Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-10-17
EXTRACTS FROM THE SPEECH.

Election OF speakel


Delivered the House Of Representatives December Is Is5a
Alusion has been made to the present state of
parties and of public sentiments in the North and
West Sir, I do not propose to speak at any length
upon this subject. The events are recent, and no
public anywhere can have failed to observe
them. 1t is folly to deny that all through the North
and in many portions OF the West distinct and very
earnest sympathy has been exhibited for John
Brown in his recent lnsurrectiOnary and murderous
invasion of Virginia and that too, NOT by the vul-
gar and low, but by men very high in political social
and religious positions Funeral professions halls
draped in mOrunng, Olling of bells sermons, euogies
oratioRs, public meetings adjournment OF Senates and
House of Representatives, and all the other usual
nsignsa of public sorrow, bestowed only hitherto up
on the great and The good, the patriots, the heroes
and martyrs of the world all these tributes, and
MORE have been paid to the memory OF murderer
and felon Even in my own native State I; and IN
part of my own district, lament to say that these
sad evidences of a corrupted public sentiment have
been exhibited. In Cleveland fertile in revolution
airy conventions In Akron, in Cincinnati, and else
where in public assemblsges and by other means
equally public and significant, the sympathy OF
thousand has been expressed Sir, 1t is vain to at
tempt to conceal what all this means. There Is
public sentiment behind it all or it never would be
tolerated Thirty years ago John Brown, hung ike
a feIn would have been buried like a dog.
Allusion has been made also to the Union meet
ings held or to be held, in the great cities of the
North Sir would not abate one jot or title fro
the true value, least of all, from the patriotism OF
these assemblages. When public meetings along
with nublic sentiment they are powerful to mold
and to give it efficiency; but when they do not beat
responsive the popular heart they of no value
No: one single page of election returns is worth
more as an index of real public sentiment, than all
the Union resolves which shall be passed between
this and the 4th of March, 1861 Let no man be de-
ceived If the distinguished gentleman from Ten
nessee (Mr. Nelson) be sincere-and know that he
isin believing that the great mass OF the people OF
the free States are opposed to the agitation OF the
slavery question in any form, and are ready to strike
hands with any party which viii put It down for
ever if he really thinks that but very small part
of the North sympathize with John Brown, or yield
assent-a cordial and working assent-to the doc
trines of William III. Seward, the "lrrepressl5e con-
fict; included full it is of nsurrecton treason,
and murder; if he believes that without the strong
arm of the Federal Government powerfully and in
good faith stretched FORTH fugitive slaves could be
recaptured in half the free States of this Union
under any law of Congress- can only say that he
/ has the mild virtue of honest heart-mOst mar
yelous creduiy. Sir, entertain for that gentleman
the very highest respect but he must allow to say
! that aside from that portion Of his remarks the
other daV, which breathed so much of earnest sin
! eere, and eloquent eulOgy upon the Umon-One such
sDeech binding the eyes Of the people of the free
States 10 the real public sentiment at the South does
more thus keep alive the flames of civil dscord
! between the South and the North and West, than
hundred speeches. vehement and imprisoned though
they may be, of the gentleman from South Carolina
| (Mr. KEITH Sir. when member of this House, of
fine personal appearance of sonorous voice. of cas-
sic education and approved rhetorical excellence,
tells us with magnifcenae of rhyth which regur-
gtaes through these asles, peals along these gale
res pierces the ceiling and loses itself amid the col
umns and scatfOding of the unfinished dome of the
Capitol that he will shatter this Republic from tur
ret to foundation stOne' we apt to understand
that he is executing a grand rhetoric figure, and
that he is not halt SO much in earnest he would
| have us imagine. But when q gentleman, mature
in years, with cold logic calm demeanor, but a
sincere heart and earnest purpose tells US in the
midst of invasion and murder-the legitimate and
inevitable fruits of the 'irrepressibe conflict, :"
which has been proclaimed against his own section
that he is not alarmed, and believes that no mis-
chief is intended, only understand that he invites
/ aggression.
! Sir am this moment reminded by the appear
of the gentleman before me, (Mr. Briggs that
| ] need no better illustration of the melancholy
change in public sentiment az the North within the
past few years Here he sits upon the only national
side of the Chamber sole eXemplar Of the lost po-
ltics of the Wing party, faithful among the faith
| less only he sole representative of the flag our
country, solitary and alone, pLtriGuS lHatn Laugh
| ter) Sir, does net all this mean something?
| But will pursue this subject no further | find
! no pleasure in it. ! have said, and | think the
dullest among US cannot fail to discern it now, that
there is danger, great and most imminent danger of
! d
Too many of you of the South desire it and but
many of you of the North either striving for
or reckless whether it comes or not.
