VOLUME I. The American Citizen, fcfl published every Wednesday in the borough of Butler, \)y THOMIS ROBHSOS A C. K. AFFDBMO* on Main STREET, (opposite to Jack * Hotel—offlce up stair* in the brick "urmerlv occupied by Ell Yetter, as a store TERMS:—SI 50 a year, if paid in advance, or within the Urst nix ntdnthrt; or f'2 if not paid until after the expira tion of the flrnt six months. KATRS or AT»vr.RTt«»NO:— One nquare non., (tenllne«or l«8S t ) three Insertion® 2 Kvery subsequent Insertion,per square, •••• ttaainem r-ards -»f 10 lines or lets fir one year, inclu ding paper ® Vard of 10 lines or le«-» 1 year without paper * w 54 column f»r six months ' Vcolnmn fur one year ' • * for «ix months '»t o i \<, column for one ye " ( column for six month* r*' 1 column for on- %--»r For the Citizen. A WARNING. to TIIO9* *uo Alftiw THKin linrs TO CABOOSE Til V. *TRi:rTB AT Monr. If your boy's lore to swear and fight, And have some fun, . Ansoona* they «re froqj your night, I pun the public streets at night, And you can think it is all right, Let 'em run. Aye let em run, <1 «n tbe afraid That e'er their steps will slack, • Ah no! they soon will learn the trade Of garrotte, gag and cord and blade, To run " a muck in sin's crusade, And curse the day that yon were made, To father nucha pack. % 11. Should e'er you meet a boy at night, A prankish clown; Ulaspheming4 >ud, and awful "tight," Who jams at you with all hi* might, Ami says he's tpilin for for a fight, Knock him down. Aye knock him down, and never fear About the deed you've done; Ah no! his parents are not near To shield the boy to.thein HO dear, No stop! an Idea striken me here; You may be smiting, oh how queer. Your own dear drunken son. 111. Well never mind, they are but boys, And maybe rude; Hut then : kind sirs, you need not rare. Your boys. lik«* you must learn to swear; In doors at night ?—why who could bear .Such solitude. Ave let your boys at random run. Ami time alone will show; That after all their drunken fun, And criminating deeds are dono, Whether or not, a hell they've won: Would you not grieve to account your son A candidate for Woe! PBTKR PORITI'INK. « OUMI \l< A i'IOXS. tor the Citizen. Politics and Religion. •It is a veil known taut, that this subject is exciting considerable attention, and honest inquirers on every hand arc seek ing a truthful and reasonable solution of the problem. Not pretending to be wise above what is written, wc feel in duty bound to contribute our mite, in opening up this rather intricate subject. Questions meet us at every step, con trary opinions and feelings, with number less unwarranted assertions, charges and what not, confront us in the daily avoca tions and business of lifej and all conies f'rouie a civilized, christianized and pro fessing community and people. Can all be right? Does God's Holy spirit lead one man in one direction, and another in the opposite course ? People whose in terests and wall-being, nationally, social ly and morally, are one and the satiie.— We think not! Why then this jarring, jangling, clashing an 1 eoufliction of opin ions, theories and principles ? I liere must be a cause —an I a prolific source, from whence all this flows. If we can succeed in stripping..ff the ve;l,am) show ing this matter in its clear light, our ob ject is gained. The writer is not a polititician,neverex pcets to be; is prone to look at every subject from a moral standpoint, where he has a chance of seeing. \\ ill the reader step up onto the platformand take a look at the subject? When we look at the raging strife go ing on between north and south, at the terrible bitterness of parties and of party spirit, at the blood shed, sorrow and mis cry of many thousands of our fellows on every side, we are constrained to bei.e\e the world has gone mad, and as it were, by our consent, have set u|>on each other to kill and destroy all within their reach. Hut the subject still wears a more gloomy aspect, when we reflect that these sec tions and contending parties all profess to worship the same God, be influenced by the same spirit; guided*by the same vol ume of inspiration, nay more, belonging to the same religious societies, luejnbcrs of the game churchs, professing the same faith and practicing the same religious precepts. Still farther. Each contending section, party and army, have Chaplains, Bibles, religious books, tracts &c., to in- spire their soldiers with bravery and car nage. Each have their days of fasting, prayer and devotional exercises—each in voking Gov s blessing. Each imploring his aid against the common enemy. — Jfmc must the eye of the all seeing Gml, look down upon this strange combination of religious ditplay, or devotional oppo sition. Why is it, are we in earnest ? are ■we sincere ? do we devoutly wish for what we pray? if so, can our prayers be ans wered? can one God supply such oppo site extremes of desires? truly a Philoso pher might bo puzzled, and exclaim : '•Whom the God's would kill, they first make mad.'" Now let us see if we can account for thie strange comedy: Ist. We lay down a few fundamental principles, which