slaves, that proposed the Missouri
Compromise as the price of Missouri as a
slave State. Even as far back as 1821 the dis
solution of the Union was threatened by the
South. Her motto then, as now, was rule or
ruin; to the Union she gave the terms, sue-
comb or die. It was slavery, too, that secured
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise ; her
object was the enslavement of Kansas, and
she was ready to break the faith of the nation
to gain her purpose. The fugitive slave law
was the price of peace, and the principles of
the Dred Scott decision must become the pol
icy of the nation, or the Government itself
must be dissolved to make way for the on
ward march of the demon of chains ; and an
appeal made from constitutional ballots to
leaden bullets to decide the question of who
shall rule over the "land of the free and the
home of the brave." We have read of a devil
of more than usual malignity the most dev
ilish of all the demon crew ; other devils re
t
are, sucbumb or die. Poisonous as the upas
tree, the very atmosphere she breathes is
death ; like the vampire, she sucks the heart's
blood of her friends, and, Amnon-like, she
feigns sickness that she may deflower those
who would minister to her wants.
Slavery has divided the M. E. Church and
the Protestant Episcopal Chnrch ; it has sev
ered the Democratic party; it has rent the
Stars and Stripes and trailed in the dust the
insignia of our nation's glory, and kindled the
fires of dissolution among the ranks of the
staid, conservative Presbyterians. Methodism
fell first, because she was foremost in the
fight, and the first to succumb to slavery die
tat ion. The suspension of the rule making
non-slaveholding a term of membership, in
1785, was the death-knell of her national char
acter; it was the opening of iho flood-gates
or slavery aggression, rrom that hour sla
very never ceased to.demand, nor the Church
to yield, until 1844, when a firm determination
not to submit, in violation of the express rule
of Discipline, to the supervision of a slave
holding bishop resulted in the secession of
the southern conferences and the division of
the Church. Statesmen of the first order,
such as Henry Clay, deplored the separation
of the M. E. Church as the opening wedge of
the nation a dissolution. Seventeen years
nave luiniled the prophetic statement: the
nation now is moved to its very foundation,
and seems to be tottering for the fall. In all
this was Methodism to blame 7 She indeed
ought not to have yielded at all. The conces
sion of 1785 made way for the imperious de
mands ot 1844. Grown strong, slavery gave
her terms, Succumb, or die. The Church
could have maintained her integrity by sub
mitting to slavery dictation at the expense of
a further degradation of her moral character
This she could not do. She feared God rath
er than slavery. The South seceded, and in
troduced the first chapter of insubordination
and treason.
Next-in the category of her victims is the
Democracy of these United States. The par
ty honored with that name, and the early ex
ponents of the doctrine, dates back to the ad
ministration of Washington. Thomas Jeffer
son, the author of the Declation of Indepen
dence, was its earliest head, and his election
to the presidential chair was its first great
victory. Between democracy and slavery
there is no natural sympathy : they are essen
tially antagonistic. There is a charm in the
very name Democracy that falls like sweetest
music upon the ear and hearts of aU the des
pot-ridden sohs of Europe. This party, well
organized, well disciplined, and timehonored,
embracing many of the best names of the
nation, seemed as if it would live forever.
Its very existence was a pledge of national
stability to us and to our children for all lime
to come. Yet, strange to say, it has been
through the agency of that party that the
slavery-worshiping aristocrats of the South
have controlled the destinies of the United
States.' As early as 1812 John C. Calhoun
said in a conversation with Charles Stewart,
"I . admit your conclusion in respect to us
southerners; that we are essentially aristo
cratic I cannot deny ; but we can and do yield
much to democraicy. This is our sectional
policy ; wo are from necessity thrown upon
and solemnly wedded to that party, however
it may occasionally clash with our feelings,
for the conservation of our interests. It is
through our' affiliation with that party in the
middle and western States we control, under
the Constitution, the governing of these U
mted States; but when we cease thus to con
trol this nation, through a disjointed democ
racy, or any material obstacle in that party
which shall tend to throw us out of that rule
and control, we shall then resort to the dis
solution of the Union." The year 1860
brought about the specified condition : the
northern Democrats, who never did enter into
the treasonable purposes of the South, by re
fusing at the Charleston convention to sacri
fice themselves npon the altar of slavery,
broke the arm of southern despotism : but the
South, in turn, by bolting from the Cincinnati
platform, broke the back ot the party she had
so long controIIed,and their subsequent defeat
was the signal for the dissolution of the Union.
Regardless of the honpr of their northern
friends, with' whom they bad been so long
associated, from the hour of their defeat, se
cession, thieving and misrule became the or
der of the day, and the most glorious govern
ment the sun ever shone upon is now at the
dagger's point contending for an existence.
