. *> * o „ o ' ^" 6V A* 1- ay 1 ~~_r?r3-i ■- Or X ■■:•. -y *o. > ^ «*>■ -^ *^j ;«> *^^T« .\ V THE ELECTORAL CRISIS. AN ADDHKSS S THE lAil I'll GETTYSBURG, TUESDAY, OCTOBEFw 25, 1864. BY JAMES S. WOODBURN, PASTOR 01' SAID CHURCH. iuld rather be right than be President."— Hi GETTYSBURG II. C. NEINSTEDT, PRE iRNER OF \VI 1864. r f/^ ., \ ,' \ rYSBURG, I >( To Mr. J. if. Whi S rctarj for a meeting of tin- Gettysburg I , P. Congregation, held Oct. 25ib, 18! . Dear Sir : I own to a feeling of unfeigned .. ■■ • upon receiving the information oi a resolution, that 1 "b< d to give to the Congregation a copy of my address, delivered this uion ■with a view to its publication for their use and instruction." At first 1 felt disposed mirthfully to express myself satisfied with the com- pliment, and straightway to decline the doubtful honor of, in this way, and at this time, coming before the public. But upon further re- flection, I have felt differently inclined. Although thi :n in reference to which it was prepared and in the very heat of which it has been delivered, may, and perhaps shall, be concluded before tl sees the light, I cannot but flatter myself, that if the views tl forth are worthy of the peoples' consideration at any tim . ill be almost as deserving of their consideration after the election, while, it may well be hoped, they may then be read and poi nth a calm, unprejudiced and prayerful state of mind. And i midst all its allusions to campaign questions and characters, every line of the address will show that it was never intended as an electioneering docu- ment. The sole object for which it was prepared and was to remove or appease certain grievances, real or imaginary, which were supposed to have been conceived with reference to the way in which it is generally known, I am determined to exert the power of my suf- frage in this fearfully important political crisis. These aggrievanee?, I am glad to be informed, if they ever had an existence b yond the dis- tempered imaginations of outsiders, on yesterday, and as a result of a congregational conference, held over this single and imperfect exhi have ever made of my views upon the present condition and future pros- pects of our country, were most happily appeased. I have likewise thought that a simple compliance with your r might go very far towards removing, or at least qualifying the im] sions which I am told others have conceived as to my views and sympa- thies touching our common nation's sure life-and-death struggle, l ever humble, every one who really is, cannot but, be desirous to be teemed a patriot, even though he may uot be willing to pay an unquali- fied deference to that clamorous, and, I am constrained to feel, un- christian spirit of Unionism which would almost compel a man to carry the "colors," as a bosom ornament constantly about with him. Praying that God could give to all our citizens a better understanding of the great questions that relate to us as a nation, and a more Christian for- bearance with one another, when they are led conscientiously to di about the best practical way of dealing with thi ns, 1 hereby en- e myself, as soon as I shall be able to re-write it, (for ! ha only in a set of brief-long-hand characters untelligih one but myself,) to hand my address to you that it may be at the pleasurable posal of the congregation. I am, dear Sir, Your humb i ite Pastor, .). S. WOODBI Gettysburg, Nov. 7th, L864. ri", I submit to you herewith the promised manuscript. I iments for its early publication have been found to be impracticable. The circumstances forestalling these ar- have incidentally been reported to meto-da have increased greatly the regret, I was made to feel keenly enough be- f C)1Ti — that I have not beeu able ere this to let the manuscript go from 3ny hands. To what appears in ray letter of October 26th, I mast add this, in cor- rection of an erroneous impression that has gone abroad, that the de- livery of this addn \luntary with myself. With perhaps one or ons, there was not one in my congregation, who had any knowledge of the intention I was cherishing until an an- nouncement of its forthcoming was made some ten days previous to its delivery. My only regret now is that circumstances over which I had no control, prevented me from sooner carrying out my intention, and that at the last I have thus imperfectly to carry it out. For I will not conceal the fact that the address, as lately delivered, and as here preserved, is in the main not precisely what I had wished it to be. Could I have hoped that the privilege would not have been que . or ones to the far greater detriment of myself ami the ' . [ should have liked, in view of the request with which the congregation have flattered me, to have exerted myself to make the embodiment a truer exhibition of the i 1. a, — by suppressing that is, much that is purely political, and introducing greatly more that is properly theological or prophetical. J. S. W. S KJf M ON Mv Fellow Citizens: — For so shall I address you this morning, and for the reason that while I am speaking from the altar of my sacred minis- trations, I could wish to be regarded for once, not in the high character of the minister of God, but in that simply of an American citizen. — it is scarcely possible to over-estimate the importance of the campaign through which we are now pass- ing. It is, in my humble view, most unlike any of those through which we have already passed — campaigns which have proved to be but the mere quadrennial epochs of our