Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1850-03-08

|
J. of the Mississippi. My life upon it, tha
The vast population which has alread,
concentrated and will concentrate on IN,
head waters ana the tributaries of th,
Mississippi, will never give consent ,ha
the mouth of that river should be helt
subject to The power of any foreign State
or community whatever. Such, be
lleve. would be the consequences of 9
dissolution of the Union Immediately en-
suing, but other Confederacies would
spring up from time to time, as dlssats
faction and discomfort were disseminated
throughout the countryside Confcderacy
OF The Lakes, perhaps, the Confederacy
OF New England, or of the Middle
States. All, sir, The veil which covers
these sad and disastrous events, that lie
beyond 1t, is too thick to be penetrated or
lifted by any mortal eye or hand.
Mr.. President, | am directly opposed
to any purpose of secession, or separa-
ton. | am for staying within the Union
ahd defying any portion of this confed-
eracy to expel me or drive me out of the
Union. | am for staying within the
Union and fighting for my rights, if nec-
essary, with the sword, within the bounds
and under the safeguard of the Union.
| am for vindicating those rights, not by
being driven out of the Union harshly
and unceremonously by any portion of
this coniederacv. Here | am within it,
and here | mean to stand and die, as far
as my individual wishes aud purposes
can go-wthin it to protect my proper.
ty and defend myself, defying all the
power on earth to expel me or drive me
from the situation in which am placed.
And would there not be more safety in
/ fighting within the Union than out of il!
Suppose our rights to be violated, sup
pose wrong to be done you, aggression
to be perpetrated upon you, can you not
better vindicate them-if you have occa-
sion 10 resort to the last necessity, the
sword, for restoration OF those rights
within, and with the sympathies of
large portion of the population OF the
Union. whena large portion of the pop.
ulaiioa have sympathies adverse to your
own! You can vindicate your rights
within the Union better than if expelled
from the Union. and driven from it with
out ceremony and without authority.
Sir, | have said that thought there
was no right on the part of one or more
States to secede from the Union. think
so. The constitution of the United
States was made not merely for the gen.
Grafton that then existed, but for poster.
ity--unlimited, underlined, endless. per.
| petualfHos.erity. And every State that
| then came into the Union, and every
State that has since come into the Union,
came into it binding itself by indssolu-
bic bands to remain within the Union it.
self, and TO remain within it by its pos
/ terity forever. Like another of the sa-
cred connexions in private life, is a mar
riage which no human authority can dis
solve or divorce the parties from. And
if may be allowed to refer to some ex-
amples in private, let me say to the
North and to the South, what husband
and wife say to each other: We have
mutual faults, neither of us is perfect;
nothing in the form of humanity is per-
feet; let us, then, be kind TO each other
-forbearng, forgiving each others faults
land. above ALL let us live in happiness
and peace tngether.
Mr.. President, have said what SOL
emnly believe, that dissolution of the
| Union and war are identical and inevita-
Bile; that they are convertible terms; and
such a war would be following disso.
luton of the Union! Sir, we may search
/ the pages of history, and none SO fero-
cious, so bloody, so implacable, so exter-
minating-not even in the wars of
Greece, including the Commoners of
England and the revolutions of France
none, none of them all would rage with
such violence, or be characterized with
such bloodshed and enormities as would
the war which must succeed, if that
event ever happened, the dissolution of
the Union. Ana what would be its ter
mina,ion! Standing armies and navies,
to an extent stretching the revenues of
each portion of the discovered members,
would take place. An exterminating
or three years duration; but war of in
lerminablc duration-and extermi"ating
wars would ensue, until, after the strug-
giles ana exhaustalion of both parties,
some Philip or Alexander, some Cesar
or Napoleon, would arise and cut the
Gordian knot. aid solve the problem OF
the capacity of man for self-govcrnmeni,
and crush the liberties of both the sever
al portions of this common empire
Can you doubt it!
Look at all history--consult her pages,
ancient or modern--look at human nature;
look at the character Of the contest in
which you would be engaged in the sup
position of war following upon the dis
solution of the Union, such as have
suggested, and ask you if it is possible
for you to doubt that the final disposition
of the whole would be some despo1
treading down the liberties of the people
1.-The final result would be the extinction
of this last and glorious light which is
leading all mankind, who are gazing up
on ii, in the hope and anxious expec,a-
J tion The liberty which prevails there will
! sooner or later be diffused throughout the