The Democratic party could bava avoided
division only by submitting to be enslaved;
and no compromise could save the Union but
tire with dignity when bidden ; this one sough
to kill, threw down his subject and rent him
sore, leaving him as one dead. Such was the
devil that took possession of the southern
wing of democracy, and controlled the cabi
net of the retiring Administration until tho
force of public indignation ousted the traitors
from their place of power. No sooner had
the result of the late general election been
made known a result which indicated a clear
ing out of the old official incumbents of the
general Government than there wai inaugur
ated a system of chicanery aud fraud the par
allel of which the world never witnessed
There were traitors in the cabinet, traitors in
secret conference with onr Chief Magistrate,
traitors in our legislative halls, traitors in the
army and in the navy : secession, revolution
and treason were concocted in the capitol and
inaugurated all over the South, and thieving
and robbery became the order of the day
rons, navy yards, snips, arsenals and muni
tions of war were stolen : United States mints
and treasuries were robbed, and war with all
its baneful concomitants stalked abroad. At
whose feet must the blame lie for all this de
vastation 7 Who must be held responsible for
the present prostration of business, fcr the
sufferings imposed upon the poor, for the
blood of the battle-field, for the sorrows of the
widow, and women made childless by the
sword, and for the wide-spread demoralization
of the nation 7 Certainly not the North
certainly not the present Administration.
Can a thing act before it exists 7 This ruin
was foreshadowed and much of its details
wrought out before the present Adminlstra
tion drew its earliest breath. The bombard
ment of Sumter was the culminating point of
treason. Iut why was Sumter bombarded
No invasion of southern rights bad been either
enected or even threatened; no aggressive
steps had yet been taken to recover the prop
erty already taken; not even an attempt to
reinforce Fort Sumter, but only to supply A-
merican soldiers with provisions. To feed
men who firmly stood by the national flag was
enough to open the ore of slave-serving bat
teries upon the devoted fort. Could the Ad
ministration have done less 7 Must the heroic
Anderson and bis noble band perish for lack
of bread 7 or must they, as the representatives
ot our national honor, submit as prisoners of
war to the traitors of the South 7 True to
the trust confidad to their care they stood
famished with hunger they toiled on at their
appointed task, while amidst the fire and
smoke of the contest tho walls of the fort
were battered about their heads. But tho
thunder of those cannon stirred the nation's
heart, and thousands of northern freemen are
rushing to the rescue. The American eagle
must not die in the loathsome coils of the
southern rattlesnake.
The war is upon the part of the South one
of aggression. Northern invasion is the sub
tance of their military programme : the con
federate armies are marching to the overthrow
of our national capital ; the men to whom, in
a constitutional way, the interests of the com
monwealth have been confided, are to be driv
en ironi the seat of government, and the ar
chives of the nation are to pass into the
hands of self-constituted rulers. Give Jeffer
son Davis possession of Washington City with
an army sufficient to sustain him there a con
tingency which supposes the subjugation of
the federal Government by force of arms and
the Government of these United Stales is rey-
olutionized at once ; the doctrine of equal
rights, of our noblo Declaration of Indepen
dence, would be swept from the face of the
earth ; and the freemen of the North now
free no more would never again rally to the
polls for the election of a constitutional mag
istrate ol a tree people.
But cannot there be a peaceable adjustment
of existing difficulties 7 Cannot the evils of
civil war be avoided 7 Certainly it can be
doue, if Freedom will consent to die with
out a struggle ; if the Chief Magistrate of the
nation will submit obsequiously to retire at
the bidding of the South ; if the doctrine of
the confederated traitors is admitted as the
law of the nation. Complacent as the demon
that severed the M. E. Church. and treacher
ously rent the Democratic party, slavery only
asks of the national Government to succumb
or die. .
Let the federal Government, either peace
fully or at the cannon's mouth, succumb to
the dictation pf the South, or under any cir
cumstances yield to her demands, and ner
prestige aud glory yea, her very identity
will have passed away. A doctrine would be
inaugurated essentially opposed to our pres
ent cherished institutions : in three important
particulars would the change be seen. The
right of a State to scecede is a conceit made
to order for southern convenience, which
strikes at the yery root of government stabili
ty, and consequently national prosperity ; it
is a rope of sand, the very existence of which
is pledge of insecurity, and adumbrates a sys
tem f petty, uninfiuontial States, and inter
minable war. The national policy of the
leaders of the confederacy the woull-be
masters of the nation is seen in the wet that
they havo not submitted any ot their seces
sion measures to the vote of the people ; their
first act has been to dethrone their constitu
tional sovereigns; a new power has risen that
knows not the masses a power of the few o
ver the many a power to decide upon tho
destinies of the nation without consulting the)
nation's will. What have we at the North to
expect at tho hands of successful traitors who
have ignored the rights of their obsequious
friends 7 What but that our rights, both civil
and religious, will pass from ourselves to an
oligarchy sustained by military power.
