Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-01-21
Che Ohio 9tatesmam
T Z r n 8
SPEECH OF HON. s. s. cox,
OF OHIO,
Delivered in the House of Representa-
tives, January IA, 1861.
Mr.. Cor's Plea for Cancellation and Nationality
fCONTINUKD.


must be forcible disruption. The Governmen
is framed so compactly in all its parts, that t
tear away one part, you tear the whole fabri
asunder. 1t cannot be done by consent Their
Is no authority 10 give consent. The C0nstitu
tion looks to no catastrophe Of the kind. IL i
q voluntary, violent, and eT parte proceeding. -
A majority of the States, and as great majorit
of the people, are hostile to it. In this angr
warlike disruption of the compact, where shal
we find our more perfect Union, the establish.
ment of justice, domestic tranquility, provision
for the common defense, the promotion of th,
general welfare, and the security of the blessinl
of liberty to ourselves and posterily2
ln this light, the ordinance of South Carroll.
ma becomes an offense; and in case q suficien
number of others followed, to the bankruptcy o
the remainder, or the injury of any, it would b,
worse than an offense. In the case of Texa
and Florida, Louisiana and California, for which
millions were paid, the inquiry would be made
whether it would not be fraud 80 colossal that
neither language nor law can measure il.
Mr.. Reagan. l would ask the gentleman
| when dollar has been paid for Texas2
Mr.. COX. cannot give way. My time Il
limited. Besides, the same question was asked
in the Senate; and Judge Douglas answered It,
The country knows both question and answer.
PiOSSCu' OOubu ShIOliuh Chu ulsptubt
with an amendment Of the Constitution Ia
which she soemny acceded on the 23d OF
May, 1888, can not she dispense with other por-
tiOns of that instrument; aye, even with this
American Congress The whole framework
OF our Government, by the action of separate
States, may thus be swept away. This Congress
may be dissolved, If not by the military usur.
patton which dissolved the Long Parliament, OF
expelled the Council Of Five Hundred from the
Orangery Of St. Cloud, yet by the very impo-
tenOe of it's organism, as the Confederation dis
solved under Its imperfect articles, TO give place
to this more perfect Union
What justification does South Carolina offer
for this act? "Fiiteen States" says her declar.
alton, shave deliberately refused for years to
fulfill their constitutional obligations" IL refers
to the fourth article OF the Constitution for the
specific cause Of grievance. But is there not now,
since the vote in this House the other day on
the personal liberty bills, when the demands Of
returning public Justice made even the sincere
gentleman from Illinois Mr., Lovejoyl recedo
from his ultraism--a reasonable hope of curing
these evils? Again; is there not the Supreme
Court, as TO whose fidelity no question is raised
in the South? And are these peculiar wrongs
remediless in that forum2 The Governor of
Kentucky has already arraigued the recreant eI
ecutiVe of Ohio for his delinquency under q
kindred constitutional clause. Why may you not
exhaust your remedies in the Courts before you
raise the ensign of revolt? If you would have
public opinion correct the errors Of the North
as to fugitives from justice and labor, already
assurances come from all quarters that such re-
medy will be given. Republican Governors and
Legislatures are beginning to recede from their
aggressive acts. Already Ohio has begun this
work Of redress
The fugitive savelaw may be the ostensibls
reason for secession, or ancillary to the real
grievance. Aside from certain economic rea-
sons, which have ever impelled South Carolina,
and which | will not now consider, the real
grievance cohsists in the apprehension Of slave
Instructions and abolition, under the auspices
of an Executive who, though not yet inaugu-
rated, was elected on principle of hostility to
the social system of the South. Or, to give it |
the strongest statement, which ] find in pam.
phlet, signed by the member from Arkansas
Mr.. Hindman), "The Republican candidates
we're elected upon platform destructive CT our
lights, branding our institutions as Infamous,
lecreeing the equality of the negro with our
Ielves and our children, and booming us, in the
md, with murderons certainty, to all the hor-
'ors OF insurrection and servile war" Heholds:
that to imprson slavery forever in the States
where it now exists, will, in time, overbur-
hen the land with the predominating increase
n the ratio of blacks to whites, until there
will be conflict for supremacy OF races,
md the blacks will be exterminated; Or
,lse the white man must abandon his coun-
ry forever to the negro" I will grant the
ul force of this teaT, though not the s1iliciency
# this or any mere fear, as a cause to Justify
evolution, The Union men of the North be
IAN to warn against the dawning of this dan
ferrous geographical movement in 1856. They
epeated then, and then not in vain, the fare
veil words of Washington. From every press
md husting which Democrat could command,
his evil day was prophesied. But we were
assandras. Unbelieving men derided US as
Uughfaces, and sneered at us as Union savers.
The patriotic Choate, in one of his weird and
7ondrous prophecies, in 1856, with the pain of
nxiety and fear upon his brow, put on record
isSdeliberate and inextinguishable opposition
0 this geographical party. He regarded the
ontest then as the sLupendous trial and peril
t our national life. Admitting faults south
nd faults north, yet turning to the battle wears
f the Republic and its baptism of fire, he
hrank aghast at the moral treason of attempt.
~ to weave and plait the two north wings of
he old national parties into single northern
ne, and cut the southern wing off altogether,
8 neither far'sighted nor safe, however new {
nd bold. Let me give his statement of the
omplant, for he stated it In advance as strong.
as it can now be stated:
ITO combine these parties thus against each other gen
raphicallyto take the whole vast range Of the free
taes lying together, sixteen out of thiryone seven
ZEN millions of ve six and twenty millionsthe
lost popuous, the strongest, the most adyancinQ-and
'rm them in battalion against the fewer numbers and
ower growth and waning relative power the other
de- to bring this sectional majority under party drill
nd stimulus OF pay and ratons; TO offer to It, as De rty
ne Government OF country; Its most coveted hon
rs its largest salaries all its sweets Of patronage and
lace ito penetrate and hre 80 mighty and compact
lass with the still more delicious idea that they are
loving for human rights and the equality of man; to
all out their clergy from the pulpit the library, the
ed side Of the dying, the chair OF the anxious inquirer
hearth Of the bereayed TO bless such arsade TO put
requison every species Of rhetoric and sophstry to
npress the general mind the sublime and
ogma that all men are born free and equal and that
lch geographical party Is aweliadapted means to
nat enddoes this strike you altogether in the spirit
Washington and Franklin, and the preamble to the
onstitution and the Farewell Address! Does It strike
on that il carried out 1t will prove to be mere sum
Ter excursion to Moscow! WIN there be no bvouack
the snow, no avengIng winter hanging retreat no
eipsic, no Waterloo! ,
Has the avenglng winter indeed come! God
q his mercy forbid :
That crusade failed in 1856. What a risk we ]
an then! II succeeded in 1860. What a peril
, now upon us! What crusade il was which
as produced IT,! will remember that nv own
,epublican competitor for this seat was quoted
D the Blackwood Magazine, with Tory delight,
yer the anti-slavery revolution which he
reached in this House In 1856, and which he c
'ould have ushered In with Bunker Hills, and 4;
ther battle-fields Of freedom.
But admitting the source Of this great peril /
0 lie, as /, Ia admitted, in Republican ascen.
anoy: still, ask, is il remediless In the Union
admitting all you claim of danger to your
tates from this sectional triumph; admitting
hat Won ara right In concerning for yonr own