Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1861-01-25

perpetual civil war To mitigate it, and
obtain occasional rect, what else could they
accept bu, the system Of adjusting the
balance Of power which has ob,ained IN
Europe, il which The few strong nations
dictate the very terms on which all the
others shall be content to live! When
this hateful system should fail at last, for
eiga nations would intervene, now iu faVor
If one, aud tbeu il aid Of another; aud
thus our country, having expelled all Eu-
ropesn powers from the continent, would
elapse into an aggregated form Of its colo
nial experience, and, like Italy, Turkey.
Iudia and China, become the theatre Of
transatlantic Intervention aud rapacity.
Discussions and Difficulties Of Neu Con-
JtdeTdotes.
II, however, We grant to the new con-
federacies q exemption from complications
among each other aud with foreign States,
still there Is too much reason to believe
that no, Que of tbem could long maiuta
republican form of government. Uni
versal suffrage and the absence OF a stand
iug army are essential 10 the republican
system. The word has ye, tn see sIugle
self sustaining State Of that kind, or even
any confederation of such States, except
cur own. Canada leans ou Great Britain,
no; unwilhngly, and Switzerland !, guar
anti.d by Interested monarchical States
Our own experiment has thus far been
successful because, By the coutiuull ad-
iiGlon Of lew States, the influence Of each
Of the members Of the Union is constantly
restrained aud reduced No one, Of
course, can foretell the way and manner
Of travel but history indicates with uner-
ring certainty the cad which the several
couledeTac,cs would reach. Licer''rus-
ue.s would render life intolers ble and
they would sooner or later purchase tran
qu'ii'y aLd domestic safety by the surren-
der of liberty, aud yield themselves up TO
the protection Of military despOtism.
Indulge NE, sir, in one or two details
under this head. first-lt is only sixty
days since this disunion movement began ;
already those who are engaged in 1t have
cauvhssed with portentous freedom the
possible recon bipa,ious Of the States when
discovered, and the feasible alliances Of
those rucombinatiops with European Ia
ilons; alliances Ms unnatural, and which
would prove ultimately As pes,iential TO
society here a. that of the TlascalaDs with
the Spauiards, who promised them revenge
upon their auciout enemies, the Aztecs.
Secondiy-The disuuiOD movement All
ses partly out of a dispute over the com
mon domain of the United States. lIith-
erto the Union has cOutiued this ccn,rover-
~ within the bounds OF political debate,
by referring 1t, with all other rational
ones. TO the arbi'rament of the tallot-box.
Does any one suppose tba, disunion would
transfer the whole domain TO either party,
or that any other umpire than war would,
after dissolution, be invoked?
Thrdly-This movement arises, in
can slaves to the domestic PopnlatI6h 'df
the country. Freedom is to them, as TO
sll mankind, the chief object Of desire.
Hitherto, under the operation of the Union,
they haze practically remained ignorant OF
the controversy, especially of its bearing
on themselves. Can We hope that fsgTant
civil war shall rage among ourselves III
their very presence, aud yet that thoy will
remain stupid and idle spectators Does
history furnish US any satisfactory ins,ruc-
ton upon the horrors cf civil war among a
people so brave, SO skilled in arms, so ear
,,t IN mn
pose, as we2 Is it a mere chlmeTa which
suggests au aecravstian OF those horrors
beyond endurance when, on either side,
there shall occur the intervention ot an
uprising ferocious African Slave popula-
,ion Of four, FIX, perhaps twenty millions
Tue opinions Of maukiud change, and
with them the policies Of nations. One
hundred years ago, all the commercia
European States were engaged in transfer
ring negro slaves from Africa 10 this hem
isphere To-day, all those States art
firmly set in hostility to the extension and
even to the practice of slavery. opPosi
ton t, il takes two forms one European
which is simple direct abolition, effected
if need BE-, by conpulsiop; the other
American, which seeks 10 arrest Af'Ica'
slave trade, and resi.' the entrance OF do
nestle slavery into Territories where II L
vet unknown, while 1t leaves the d,-posi
ton of existing slavery 10 the con-idera',
action Of the States by which It Is retain
ed |. is the Union that restricts the oP
position TO slavery in this country wi'hiI
these limits. II dissolution prevail, wha
guarantee shall there be against the fui
development here of the fearful and uu
compromising hostility to slavery wbie'
elsewhere pervades the world, and o
which the recent invasion of Virginia va
an illustration
Eel, Of DiMaion.
Mr. President, have so desicn.dly dwel
so long on the probable effects of disun'o'
upon the safety of the American people as t.
leave me little time 10 consider the other evii
which must follow IN It's irain. But. practl
caIly. the loss OF safety involves every olhe
form of public calamity. When once III
guardian angel has taken fright, everything
is lost.
Dissolution would not only arrest, but eN
tinguish, the greatness of our country. Evei
ir separate confeteracies conld exist and en-
dure, they could severally preserve no 'har
OF III. common prestige of the Union. II th
constellation is 10 he broken up, the stars
whether scattered widely apart or grouped II
smaller clusters. will ihenceforth shed fort'
feeble, sllmmering and luTld lights. Nor VII
great achievements be posslb.e Tor the few con
feAerar,es. Dissolution would sIgnaiize II