Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1856-01-19
Let the Union Slide.

This expression is attributed TO the most
prominent candidate for Speaker now before
the House of Representatives, and we refer to
il that we may mark our condemnation Of those
dangerous words so tlippantly uttered. 1t mat
tiers not on what occasion they were elected;
if matters not upon what contingencies they
were based; they are reasonable in their es-
sence, and deserve to meet with the %severest
reprobation from all who desire to maintain
the power and glory of the nobIest and freest
Republic the world ever yet saw.
He who first seriously contemplated a seve"
rance of the confederated States was a traitor
in his heart, and became morally amenabIe to
a traitors doom. He who first put that thought
into language would have been mercifully dealt
by if the penalty Of ostracism had been enforc-
ed against him. Let the Union slide! Loosen
the grand fabric built up by the sacrifice of
many a heroic life; by the tolls and sutterings
of many a heroic heart; by many u plundered
homestead; by the ashes of many a hearth
made desolate by widows tears and orphans
cries? At Concord, and Lexington, and Buns
ker's Hill in the sad march through the Jer>
seys; in the winter camp at Valley Forge; and
in the blood~stained footprints OF the patfi-
OTIS recorded on the winters snow; in the JaIls
and prison<ships at New York; in the swamps
Of Georgia and the Carolinas; in the wlIds OF
Kentucky; amid fierce saVages, Tory mailg-
nants, and but too barbarous foreign foes, the
foundations of the Union were laid.
That wild Christmas night upon the Della
ware, when Washington dared the opposing
ice and hardly plucked at Trenton victorious
laurels from the brows of bis .pursuers, the
fabric of the Union rose remotely visible to
mems eyes; and growing gradually more diss
tinct at Bennington, and Saratoga and Kings
Mountain, and Camden and Yorktown, pene-
trated the thick haze of doubts and fears, and
exhibited its fair proportions, sharply detlned
upon the back ground Of the future. AND yet
. there are those among us who cry out, Vie
the Union slide" reckless of the Teverent ma
/ ture of the inheritance won by toll and agony
and bequeathed with prayers and solemn ad'
monitions. There are, we say, those among
US who proclaim themselves ready to prove
false to their trust, TO ignore the memory o
= their fathers, to mine with an insane hand thu
: glorious building they reared. and to shout eX
.~ultingly, LET the Union slide" Slide where
, Into chaos and black night? Into that terri
! Bile limbo of things magnificent of promise
vet untimely shattered? Or where?
We say the people of the Union will neVe
consent, at the bidding of amy man or set q
, men, upon mere sectional issues, to "Let tn
d Union slide" Three-quarters of a centur
: have made this Union; not a mere confedera
ton of States, but a confederation Of heart!
bound by ties stronger than the Constitutio
whose provisions they revere, and by interest
it would be madness 10 dissolve.
Let the Union slide-no! Let it last foreve
q Let it be handed down to succeeding genera
tons, intact and impregnable. Lett stand liz
the old Rhodiau Wonder, with a foot upo
II opposite shores, and lifting up TO the oppresse
n Of all nations beacon to guide them into
e haven of rest, where all may enjoy freedom
i political action restricted oniy by laws of the
:. own adoption, and where liberty of c~onscien'
is protected beneath the Egis of the Const
tuition. Mr.. Banks said Let the Union slide
we say, 'Let Mr.. Banks slider Bait. Patrie