Do yeu ask me whether the election of an anti
slavery. sectional Republican President, upon a sec
tOnal platform pledged to administer the govern
ment for sectional purposes, would per Sc, be JUS
tfable cause of disupiQn? / cannot tell you. But
do tell you, as western msn, and tell the gen
teman from Tennessee Mr.. Nelson thai when you
! OF the South shall have attained the numerical
Ifnip =,
! ganiZe a Southern party a Southern basis and
under the forms of the Constitution, shall elect
Southern President for the purpose of controlling
all the vast power and patronage and influence OF
the gOYernment by action nOn-actlOn for the al
YaDeemept OF Southern interests and above all, for
] tie purpose OF extending slavery into States now
free. with the design Of making them all slave
States. will meet you Is the Irish patriot would
have met the invaders OF lPeand-gitb 3 sWOFd IN
one hand and torch in the other dispute every
inch Of ground burn every blade of grass till the
last ingrenchment Of independence shall be my
grave. (Applause.) | will not wait for any overt
act What! Do l not know that fire will burn,
that Ii cst viii CONCEAL, that steel and poison will do
their work Of destruction to the human system
that shall await tGe slow process Of experiment /.
ascertain their natural ana inevitable effects Never
never! Ecpsrimentnl IN Ui c07J0JFe.
! These, Mr.. Clerk, new doctrines in the
! country whence | come. Stronger sentiments, if
! possible, were uttered here upon this floor ten
| years ago, by a distinguished predecessor of mine,
| the Hon. Robert c. Schenck of Dayton, my fellow
citizen still and tie familiar friend Of the eloquent
| gentleman before me, (lr. Corwm) an Old-Line
| Wing now with 1 slight, very slight, yarpish Of Re
! publicanism.
Allow me. sir, to read what he said in a similar
though not alarming, crisis in public affairs, on
! the 9th Of December, 1919:
If we of the Northern States =
We had no West then, sir her existence and geo.
EFaphy have been ascertained and settled since
" If we of the northern States would not vote for
a southern man merely because he is a southern
man, and men Of tbs South will not vote for north
| ern merely because ae is northern man ; and
if that principle is to be CARRIED VRt from here into
all national politics and elections What mEst be
! the result DisuniGn THAT ITSELF Is DsUHIOS. You
may disguise and cover up as you please but that it
will be. 1t may perhaps, be regarded as the first
step in disuniOn but its consequence follows nev
table as fate One section-;he North or the South
! must always have the majority. Distranchse all
! upon the other side, and the Union could not hold
together aday ought not TO hold together upon such
| conditions Il ddu On this floor we now have from
the free States one hundred and forty Representa-
! tives and ninety from the slave States. Suppose
| the relative numbers were FeVerGed would we
submit to be denied al participation in privileges
! here Nor FOR An HOUR. And should we ask for
! such submission from others NEVER, The Wing
party say-neVer, The true people of the North
! say-never.'
That sir was good Wing doctrine ten years ago
It was good American doctrine in 1856; and aver
! here, upon my responsibility as Representative,
! that it is good sound DemOcrtic doctrine every
! where. and all the time.
Mr.. Clerk. am not, perhaps, so hopeful of the
final result as other men; but was taught ia
my boyhOGd that noblest of all Roman maxims--
never to despair Of tnG Republic. / taught too
by pious lips, yet higher and hoer doctrine still
firm belief in experimenting Providence which
governs in the affairs of men. do believe that God,
in his infinite goodness, has fOreordained for this
land higher, mghtier, nOber destiny than for any
other country since the world began; Times modest
empire is the last From the Arctic Ocean to the
Isthmus of Darien; from the Atlantic to the Ale
ghanes; stretching far and wide over the vast basin
of the Mississippi scaling the Rocky Mountains, and
lost at last in the blue waters of the Pacific be-
hold in holy and patriotic vision UiOH one Con-
Stihaion. Destiny. (Applauze.l
But this grand and magnificent destiny cannot be
fulfilled by us, except as a united people. Clouds
and daTkness indeed, rest now over US; we are in
the midst Of pers; rocks and quicksands are before
US; strife and disc0rd all around US. How then,
sir-mighty and mOmentOuS question. pregnant with
the fate of an empire-shall we bring peace to this
divided and distracted country Sir in my deliber
ate and most solemn judgment. there but way
of escape and that the immediate, absolute uncon-
ditional disbandment OF this sectional autslavery.
Republican party of yours. applause in the
gsileries) If rot, then upon your heads, and
Snor, the heads of YOUR children be the blood