you will do well to ex amine. If they are good and true, thep we may safely build upon them—if false, then the structure must fall, no matter bow fine or costly the buildinp. AMERICAN CITIZEN. First then, there must be a ruling ele ment in religion, to make religion right; that element must be vital Godliness or piety, unless this element be in our reli gion, it will be no better than the religion of Boodah, Juggernautt orGuadaniah. — This principle is the same to religion, thjit Leaven is to the meal. Gal. sth and 9th. It gives it life; It is life) without it reli gion is a dead, loathsome carcass, a bar ren idea, a forgery, a libel—proof, see heathen mythology, human sacrifices, &c. 2nd. This true religion , must be the ruling element in daily life, in society and in politics. The same to these that the Leaven is to the meal. Now if this rule were followed, there could be no war, for true religion leads to peace, quiet, liberty, equ il rights, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, and this religion is not many, but one— the. religion of Christ. Having laid these foundation princi ples, I proceed to build my argument, atid here notice that, this religion may be safely brought into every avocation of hu man life, into every principle of human government, every good institution, and is productive of good in each and every de partment, for it sanctifies the whole mass, purifies the whole economy of nature. The contrary cannot be truthfully said, we cannot bring anything else into our religion of our worldly, selfish or com mon affairs, without producing disastrous results. Religion will not stand that kind of mixing, and right here is the grand source of all our troubles, asm shall show. Religion can stand alone, it has stood for eighteen hundred years, amid the scorn, contempt, caresses, fawnings, corruptions, persecutions of Kings, Emperors, courts, populaces, nations and people, and stands out at the present hour in bold relief, from the dark clouds of national sorrow, to show us our way out of this dire conflict, and will it be thought presumption in nie. to assert, that if we ever reach the shore of our troubles, the goal of peace, r. ligi gion, true and undefilod, must be our pilot or guide? Thank God then, that we have a President, who earnestly calls ground him this hallowed influence, in his ap peals to us for our prayers, sympathies, sermons and general co-operation, in the fearful struggle for our national existence. God bless him and give wisdom, is our fervent prayer, and ice will try to give the nation light , it is our imperative duty, and solemn promise. Now to see where we have run oft" the track, and the ob struction—but if we bring into our reli gion as a ruling element drunkenness for although in other respects, it may bo said we are good hearted, kind, affectionate, good citizens, &c. Vet where his pernicious practice or evil habit pre vails, it becomes the ruling passion or element of the man's life. II is social iu ercsts hapincss &c., as well ns mental culture and moral principles, give way to its overpowering influence, and the man presents to the eye of even the casual ob server, a wreck of character. Can we mistake the cause, had lie m ide religion, true religion, the ruling element of his life, the passion would have been restrain ed, overcome. The habit broken up, and instead of a wreck of character, you Would discover a man of moral worth. The same thing may be said of every vice of which as a people we are guilty, let cither fraud, lying, stealing, Sabbath breaking, gambling, incest or even speculation, (for this is a kind of polite fraud) be indulged in tis a practice, and the passions of our carnal natures, such as anger, wrath, mal ice, evil speaking jealousy, prejudice, in ordinate love for earthly objects, covetous ness, &c., be cherished by us and "rolled as a sweet morsel under our tongues."— It will become the leaver or moving pow er of the soul, and will finally subvert every moral principle which we may have imbibed, and our profession become a stink in the nose of every intelligent man or woman acquainted with our course.— Hut you inquire, what has all this to do with politics? I answer by stating facts patent in our country's history, as a sec tion, the southern people have made Poli tics, (not religion) the i-uliug element of southern society. Slavery the leaven of politics and politics the leaven of society. Religion has been humbled befor it, made to give place. Proof, sec a few ichite men present at every religious meeting, or else the meeting pronounced unlaicfid. See learning prohibited the slave ; see the mar riage institution ignored ; fornication and basterdy, common in every quarter, pro fessing christians selling their oicn Jiesh and blood into perpetual slavery. Does the churches, or religion of the south uphold the abuses you inquire, certainly in a ma jority of cases, there are noble exceptions of course, but the majority of southern churches and professing christians have yielded, yea sanctioned, and have given their influence to perpetuate and extend this God