St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1861-02-14
LEONARD TOWN. MD. THURSDAY MORNING. FEBRUARY

by the roar Of its cannon, let them unde-
ceive themselves at once.
The tone and feeling of this conven-
tion responds to my own: and | am sat
islied that if such. conflict ever comes.
it will be war in the North and not scay
in the SoMh. [Applause.l II win be
war in Chicag',-war in SpritgGeld-
war on the broad prairies of Illinois. s.
Loud applause. B, FIRE the patriotic
people Of this State will allow an inyadips
force % pass beyoad ns borders to sub
jugate the South, they will NAL one
vast mausoleum of your State. Contin-
ned applause. The lovers of peace
the lovers of the country, and you. the
bones of whose ancestors repose in the
South, would be upheld or sustained by
the sacred recollections Of the past, and
spirits of the dead would commingle
with the living to battle on the side of
the just Immense and continued ap-
plausc
And what would be the enl Of such
war! Cou.j~yuu u jug t, the South?
No man can imagine such thing
Gentlemen, such war, after having Civ
en- to history its bl"odiest page and been
to freedom and freedoms cau>e a fatal
saturnala, would at la end in treaty
and that treaty would be one Of eter-
nal separation a nong the States. New
er again, even in the most distant years
of the future, could they be reunited as
one common political power. Each Sec
ton of the di>j"intcd confedcracy would
inherit from such an internceiue strife,
its debt immense of endless vengeance
against the other which, though ever
paying in repeated conflicts, would yet
never be fully paid. Applause. The
unknown generations of the South would,
in time to come. refresh their hatred at
the tomb Of their ancestors, slain by a
northern hand; and the unborn genera
tions of the North would glow with the
hope of reddening again with southern
blood the fields where their foretathcrs
fell. Long and loud applause.
Gentlemen, the picture is too horrible
to contemplate. trust better spirit
than that which now infuscs the hearts
of the republican leaders and looks to
such results will prevail; and if our
splendid fabric of government is to be
shattered, that VIC may still be spared
the necessity of bathing its fragments
in fratcrnal blood. Loud applause.
But, suppose the republican party re-
fuse to acquicsce in any adjustment of the
questions which have involved Us in revo-
luton, and the Southern States withdraw
from The Union and form an indepen-
dent confcderaoy. are We that remain
the United States. with its form of gov
eminent and officcrs-its laws, its con-
stitutiou, it's treaties and its liabilities?
The time has not yet come for US to con-
slider this question, but it may not be
out of place to suggest to our jubilant
and bclligerent friends Of the republican
party that, il the Southern States are
not pacifcd by some satisfactory conccs-
sions, there will be no United States
Of which Mr. Lincoln. will be President
Continued applause. If fifteen States
Of the Union withdraw, could the re-
naming States. claiming to be the Unit,d
States. require from England a cempli-
ance with her treaty stipulations with
the fifteen that are gone as we'll as the
eighteen that remain! The considera
tion of her treaty was the benefit she
might derive from the exports of the
States no longer. part Of the country
Gaining to be one of the con-
tracing parties to the treaty We have
treaties with England, France. Spain.
and nearly every country on the globe,
made with the federal government repre-
scnting the power of the States of this
Union, and in many cases made because
Of tie peculiar products and diversity of
the pursuits Of the different sections of
the country. What will become of those
treaties? Who will be entitled to the
benefit Of their provisions? Suppose,
instead of the fifteen Southern States.
thirty of the thirty-three States should
one aftsr another withdraw, would the
thsee remaining States constitute the .Cn-
tied States!
As I have stated, the time has not yet
colae-I trust in God it never will come
when We will be called upon to cOnsid-
er this question But if it ever does-it
the emergency is thrust upon as, and the
Union is dissolved-I think it will not be
difficult to satisfy the people that each
State is thrown back upon its own State
sovereignty to confederate with whom it
pleases and determine it's future course
according to its own interests. Loud ap-
plalse aud cheers -.
Can one half Of the planets drop from
the universe and leave the others undis-
turbed in their iicuits round their orbits
Philosophy teaches us that such disaster
would result in disintegration Of the sys-
tenn. Our Union. its stars circling round
u common centre. was framed upon a plan
corresponding with that of nature in the
formation of the heavenly system. of which
tais world is part Politicians may learn
something FROM philosophy.
But, gentlemen. as have said. trust
the time to consider this qustion may
never come; that patriotic devotion, love
for the Union, correct appreciation Oi
its blessings, may yet come to its rescue