Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-12-22

he has lead US in perils that are passed, b.
q pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fir'
by night.
1t is with sentiments such as these that
although my voice is unknown 10 fame
although l take, for the first time, my seal
in deliberate assembly, / would firmly
earnestly, yet respectfully, invoke gentle
men of the North and gentlemen of the
South to come up and lay on the altar Of
our common country this distracting ques'
tion, which does no good, which creates
incessaat excitement, which arms the slave
against his master, which causes feeling
of dissatisfaction toward this great and
glorious Union to prevail. I ask northern
men-can you, on an abstract question
like this, make no sacrifice in behalf Of
our country? and can we not all agree in
adopting this resolution, patriotic in its
terms; resolution which l am sure will
commend itself to the appreciation of the
whole country, and which carries no sting
in regard te any member of this assem-
bly,. + =
so Tar as am concerned, glory IN bav-
ing been member of the American party.
Applause.] 1 have avowed it before my
constituents and am not ashamed to
avow it before the whole land. l believe
that party was noble party in its aims
and in its purposes. But 1 will not enter
into discussion of them here, further than
10 say that, as l understand, one of them
was to protect the Protestant religion of
the land against encroachment from any
and every quarter, and the other was to pro-
tect the American Union from dissolu-
ton. Those were two of the cardinal OBJ
jects of the American party. There was
nothing in them which conAicted with any
previous sentiment ever entertained
Humble as am, as the gentleman seems
to have been inquiring into my antecedents,
l will tell him little more, which will
probably be as distasteful as the other. /
claim not only to be an American, but to
be Wing, and to have been Wing all
my life. Prolonged applause upon the
floor and in the galleries. 1 am opposed
to the modern Democracy in every shape
and under every form. Renewed applause.
l have so said in other places, and I am
not afraid to express it here. No, sir; no.
But whilst the gentleman has been inquir-
ing in regard to me, must confess that I
have not had the pleasure to ascertain
much in regard to his antecedents. If l
mistake not, I have heard sentiment of
his or one attributed to him, which /
must say met with my hearty appreciation
strange as the House may think it, that
the gentlmen and myself concur in one SEN
sentiment which he uttered while
he was conducting newspaper in this city,
if he is correctly reported.
Mr.. Pryor-What have l done for which
you praise meg
Mr.. Nelson.-You used that memora-
bic expression, which was stereotyped in
many of our southern papers, and with
which we did good service in the contest
in Tennessee-that "from the by.ways
and highways of the Government the rot
Ienness of corruption sends forth an insult
ferable stencil. Why are the people so pa
Lients Why slumbers the Indignation of
Democracy!' Prolonged laughter and
applause all over the House
Sir, in that sentiment 1 concur, and it |
delighted me when l heard it in Tennessee,
or l thought the gentleman talked like a
man of sense. Nothing has been said
better by anybody in this Union. i
But, Mr.. Clerk, the gentleman says he
the Constitution, and that l came
here to make speech in behalf of the
American Union, and that I do not say
word in regard to the Constitution. If 1
mistake not it is the common sentiment of
he secessionists of the South, that they
ak about the Constitution and say moth
ng about the Union. When I talk about
he Union what do talk about? I talk
'bout that thing which is the result of the
American Constitution. Loud applause
lpon the floor and in the galleries /
peak of the larger idea. When I say /
I'm in favor of the Union, that carries eve-
ything along with it. 1t carries the Con-
titution with 1t; and it carries everything
Use with it that any patriot in this land
hould desire to support.
do not believe that the great body of
he people sof the South, even those of old
Virginia, welded as she is to the straight
acket resolutions of '9s, Tlaugther,1 I sym
,athize with the sentiment of disunion that
S so continually iterated and reiterated
rom one end Of the land to the other.
No, sir; think better of the South; at
my rate, SO far as my constituents are con-
erned, and SO far as the gallant people of
ny native State are concerned-the State
# Tennessee can stand proudly before
ny country, and say that believe there is
lot one Of them-not one.who sympa-
hizes in this disunion sentiment. Zap
,lause.)
/ declare it as my solemn conviction,
much as I believe such an election ought
o be deprecated, much as regret and de-
lore it, that, of itself, the election of a
Black Republican President would not be
ause for dissolution of the Union, be-
ause think we ought to wait until we
ee whether that Black Republican Presi-
ent would do anything hostile to the rights
f the South. Loud and prolonged ap-
'lause.) / may just remark here that,
much as / regretted the election of Mr..
Banks. as speaker of this House, man
'hom never saw, and man of whom
now nothing except so far as the history
{ that election is concerned. l did hot