The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-02-23

4
Union TO be dissolved having al the causes of
grievance which complained oi--how far will
dissolution furnish remedy for tlose grievances!
II the Union is to be dissolved Or any existing
causes, II will be dissolved becauseslavery is inter
dicted or not allowed 10 be intDduced into the
ceded territories; because slaveryis threatened TO
be abolished in the District of Columbia, and be-
cause fugitive slaves are not retIrned as in my
opinion they ought TO be, restorcdIo their ma sters
These believe will be the causes IL there be any
causes, which can lead TO the direfq event TO which
have referred.
Well, now, let US suppose tht the Union has
been dissolved. What remedy DDS il furnish for
the grievances complained of In y united condi-
ton? Will you be able to push slavery into the
ceded territories? How are you b do Il, suppos-
ing the North all the States nortlsDf the Potomac,
and which opposed TO it-in possession of the
navy and army Of the United sttesl Can YOU
expect, If there is dissolution of he Union that
you can carry slavery into Calitrnia and New
Mexico? You cannot dream of ouch purpose.
Ii il were abolished in the Distrie of Columbia,
and the Union was dissolved, wodd the dissou-
ton OF the Union restore slavery id the District Of
Columbia Are you safer in the recovery Of your
fugitive slaves in state Of dissolution of sever
ance of the Union, than you are n the Union it.
self? Why, what is the state ofthe fact in the
Union! You lose some slaves. Ytu recover some
others. Let me advert TO fact Which ought to
have introduced before, because / Is highly cred-
table to the courts and uries Of tie free States In
every case, SO far my information extends,
where an appeal has been made to the courts of
justice for the recovery of fugtyss or for the re-
covery Of penalties inflicted upon persons who have
assisted in decoying slaves from teir masters and
aiding them in escaping from heir masters as
far as am informed, the courts ave asserted the
rights of the owner, and the juris have promptly
returned adequate verdicts in faspr of the owner.
Well, this is some remedy What would you
have if the Union were disseyeeds Why, sir,
then the severed parts would bl independent of
each other-toreign countries Saves taken from
the one into the other would be then like slaves
There would be right of extraiiton--no right
to demand your saves-no right to appeal to the
courts of justice to demand yourbaves which es-
cape, or the penalties for decoyinf them. Where
one slave ESCAPES now, by running away from his
owner, hundreds and thousands you'd escape if
the Union severed in parts--Icarc not where
nor how you run the line, if Independent sovcr
eighties were established.
Well, finally, will you, in statebf dissolution Of
the Union, be safer with your slave within the boz
som Of the States than you are nov Mr.. Prcsi-
dent, that they will escape much nore frequently
from the border States, no ono willhoubt
But, must take the occasion to gay that, in my
opinion, there is no right on the part of one
more Of the States to seccde from tic Union. War
and the dissolution of the Union are identical and
inseparable. There can be no dsDlution of the
Union, except by consent or by wal No one
expect, in the existing state of thugs, that that
consent would be given, and war is tie only alter
native by which dissolution coul be accom-
plished. And, Mr.. President, if consent were
giyen-if possibly we were to separae by mutual
agreement and by given line, in less than sixty
days after such an agreement had ben executed,
war would break out between the fire. and slave
holding portions of this Unon-betveen the two
independent portions into which ii woild be erected
in virtue of the act of separation. Yes, sir, sixty
days-in less than sixty days, believe, our slaves
from Kentucky would be fleeing overin numbers
to the other side of the river would BID pursued by
their owners, and the excitable and ardent spirits
who would be engaged in the pursuitwould be re- 1
strained by no sense of the rights which appertain
to the independence of the other sidePf the river,
supposing it. them to be the line of sepa They
would pursue their slaves; they would be repealed,
and war would break out. In less than sixty days,
war would be blazing forth in everypart of this
now happy and peaceable land
But how are you going to separate them? In
my humble opinion, Mr.. President, we should be-
gin at least with three confedcracies4- the confed
eracy Of the North, the confederacy ofthe Atlantic
southern States, (thc slaveholding Staes) and the
confcderacy Of the valley of the Mississippi My
life upon it, sir that vast population thai has already
concentrated, and will concentrate, upon the head
waters and tributaries of the Mississippi, will
consent that the mouth of that river bhal be held
subject to the power of any foreign Stale whatever.
Such believe would be the consequences of dis
solution of the Union. But other cDnfedcracies
would spring up from time to time, az dissatisfac
ton and discomfort were disseminated over the
country. There would be the confeteracy OF the
lakes-perhaps the confederacy of New England
and OF the middle States.
But sir the veil which covers these sad and dis
astrous events that lie beyond possible rupture Of
this Union is too thick to be penetrated or lifted by
any mortal eye or hand
MIR. President, am directly opposed to any pur
pose OF secession, of separation. am for staying
within the Union, and defying any portion of this
Union to expel or drive me out of the Union. am
for staying within the Union, and fighting for my
rights-if necessary, with the sword-within the
bounds and under the safeguard of the Union.
am for vindicating these rights; but not by being
driven out of the Union rashly and uncercmonious.
ly by any portion of this Confederacy. Here ! am
within it, and here mean TO stand and die; far
as my individual purposes or wishes can go-with-
in IL TO protect myself, and TO defy all power upon
earth TO eIpe me drive me from the situation in
which am placed. Will there not be more safety
in fighting within the Union than without III
Suppose your rights TO be violated; suppose
wrongs to be done you, aggrcssions to be perpe-
trated upon you; cannot you better fight and vim
dictate them If you have occasion TO resort to that
last necessity OF the sword, within the Union, and
with the sympathies of large portion Of the popu
lation of the Union Of these States differently
stituted from you, than you can fight and vindi-
cate your rights, expelled from the Union, and
driven from 1t without ceremony and without au-
thority9
said that thought that there was no right on
the part of Of the States to sccede from
this Union. i think that the Constitution of the
thirteen States was made, not merely for the gen.
Grafton which then existed, but for posterity, unde
fined, unlimited, permanent and perpetual-for
their posterity, and for every subsequent State
which might come into the Union, binding them
selves by that indissoluble bond. II is to remain
for that posterity now and forever. Like another
OF the great relations Of private life, ii
riage that no human authority can dissolve di
vorce the parties from; and, If may be allowed 10
refer to this same example in private life, let say
what man and wife say TO each other: We have
mutual faults nothing in the form Of human be-
ings can be perfect; let us then be kind 10 each
other, forbearing conceding; let us live in happi
ness and peace.
MIR. President, have said what solemny be-
leve-that the dissolution of the Union and war
are identical and inseparable; that they arc con-
vertibc terms
Such war, too, that would be, following the
dissolution of the Union Sir, we may search the
pages Of history, and none furious, bloody,
implacable, 30 discriminating, from the wars Of
Greece down, including those Of the Common
wealth OF England, and the revolution Of France
none, none Of them ragged with such violence or
ever conducted with such bloodsbed and enor-
mites, as will that which shall follow that dis
astrous cvcnt-if that event ever happens-a disco
luton.
And what would be its termination Standing
armies and navics, 10 an extent draining the
nues Of each portion Of the discovered empire, would
be created; exterminating wars would follow-not
n war Of two three years, but Of interminable