dishonoring, Heaven daring in stitution. Notwithstanding the denuncia tions of Jehovahs word against oppression, " Let us have Faith that Right makes Might; and in that Faith let us, to the end,dare to do our duty as we understand it"— A - LINCOLN. BUTLER, BUTLER COUNTY, PA., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13,1864. his commands to break every yoke, and let the oppressed go free, and in open vio lation of the good common sense of every enlightened man and woman, they have constantly paraded bofore us, to cover their guilt, the old Mosaic laws, regula ting servitude, as authority for the vilest oppression known to exist in the enlight ened world, and indeed but little if any more revolting, to be found among the most degraded aud barberous nations of the earth, trying if possible to throw the quilt of their iniquity in the very face of Jehovah, and make him the author aud upholder of all sin, and indeed many in our own part of the country take the very same ground, and plead for the institution as a divine rite. "0 when will fools understand knowledge." O, why pervert the very pitience and long suffering of God, into a cloak of concealment for the protection of the most disgusting and Hell deserving vice of the age? But to return to our design. Ifeligion being humbled befoie politics, and politics being made the leaven of so c ety and of the church—true Godliness or piety fle I from their religion, and left it a body without a soul—a stinking car cass. Loathsome in the sight of honest enlightened men. Loathsome it must be. in the eyes of a just and Holy God, who «lnts always abhorred oppression. See Eel. 7th. and 7th.—Psalms, 72d, 4th, 54th, 3d. 12th, stli, 02d, and 10th. Isiali sth, 7th, 3iid. aud 15th. Luck. 17th, sth, and 10th. Mai. 3d, and sth. James 2d, these are a few of the many pasages of scripture truth to be found bearing upon this subject, which I beg my readers to consider, who are in favour of the lovely institution of American slavery— foul blot upon our land of freedom. Tis Strange that our Eclesiastics and learned men of the south, forgot the Mo saic year of Jubilee. Why was it, that in the fiftieth year of American Indepen dence, "Liberty was not proclaimed throughout all the land unto all the in habitants thereof." Lev. 25th, 10th.— Why hold so strenuously to one part of Mosaic Law, and reject another oil the very same subject—tis evident that dis honesty exists somewhere. How will we answer to God. who knows the secrets of our hearts, and the motives by which we are actuated, for our glaring ignorance or dishonesty in this affair of public interest? Let us look the matter fair in the face, aud not yield to prejudices and party spirit longer. But now in conclusion, what has poli tics become in the south by this improp er mixing ? Ans. Rebellion ! What is II e j bell ion ? Ans. Sacrilege] And are we ti it vending our steps to such a result, when we suffer party feelings and preju ices to rule our better judgments, embit ter our social intercourse, distract and destroy our love to each other, in the same church, divide us in our efforts for good, perhaps cause us to leave our church, and find a home where political spirits conjte ncnial to our own are found, or bring dis turbance into the church in sotne way or other; perhaps charge the preacher for bringing politics into the church,in preach ing against national sin and praying for tho Government, when thefruth is "thou art the irtan" who has brought your poli tics into the church. The preacher only brings the influence of the church, and his own, to bear on-politics; purifying politics, squaring them by the eternal rule, which will ucver fail, and this is right, just what God deigns; that we shall bring his religion into even/ principle, and avocation of human life, and human af fairs ; sanctifying and renovating every, part thereof, so that we may be cleansed from all unrighteousness, and properly qualified to take our proper position in society, and exert a salutary influence on every hand. There isthCn,a wide differ ence between mixing politics with reli gion, and mixing religion with politics; perhaps you say, "we can't see it." I once could not see the difference between "a solid half foot, and half a solid foot;" "but when I became a man, I put away childish things," and when I saw that the figures would produce the difference, I gave up that it must be right, so try the figures on thi% according to the rule of Divine truth, and sec if. it does not pro ducolhe same result. PIONEER. EPITAPH in in English Church-yard : "Sacred to the memory of Miss Martha Grinn; she was so very spare within, she burst the outward shell of sin, and hatch ed herself a cherubim." A NEW remedy for the asthma consists of frankincense to be smoked in a pipe. Having tried it, wc say to all asmetics, '• put that in your pipe and smoke it." IF you want to be a " swell" of the first water, get the dropsy. Speech of Hon. J. K. Moorhead, Delivered In the House of Representatives, March *26,18#4. Sir. MOORHEAD said: Mr. Chairman: My colleague from the 21st district [Mr. Dawson] has made con fessedly the ablest speech on the other side of the House, and has stated with great frankness aud clearness the grounds pf his opposition to the war. Although it was well answered by my colleague from the 19th district. [Mr. Schofield.] I feel it in cumbent upon me togiveitsome attention, as our districts adjoin, have like interests and feelings, and as special efforts have been made, by the circulation of his speech to affect the political sentiment of Western Pennsylvania. We both live at the head of the great channels of trade formed by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and their tributaries, down which the coal, lumber, and agricultural products, aud the manu factures of glass, steel, iron, copper,wood, &c., of our people were accustomed before the rebellion to float safely and without let or hindrance, to the inhabitants of thirteen States, aud oil through the Gulf S.O foreign markets. Valuable as tho Fed eral Union is to the people of other States, is is beyond all price to Pennsylvania, and especially to bis constituents and mine, who alike love their country, are proud of its history, believe in free government, hate slavery, are ready to die rather than see their national flag dishonored at home or abroad, and will not permit the destruc tion of their Government by aristocratic slaveholders, who treat and speak of north ern people—Democrats as well as Republi cans—with more scorn, than they feel for their slaves on their plantations. The blow of the traitors who made this war, fell first and heaviest on our constituencies, when they closed the navigation of the Mis sissippi, seized and confiscated, property, and de Iroyed trade more than sixty years enjoyed, and for restoration of the right to which our people have been vigorously fighting for nearly three years. Ido this, Mr. Chairman, the more-readily, because the doctrines he announces, are the very same which brought 011 the war, and if not condemned by the people, would make the southern rebels our masters forever. My colleague began his speech by re minding us iii glowing terms of the hap py and prosperous state of the country "about •eight years since," when he left these halls. He left two years before Mr. Buchanan become President. What was its condition when Mr. Buchanan banded the Government to Mr. Lincoln ? Why is my colleague silent as to the pregnant fact, that when Mr. Buchanan retired, the gloom of that awful period was such that its mere remembrance comes like nil evil shadow over the heart of every patriot? It has been suggested he has been in a deep sleep during the eight years he was absent from political life. His speech fur nishes strongevidence of it. Let me then inform him what he should know, and what many of his constituents do know, that not merely are we now, "in the midst of a revolution," but the country was in the midst of a revolution whom Mr. Bu chanan retired, and has been on the brink of a revolution atdifferent times, for thirty years. •Jackson suppressed treason in 1832. Jeff. Davis and *his fellow conspirators made some signs of beginning a revolu tion, under old Zach. Taylor in 1850, when California was admitted as a free State; but the hero of Buena Vista squelched it by announcing that he would hang the first rebel who dared to lift a hand against the Union, and Jeff. Davis well knew he would do it. They prepared for it, while Pierce lived in the White House, and Davis gov erned the country. They .persevered while Buchanan was President, and Floyd con trolled the army, until,between the 4th of November, 1860, the day 1 incoln was elec ted, and the 4th of March, 1861, the day he was inaugurated, every southern fort except Pickens and Sumter, every armory and arsenal, all the ordnance, arms, and ammunition, all the custom-houses, post offices, and mints, in a word all the prop erty of the Federal Government in every seceded State were seized by slaveholding traitors, without a blow being struck or a shot being fired in their defense, and 30 days before Buchanan's term expired, eight slaveholding States had openly re belled against the Government, cast off al legiance to it and excluded its authority, hauled down iU .flag, captured its troops, arms, forts, ships, munitions of war, as sembled a congress at Montgomery, Ala., adopted a constitution, elected a. President, prepared to raise armies, and organized a confederacy as a toreign and hostile gov ernment, all under that Democratic rule which my colleague is so anxious to re store, and all done by Democratic leaders! What did Mr. Buchau.au do to preveut these great crimes ? Nothing ! What did they propose to do ? Nothing! Ontheoth er hand, they resisted everything that look ed like protecting the public property, and preserving the. nation's honor. Sir, so widespread was treason, so faith less the President, that all hope was ex hausted except the single one that his term would expire before all was lost.