The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-11-19

fathers, those Of them that yet living amongst
US with prolonged lives, would rebuke and reproach
US; and our children and our grandchildren would
cry out shame upon US, if we of this generation
should disbonor these ensigns of the power of the
government and the harmony Of that Union which
is every day felt among us with so much joy and
gratitude.
THE UNION.
| profess. sir in nv career hitherto to have kept
steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the
whole country, and the preservation OF our Federal
Union. 1t is to that Union owe our safety at
home, and our consideration and dignity abroad.
1t is to that Union that chiefly indebted for
whatever makes us proud OF our country. That
Union reached only by the discipline of our vr-
tues, in the school Of adversely 1t had its
origin in the necessities of disordered finance, pros
trate commerce, and ruined credit. Under its
benign influences those great interests Immediately
awoke, as from the dead, and sprang forth with
newness of life. Every year of its duration has
teemed with fresh proofs of its utility and its bless
ings; and although our territory has stretched out
wider and WIDER and our population spread farther
and farther, they have not outrun its protection
its benefits. 1t has been to us all copious foun-
tain of national, social and personal happiness.
have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond the
Union, to see what might be hidden in the dark
recess behind. / have not coolly weighed the
chances of preserving liberty, when the bonds that
unite US together shall be broken asunder. have
not accustomed myself to hang the precipice of
disunion to see whether, with my short sight, can
fatn0m the depth OF the abyss below; nor could
regard him as safe counsellor in the affairs of this
government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent
on considering, not how the Union should be best
preserved, but how tolerable might be the condi.
tion of the people when it shall be broken up and
destroyed.
While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting,
gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us
and cur children. Beyond that seek not to pene-
trate the veil God grant that, in my day, at least,
that curtain may not rise! God grant that on my
vision never may be opened what lies behind
When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the
last time, the sun in heaven, may not see him
shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of
once glorious Union; States discovered, dis
cOrdant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil
feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood!
Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather
behold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now
known and honored throughout the earth, still full
high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in
their original lustre, not stripe erased or polluted,
nor single star obscured-bearng for its motto
no such miserable interrogatory as What Is all this
worth? those other words of deusion and folly,
Liberty first, and Union afterwards;-but every
where, spread all over in characters of living light,
blazing all its ample folds they float over the
sea and over the land and in every wind under the
whole heavens, that other sentiment dear to every
true American heart-Liberty and Union, now and
forever, one and inseparable l-Daniel Webster, of
Massachusetts.
THE EFFECTS OF DlSUNIoN.
Threats of resistance, secession, separation, have
become common as household words, in the wicked
and silly violence of public decaimers. The pub
lie ear is familiarized, and the public mind will
soon be accustomed to the detestabe suggestions OF
Disunion! Calculations and conjectures, what may
the East do without the South, and what may the
South do without the East-sneers, menaces, re-
proaches, and recriminations-- tend to the same
fatal end What can the East do without the South?
What the South do without the East? They
may do much; they may exhibit to the curiosity of
political anatomists-and the pity and wonder Of
the world, the 'disjecta membra," the sundered and
bleeding limbs of once gigantic body, instinct
with life and strength and vig0r. They furnish
to the philosophical historian another melancholy
and striking instance of the political axiom, that all
| republican confederaces have an inherent and una
voidable tendency to dissolution. They will present
fields and occasions for border wars, for leagues
and counter-eagues, for intrigues of petty states
men, the struggles of military chiefs, for confsca
tions instructions and deeds of darkest hue. They
will gladden. the hearts OF those who have proclaim
ed that men are not fit to govern themselves, and
shed disastrous eclipse on the hopes of rational
freedom throughout the world. Scion, in his code
proposed no punishment for parricide, treating il
as an impossible crime. Such, with us, ought tC
be the crime of political parricde the dismember
ment of our "fatherland."
Surely, such country and such Constitution
have claims upon you, my friends, which cannot be
disregarded. | entreat and adiure you, then, by
all that is near and dear to you earth-by al
| the obligations of patriOtism-by the memory o
your fathers who fell in the great and gloriou:
struggle-for the sake of your sons, whom yOr
would not have to blush for your degeneracy-by
all your proud recoIlectons of the past and al
your fond antcipations of the future renown of
nation-preserve that country! Uphold tha
Constitution! Resolve that they shall not be los
while in your keeping, and may God Almighty
strengthen you to perform that vow.-Judgs Gas
ton, Of South Carolina.
UNION.
| We cannot do with less than the whole Union
to US it admits of no division. In the veins of ou
| children flows Markham Gnutharn hlood. bOu
shall it be separated? Who shall put asunder thu
best affections of the heart, the noblest instincts
our nature? We love the land of our adoption; 81
do we that of our birth. Let US ever be true t
both; and always exert ourselves in maintaining
the unity of our country, the integrity of the Re
public.
Accused, then, be the hand put forth to looseI
the golden cord of Union! thrice accursed the trai
torous lips which shall propose its severance!-S
S. Prentiss, Of Wississippi