national life. Tins bids fair to become the very crisis of our history — the turning point, for weal or for w r oe, of our na- tional existence. Never were there issues so vast — were there responsibilities so grave devolved upon an} pie as are those that are devolved upon our people to .It would be impossible for me here, as well as foreign to the object I have in view upon the present occasion, to attempt even the briefest recital of the things which combine to give the most unprecedented character and weight to the in ing presidential election. But widely different as may be, and, no doubt, are the views that you severally enterl the relative importance of these thing;, you will all with me that never has there been such and that, probability, never shall there be such another a time a — a time involving so momentous an issue — a time incurring so frightful a risk. If I could only be raised above th that it is to be the end, I might be induced to believe that it may prove but the beginning of times to our land. Such a time as the present is, therefore, not time to be in- different. If it were, I should certainly hail with j< happy privilege. Believe me — I fee! that the arena of our national politics is too deeply disturbed and too wildly ted to admit of the minister of th oe, letting himself down to it even for a momen of reasons. But it is no time to sho' ferent. On the contrary, it is a time calling loudly up to feel and to manifest our deepest concerns. Even to pear to be neutral now, would be to exhibit a character bot disloyal and detestable. It is, as I solemnly feel and would as solemnly proclaim, incumbent upon all our citizens to act, and to act as in the fear of God, and out of the deepest concern for the welfare of the land. But especially do I feel and would I proclaim, that it is incumbent upon the Christian portion of our citizens to act and to make their influence be felt in the pre- sent fearful crisis. The moral obligation is not, indeed, great- er essentially in their case than in others. Bat for the very reason that others will not meet this obligation as they ought, it is made to devolve upon them with, as it were, an acciden- tal force also. God's people are the salt of the earth. By their conserving influence they hold society together and pre- vent it from becoming one unmingled mass of putrid rotten- ness. If, therefore, the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted ? When, if ever, the time shall come when the people of God shall entirely lose their still- ness, the earth shall thenceforth be good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. I repeat God's people must act and fulfil their varied re- lations and duties in society. They are under the most bounden obligation so to do. And yet they must not act as do others. They must not run with the multitude to do evil. "The voice of the people" is not to be to them, "the voice of God." Nor are they at any time to ally themselves to, or in any way fraternize with any of the political organizations that may be found within the State. They are under the most solemn obligations to keep themselves free from every such entanglement. At a time like this, and indeed in every campaign like this, they must of necessity act with one or other of the two or more political factions ; for observations as well as history, shows that the only practicable issue pre- sented to the State is always in more or less intimate connec- tion with these organizations, unholy and unwarrantable as they are. But while they are acting with them, and while for the time being, they are really of one or other of them, they must be careful to preserve themselves distinct fi them. Though in them betimes, they are never to be of them. They are ever to bear in the most solemn remem- brance that these political factions, like the very forms of so- 3 themselves from which they spring, are without the least divine warrant — that they exist only by divine sufferance, — that sooner or later they are to be deluged with an over 1 . ■ flood of Divine wrath, that shall ti with all such as arc wholly given up to them, into l\ mal gulf of perdition, ami that unless they do come out I them and preserve themselves separate from them, they can never hope to deliver themselves entirely from the plagues with which they shall be visited. This, then, as 1 humbly conceive, is the position which the Christian as the denizen of this world is to maintain with re- spect to earthly governments and the worldly societies, or factions, in them. Alas ! my Christian brethren, that we should be living so far below this position. There is not, I dare say, one of all of us who professes to be, not conformed to this world, but transformed from it, that is keeping himself as free from the party politics, and the political associations of the times as he should. This is, indeed, as I am ever pre- d to avow the position which I am striving to attain and to maintain. But I frankly confess that while I have felt it easy in feeling to attain this position, I have found, and am yet finding it one of the most difficult things in the world in life to maintain it. The flattering cajolleries of the one party, and the railling accusation of the other party, togeth- er with the wilful or ignorant misrepresentations of the mem- bers of both are continually working upon me, both to entice and provoke me to become one of the most confirmed poli- ticians of the day. But I am resolved, by the help of God's grace, to allow neither