— Thank God ! Abraham Lincoln became President before the cause of the JJnion was totally ruined, and then the work of rescue began. My colleague, in a speech of twenty-nine pages, says not a word in denunciation of these rebel insults and outrages, nor does he show any sympathy with those of his neighbors whose blood has enriched every battle-field in defense of their country, and whose bones are before Richmond and Charleston,at Antietam, Gettysburg, Vicks burg and Chattanooga, and whose heroic valor lias protected his home and mine from threatened invasion by his late polit ical friends. Nor has he any charges to make against anybody except of "madness and folly" against the people, and railing against the Government, the Quakers and Abolitionists. The rebellion is tenderly mentioned as an "ill judged rebclliou"— no crime in it—llo blood on the rebels' hands; only a mistake in judgment, a bad guess as to time and result! Sir, I do not think my colleague has allowed his good feelings to find expression in his speech; but it was made to aid in restoring the Dem ocratic rule, its errors and fallacies should be pointed" <mt. My colleague sees no prospect of the end. He says "nearly three years of civ il war have now discharged their relent less fury upon our unhappy country, and we are yet apparently as far from any sat isfactory adjustment of our differences as when we first flew to arms." Sir, I broad ly deny this extraordinary statement. It is the policy of the rebels, and those who sympathize with them to undervalue the results already accomplished, and to dis courage the public feeling of the North. Jeff. Davis says the South cannot be con quered , and my colleague deliberately shuts his eyes to the astonishing resnfyi already attained. The rebellion is in its last agonies; immense regions have been reclaimed, sev eral States are returning to their allegiance, and 011 every hand there is hut one indica tion, and that of the increasing power of the Union and tho increasing weakness of the rebellion. My colleague should see this; but there is none so blind as he who wilj not see. His doctrine as to the true chitracterof tho government is a specimen brick of the genuine Calhoun mould. He "finds no difficulty in a divided allegi ance," and ho "holds that allegiance to bind the citizen in equal degree to the gov ernment of the State aud to that of the nation, both proceeding from the same source —the pcoplcof the several States." This doctrine has deluded multitudes into treason, has undermined the Federal Gov ernment, brought on this war, and sacri ficed the lives of thousands of our people. General Jackson in his day denounced it, and warned the country against it; and even Mr. Buchanan, in his last annual message, declared it"to bo inconsistent with the history as well as the character of the Federal Constitution." It means that we have no national Government; that under the Constitution there is no Union; j but only a knot of States that way be tied or untied atpleasure; that there is no such thing as a citizen of the United States, and 110 national flag to shelter him. But Mr. Chairman, the most cruel fea ture of my colleague's speech is that which, openly proclaiming his approval of Mr. Buchanan's course, impliedly censures that of the gTeat old patriot jvhom he and I, once and again, but, vainly, labored to make President of the United States— General Lewis Cass; whose patriotism and statesmanship revolted the tuckling policy of Mr. Buchanan, and who, when his proposition to garrison the southern forts and maintain possession of the pub lic property was refused, promptly tender ed his resignation and withdrew from the Cabinet. If Mr. Buchanan's policy was wise, General Cas's was unwise; If Mr. Buchanan was faithful in his high posi tion, General Cass was mistaken in judg ment; if Mr. Buchanan properly met tho great duties of the hour then Gen. Cass utterly failed to appreciate the difficulties. But not so. I can never subscribe to such a sentence of condemnation against an old friend whom I have long admired; whom I now revere as among the worth iest statesman the country lias ever had, and whose claim to the love and gratitude of posterity rest, in my judgment, more firmly upon his unshakan fidelity when treason was so general, than even upon his brilliant records of both civil and milita ry service. About the time he retired from the Cabinet he was filled with gloom and anguish at the threatening aspect of public affairs, as ho fully comprehended the great and growing dangers which threatened the ship of state. His impres sive exclamation at the time, in my pres ence, Wu.s: "We are lost, we arc destroy .>'l; r»ir jrrvnt "nd be ruined. Itmight.be saved—it might b« saved. I have tried to save it, but ean do no more." Glorious words !