Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1859-12-20

only few sYmpathiAe with John Brown; OF
that fugitive slaves could be r6csptufed 10
one-half OF the free States without The aid Of
the Federal Government That gentleman's =
speech would do more for the cause Of disun-
ion than thousand like that Of the gentleman
from South Carolina, (Mr. Keitt) who threats
eued 80 grandiloquently 10 shatter the Republic
from turret 10 foundation stone Here was q
sectional party with a sectional platform, aim
ing 10 control the Government for sectional
purposes, and when the gentleman told them
there was no cause for alarm he was only invi-
ting aggression. The gentlemRn's party had
before them a solemn warning, In the person OF
the gentleman from New York, (Mr. Brggs)
the last relic Of the lost politics Of the Whig
party, destroyed by Northern sectionalism, who
had taken refuge on the conservative side OF the
House. and sat there solitary aud alone-E
Pluribus Unum. Laughter
He believed the Union was in imminent
danger Of disruption. This whole controversy
had become a war for political mastery, in
which slavery only played the part Of the let
ter In an algebraic equation, and was used
only to work out the problem of disunion--
Did II ever occur 10 men Of the North, when
they were daring the South to Ro out Of the
Union, that, when that disastrous event should
be brought about, the great West, in the exer-
else Of her sovereign will and pleasure, in the
exercise Of that popular sovereignty which
would demand and would have non. interven
tion, might also choose TO set up for herself2-
Did the phantom Of a Western Confederacy
never haunt their nightly visionsH The West
had fed and clothed the North for sixty years.
What would the North do without the Wesl2
What would New York and Boston do? Dis
solve this Union If you darel Send off the
Pacific States, force the West into a Confederas
cy, and where then would be their pride and
insolence their trade and commerceH What IL
New York and the other Northern States re-
fused TO 90 with New England2 For New
England was pc ulear people, who had deS
throned Jehovah and set up deity of their
own; and before a year had passed he predicts
ed they would set up the statue Of John Brown
10 the place of Daniel Webster. He thought
the prophecy in fair way TO be fulfilled of the
remuneration of New England to the British
Grown. Was it not better, then, for North and
South, East and West,that the Union should be
preserved He was for the Union as it is,
and the Constitution as il is, and against dis
union, now and forever. Applause
II he were asked whether the election Of an
anti-slavery sectional President would be just.
ifable cause for disunion, he could not tell;
but as Western man he told the South that
when they should, by a numerical sectional
majority, elect a Southern President for the
purpose Of advancing Southern interests and
above all Of converting the free into slayeholdA
ing States, he would meet them with a sword
in one hand and a torch in the other, dispute
every inch Of ground and burn every blade of
grass on the broad praires Of the West before
he would yield. [Applausel He would not
wait for the overt act, for he knew that FIRE
would burn, frost would CONCEAL and steel
and poison would do their work of death. He
W as opposed TO disunion, come from whatever
quarter 1t might. But the South had an ample
apology in the events of the last few months
War, open war, had been proclaimed against
them. and arson and murder had been commit
ted in their streets. The murderer had been
executed, but he had risen from the dead
hero and a martyr, and his followers were
gathering strength and only awaiting the hour
to renew the invasion. These things were
ample apology for the alarm and indignation
which pervades the South. But would they
secede now2 Would they break up the Union
Of these States, and bring down forever, in one
promiscuous ruin, the pillars aud columns Of
this magnificent temple of liberty which our
fathers reared2 Wait little. Let them try
again the peaceful remedy of the ballot box
more potent than the bayonet. He vas not as
hopeful of the final result as some; but he was
taught in his infancy that he should never
despair of the Republic, He believed in an
overruling Providence, and that God had foreN
ordained for this country a higher, mightier,
nobleT destiny than for any other country since
the world began. Times noblcst empire was
the last, From the North Pole to the isthmus
of Darien, from the Atlantic ocean to the Allie
ghanies, stretching over the vast basin of the
Mississippi, scaling the Rocky Mountains, and
lost at last in the blue waters Of the Pacific, he
beheld the future of this country in patriotic
vision, one Union, one Constitution, one desti-
ny. Applause. But this magnificent destiny
could only be achieved by us as a united peo.
pie. He quoted from letter written by Daniel
Webster seven years ago, den0uncing section
alism. He knew the Republican party would
concede the constitutional rights of the South,
but il would only be in the spirit of Porlia
awarding the pound of flesh. Rights thus
yielded were rights withheld. How long could
such q Union last, and what would it be worth
while it does last3
A Southern paper not many miles from this
capital had declared that there is no Sonthern
State really contemplating secession under any
possible contingency, but that they were calcu.
lating the effect Of disunion threats upon the
nerves of the North and West Whoever de-
clared such a thing lbelled the N orth, and the
South, and the West. Idle Tumors would
frighten no one; but fraternal affection and
good feeling were the silver cord aud golden
bowl now so well nigh broken. His nerves
were of the hardest aud toughest, and neither
the clamors of the South nor the fanatcism of
the North should move him from his position
of armed neutrality, in which he meant to hold
even and impartial the scales between the con
tending sections. He knew that much he had
said would be denounced as pros slavery; and
il to revere the Constitution and cherish the
Union, and to abhor the madness and hate the
treason which would lift hand against them
was proslavery, then in every nerve, fibre, bone,
joint, and ligament he was all over and alto.
gether pro slavery man. Applause.
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