the coquetry of the one party, nor the affected disdain of the other, to move me one hairs- breadth from that high, that .independent position which I am so fully convinced it most becomes me, both as a Chris- tian and as a minister, to maintain. And now having given you this much with regard to the true position of Christians in general, and of my own in particular, permit me to express the hope that you are in some degree prepared patiently to hear and impartially to weigh an humble statement and a brief discussion of the somewhat indefinite views to which I am adhering during the incumbent political campaign. The peculiar, indirect man- ner in which this statement is made, has been adopted the reason that it was judged most conducive to the end in view — of giving to you a sort of manifesto of the position together with some of the reasons inducing it, which I am led solemnly, and as in the fear of God, to take up the momen- tous questions submitted for the decision of the \ i people to-day. 8 We shall not stop to enquire what are all the things that combine to give the most unprecedented character and weight to the present presidential campaign. It will, behoove us however, to inquire after the chief of these things. For while there are many things involved in our canvass, they are by no means of equal weight and importance. What is the great, the cardinal issue to be made up — what is the great, the crowning responsibility to be met, by our people at the approaching November election ? I ask this question in no petty partisan spirit. I ask it with the deep- est solicitude to know and to state the truth. I believe our people should have this question asked of them and, if need he, answered for them ; and in this belief I am bold to say, that the first, the permanent duty of all our journals is to state, and to the very best of their ability, candidly to an- swer this question. And yet, I must here charge upon all them a disposition to overlook, if not entirely to ignore this imperious duty. I speak not now of any particular journal, or of the journals of any particular faction. They all, from the largest double-sheeted city daily that circulates by its hundreds and even thousands to the little petty village weekly, that circulates only by its tens and twenties, fall alike under the stroke of this condemnation. In all the journals I have seen from time to time — and I always make it a point to glance at least at every one with which I meet, — I have never found this question so much as touched upon in a manner that should for a single moment shield the editorial chair from the charge, either of being entirely ignorant of the commanding position to which it is justly entitled, or else of being criminally disposed to suppress it from the view and attention of the people. Oh ! if our democratic journals would only stop to consider what a hold they might have upon the intelligence and affection of our people by a calm, dispassionate and patriotic statement and discussion of the great, over-topping question of this campaign, and if, in one united and harmonious effort to conduct and further this dis- cussion, they were to cease their low and scurillous abuse of men and officers in power, they might, raethinks, do much to vindicate themselves against the charge of disloyalty, or that of any other opprobrious epithet, under which, as a great po- litical incubus, they are so generally lying, and by the very reason of which so many of them have become powerless for lite least good. 9 Before advancing to a statement of the grov.t paramount question now presented to the American people ion, suffer me to give utterance to that upon which, as a ground- work or basis, this stupendous issue rets itself. This is, the practical dismemberment of the old United Si I thi consequent unavoidable necessity of seeking am w for t\ reconstruction. Be not alarmed, my hearers. I am not, as you may fear, or rather, as you might easily persuade yourselves to believe, either a disunionist or a secession sym- pathizer. I repudiate as strong y as any 1 man can. the rebel-projected doctrine of State secession. I avow as flvra- ly as any living man can, the authority of the Federal { eminent to coerce a revolting State to the obedience of the federal constitution and laws. I am now, however, speaking of what, in fact, is, and not of what in theory, is, and there- fore in fact ought to be. I repeat, the old UniU ; practically disintegrated. I do not mean, let me say still further in defence of my position, that the South has established its independence upon the ground of a revolution. Nor do I mean to express my opinion as to whether we should now, or at any time, sue first for an armistice of hos- tilities and then for a friendly, conventional negotiation, looking to a peaceful reconstruction of the States. But [do mean to say is that as we stand to-day, we are no longer one people, that we are at least two peoples, and that go on fighting as long as we will and reach the end of our military achievements as soon as we will, yet as the most incontesta- ble proof that we are now disunited now, the time will come when, (if indeed we desire the re-establishment and prosper- ity of our republican institutions,) we shall be compelled to come to friendly negotiations looking to the peaceful recon- struction of the Federal Union. And here I am by no means unwilling to accord the credit of the deepest practical philosophy to the charge which we war advocates sometii hear from