Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-02-06
THE UNION THREATENED.


Z Mr.. Gartrell, of Georgia, on Monday, Janu-
airy the 18TH said, in speech he made in the
House: ss a7l is15 81, bt,1s, Fart4,
s. = The Union cannot be preserved, unless our
rights are protected. l should be rccreant to
my duty if did not proclaim this detcrrnina1
ton no longer TO submit to insult and Outrage.
| have the honor of representing fifteen thou
sand freemen upon this floor; and hazard
nothing in saying that every man Of Them viii
respond amen to the sentiments express
here to-day" @ SO bas5 Ky
81 tell you gentlemen, further, that in order
to preserve the Union, you must admit Kan
sas as State into the Union with the Lecomp-
ton Constitution. You must admit her as a
slave State, with that Constitution"
We do not propose to comment upon these
remarks, but TO allow southern papers to reply
TO them.
Speaking of "a Southern Confederacy, !" and
the threatened dissolution of the Union, the
Maysvie Eagle Of the 2eth of January says:
at has got to be very common thing now,
10 hear people talk of dissolution Of the Un-
ion, and the establishment Of Southern con-
federacy, and even here in Kentucky we have
men among us who profess to be in favor of
that course in the event the South does not
get all that she asks in the settlement of Ter
ritorial questions.
-
"Thirty years ago negroes had not become
the gods Of any part Of our people, and every
where the people went on in the enjoyment Of
the comforts inciCent TO human life, without
single pang Of fear, or a single impulse Of
doubt as TO what our destiny was to be. No
discord had crcpt in, then, to destroy the har
mony Of our free and Independent government;
but all, North and South alike, were bound
together in the fraternal brotherhood of an
American nationality that promised to carry
us on to a triumphant demonstration of the
true theory Of Government, in the government
of the people themselves. Since, however,
negroes have become the all-engrossing object
of affection Of set Of men both North and
South, the idea Of disunion has gone on, in
creasing in strength and potency, until it has
now become thing Of magnitude which we
are all compelled to contemplate, and consider
as one of the remedies that are offered to cure
existing ills, and in the extreme South, particu-
larly, many leading minds are directed to the
erection Of Southern confederacy, as the only
means by which Southern rights are to be
maintained. We have never yet been able TO
discover how the South was TO be benefited by
a severance Of its connection with the States OF
the North, and even though such thing might
be accomplished peacefully and quietly, and
by the full concurrence Of the people on both
sides, it does seem to us that the result would
inevitably be more disastrous to Southern in
stitutons than all the inroads that can be made
upon us by Abolitonists while we remain in
the CoDfcderacy.
"To slave holders in the border states, the
idea Of disunion ought to be most repugnant
because as it is thtir property that is to be en-.
dangered, the injury will fall upon them more
heavily than any other class Of men,, ant
when they consider that oil the safe guard
that a southern confcderacy may throw aroun
the Institution Of Slavery, can notfmake tina
property secure from the depredstions Of enc
mics who are encouraged to by the spirit
their own laws, they can not fail 10 discoyc'
that disnnion is the worst remedy that coul
! be adopted to make their rights perfectly s,
cure ~ iH9a'a ta1' oA9r ~ lu9k
"The matter may be talked about and en-
coursged by blinded zealots, and it ultimatel
may be brought about butwe venture the con
lecture that II the union is dissolved the indi
viduals who win most regret it and most su.
fer from 1t, will be the shareholders them
selves"