Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-02-07
nLat the Uninn Snde -

Under this head the old Maryland wing
organ the Baltime Patriot has the following
remarks upon the contest for Speaker. 1t
will be rccollected that Banks is the candi-
date for Speaker for which the Illinois Journal
has expressed its preference:
This expression is attributed 10 the most
prominent candidate for Speaker now before
the house of representatives, and we refer to
1t that we may mark our condemnation of
those dangerous words so flippantly uttered.
1t matters not on what occasion they were
ELECTED; it matters not upon what cOngtincies
they were based; they arc reasonable in their
essence, and deserve to meet with the sever
est roprobatiOn from all who desire to main
tain the power and glory of the noblest and
freest republic the world ever yet saw.
lie who seriously contemplated a sever
ancc of the confederated states was n traitor
in his heart, and become morally amenable
to a traitors doom. lie who first put the
thought into language wonld have been mer-
cifully dealt by if the penalty Of ostracism
had been enforced against him. Let the
Union slide? Loosen the grand fabric built
up by the s~acraficc Of many a heroic heart
by many a plundered homestead-by the
ashes of many a hearth made desolate-by
widows tears and by Orphans cries? At
Concord, and Lexington, and Bunker's Hill
in the sad march through the Jerseys-in the
winter camp at valley Forge, and in the blood
stained footprints of the patriots recorded in
the winters snow-in the jails and prison
ships at New York-in the swamps Of Geor-
gia and in the CarOlinias-in the wilds of
Kentucky, amid the fierce savages, tory ma
lgnants, and but too barbarous foreign foes,
! Tho foundation cf Ela TTpsn, ,-,. Ill
That wild Christmas night upon the Della
ware, when Washington dared the opposing
ice, and hardly plucked at Trenton victorious
laurels from the brow of his pursuers, the
fabric of the Union rose remotely visible TO
mems eyes, and growing gradually more dis
tinct at Bennington, and Saratoga, and Kings
Mountain, and Camden, and Yorktown, PEN
etrated the thick maze Of doubts and fears,
and exhibited its fair proportions, sharply de-
fined, upon the background of the future
And yet there are those among us who cry
out "let the Union Slide" reckless of the re
weren't nature of the inheritance won by toll
and agony aud bequeathed with prayers and
solemn admonitions. There are, we say,
those among us who proclaim themselve:
ready to prove false to their trust, to ignore
the momOry of their fathers, to mine with al
insane hand the %glorio1s building they reared
and to shout exultingly, "let the Union
slide" Slide where? Into chaos and black
night. Into that terrible limbo of things
magnificent Of promise, yet nntmely shat.
tered. Or where?
We say that the people of the Uuion viii
never consent, at the bidding of any man oil
setof men, upon mere sectional issues TO "let
the Union slide" Three quarters of a cen.
fury have made this Union net a mere con
federation Of States, but a confederation o
: hearts, bound by ties stronger than the con
s%titution whose provisions they revere, AN,
10y their interests it would be madness to dis
solve.
Let the Union slide-noi Let it last for
ever. Let it be handed down to succeedin,
generations, intact and i~mpregnable. Let j
stand like the old Rhodian wonder, with
foot upon opposite shores, and lifting up T.
the oppressed of all nations a beacon to guild,
them into a haven of rest, where all may Ell
JOY freedom of political action restricted onl,
by laws of their own adoption, and wher
liberty of conscience is protected beneath tn,
Hgin of the constitution. Mr.. Banks sal,
"let the Union slide - we say, "let MI
Banks slide ~