the lips of the advocates of peace: "You cannot conquer a peace." No, my fellow-citizens we cannot con- quer a republican peace. A republican rebellion we may and I trust we very soon shall conquer. But a republican peace — a peace like to that in the bonds of which we lived and prospered for over seventy years— the very peace for which we are now draining the land of the blood of many of our I young men, — we shall never be able to conquer ; and therefore I hesitate not to say, it would be tl our policy never 10 to attempt this which can spring alono from the spontaneous assent and consent of the people. ' To return. The sum of what I mean to say about the present practical condition of our country is simply this, that the old union of '76 and again of '87 is really temporally destroyed — that, if indeed we be able indefinitely to maintain our status as a govern- ment, the time must come, and the more speedy and over- whelming are our victories, the sooner it will come when in effect, the question will have to be submitted to the people of the South. Will you, or will you not return to a union with the people of the North ? Did I say, my fellow-citizens, that in the progressive march of our armies the point will eventually be reached when the South shall have to be invited to return to a union vs'itb the North ? How fondly do we all anticipate this time ! How very near to our realizations do our anticipations oftentimes bring it ! And yet, alas ! I fear this time is much farther off than most of us are ein ■ n, is justly untitled to the su 12 shall then, as I think we are warranted to do, look up- on the voluntary utterances of these men as indicating us nearly as anything can. the distinct political policies that are presented to the choice of our people to-day. And with these opposing utterances in view, T say, with an assurance as unfaltering as it is deep, the great, the paramount ques- tion to be put to rest at the approaching election is this : — What is the particular kind of union in the bonds of which Ave shall invite the seceded States to returu ? Though they may not see it — though, as I fear, they do not, generally, see it, yet face to face with this question our people are now brought. As the direct result of the rise of what has been called the p\ace party, and whether prematurely or not, the resposibility of determining this result at once has been devolved upon the people of the North. From the settlement of this important question, therefore, we cannot, we dare not decline. To prove that this question is really in this canvass as well as to confirm my assertion that it involves the very burden of its responsibility, I need here only quote the authority of one whom I am persuaded we are all willing in 1S04 to re- gard as a very dangerous ultraist — Mr. Fremont. I doubt whether this man ever uttered a more ingenuous truth in his life, than when in his letter declining the nomination tender- ed him from the city of Cleavehmd, he declared that the posi- tion before the American people of the two chief rival candi- dates was this — Mr. Lincoln stands pledged to reconstruct our States only upon the basis of universal and everlasting freedom; while Mr. McClellan stands pledged to a willing- ness to reconstruct them upon the the constitution which recognizes the existence and right of slavery. In ut- tering this, Mr. Fremont struck the very key note of this whole campaign, and would to God that all our politicians and journalists had hut been pleased to take up the note thus furnished them by one who. so far as respects sympathy with the persons of the candidates, is certainly a disinterested man.* *That Mr. McClellan i.s pledgi I to ::- willingness to reconstruct the upon the basis of the old union, there can not be the shadow of a doubt. "The union," saj i hi expressly, ''is the one condition of peace — we ask no more." That Mr. Lincoln on the conti dped i itruct the States upon a in a basis of al lute and perpetual freedom, thei more surely than the merest iw of a doubt. His manifesto is as follows: 13 What now, we proceed to inquire, are the respective mer- its of the two distinct political policies submitted to tho choice of our people ? And herejust allow me to say that in using hereafter the names of Mr, Lincoln and Mr. McClel- lan, I have none but the most indirect allusion to them— the one as the acting President of the United States, and i he- other as the old, admired, but now relieved and affectedly disdained Commander of our armies. I use these names only to designate these men as the exalted heads of two great litical factions, or more properly still, as the voluntary pi jectors of two separate national policies. ''Executive Mansion, Washington, July 18, I8G4. To all whom it may concern : Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peaci rity of the whole union, an le i bandonment of la\ ry, and which comes by and with authority that can control the armies now at war with the United States will lie mel by liberal te uitial and collateral points, ami the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe conduct both ways. A.BRA1 !OLN." Well has Mr. Curtis, a Democratic orator, said with i to this — "1 think if I were to read that paper to a jury of twelve intelligent n who knew the subject to which it relates and were to ask them to infer from it that Mr. Lincoln did not mean to make tl anient of slavery one of these conditions on which he is willing to have a restora- tion of the uiiien, 1 should provoke a