The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-09-02
Beaton on Disnnion.

III tue ueDdte on the oregon Dill IN the
Senate, some Of the Southern Senators hav
ing alluded to disunion es a very possible
result OF the agitation Of the slavery ques-
ton, MIR. Benton made the following re.
marks;
lie called the attention of the Senate to
the fact, that the Senste had agreed to every
word and every letter Of the bill from the
House; but the Senate had cdled 10 IL ex.
traneous matter. We now saw the opening
Of that second chapter, which the Senator
from S. Carolina had spoken Of, as part OF
the history of the dissolution OF the Union.
Chapter number two" was TO open when
both Houses had agreed 10 this Oregon bill,
word for word and letter for letter; and
when the Senate interjected in the bill a
foreign question: question relating alto
gether to another subject-and this number
two was TO 20 before the country as a part
Of the history Of dissolution.
He (Mr. b. had been tainted in the de-
bate with having relaxed in his zeal for
Oregon at one time, and increasing it at
this time. For thirty years he had urged
the claims Of Oregon; and with equal zeal
he urged them now. He reminded the SEN
ate Of letter which he wrote year and q
half ago, in which he treated of the scheme
formed for keeping Oregon out of the
Union.
All this talk about the dissolution Of the
Union gave him no concern. He was pc
culiarily constituted as to that subject. His
observation Of public affairs went back to
that part Of our history when Aaron Bur-
engaged in his enterprise Of disunion. He
mir. b. was boy Of sixteen, but was an
observer of events and reader Of the pub.
lie journals. he acknowledged that he
then read with mortifcation--few things
from the same source had ever failed to meel
with his cordial approbation--he read, he
said, with modification the proclamation Of
Mr.. Jefferson, in which he denounced the
project Of Burr as dangerous TO the Union.
For at that time there was not a neighbor-
hood in the West in which Burr would dis
close his project. II he had done so the
women and children would have tied him
down and sent him 10 the nearest place OF
justice, dragged by dog As long
as he presented mere designs Of dazzling
nature, and not concerning our own govern
ment, he was listened to. But when, on
the lower Mississippi, he did disclose his
reasonable objects, he was Immediately
Obliged to fly into the wilderness and be-
come an outcast from society. There. in
his hiding place, in his disguise-in creek,
where the alligator has his place-he was
accidentally encountered at night by one
who, before affording him relief, demanded
his name. Who are you? As soon as he
gave his name, he was taken into custody,
and by a string led into the Georgia settle
ments. Burr having heard Of the sympa-
thy often excited in behalf Of great men
struggling with adversely, appealed to some
persons in Georgia for his rescue. He ad-
dressed some boys as 10 his case, and, at
first, very naturally excited their sympathy.
But when these boys heard his name, they
refused TO afford him any succor. Such,
said Mr.. B., will be the end Of all attempts
to dissolve this Union--to divide it by any
line. lie would, he said, think that man
who might bring brick, mortar, and trowel
to dam up the mighty Mississippi, had COM
menced feasible and wise enterprise, in
comparison with the project of that man
who might undertake to run a dividing line
between the States of this Union. All this
talk Of disunion was idle. II was like
"a tale told by an idiot,
Full Of sound and fury-signifying nothing"
No influence had these menaces on him.
A key dropped into the broad Atlantic
would, as it had been said, produce dis.
nrbance that would be felt in the seas Of
China. Just as little did this talk Of dis.
union rufle him. Thus, he said, would
END the chapter number two.