The Ohio union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1849-1854, 1852-06-02

age of reason and progress in govern
ment! Why, sir, when, above all other
times and seasons, we should prize the
Union Of ours, whose Ggis covers the
Atlantic and the Pacific shores-whose
prosperity is a wonder even to ourselves
flag is mistress of the sea, and
under whose ample folds the oppressed OF
every nation are taking refuge, we see
conventions openly called, presses openly
advocating, and orators proclaiming from
the housetops-"secession," and "dissolu.
tom" and the people discussing that,
which 10 think Of, even at the time just
alluded to, the public mind rose as one
man 10 rebuke.
And yet we are told that there is no
danger in all this. Surely
at is the very error of the moon;
She comes more near the earth than she was wont,
And makes men mad"
Mr.. Chairman, the secession of a so.
vereign State from this Union is by some
persons considered a very easy act to per-
form, where there is a will land God grant
1t may never arise) 10 do it. Whether ii
is a constitutional or revolutionary right
which must be exercised, is a question
which | have no lime to discuss here. |
prefer TO look at the practical bearing Of
the result. should the issue of secession
ever be made. Suppose a State deter
mines upon secession, what power Il
speak not of 'right') Of the Federal Go.
vernment, under the Constitution, will
force 1t to remain in the Conlederacyl-
Has it any power! In theory, even, ii is
questionable to some minds, while in a
practical point of view it is powerless.-
What! a Government formed upon a COM
pact and a compromise, and founded upon
the will and affection Of the people gov
erned, and deriving all its strength from
the popular voice, compelling The people
of a sovereign State, at the point of the
%bayonet, 10 remain in a Union whose
only bond is good will and affection. The
idea is at war with every principle of our
republican Government. But i. it is car.
RED out, what then! Tell me the worth of
thai State to this Union which is kept 10
us only by force of powder and ball.
Let a Stale determine upon secession, and
while the strong arm Of Federal authority
cannot force it 10 return to its place in the
friendly galaxy of stars which compose
the Union, it will be no easy undertaking
to persuade it back 10 the point it before
occupied by the side o! its sister States in
the Confederacy.
MIR. Chairman, the people Of the North
have not, until Of late, aroused themselves
to a knowledge of the ruin which has
threatened the Union. Immersed in bus.
mess, and bent on the pursuit Of no.
nest gain, they have been unmindlul Of The
danger which has surrounded them; while
designing men ami politicians, with selfish
ends, have been sporting with the insIitu-
lions Of the country, like a child with a
bauble. The political question of slavery
in the States or in the Territories, the
Federal Government has nothing in my
oplnlon' 10 DO 1t with. II | find the cul-
ture of tobacco improbable, choose 10 plant
my field with corn, have no right to De.
StrOy my neighbours field, or abuse him,
because he continues 10 plant a weed
which, in my opinion, forced upon me by
my own experience, is destroying his land
and which, its effects, has an injuri-
Gus influence upon the health of the
community around us. No more right
has the State of Connecticut to say 10
South Carolina. Your slave labor is I'M
profitable; zee have found 1t so, therefore
goa must abolish it. Ill and my friend
from Virginia are owners OF tract Of land.
which he and contributed to purchase,
have no exclusive right TO tell him how
that land shall be cultivated or managed,
nor has he that right over ne; and so it
is with the Territories belonging 10 this
Governmental is no, in the power of the
Federal Government TO say that Connect
icut may 90 into them with her factory
inhlSt ulu hldb NllBHiid SoLlOt CUsSI llELl
with her property.
Mr.. Chairman whoever has listened, up.
on this loor or elsewhere, to the speeches
Of those gentlemen who claim to be the
exclusive friends of what they term the
anli.slaye influence in this country, must
have remarked the frequent expressions Of
"liberty," and humanity" with which
they bound, and The taunts Of "African APP
PRESTON" which is so freely lavished up.
on the ears of those whose notions of the
institutions Of this Government do not
correspond with their own; as if these
gentlemen were the only pure.mindcd men
in the land, and reflected the sound views
always held upon the slavery question a
the North.
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