very significant smile. As plain- ly as the English can speak, he couples ti iration of p 'the integrity of the whole union,' and 'theaba I of slavery,' as the three things which must be presented to him in one proposition by the power that new controls the southern armies. A " . embracing these three things will he met pern ment of the United States — /<<rt, Mr. McClellan has invited, attention, among othyr similar com- munications, to this very letter, and declared, "1 have seen no reason to change in any material regard the views there expressed/' IC anything 7 amply apologise for the declaration of his most ardent friends, that, farthi r than is ab luti l\ required of him by a felt iuviulable constitutional statute, Mr. McClellan is not a Southern niau. 15 Next, and especially, as being n newly projected and m. tried thing, the policy of Mr. Lincoln demands our ra earliest and serious attention. And what is this policy which avowedly presents itself as something ".new under the sun ?" It is simply the reconstruction of our disintegrated States upon the basis of absolute and perpetual freedom Glorious project! Most delightful object! Enough to give to the man wdio shall be instrumental in affecting it an immortality greater than of Washington ! 0, my brethren would to Al- mighty God that our people from the chilly promonitories of the North to the balmy harbors of the South, and from the farthest shore of the Atlantic to the wave! ■-.■ d ep of the Pacific, were all prepared for just such a union ! And would that they could be induced to throw themselves forward in the legally prescribed, or constitutional way for the attain- ment of such a blessed result! But is such a union practicable in the present state of so- ciety in our land? Is it even possible ? In other words, arc our people ready for a reuniting of themselves in such a bond as this ? I need not say they are not. We need not here pass judgment upon our brethren of the South. The very North is far from being ready for such a result. There are, at this late day. throughout the North (I speak it with shame and undisguised holy indignation) thousands upon thousands of men, men who inhale our i'veo air in all its purity, men upon whom are dropping continually the very fatness of our free institutions, that are as much set upon the perpetual en- slavement and degredation of the poor negro, as are any who are to be found south of the latitude of Mason and Dix- on's line. I take it for granted, then, that the people of neither sec- tion of the land are prepared for a union of our States upon the plan proposed by Mr. Lincoln. And I am ready to con- cede that this simple fact, when duly considered, is amply sufficient to constitute, in part, the apology of any man for utterly repudiating, just now, such a Utopian policy. But it may be interposed here that this of itself is not a valid objection to the adoption of Mr. Lincoln's policy, of political reform. Nay, it doubtless will be urged here that if we w ? ou!d lend ourselves to the noble work of reforming the political character of our institutions, we must not wait until the people are prepared for the change — that we must, as men blind-folded, as it were, throw ourselves at once into 16 the effort and look upon the preparation of the people as a part of the very work to be accoplished. This looks plausible. I>ut I am seriously disposed to ques- tion the philosophy upon which it is based. Political refor- mation ought to be preceded by a good degree of popular reformation. I advance a step further. Every attempt to re- form the political character of society must be preceded by such an amount of popular reformation as shall strongly war- rant the hope of its being successful ; otherwise failing to accomplish the end aimed at, it must prove worse than a fail- ure, it will become ruinous. "If the foundation be destroy- ed what can the righteous do ?" If the pillars that bear up the very frame work of society, however weak their nature and awry their position, be removed, what can Samson, the strongest man, do ? Though he need not dread the final doom he must inevitably incur the temporal fate of his ene- mies the Philistines. The matter, then, narrows itself down tot his. — As the lead- er of the confessedly great and powerful party, whose ticket he heads to-day, can Mr. Lincoln enjoy the hope of being able to raze, as it were, the whole fabric, and digging down lay more deeply and more securely than ever, the very foun- dations of society ? Many of you, I have no doubt, are ready to say that he can. I am aware there has long been a hue and cry abroad in the land that the sentiments of the American people both North and South are undergoing a rapid and most healthful change upon the question that con- fessedly, in one way or the other, lies at the root of all our present political troubles. However, I must avow that, so far, I have felt myself to be as deaf as an adder to this cry. How this pretended change is going on among the people of the South, I cannot, indeed say. I trust, very well. But as to how it is progressing among the people of the North, 1 arn compelled to say that it seems to me to be directly backwards. Why, is not Mr. Lincoln, at the head of the party which, four years ago, showed itself to be almost om- nipotent, confronted to-day by a party which to say the least is able to threaten his continuance in office ? Steadily has this party been swelling its ranks ever since the announce- ment of his famous emancipation proclamation, and now it stands forth ready, as it would almost seem to overwhelm him upon the very issues which that otherwise harmless ful- menation has brought to the lijzht. 