Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1857-01-23


result of all this was that secession conventions
had become permanent institution at the South
at the same time that all the odium Of dissolu-
ton was thrown by the South upon the North
All intelligent men know, said Mr. Benton, that
New England is loyal to the Union-but the
masses believe otherwise, and they govern the
election This is hard upon New England, that
she should 20 into the history of this age as the
cause of breaking up the Union
Mr.. Benton next proceeded to argue that dis.
union would not benefit the slave, but would
work to his positive injury; and depicted in
somewhat sombre colors the results of the slavery
agitation upon the social and business relations of
the Northern and Southern people Such, said
he in leaving this part the subject, are the re-
suits of speculative philanthrophy thousand
miles off
He next alluded to the humanizing tenden-
cies of the age, in amelorating the condition of
all classes of society. The slave was feeling the
benefit of that amelioration, and had been from
the beginning of the century until this agitation
had commenced.
Individual emancipation, too, which at the be-
ginning of the century was progressing with
rapid strides, had been retarded When 1
was law student in Virginia, said Mr. B.,
it was a part of our instruction to oppose
slavery, and the young students with whom
I associated, as well as myself, favored eman.
eipation. He alluded to the Virginia Con-
Vention, held thirty years since, for revision of
the Constitution, in which the emancipation
question fully discussed by some of her ablest
public men, some of whom, he was proud 10 say,
were near relatives of his, and said that now not
one of those men dare repeat sentence OF the
speeches which they then made-an operative
philanthropy killed off by speculative philanthro-
py thousand miles off
Mr. Benton then cited other instances within
his own experience in proof of his position that
ant-slavery agitation had more firmly rivetted the
the letters of the slave He said that in 1909,
on his first entrance into public life as member
of the Legislature of Tennessee, that he himself
brought i'll bill to ameliorate the condition of the
slaves, providing for jury trials &C. That bill was
passed, and that speech was applauded through
out the State. How would it be now Though
have passed the age which the pslamist allotted
to man, and occupied stations of honor in the SER
vice of my country which have made my name
known throughout the civilized world, could
not repeat line of that speech in Tennessee, at
this time, and that law. though still upon the
statute book, is dead letter. killed by specu
lative philanthropy thousand miles off, There
never was time, continued Mr.. B., when the
privileges of the slave we're SO curtailed, and
when the laws were severe as now.
which induced him to believe in the imminence
of the danger Of dissolution IS the Uuion. The
signs were everywhere present, in Congress, in
the action of State Legislatures and IN the dsrup-
ton of the two great religious denominations
upon this enc question.
The masses of the people do not believe in the
danger, and it was creditable to them and their
feelings that it was So but at the same time this
fancied security dangerous to the country
He lamented the decline of craftsmanship in the
country tall great statesmen" he said, were
gone, and they had taken their nantes with
them, for he knew of no one on whose shoulders
they had fallen"
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise had
opened wide the gap between the States, and
aroused afresh all the conflicting interests of
North and South. All knew the part he had act.
ed in that matter He opposed that repeal, and
did it with his eyes open, and for all the honors
and wealth of the world he would not change
that vote.
He dwelt upon this topic as though in his view
it was a triumph of the Southern disunionists,
as indeed it is, and then looking to disunion as a
probability likely to ensue from it, he dwelt at
considerable length upon the results that would
ensue from such rupture as was contemplated
and desired by many, both at North and South.
but especially at the South. He pictured the
horrors of civil war which would then be the nor
NAL condition of the people, with two rows of CO.
termnous foreign states in the heart of the coun-
try each having its line of forts, custom houses,
&C., and these states the theatre of constant war
and all this affording no cure for the evils of
slavery which would be a thousand times worse
there than now.
He spoke of the insecurity and alarm which
even now prevails at the South for fear of a SER
vile instruction, and said the fire bell does not
ring in the South, but the mother clasps her
babe close to her bosom in fear of some more
are the last hope of he world, said Mr.. B.,
and should we fail, the tyrants and monarchs of
the earth would point TO our example as proof
that republic was impossible. He was for the
preservation of the Union now and always, for
the reasons that he had given, but the time was
full of peril. Mr., Madison died in 1886, and in
a memorandum which he had written lust prio
to his death, he lamented the indications that he
then saw of approaching sectional strife. The
state of parties which he then foresaw has arisen
The abrogaton of the Missouri Compromise h as
brought it upon US, and unless we bring all our
care, all our vigilance, and all our patriotism to
the rescue, the fate of our country will be like
that of two nobla vessels upon the sea, in which
one or both must perish by the shocks of vic.
lent collision.
In conclusion, Mr.. Benton renewedly urged
npon his audience that the remedy for the threst-
ened danger was only to be found in ceasng from
agitation, and in adopting the concilatory and
compromising spirit that prevailed when the
Union was formed, and the Constitution adopted.
Masonic FESTIVAL. On Wednesday evening,
the new Masonic Hall, in Waldo Block, belong
ing to the Morning Star Lodge and the Worces-
ter Royal Arch Chapter, was dedicated with ap.
propriate exercises. Henry Earl, Esq, Grand
Architect, made his report, which the M. W.
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, ]. I. Heard,
Esq, of Boston, accepted, and the procession of