The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1851-02-24

legislatures, of conventions. or BY acts Of not, dls
| order, and lawlessness in any part OF tho country
| These things carry with them their own c0rTec-
ton to a certain extent in the North and South.
know how much has been done by excellent An1
patriotic citizens of the South, to stay the disaheo-
ZION 10 the Union In that quarter, !Sspplause) ana
Isgree with the sentiment OF Mr.. Webster IN tho
admirable letter just read, that ninety'nine hun
dredhs of the people of my section Of the country
are for the constitution and the laws (INmea-
dous sppssse). For that reason, say, am noe
30 much led 10 the opinion have expressed ~
public acts and demonstrations, as am most deeply
gneved by symptoms have sc en- in both extremes
Of the Union, Of deep feeling OF bitterness and
DLwil-a fprit of denuncation of the motives,
character, and policy of the opposite ctons Of the
Union, and of all at home who are suspected OF
having any charity or sympathy with then fellow
and alarms me- Why, if the several portions q
the country belonged TO different natiooe,-f they
were alien in language. in religion, and in race;
they were sworn, like Hannibal at the altar, to wage
OF destruction against each other, they could
not use stronger or more bitter language than
have read within few weeks, by men, both at the
North and the South, who entertain extreme ePin
IONS on the aagitating subjects OF the day say It
ID Tins which gives me the gre atest alarm for the
continuance OF the Union. The outward facts arc
but the manifestation Of the spirit Of dsaffec-
ton and bitterness which WILL if not check
ed, sooner or later will cause the Union to
crumble am not an alarmst-I never have been
II may ailude TO matter SO unimportant, would
cay that, in all my humble addresses to the public,
have ever looked on the bright side in reference
TO the future. But if there is TO be no RELAXATION
Of those unkind feelings between the different sec
their minds 10 live in good feeling and good faith
under the constitution and the laws-that constr
tuition which was framed by our fathers, as good,
as wise, as patriotic as ourselves-if they will
on indulgng this fierce spirit Of mutual hostility,
il will, at no distant day, result in separation of
the States, to be followed by war. or rathera
series of WARE, which will change the aspect Of
this country and the cause of constitutional liberty
for ever. (Great applause) do regard il as de-
monsrable that, IN the event OF u separation
this Union, IT is as certain as the sun IN
eayen in mid day, that the sun OF the republic
will 60 down from the meridian and SET in blood
know that some persons OF sanguine temperament,
dallying, as ! think, unwarrantably with these
dreadful futurties, have persuaded themselves that
1t would only be change to two confederaces in
stead of one and that in other respects all would 60
on much as it did before. Sir, am very 10th to
enter into any spe cuatons OF this kind on one side
or the other; but, in my humble judgment, there
will not be two confederacies, nor any confedera-
cies, but as many despotic governments as in the
chances of conquest and reconquest, military chief
tains may be able and willing TO establish. (Prs.
longed applause.) Gentlemen. let Germany teach
us. How did she come out ofthe chaos of the dark
ages, after thousand years of internacne war!
Did she come out of It with two or three confedera
cies? Gentlemen, she counted more than three
hundred independent principalities as they called
themselves, but all lying at the mercy Of the
dcspot and the strongest army. presume noi TO
look into that dark abyss. turn from It with tbs
same horror, a thousand fold increased, that felt
when in my youth was surprised on the black and
calclned edge of the crater of Vesuvius, when the
sides Of the mountain were already quiverIng with
the convulsive throes of an approaching erupnoa
To attempt TO give form and outline-to measure
the force-to calculate the direction Of the
molten elements, boiling and believing IN the
fiery gulph below, and just ready to be let looce BY
the hand OF God on the pathway Of destruction,
would be las unavailing and presumptious IN the
political as il is in the natural world. (Appausel
One thing, however, i think is certain. We talk
Of the separation of these States, assuming that
they would still remain the States which they
are; but think II is as certain as demonstration,
that their ancient sacred boundaries, founded not
at all on features of physical geography, remain.
ing, as they do, in open defiance of mountains aud
rivers, drawn without the military
defence, if it were the design Of Providence that
we should be bound together not by military baruer,
but by cords OF love-boundaries resting on char
tiers, on prescription, and agreement and rendered
sacred by the constitution and Union OF ths
United States think il certain that some of those
boundaries would fall the first sacrifice separa-
ton OF the Union. Doyou suppose that thirty On.
States, when the ties which bind them are brokea
and when this scramble for separate power snail
begin, going topay strict ard 10 those unseea
and mystical Entertainments within which stout
little RhodeIsland-which. in comparison with
other States, is rather corr field or flower garden
than State-lies securely fortified your own
imperial State Of New York, which holds the
HUDSON in the hollow of her hand, aud eG
ercses her colossal limbs from the lakes to the
ocean3 (Greaf applausel When the Union -
dissolved, do you think that holy Constitutional
spell will remain unbroken which prevents
your powerful neiehbor, Pennsylvania, enthroa.d
upon the Aheghanies, with The broad Sl.ane-
tributaries Of the Ohio tor the silver llets Of her
temples, from raising much a finger against
gallant little Delaware, which nestles securely
queenly sister, Before the revolution. there were
controversies about boundary between many OF
the conerminous States They were adjudcated
by the Privy Council, often arbitrarily enough,
IN "a n
weaker colonies. But the decision executed itself
Parfs t0lpomsre woven was the motto OF the homs
government They decided as they pleased. II
The colonies lib ed the decision. il was WE'LL II they
did not, they might do something else, for which
there is homely word, which / will not repeat
ILaughter) When the royal government WAS
thrown of, some OF these controversies survived;
some new ones sprung up. There had been, OF
were, disputes between Pennsy vania and Virginia,
Pennsy lvana and Connecticut, New York and
Massach usets, assachusetts and all the other
New England colonies. But first. the old confe.
deration, with its tribunals (such "a they wers)
and still more, the happy constitution Of l75s,
breathed its own vitality and power into the
cient monuments OF the land. Disputes were set
tied, controversies adjusted. The genius OF the
Union, with the law Of the land In her right and.
and the law Of love in the left, peramsu-
lated Ito use the surveyors EXPIRE ssion) the
lines between border States, aud dscord ceased
But, gentlemen. il you divide this Unon-if you
take from these boundaries the character Of secu-
rity which is attached 10 them in the way have
described. what then is TO happen When those
States shall start a career OF selfish ascent
ency they will not be held back by parchment titles
from dead kings and queens OF England whose
bones for two hundred years have been hutdle3 ~
the crypts OF Westminster Abbey. (Anaause)
Why, when was in London few yearS Ego. l
had 10 procure a copy Of a patent granted by the
Duke OF York, ater~ ards James II /, to he used in
a controversy, believe, between New Jersey and
Delaware, about Pea Patch Island. of which,
i suppose, you have all heard and 1
also had 10 procure a large folio volume
he nEfd IN raw haf MA ny
wn State Of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. a.
Q boundary, which ran back to the charter OF 1919,
and which whether IL is settled at the presen, day
am ashamed 10 say do not certainly know And
now, when this family Of Siates-(oo. not a family
II States, for we are going to reject that kindly
meme end the blessed thing IL expresses but
when this group OF hostile and nval States anal
start on with heated passions and exasperaied hs-
freda their ne career. can their hnundaries be