17 I have never doubted the constitutionality, or rather, the military authority of that document.* But J have alwa doubted, and I to-day, more than ever doubt the expedien of such a measure. I am aware that thousands of oth whose opinions at the time seemed immeasurably more trust worthy thought different. 1 have in mind just now a very distinguished citizen, a leading minister in our church. v\ upon the announcement of the issue of such a paper, confi- dently predicted an uninterrupted scries of successes to our arms, the entire overthrow of the rebellion and the re-estab lishment of the union upon a much mure equitable and en- during basis, in less than six months. To his mind, we had been brought to grapple with the rebellion in a wroi but to forego this error and even rectify our federal p with God, nothing more was needed than simply the declara- tion of such a determination upon the part of our Chief Ma- trate. Subsequent events, however, I cannot but think have singularly disproved the correctness of a view so much side."! and so obviously superficial. .Subsequent events, I cannot but also think, have done much ify me to-day in indulging in the conviction, that, had Mr. Lincoln but held back his proclamation, contented himself with bearing down upon the iniquitous system of Slavery in the only way by which he has ever been able in any effectual way to by the application of the confiscation act ; and had he hue prosecuted the war as he begun, — for the simple purpose of re-establishing the Union, there never could have been formed against him a party formidable enough even to threaten his discontinuance in office until he should have put the rebellion completely to rest, and with it, too, the turbu- lent question of Slavery, and in a way much more speedy and humane than he is likely to find now. 1 believe Mr. Lincoln's proclamation is never sought t o 1 ny other ground than that it is a military measure. And \ intelligent men have exhibited th lity of supposing that by the very issuing of I kels have been struck off from eve limb in tin . nd that no earthly power whatever could assume th bind them on again or to reconstruct the union upon any I asis that win 1 leave them i lave; while the simpl ■ ; - - hat if the raeasu s be simp] !• edict of the kind, it must await the power of as ii : hall i om to a corn rule 18 Do not gather from me here that I have any such idea as that Mr. Lincoln, as the result of the approaching election, is going to be pulled down from the highest chair of state in the land. I rather incline to the belief that he will not, nay, that he will triumph over his competitor by a pretty heavy electoral vote. But suppose he should triumph with the en- tire electoral vote! What then? you ask. He will still find himself confronted by an opposition powerful enough to thwart every effort he makes for affecting a reform— an op- position, which, as I most solemnly believe, will prove by far more dangerous to the country than if it were to over- i him at once, at the polls ! But not only is it a question with me as to whether Mr. Lincoln has the ability safely to meddle with the foundations of society just now ; it is also and chiefly a question with me as to whether he has the right even to attempt such a thing in thepartieular way he proposes to do. Mr. Lincoln is more a creature of the constitution than you or I. We, indeed, have inherited an obligation to at least passively sub- mit to this instrument of our" fathers. But he is sworn ac- tively to obey it. A most conscientious regard is, therefore, on tile part of Mr. Lincoln in the discharge of his official functions, due to every part of the constitution. what is the particular status that has been assigned to ( all of the States by the constitution ? Without multiply :-, I may just say that, to every one of them there' has been delegated the right, or privilege, to control as it] 11 its own internal affairs, slavery not excepted. lvania has this right guaranteed to her to-day. ^ She might hold an election to-morrow, and if her citizens wished she might legalize slavery the day after. South Carolina bt guaranteed to her before the passage of her ordinance of secession, Mr. Lincoln himself being judge. And obviously, unless the very genius of the constitution shall meanwhile have been changed, she should have this right laranteed to her again as soon as this ordinance is with- drawn. "But," says Mr. Lincoln, "she shall not have this She has professedly left the union in the bonds of ed this right. She occupies a stand to-day on which she has no rights whatever. Her liberties indeed tied up in one mighty comprehensive obligation to turn to the union. But she can be permitted to re- or any other union with the States of the ISorth, proposition to return can ever be con- 19 sidered, she i her per- fect willingness to have the very genius of this union, in one particula r , and to her a very important one, ch But has Mr. Lincoln the right to a iy such position as this upon the question of a reconstruction of our States? The n may be i e one of political casuistry ply. Has lie in i -ds, the right to figure in the char- acter of a Reformer, v governing in the & city of a Presidentor v city of a Comman in-chief? If he I i see nothing that can ibly secure our govern ^coming, in duo order of time, a sti