Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1861-04-10


only the Commonwealth as Commonwealth ought
to speak and act united from centre to circumference
UNITED from the Roanoke to the Potomac, lroni
the sea shore to the Ohio.
Sir I warn you-I warn you as Virginlan-l
warn you as friend and brother, not to throw
ire-bran6 among the people of this Commonwealth
I speak freely; speak as one OF TINS iamly cLcle.
claim to have as large, permanent and as aoiuns
a love and interest in this Commonwealth as any
here. You shall not claim higher niche for the
glory and honor of Virginia than claim. love
her as a child ought to love mother; never en-
tertained sentiment at war with the loyahty oi
Virgnian or adverse to her peace her interests OF
her glory. If know my own heart-man some
times is mistaken in himself-but if know the SEN
timents of nv own bosom, would this moment, lot
the peace and honor, safety and glory OF thus Com
monweath of ours, lay down this poor and WORTH
less life as cheap sacrifice for such good.
But am here to demand and protect the rights
of my people l came here to speak as freeman,
to deliberate such; aye, and to deliberate ana 10
speak boldly, uninluenced by all and every extreme
Of pressure whether from within or without
When gentlemen talk of passing an ordinance oil
secession, what do they mean? Have gentlemen, l
say adverted to positions and our surroundings
You ask to take Virginia out oil the Union oy an OF
dinance of immediate and separate secession. am
here sir as ono Of her to protest against that
course Where is Virginia and what are her duties!
Gentlemen of the Convention, bear with me Tor
moment while | refer to this subject where are
your Here lies Maryland in your Applying on
your lap for safety and protection. Maryland, WIN
in whose limits is situated the capital OF this nation
MARYLAND has not even called convention or
legislature has yet made no move towards
q consideration of this question; and yet her late,
instantly and forever, is to be settled by the move
ments of Virginia. You cannot make move in the
way of secession in Virginia without preclpitatlng
Maryland. 1 know it, you cannot do it Mary
Il bx-a tia M connect
one State with another; by all our common rights
and interest in the Potomac and the Chesapeake
by her magnificent railroad, terminating at two
points within your territory-Wheeling and Par
kersburg-traversing the whole extent OF your
northern and northwestern borders-will you go
out by separate State action without consulting
Maryland, thereby precipitating her into the most
painful and difficult position in which State can
be placed putting her into the hands Of the Federal
Government with all the power Of that government
upon her?
But again, Sir where is the Old North State the
land Of Nathaniel Macon, typical as he was of North
Carolina; slow but wse hard to come up to the
mark it may be, but firm and unappeasable when
she does come-where is North-Carolina?
Why, Mr.. President, if you pass an ordinance of
secession you cannot get to the Southern ConfedeT
acy unless North-Caroiina goes with you, for she
lies between you and Georgia. There is evidently
no disposition on her part to secede. A majority Of
her votes have been cast against convention She
refuses even to call convention to consider the
question of secession resting calmly upon her dig
nifty and upon her rights.
And then, what do you say of TenneSsee-gori-
Gus Tennessee, daughter of North Carolina, which
borders your territory and receives from you the
waters of the Clinch and the Holston? You know
the character and sentiments of her people, true,
brave and loyal; the braveSt of the brave, the
truest Of the true. She has called no Convention
taken no measure movement, laying quietly, bid
ing her time, ratifyng by her vote in the Peace
Conference the acceptability of that scheme and
guaranty.
And then comes your noble and glorious daugh-
ter Kentucky, the tirSt-bOrn of Virginia. | come
from the kentucky border country Indissolubly
connected as we are with our Kentucky friends on
the other side of the Sandy River and with Western
Virginia, holding the same rights and the same in
terests in the Ohio and the Mississippi.
Kentucky holds some six hundred miles of Ohio
'front.' with the States of Ohio Indiana and Illinois
all lying across the stream in full view of her. Do
you mean to precptate yourselves out of the Union
without considering enquirng what effect that
movement is to produce upon Kentucky? Do you
contemplate such a step without comforting with
your other sisters of the border, who are equally
interested with you in the result? Will you go out
without consulting Maryland, NorthCarona, Ten
nessee, Kentuck y-all connected with us, bound up
in our fate, affected necessarily by act of seceS-
Il
magic circle which now encloscs us without taking
counsel with those whose fate is intimately connect
ed with yours, and whose destiny for good or evil
would probably be consummated by your act?
Why, sir we hear the argument advanced con-
tinually, that whatever Virginia does, the other
States will do. Mr.. President, have we come to
this? Are we to assume before the world and put
forth our justification the idea that Virginia can
properly go out of the Union in her present posi-
ton, without arrangement or consultation with her
surrounding sisters, upon the theory that so COM
handing is her attitude and her influence that these
other States will be compelled to follow where she
leads? This is not argument upon which Vir-
gnia can stand. 1t is not worthy her ancient fame
or her yet unsued justice and magnanimity
Sir, we are constantly expressing ourselves and
in strong terms against coercion. We are all against
coercion. We are pledging ourselves against the
policy Of coercion. Yes, sir, and rightly; and vet
in the same breath, shall We ourselves coerce? You
will not let President Lincoln or the Federal Gov
eminent coerce any of the Southern States. You
announce yourselves as utterly determined to resist
this policy, and yet you take course towards your
sister States, that have not offended you, who are
relying upon you, who are Rugged up, as it were, in
your arms and sitting upon your lap which will in
evitably coerce them into system which they would
not willingly adopt You are forcing them to
change their position, and encounter all the peris
of the change, whether they will or no. By your
own leap into the abyss, you compelling those
States to follow, with boast before hand that they
are obliged TO take the plunge if we do.
What is the difference between moral and physi-
cal coercion, in the result which is to be brought
about? What is the difference between knocking
man in the river, by blow, or compelling him. BY
causes which you can control and which he cannot
escape, to jump in himself? Sir the people of Vir-
ginia will not tolerate such policy towards the
States have referred to. Here is Missouri, more
distant from u.s. now in Convention. Arkansas is
now in Convention. Both these States will, in all
probability, propose and recommend border slave
State conference
There is another State which will not forget, for
have had recent occasion to be renewedly Impress
ed with admration for that little State. ! will not
forget the gallant noble little Delaware. With only
some eighteen hundred slaves within her borders,
she is true and faithful to the rights of the South
70 oolo r. A.