Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-12-23

the presumption e. suppose that i can cUmmand
the attention III 80 vast assembly at this late hour
Of the evening and after such splendid elocutionary
efforts q. have been heard f:J a some most able
gentlemen, but ! come before tbe audience for the
single purpose .fshowing myself. Loud cheers
Insignificant, rs personally | may be-Icries Of
mo, You arc not"--nm ing the millions of this
Land and weak in influence rs my voice may be,
whenever this voice is called far, aud there is n
question which its sound can reach, | wish it 10 be
known that | am to be rcckoncd with the Union
great cl,eering-now aud while ] live. Renewed
applause, an cries Of Good, stod, g,ol." And
when | say, that it is with n wish that if the
Union il t. perrin may ! die first. Great applause
aud runing nois. Sir. there have bern many things
said here this evening with which l have not fully
coinciied. Bat | i'm not going into all these
questions. | do not inteud to read law to you, for
it is not my profession; and | must be EXCUSED
i'll do not 70 into theology of some gentlemen whb
have invaded mine. Cheers and laughter. But
when | saw the call fr the meeting, | said | must
DO there. Hear, hear and good" Nevcr--never
have | before attended a public meeting in any
way political in my ife--cheers-and | can say
with IL fai, conscience that no man ever heard me,
in any position OF life, utter II single word in re-
gard to party politics. Cheers. | am by my cal
ling and by my vow a minister Of the Gospel Of
peace; cheers, and ii is rs a minister Of peace this
! am among you to-nitht. Greet cheering. 1t ut
time that this should he 80, when the pulpits Of
the land are desccratcd by appeals to the widest
fanaticislh that men can conceive. The most ire
mcndous applause here f~,lloweJ, enduring for
several seconds.
A Voice from the second tier of boxes-The right
man in the right place this time.
ANOTHER VOICE on the platform That's Sd,
Dir. BETmuSE-When men nre praised and hon
ored because they have shown the courage Of the
bulldog with the bloodthirstines Of the tiger
cheers again and again it is high time then that
man who fppk thpmlnlyeA imuplIa | Inv the haiipf
that the Gospel il peace on earth ana good will
towards men should act UP to the spirit Of that
teaching. Applauss. am not going to enter
rs | said before, into questions. which | trust |
may 10 pardoned for saying, has been foisted into
thus meeting this evening. / have heard of per-
sons who have disputed about the calls Of the meet
ing, and some have said that thoy would stay a.
way because ono call was formal and tho ether
was informal. Laughter. Now. the calls mat
ter very little to me-. | never read through the
whole Of either Of the calls. All | saw in either
of them was the word Union-[great cheering-
AMI that WAS enough. Prolonged applause
| remember on one occasion there was
an honest Governor of Pennsylvania who was ap.
piled to for the pardon Ut IL man who had MUIR
dereI his wife, and when the application was
brought before him in the usual form, backed by
all the influence that could DO brought to bear on
the case, tho honest old man said-"What! par
don II man for n crime like that? For, taking a
woman 10 ulS hoihc, ullcT nuSlnE PROMISED ana
sworn to love, honor and cherish her, and then to
take and murder ller-why, he ought to be asham.
ell of himself, Great cheering AMI applause. =
Aud 80 Is it here tonight. IL any man, in getting
up this meeting, had any thought of republican,
or democrat, or wing, or American, and not of tho
Union, all l can say is that he ought to be ashamed
of himself. Great cheering. And what is more,
| don't want to have anything to do with him, ex-
ccpt | meet him in repentance in sack cloth and
ashes. lChecrs. Tho speeches this evening have
been mostly on the hyp Ithcsis ofthe dissolution Of
the Union. 1t was always. III the Union should
be dissolved - when tho Union is q dissolved p
and other phrases Of similar purport. Now this
is all wrong. For my part regard the dissolu-
ton, rs we logiclans say, as IN impossible hypoth-
esis. Cheers. The Union is not going to be dis
solved, and of this you may be secure. You may
remember that once in old Rome thore was o great
gulf opened. and 50 wide and dangerous did it
every day become, that it threatened to swallow
up the whole OF that imperial city, when one Quin-
ts Cartlus mounted his steed, full armed, and
rodo slowly and resolutely toward the cavern and
leaped into tho gull, n willing victim to save his
belov ed Rome. Should such u chasm oren in our
midst there is not one but ten thousand of Cartius
aye. and a hundred times ten thousand-to leap
into it for the salvation of this blessed and glori-
GUS Union. Great applause. Who speaks then
of dissolving the Union? Dissolve the Union p
Where are you going to draw the line?
A Voice Mason and Dixon.
DR.. BETHuNE-Mason and Dixon! There can
be no line drawn there. But if there should I'M
happily ever be such a separation, l know where
should go, with that part that clinss to the con-
~stitution and the Union us it is and as it has been.
Great applause. If any man has a right to be
proud OF native place, it is the man who now
speaks to you, for | Am proud to say l was born
in New York. Cheers. But, sir, what is New
York? What is the E~ast?--what is the West?-
Whit the North-or what the South? Take away
the Union, and we are nowhere we would be
worse than nothins-reduced into the chaos Of
rude, crumbling fragments. Where, / ask, will
you draw the line? viii you divide the Missis-
sippi in two? A voice, Yes" Then try it,
lRoars of Laughter. Are you going to divide
he Union by the assumed rights or quilts of ala
very? They grow cotton at the South, but where
d. they manufacture it? "lIerc, here" and I'M
mense and vehement applause. Ga one occasion
it occurred in Liverpool that an actor came on the
stage too tipsy to act his part well. and when he
approached the f~ootlights the audience began tu
hiss him. Feeling indignant ut being thus treated
he endeavored to steady hi nself and suid "What
You hiss me? George Frederick Cooke, when You
have the blood OF slaves between every two bricks
OF your house p Now, as far as | know, there
were never any slaves in Liverpool, but the re-
mark OF the actor was not tho less Nrpnsite, Tor
while they had no slaves themselves, they profted
by slavery, and bought and sold slaves. An
p'anse. The same thing may be well said in re-
gard to this country. In some sections Of our
land, where the loudest cry is heard On this qucs-
ton, men have grown rich hy the manufacture Of
cotton grown by slaves. Cries of 'That's so,'
and loud applause. The swca, of the slave, SO 70
speak, is between every two bricks OF their spa
clons palaces, and yet they are the lou,lest to com,
plain: Men may call it what they please |
call it hypocrisy. Vehement applause. Where
Will the line be drawn? To do So, you must rcni
asunder and ride through the dearest affections.
w o are one ianilY-pup ba,tla Tho ,,,, 81.
lives in Aristo'k may at any time live a brother
on the Rio Grande. Cheers. The mother in the
North has given he" child to the Southern planter,
and the Southern planter bows in ,hankfulnc.s 10