despotism, unless in- id, it be t' ion and magnanin of tl will be bold enou i has this right. this very c. Lincoln himself, with the immediate ob- . of drawing in the radical wing of his own party has tacil I o here. I am not implei right of the South to hold si id could wish to be thought so. I am speaking, howi not moral rignts. Those of you who have seen Timothy Titcomb's very entertaining "Lessons in Life," will ber that in one of his it with the asser- i, - that wo ve a right to con- cting an ovei ;ument in proof of his : oed formidable ob to it, he ends >id avowal that he would not like much to hear any of his lady friends attempt so mascu- line a thii g. iw my individual position upon the question of "slavery" is not entirely unlike Mr. Titcomb's upon, that of "woni a us." I concede to all our States, under constitution and until the constitution has been constitution- ally changed, the il right (or privilege) of slavery. At the same time I deny the moral right of any of them in • individual or State capacity, to hold slaves. Such a right, no I as or ever has had. The whole pra the Southern States, in this matter, has been in the most di- rect contravention of the cleai tes of moral equity. ig they have committed, however, and for any wrong thi lere tain- ed plea of constitutional in general govern- ment, after it has cast its whole n uence against it, can be held no more accountable, than for any of the horrible 20 barities committed under the plea of religious consecra- tion by the inhabitants of India or China. But to return, Mr. Lincoln, I am compelled to say, has assumed a right which appertains to him neither as the sim- ple President of the United States, nor yet as the Comman- der-in-Chief of the armies thereof*. "Assumed it," interposes an ever ready interlocutor. "What then?" Is he not to be jus- tified even in assuming it? Can he not fall back upon the essential rectitude of the course itself, and do just as he pro- poses to do and as you yourself cannot but concede, it would be- well if he might or even could do ? "Such an appeal as this gives rise to what may properly be termed a casuistical question, partaking not alone of a moral hut also of a his- torical character, — viz : Flow far is a rcpulican ruler, 1 or president, under an honest plea of bettering the condi- tion of society, justified in transcending the powers that have been expressly or impliedly delegated to him ? m the discussion of this question we cannot, of course, enter just now. Such a task would necessitate an examina- tion of history too minute for your patience at this late stage. Those of you, however, who are at all acquainted with his- tory, may well conjecture the conclusion to which such a course must inevitably conduct us. I know not of a single page of history that can in any way be brought in, in p of the point that a republican ruler is ever justifiable, even with the best of motives, in transcending the flight of his consti- tutional powers. Perhaps the reformation of society, by a character such as that in question, has never been attempted in so truly a magnanimous spirit as it was by Oliver Crom- well ; yet the history of England both during and after the reign of this great and good man, must be allowed to be con- veying to Mr. Lincoln to-day an admonition the most sig- nificant and solemn. "The government," says McCauley, speaking of the time of his protectorate, "though in form a republic, was in truth a despotism, moderated only by the wisdom, the sober-mindedness and the magnanimity of the despot." And from the consequences which such a danger- ous usurpation of power was about to entail, the English people, after his death, as every schoolboy knows, were soon glad to escape. "Be ye subject to the powers that be." There is. toy fellow-citizens, a divine philosophy in these "The powers that be!" These, to us as republican citizens, are the powers of the particular incumbent adminis- tration. To Mr. Lincoln, however, as a republican I'; 21 dcnfc, these are the powers of the established constitution. Upon us till docs the obligation to subjection devolve, but up- on none of us so immediately and solemnly as upon our chief magistrate. "Be ye subject to the [towers that be." Caesar was upon the throne when these words were attered. His usurpatl of power were glaring and undeniable. One would have supposed that resistance to such a tyrant might safely have been counselled.- But no. Be ye subject. And why? De- cause "the powers that be are ordained of God," and because "whosoever resists the power resists the ordinance of God," and "they that resist shall receive to themselves damna- tion." The injunction of the Apostle, taken in connection with all the considerations enforcing it, 1 believe to be this : "Be ye subject to the powers that be, for the powers that be are ordained of God." To rid yourselves or even society of in- cumbent evils, lay not hold of unwarrantable power. R< not, in any disorderly way, the powers that be ; for whoso- ever resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist — except in those extreme eases where the right of revolution is conceded and the enjoyment of it al- lowed — shall receive to themselves damnation. The evils of society are indeed many and great, and ever shall be under the reign of man. But of yourselves you cannot hope to rid either yourselves or society of these evils. Therefore, while you neither countenance nor add to these evils, endure them. Be ye subject — be ye patient under the powers