Litchfield enquirer., 1861-09-05
N1isfeIla,1p.
HON. DANIEL s. DICKINSON ON THE
 REBELLION,

said Amid all the diversity of sentiment i
 our land, there is one subject upon which we cal not agree-and that is that our country is in
 most lamentable condition, our Constitution wit
 subversion, and our institutions with overthrow 1 meet you here not to discuss slavery or ant
 slavery Though an old line Democrat brough up at the feet of Gamaliel, and adhering wit
 tenacity to the principles of Democracy throug
 an active life, yet come not to speak to you ol political partisan subjects. come to discuss matter that concerns our Union, one that rise
 far above and shoots deeper than party interest: or issues. We have duty, my fellow-citizens far beyond that of the fathers of the Revolu tion. Their experiment has become a great sue cess, and we are enjoying, or nigh enjoy, suci l blessings as Heaven never before vouchsafed tt mortal man. But a conspiracy has appeared
 strife and division are at our doors; and it be comes us now to see whether the fruits of thi
 great and benefcent Union must be lost, o
 whether they can be preserved. It matters moi
 whether the origin of our difficulties was N Norti or South, or East or West-the question is 1 How shall it be dealt with and disposed of : When the ctidel of our country is in flames when the edifce that Washington and Franklin and their associates erected, is in flames, it be-
 comes Us, whatever may have been our political proclivitics before, to rise far above all other considerations. and to keep this citadel from de- struction. l cannot afford to turn away from my duty because political opponent is acting with me, nor to stay back from my duty because a political friend deserts me. No, must go on and discharge q great duty. l hold it to be the first duty of every citizen, of every party, to aid in restoring-if restored it can be-this great and good government. If it is right for DOT tion of this country 10 take up arms against this government, ii is Ii ght to sustain such ac- tion; and if they are wrong, they should be put down Ly the power of the people. There is no halfway house in this matter-no tarrying place between sustaining the government and at tempting its overthrow. There is no peace p!o position that will suit the case until the rebelt- ion is first put down. And were in favor, ol disposed to tamper with tlis rebellion, or aid or countenance it, would go and take up arms with them. Because if it is right for them to take up arms, it is right for them to have armed aid and assistance. If they are wrong. if they | are guilty of treason, and murder, and arson | then they should be OyrrthrOWn by the whOl( power of the government, and put down so that no re$urr' cton day will ever find rebellion again
 Now believe I am one Of these who in foincl years, thought that sectional discussions put in jeopardy the well-being of the Union. l believe now, as then, that there never w;ss a sectional controversy that justified this. or any armed Ec- b,lon. believe this rebellion di,! not arise out of sectional agitation, but from a blind
 wicked. r"ck'ess ambition. And believe it l. the duty of every man, woman and chil! to raise an arm against t to crush it. I'ut they say. "You would not coercr a state?' No: wnnis! not cocrce state-fist, because it is i.iiplacti- 1 cable because you cannot cncrce a state. Sec | ond, because it woni l:c uni just to cCerce state in its domestic policy. if it could be done, But you may coerce rebellion in a state until you give that state opportunity, to act through its | loyal citizens in it's duties tD the tnrn And l would coerce rebellion wherever could GJ | it. You may not cocrcc community. but VOL
 may coerce it's thieves and mulglcrcrs. Ioumay coerce state criminals, and thus enable tie state and its loyal citizens to fulfill their relations III the government of the Union. If we can sus
 tain our Union, if we can uphold our Constitu
 tion, it is not by compromising with rebellion it is by putting down rebellion and making oui compromise with fidelity. And of all men liv- ing, Democrat is the last man who can take a stand against the Consttutio of his country. Just in proportion as tle Democracy has wan dered from the Constitution, just in the same portion have they gone down. And if they had been faithful and stood up fully to their own doctrines, all the abolition parties of the earth
 and all the Republican parties of the earth, and all the combined powers of the earth could nev- CT have put down the old Democratic party have ever believed in the justice of Democracy and 1 believe in it to-day as much as ever. And believe it my duty to stand upon the ramparts
 of the Constitut on and defend it from all foes
 whether they come from the North, the South, the East or the West. There were causes of irritation between the sections 1 admit. l de- precated them, and labored long and earnestly to get rid of them. But it was otdone. Those causes of irritation, although they have suggest ed to southern states to request becoming guar
 antics, they never justified armed rebellion in any shape or manner. And what were those causes of irritation? The only real, practical cause of irritation was the non execution of the
 fugitive slave law. But that did not affect the cotton states so called but Missouri, Kentucky
 Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware and perhaps one or two other states were the only ever in
 jured by it. The cotton states so called, never
 lost fugitive slave from the time of their exis
 tence to this day. To be sure they had ques
 tion about territories, but it was so entirely ide
 al a mere abstraction, and so practically not ' real grievance. But if it had been, they hat the supreme court and both branches of Con
 gress, and practically had control of the ques
 tion. The fugitive slave question was the onl
 practical question which annoyed them, and tha
 question was not the only practical question I the cause of the rebellion. What state first SC ceded? South Carolina began to scrape lin
 before the votes were counted. She had n
 practical grievance whatever. Look at Virgin
 ia. Though politicians ca joled, cheated and de
 frauded, and bullies held bowie knives at tn
 throats of her citizens to coerce rebelllon 1t wa
 long time before they could compel that stat Z into any thing like secession. And when the did so nominally, the state government was rev :, olutionized, one part flew away from the othe n !, and organized their government rather than a low it to go into the bottomless pit of secession
 Maryland, when she gets chance, votes again; e it. Missouri-her citizens are pouring out the blood like water and their treasure without stin d rather than be drawn into secession. Look :
 good old Kentucky, where her governor an k senators have labored to bring her out of th e Union-after all attempts to seduce her fro
 her fidelity to the Constitution, she gives mo n than sixty thousand majority for the Uniol
 Now inquire of all citizens in the free state
 especially my Democratic fellow citizens, whet
 CT they are troubled about the integrity of Ke
 tucky-whether they think it is necessary
 S stay up the hands of rebellion in Kentucky,
 $ emphattically condemned there? And now J. repeat that the only practical cause of disse e sion was the fugitive slave question and tn e appertained to states that could only be draV
 or dragooned into the folly of secession; 9e Butler has held this question on hls hands' J
 long as the Constitution was acknowledged
 conservative citizens admitted that It was | l. duty of the free states to retore the lugltl = who was fleeing from the service ot hls mast
 Gen. Butler has found the restoration ot the
 lgitives impracticable in many cases. The m; !. fer had thrown off the Constitution. w 1