• betokening the great heart of a brave, clear, patriotic statesman, who would have saved the coun try, the public property, and subdued the rebellion had HE been I'iesident in place of Mr. Buchanan. As he was not, and the President would do nothing, he left the Cabinet. Yet my colleague indorses Mr. Buchanan and his policy, thus impli edly casting censuresand blame upon Gen eral Cass. I resent the imputation, and appeal with confidence from his words to the judgment of a free people, who will be Hived, despite theopen treachery of Buchan an, or the covert treacheij' of his allies and friends. I have alluded to the fact that the rebel lion is not a new thing in American his tory ; all remember how promptly Jackson put down one, and Taylor nipped another iu the bud- Lincoln has aroused the loy alty and patriotism of the country to sub due the last and worst; and we who are thus this day engaged, are but following the teachings of those departed patriots around whom a united country threw its protecting arms, and upon whose memories it continues to lavish its praise. " The Union, it must and shall be preserved," was the motto of Jackson; it is the heart work of Lincoln. The rebellion of 1832 was invoked against existing legislation, this, much loss justifiable, and more wick ed, was inaugurated in the absence of of fensive, legislation in fact at the moment when all legislation was not only harmless, but harmonious on the late disputed terri torial question, when by the confession of the ablest of their leaders, the slavehold ers of the South nad no cause to justify secession,* and when by the truth of his tory, there was no actual grievance what ever. This is most vigorously and clearly presented by the following extract from a s]>eech of Alexander 11. Stevens, deliver ed in theseeessionconvention of Georgia, January, 1801: " This step (of secession) once taken can never he recalled; and all the baleful and withering consequences that must fol low will rest on the convention for all coining time. When we and our posteri ty shall see our lovely South desolated by the demon of war, tohiah this act of yours will inemthbly invite and'call forth, when our green fields of waving harvest shall ho trodden down by the murderous sol diery and fiery car of war sweeping over our land, our temples of justice laid in ashes, all the horrors and desolation, of war upon us, who but this convention trill be held responsible fur it 112 and who but him who shall have given his votefor this un wise and illtimed measure, aa I honestly think and believe, shall be held to strict account for this suicidal act by the pres ent generation, and probably be cursed and j execrated by posterity for all time to come, for the wijloand desolating ruin that will inevitably follow this act you now propose to perpetrate. . Pause, I entreat you. * * What right has the North assailed? What interest of the South has been invaded? What justice has been denied, and what claim founded in justice and right has been withheld ? ('an either of you to-day name one governmental act of wrong, de liberately and purposely done by the Gov ernment at Washington, of which the South has a right to complain ? I chal lenge the answer. * * * " We have always had the control of the General Government, and can yet if we remain in it, and are as united as we have been. We have had a majority of the Presidents chosen from the South, as well as <Jie control and management of most of those chosen from the North. We have had sixty years of Southern Presidents to thirty-four, thus controlling the Kxccu tivc Department. So of the judges of the Supreme Court, we have had'eighteen from the South, and but eleven -from the North; although nearly four-fifths of the judicial business has arisen in the free States, yet a majority of the Court has al ways been from the South. This we have required, so as to guard against any inter pretation of the Constitution unfavorable to us. In like manner we have been equ ally watchful to guard against OHr inter ests in the legislative branch of Govern ment. In choosing the presiding presi dents ( pro tern.) of the Senate, we have had twenty-four to their eleven. Speak ers of tho House, we have had twenty three and they twelve. While the major ity of the representatives, from their greater population have always been from the North, yet we have so generally se cured the Speaker, because he, to a great er extent, shapes aud controls the legisla tion of the country * * * * * Attorney Generals, wo have had fourteen, while the North have had but five. For eign ministers, we have had eighty-six, and they but fifty-four. * * We have had the princi ple embassies, so as to secure the world markets for our cotton, tobacco, and su gar, on the best possible terms. We have had a vast majority of the high offices of both army and navy, while a large pro portion of the soldiers and sailors were drawn from the North. Equally so of clerks, auditors, comptrollers, filling the executive Departments. Tho records show for the last fifty years that of three thousand thus employed, we have had more than two-thirds of the same, while we have had but one-third of the white population of the Republic. * * A fraction over three-fourths of the reve nve collected for oP tho Opr. NUMBER 18. eminent has uniformly been raised from the North. Pause now while you can, gentlemen, and contemplate carefully, and candidly these important items. * " For you to attempt to overthrow such a Government as this, under which we