Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-05-03

any further evasion Of the question, and coun-
sci bold, prompt, and manly acceptance of
the issue rendered.
have presented some reasons why we have
nothing to gain by delay. All we get is in
creased strength on their part coupled with
arrogance, insult, or injury. Let me illustrate
tins position further. proposition was made
IN the Senate in 1852 TO repeal the fugitive
slave law. This proposition received only four
votes. Again the proposition was renewed in
| 1855, and it received nine votes and am in
| formed by the most reliable authority that it
can now command fifteen votes in that body /;
and from the same reliable source learn that
majority of the House of Representatives. are
in favor of repeal of this law; and if they
do not pass act repeating it in that body, it
will not be because they have not the power
and the will to do SO, but because they doubt its
expediency. What an alarming increase is
here seen, and what striking commentary on
the policy and wisdom of further postponement.
A few years since there was in the House "a
Representatives little squad of Abolitionists,
SO small in numbers, so Insignificant III talent,
as to excite scarcely any other feeling than that
Of pity or contempt. Now we see them able
to elect a presiding oficer-the third officer
under the Government-one of the most I'M
compromising enemies of slavery anywhere to
be found.
Are we to gain nothing from experience
Shall we shut our eyes and close our ears for
fear we may hear the distant thunder or see
the flashing lightning that presages the gath
ering and coming storm? If we are not able
to assert and maintain our rights now, when,
tell me, when shall we be?
| To you, who have known me always, and be-
fore whom my antecedents are, need not re-
peat protestations of my devotion to the Union
but frankness compels me- to say, unless this
constant war of aggression, this incessant war
of insult and injury, can be arrested, the pre-
servation of this Union is a hopeless fancy
an idle deluson. And you must allow me to
say, with equal frankness and deep regret, that
unless this war should cease-unless the rights
secured to us by the Constitution shall be re-
spected unless our property can be secured
from robbery and confscaton; unless our
honors and our feelings shall be respected ;
unless we are permitted to hold our places in
| the Union on the terms of equality as pre-
scribed by the Consttution-withou degrade
ton; unless we can live together in peace and
quiet, as did our fathers-if these things can
not be accorded to us, then the sooner we sepa-
rate the better We can never consent to re-
tain these political relationships at the expense
| of honor or the surrender of our rights. To
hold it at such price would cover us with a
mantle of infamy; and the spirits,of our fathers
would rise up in judgment to condemn the de-
! generacy Of their sons. Can we lend ourselves
to such prostitution? Meier, nerer, nereri
Some may suppose | have drawn this pic
| ture too strongly-that it is not so dark as /
present it. Be not deceived The secret pur-
poses and Vaccinations of your enemies are
but merely sketched. The inquiry doubtless
| presents itself to your mind, Is there no escape
from these apprehended evils? Is there no
way of arresting results so fearful, on which
we seem to be driving with terrible and in
creasng velocity? / hope there is; and it is
this hope that bids me warn you of the danger,
in order that you may apply the remedy.
Our opponents will present one unbroken
| front. Already their ranks are being marshal
ed for the fray. All other discussions are to
be hushed. All dscord is to be banished.
| All differences of opinion are to be waived.
| They are to stand, as one man, on one isolated
| point, DoDn tciM slareyy!
| Successfully to meet and resist this united,
combined effort of our enemies, there must be
a corresponding effort on our part. We must
have the same union; the same surrender of
| our prejudices; the same waiver of opinion on
4
| together for the Constitution and the Union !;
for in this, and in this alone, is there safety.
Appearances, / grant, are full Of discourage
ment; but amidst all the surrounding gloom,
there is star of hope to cheer the heart of
the patriot, bidding him :" hope on, hope ever"
| am opposed to any political geographical
line. deprecate all issues of purely Sec
tional character, and ! despise all sectional
| parties; and it is in order TO crush out all
such parties that ] would exhort all national
conservative, Constitution abiding Union.lov.
ing men, of all parties 10 unite together for the
purpose of arresting the further progress of
this party, seeking to advance its fortunes at
the expense of the peace of the country, and
the safety OF the Union, by advocating ques
ton purely and essentially sectional. / do not
look to the South alone TO accomplish this
work. Unaided by the conservative men Of
the North, we are wholly inadequate to the
task II the entire people of the non-slave-
| holding States are to be regarded as inimical
to our rights and institutions, then any further
hope of paci6cation, any further struggle for
harmony, and recognition of our rights, is
vain and useless. j am happy, however, to
know that such is not the case. Many of the
truest, boldest, and most fearless defenders Of
/ the constitutional rights of the South are to be
| found in the free States. / have seen them
throw themselves in the breach, in defence of
our rights, with promptness, gallantry, and
manliness that challenged the admiration, and
might Justly excite the emulation, of the most
chvalrous son of the South. Many Wings,
Democrats, and Americans at the North are
as loyal to the Constitution and all its guaran-
| tees as are the men of the South and If all
these conservatives would be united, land why
may they not?) they, / doubt not, would con-
stitute majority in many of the free States
In this condition of things, why, ask, should
not the South, which has so much at stake, and
for the rights of which these gallant men Of
the North have contended so faithfully, aban-
don all its chickering's, petty strifes, and party
prejudices, and stand together for the Consti.
tuition and the Union. Thus united in defence
of a common interest, and in resistance to COM
mon wrongs, we might, with hope and conf.
dence, appeal to the conservative men Of the
North to come to the rescue. Such an appeal
| know would not be unavailing or UNDECIDED
But, divided as we are, intestine war raging
AMONGST NTH uy,ldaa. Gao, ,,,th ,yho. go, &C.