even of unrestrained usurpation until the day of the Lord Jesus and the times of the restitution of all things. Then will your salvation be nearer than now when you only belh Then shall the whole creation, which now is groaning and travailing together in pain, be delivered. Fur that deliver- ance patiently wait ye, and for this cogent reason am others — that it is infinitely more than you can hope of your- selves to effect, and consequently every attempt you may make for the premature achievement of it must prove not only abortive in itself but disastrous to you. "Can it be," asks some one who perceives at length whith- er my remarks arc tending with me — '•can it be that you. a minister of the Gospel and withal of the United Presbyter- ian persuasion, are in favor of "the union as it was"— slavery .' To such a one I would reply briefly but unequi- »>> vocally, 1 aw, — if indeed it must be ; that is, if God shall not be pleased to over reach the lawful endeavors of our offi- cers and our armies and unite us in a better union. With all its evils — and T would say nothing that may in any way be construed into an unjust palliation of any of them — "the union as it was," gave rise to and for more than two gi tions maintained one of the strongest and most beneficent governments of which the history of th? world can boast. Nor am I by any means sure that this union, the best practi- cable at the time it was formed, would not be the very best practicable just now. It would be better than an unwarrantable prolongation of the war, even for a warrantable end. (You will understand from other pi what I mean by this; I have not time to guard myself as effectually as perhaps i should, against the carpings of the narrow-minded cavileer.) id be better than despotism, or anarchy, or enslave- ment to a foreign power — the only alternatives, besides "union as it was," that, as I solemnly fear, arc left to our unhappy country to-day. But must the union be just "as it was?" Though identi- cal in theory, might it not be very different in fact ? V is the i ntly loyal and Christian man, who did not be- ■ve, that the death-knell of slavery was sounded almost four years ago in the first bombardment of Fort Sumpter? Nay, where is the man who until lately did not believe or at least feign to believe that were the South at any time to be received to the union " and were the gateways over Mason and Dixon's line to be thus opened up to admit the titul emigration of the North, slavery would not in all probability be found in many of the States lour years hence? I grant indeed that the future of the races in our land is involved in impenetrable darl .But I should be doing violence to some of the deepest con- victions of my mind, if I did not here express my belief, that this future might be worked out much more humanely for all concerned than it now is likely to be worked out un- der the radical policy adopted at length by Mr. Lincoln. By this time you will all have inferred that I am in favor Clellan, as the truly conservative or constitutional candidate in this Let me .id be afraid to be for Mr. Lincoln. "And why so?" you will ask. "Not surely. - you like not the end he has in view ':" Xo, no ; but because 1 dread the con- 92 sequences of the means he seems ready to employ for the attainment of this end. As i stand hero from Sabbath to Sabbath, I feel myself to be committed to but one party and. one theory, the party and the theory of those nial <(> That this coming will be pre ial, I have not the lea That tl with the indications of ing, I am also well enough impressed. And that Mr. Lin- coln, by erabrai ly and withal the world-wide cry is about to ass no immaterial d ing the way of the kin the earth for this coini by no means unassun "But," interposes one, "if the election of Mr. Lincoln would in your view, hasten the advent of that day for which you so fervently pray, why do you not vote !' "It must need ences come: but woe to h whom they come." It must needs be, as I thi ording secret counsi the troubl ch are immediately to precede the advent of the Son o come. Yet woe to him who does anything, designedly to bring them about. I solemnly believe it to be the bounden duty of all who entertain the like precious faith with me to act with the con- servative portion of both State and Church and thus to do what individually they can to postpone to the last, "the hour of temptation" which assuredly is coming, and that quckly, upon all the earth. I have done. The times in which we live, my fellow-citi- zens, demand of us the gi ration, forbearance and prudence. If ever there was a time when the counsel blessed Lord was in place, it is now : — "In your patience pos- sess ye your souls." In your patience as meml possess ye your souls. In your patience as members of the household of faith, possess ye your souls. Ai not angry at one another, and ready to bite and devour one another, as too many just now are, because, forsooth cannot see eye to eye a is. Above all seek to know and to follow after the things which make for the peace, not so much of the State as of the Church, Wo to the man who shall sacrilegiously tamper with the peace of Christ's house ! ; gs, on the contrary, I who shall labor while he -prays for the peace of Je 21 iem !" lie, and he only, shall he made a partaker in the promise with which the divine injunction is urged — "they shall prosper that love thee," 0, Jerusalem. "HT60 > . - " y-s. •...,'. './':' : . ' ■■ :: ' :\. . -. .. ■ • ili . , . ._ .. . : . . . .