have lived for more than three quarters of a century, in which wo have gained our wealth, our standing as a nation, our do mestic safety, while the elements of peril are around us, with peace and tranquility accompanied with unbounded prosperity, and rights unassailed, is the height of madness, folly, and wickedness, to which I can neither lend my sanction nor my vote." * The first question that presents itself is, shall.the people of the South secede from the Union in consequence of tho election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States? My countrymen, I tell you fianhty, candidly, and earnest ly, that Ido nut think they ought. In my judgment, tWP election of no man, con stitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause for any state to seperate from the Union. It ought to stand by, and aid still in maintaining the Constitu tion of the country. To make a point of* resistance to the Government, to withdraw from it because a man has been constitu tionally elected, putt us in the wrong. We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us have sworn to support it.— Can we, therefore, for the mere election of a m&u to the Presidency, and that, too, in accordance with tho prescribed forma of the Constitution, make a point of re sistance to the Government without be coming the breakers of that sacred in strument ourselves—withdraw ourselves from it? Would we not be in the wrong? Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge of the peo ple of the South, and especially to the people of Georgia, that we were itntrue to our national engagements. Let the fault and the wrong rest upon others. If all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Repub lic is togo down, let us%e found to the last moment standing on the deck, with the Constitution of the United States waving over our heads. . Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution' if such is their fell purpose. Let the re sponsibility be upon them. I slull speak presently more of their acts ; but let not the South—letusnotbe the 0119* to e.>mm t the aggression. Wc wont into the elec tion with this people. Iho result was dif ferent from what we wished; but tho election has been constitutionally held.— Were we to make a point of resistance to the Government and go out of the Union on that account, the record would be made up hereafter against us—Speech of Alex• andcr If. Sheens, before the legislature of (leorgia, delivered November 14, 1860. Sir, this rebellion was a cold-blooded, premeditated, infamous attempt of ambi tious, desperate and wicked conspirators to destroy the Union, overthrow free Gov ernment, establish a sectional ono over the southern portion of it, and thus pre pare the way by European intrigues for an aristocratic or monarchic forjn on this land of freedom. The man who, in the loyal States tolerates, sympathizes with, or fails to check this movement, would, in revolutionary times, have been denomina ted a traitor. The -man who halts in his fidelity, who quibbles about this techni cality or that, who aids tho rebels by de crying the power of tho Government to suppress the rebellion, and by decrying its finances, should bo ranked and despis ed as an Arnold who would soil his coun try. But it is said by these sympathizers with treason, that it is the fault of this Administration and its friends that this war exists; that it is an unholy war, and should be stopped, and that Mr. Buchan an's policy was one of peace and concili ation, whilst that of Mr. Lincoln's lias been one of usurpation and tyranny. Whilst the answer of these allegations, full and ample as it is. may bo important to the future historian, I will not strip to make it here as the war is upon us, and our present duties are to suppress it and its cau«f. It is waged for tho purpose of dissolving this Government. It is enforc ed by vast armies, which are kept in the field by a military despotism of the most relentless character. The great question of the day B not by what process this condition of things has been reached, but how to suppress the rebellion, how to beat back our rebel foes, how to save our peo ple from spoilation and slaughter, our country from division, our Government from overthrow—duties in whose; resenee every other, political dufy ''hides its di minished head." I have, Mr. Chairman, uniformly observed that the men who waste their energies in discussing the past are the least willing to meet the responsi- I bilities of the present, and rise to the i stature which it demands of all loyal cit izens. Still, sir, I am not willing to let so much of that part of the charge remain Tinan swered, as it fixed upon the loyal North the responsibility of this war. The im putation is wholly false. The slavehold ers were the aggressors. They were stim ulated to the heinous crime by hatred of the progress of free communities, by jeal ousies of their rising power, by onvy of ; their great superiority in every art and j pursuitof life, and of the higher civiliza ' » : .?n in*"!!hrcn f m<' fire la-
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