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
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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-