The Plymouth pilot. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1851-1852, 1851-07-23
From the St. Louis Union.
WHAT WOULD FOLLOW FROM DIS
SOLUTION?

The time was, and it is yet fresh in the
memory of us all when 10 utter pre-
diction of the ultimate dissolution fthe
Union, or TO breathe the sentiment of
disloyalty to the Constitution, would
have been regarded with as much honor
and scorn as calumnioHs imputation
upon the virtue and pa triotism of WASH
lNeroN. The brands of infamy would
have blistered the lips of the man who
should have dared to give expression to
the treason, and he would have been
shunned as q political leeeE, as stricken
with loathsome and infectious plague.
Never, amidst the utmost rage of polit
ical strife, and sectional violence, ami
mostly and evaporation, had such an
idea been dreamt of from the frozen hills
of Maine to the orange groves Of Flori
da.
Twenty years ago, the country number
ed among its most gifted statesmen, a
man whose wonderful powers of general
ization, whose metaphysical acumen,
whose impassioned oratory and strange
faculty of influencing others, as by spe-
cies of political mesmerism; whose un-
blemished private character, and simplic-
ity of life, united to a selfish, Unsuitable
and unscTupulous ambition, will long
reader him one of the most noted char
acters in modern history. He had fixed
his fiery, aspiring eye upon the highest
honor in the gift of the people; and dis
appointed bitterly here, had concluded
with the great author of pride and unhal
lowed ambition. that it twas better to
reign in hell, than serve in heaven;" that
the dictatorship of South Carolina, ar
rayed in reasonable hostility against the
country at large, would be more glorious
than a peaceful and loyal, though per-
haps inferior station in the Republic.
The notification movement followed.
He found people admirably predisposed
by an inwrought aristocracy of character,
to take the ground which he indicated;
and the first note Of discord then for the
first time disturbed the grand chorus of
national harmony. The nerve and decis
ion of General Jackson crushed the mas
cent revolt But the heart which has
once harbored treason, does not easily
learn to beat true; and the mouth that
has become familiar with the language Of
disloyalty, may indeed cease the vocifer-
ations, but not readily the whispers and
low ,autterings of sedition. The doc
trine of State sovereignty is once again
asserted, in louder, bolder and more inso
lent tones than ever; and dis union which
was before only contemplated as posi-
BILE consequence of resistance to the col
lection of the revenue. is now advocated
by whole convention as inevitable, i'm
periouS and sacredly incumbent.
We are not among those who eppfe
hended any danger to the integrity of the
Union from the present demonstration.
There is no prospect whatever that any
other southern Stae will make common
cause with South Carolina. in -heE--maa,
hopeless and Infamous designs; but on
the contrary, there is the strongest NOR
al certainty, that s. ould matters reach a
crisis, the States Of he south will vie,
with the States of the north. and the
States of the east will struggle with a
generous rivalry with the States of the
west, in supporting the constitution and
the laws. and in preserving intact and
unmarried the symmetry and unity OF the
nation.
We will suppose, however, the accom-
plishment of the result which South Car
olina has been so long labor.ng to pro-
duce--the south arrayed against the
fratricidal strife We have country
vast in extent, with few military forti
fications, and where nature, as if to dis
courage the very idea of civil war, has
made little provision for the protection
of one section against invasion by anoth-
er. Few mountain fastneses offer their
impervious shield against hostile force.
The boundaries of the several States are
in most cases, purely conventional.--
Our cities are constructed with no eye TO
defence against a besieging army from
without, or against armed and sanguinary
hosts within. Let once the dogs of in
testine war be let loose, and scenes of
horror would ensue, to which history can
present no parallel, and which not even
tuo "iiuCSe iHhio SihotiOh Couiu picture
by anticipation. While belligerent ex-
pedition would issue from the south, and
lay waste contiguous regions of the north
seTvile war would be ragingat home;
millions Of semi-savages, powerles in the
general peace and tranquility. would 'be
clothed with a frightful strength amidst
the anarchy Of civil war; knowing no
mercy, respecting no scantity, recogni-
zing no distinctions. and excepting no
condition. as cruel and nnsparing when
in the ascendant, as they are meek and
abject in their dependence upon a supe
rior race.
Once lighted, the flames of civil dis
cord would reach from one ocean to the
other, expecting no region of our happy
rnuptrv The fact of pur Sncial npenacc