The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1860-03-29
THE DISUNION FOLLY.
A SPEECH DELIVERED BY
HON. HENRY WILSON,,
n the q. S. Senate, January 25th. 1850
A SPEECH DELIVERED b

In the q. S. Senate, January 25th. 1860.
Having, Mr.. President, forced the Nor
thern Democrats, by threats of political
prescription, to repudiatc the principle of
slavery restriction in the Territories; hav.
ing forced Mr.. Calhoun's dogma upon
the Democratic organization; having Won
the general CONTROL" and secured the
"wbole machinery of the Democratic
party, these Southern leaders Of the slave
Democracy, now masters of the Govern
ment, are pleased to assume that the pol
icy of the Republican party, sanctioned,
as it has been, by the great statesmen of
the past of the North and South, is pol.
10y of aggression upon the South, and
that its success in 1860 will be cause for
tie dissolution of the Union, and the over
throw of the Republic. The chiefs of the
slave propaganda, the accepted leaders of
the Deuo uocratic party, in the publis press,
in the forum of the people, in the State
Legislatures, and 10 these Chambers are
predicting disuniou, Arguing disunion, and
threatening disuuion. Every breeze trom
the South is burdeDed with these disunion
predictions, arguments, and threats. IN
these Chambers our ears are fstigued with
listening to these disloyal, unYatriotic rev.
olutionary, but, thank God, impotent a
vowals That some of the actors in TT is
BROAD FARCE now being played before
the nation are in earnest, that they would
shiver the Union from turret to founda
ton stone" no one who has watched their
turbulent career cen for moment doubt;
but the visor of their blow is not equal
to the vehemence of their desire. These
actors have before shown that they are
quite prudent enough, to "let | dare not
wait upon would" This disuuion farce,
which the leaders Of the slave extending,
slave -perpetuating Democracy have put
upon the national stage, and through the
parts of which so many actors are moving
with such tragic strut, is Intended to star
tie and appal the timid, make the servili-
ty OF the servile still more abject. rouse
the selfish instincts OF that nerveless con-
sersatism which bss ever opposed every
useful reform, and walled over every rot
ten Institution as it fell; and thus through
the cowardly fears anG selfshDess of the
optimi,ts and qaietists, retain their grasp
on power. Sir, we shall see whether this
disloysl conspiracy will alarm the eigh.
teen million of Northern freemeu; wheth-
er the actors in this disuniop farce will
play a winning game; or whether the in.
suited patriotism OF the country, North
and South, will not rebuke this exhibition
of madness and folly, aud dismiss these
actors from the serviee of that Union they
threaten to subgert and destroy.
But this is not, sir, tie 6rst time this
farce of aisuuion has been played. When
the Republican party sprung into being,
in 1856, to arrest the aggressions Of sla-
very, to redress the wrongs Of the people
of Kansas, the leading presses and politi-
clans OF the Democracy in the South then
predicted, argued, aud threatened the dis.
solution of the Union if Fremont should
be elected. The success of this disunion
play 10 1856, as we'll as their own "yaw-
ming need" in 1860, may have prompted
the Democratic managers to put the old
farce upon the stage in the imposing form
now witnessed.
Now, Mr.. President, I intend to place
before the Senate, and. as far as can.
before the patriotic, liberty loving, and
Union-loping men of the free States, the
predictions of disunioD, the arguments
for disunion, and the menace Of disu-
nion made by some OF the presses
and some of the men to the interests
of slayery-presses that are the expo
nents of, and men who are the &C.
knowledgsd leaders OF, the sectionalized
slsve-extepding Democracy. | want the
people of Massachusetts, and Of the coun-
try, to see that the political secessiopsts
and disunionists are the trusted expononts
and the accepted leaders of the national
| Democracy. | want the alarmed conser-
vatives of the North, who hasten into q.
nion.sasing meetings, to see and to rea'
ize that the men who are now blurtipg
their dsunion sentiments into the unwil
ling ear of loyal people, are the leaders
of that party which they, by their shrin.
king tiuidity, are upholding in power.
want the deluded masses of the Northern
Democracy to see the hypocrisy, the ar.
rant cowardice, of their leaders at home
who are fatiguing the weary ear of the
country With their worn-out professions
of love and devotion to the Union, while
they dare not rebuke the disloyal avowals
and menaces of the leaders they follow
With craven soil and fettered lip.
When, Mr.. President, the Republican
party, summoned into being and into ac
ton, in 1856, by the aggressions of slave
ry, by the crimes against the people Of
Kansas, appealed, in tones as earnest a,
ever issued from human lips, to tbe A
merican people, to their sense of justice
their love of liberty, their emotions o
humanity, and their sentiments of patri
otism, to oil that is highest and noblest
and holiest in human nature, to rescue tht
Government to arreet slavery extension
redress the wrongs of the people, and giv'
repose to the country, BY restoring th'