That God has endowed all men with certain
inalienable rights, among which are life, lib
erty ,and the persuit of happiness, is thejmain pil
lar of the temple of Freedom. The new con
federacy stands not upon that rock : they
have built upon the curse of Ham ; they car-,
ry the mark ot Cain ; they arrogate to them
selves a God-given right to trample under
their feet the children of Africa, into whose
veins the best blood of the South is being
transferred ; these, too, to be held in bonds
forever. Even a dog won't eat the flesh of
a dog; but the demon of slavery devours its
own children ; the tender and delicate female
that toils unprotected in the cotton field may
be fairer than the daughters of him under
whose lash she is driven forth. The Vico
President of flie cor Tederacy proclaims ilavery
to be its main pillar, and for the supremacy
of that political heresy they thirst to drf1ug
our land with blood. Let that doctrine pre
vaillet the supremacy of slavery be acknowl
edged and what will be the practical state of
things in the North 7 What but a duplicate
of what already exists in the South ! A reigr
of terror is upon them a terror verging upon
the worst days of the French revolution ; and
the demon of despotism now crushing ou
their soul seeks to spread her raven wings o
ver the fair land of the North.
Should the South succeed, then our book
of Discipline becomes a book of treason, and
the conference ol the M. E. church are con
gregations of traitors. Bewley was hung in
Texas for no olher cause than bis adherence
to the M. E. Church. Others have been shot
down in Missouri. Almost every slave Stato
has its victims, and this war against conscience
and religious liberty must be carried every
where. Every other denomination of Chris
tians must also submit ; the rostrum, the pul
pit and the press must be bound : subject to
the censorship of slaveocrats, they must all
take character from their masters, and civil
and religious liberty would be buried in one
common grave.
America is now honored wherever tho sun
shines. Tho United States has been and still
is the asylum for the poor and down trodden
of the world, as on eagle's wings the inhabi
tants of the earth ore flocking to us for refuge.
Must this glory depart 7 Must a despotism
worse than that of Europe stalk over our free
mountains and unchained prairies 7 Must the
hope of the world bo confounded 1 Let Jeff-,
erson Davis succeed ; let our republican Insti
tutions proves failure; let our Administra
tion succumb to the South transJer tho
temple from Liberty, to Slavery, and tLo
world has gone back a thousand years, anJ
the hopes of mankind are buried forever.
I ask not now whether slavery is a sin against
God. It has proved itself to bo an enemy to
our civil I:berties ; it bas developed a brood
of traitors, and organized an armed oppositioq
to the peaceful administration of ourconslw
tutional government; and being thus fruitful
of evil caught in the very act of treason it
has forfeited its very right to an -existence.
Time was when we believed that slavery, bo?
ing a creature of State law, should be controll
ed only by the States in which it exists ; but
that day seems to have gone by. The demon
spirit of rebellion bas wandered beyond its
limits, and is shouting the battle-crv of tba
nation's dissolution. I fear the time has
come when the people will rise in the strength
of their reserved rights, and, as a matter ot
State policy, in a contlituiiunal way, sweep the
system from our land.
A soldier from the North has fallen in the
defence of our common country. That man
was my repieseatative ; bis blood was my
blood, and the blood of my children. Onr
blood the blood of the nation has in him,
baptized the earth, and craven and dastardly
must he be unfit to mingle with freemen
who would not give bis own warm heart's
blood that the flag which he defended might
wave undisturbed over the place where he full.
Our fathers bled upon the field of battle, that
the scacred inheritance of freedom might de
scend to their children and their children's
children forever. May the last dollar be ex
pended, and the last r.ian of this generation
fall, rather than our children's heritage should
perish in our hands. With the flag or our
country upon the Bible, and our hands upon
both together, let ns, kneeling upon the blood-
baptized earth, pledge eternal allegianco to
the American Uuion, nor tire in our efforts
until the spirit of rebellion is buried in an ob
livion deep, dark, and relentless as the giave.
NEt"TRLui'ro Poiso.v. The followicg if
true is valuable : "A poison of any conceiv
able description and any degree of potency
which bas been Intentionally or accidentally
swallowed, may be rendered almost instantly
harmless by simply swallowing two gills of
sweet oil. An individual with a very strong
constitution shonld take nearly -twice the
quantity. This oil will most postively neutal
ize every form of vegetable, animal or miner
al poison with which physicians and chemists
are acquainted."
A Disobedient Husband. Considerable a
mcsement was created in Mount Holly on the
departure of some volunteers, by a strong
minded woman seizing her husband, dragging
him frorji the ranks, and cuffing him on tba
head, ordering him home. The poor fellow
complied but finally succeeded in eluding ber
vigilance, and went off with bis company.
Every sinful outward word and deed, and
every secret thought and purpose of the mind,
re-acts upon the mind itself and leaves its
own Impression there sa upon an ineffaceable
tablet. Aside from all the influence our sin
may exert upon others, it puts imperishsble
Impressions upon our own minds.
"Pa," said a lad to bis father, "I often read
of people poor, but bonest ; why don't thsy
some times say rich but honest t "Tut, my
son," said the father, "nobody would believe
them." ' r.O
-1
St
ir