Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1861-08-21
SPEECH OF HON. ROBERT J. WALKER,

Hon. r. j. Walker, delivered at New York
shortly after the fall of Fort Sumter-athough
somewhat behind time-will, no doubt, be
read with much interest by those who have
failed to see it heretofore. Mr.. Walker said:
The question is, shall this Union be main
tanned and perpetuated, or shall it be broken
and dissolved2 [Cries of ssNever."] No
question SO important has ever occurred in the
history of our race. 1t involves not only the
fate OF this great country, but the question of
free institutions throughout the world. The
case OF self-government is now on trial before
the forum of our country and of the world.
Ii we succeed and maintain the Union, free
institutions, under the moral force of our ex-
ample, will ultimately be established through
out the world but if we fail, and our Gov
ernment is overthrown, popular liberty will
have made its last experiment, and despotism
will reign triumphant throughout the globe.
Our responsibilities are fearful. We have
solemn duty to perferm-we are this day ma
king history. We are writing book whose
pages can never be erased-t is the destiny
of our country and of mankind. For more
than seventy years this Union has been main
tanned, and it has advanced our country to
prosperity unparalleled in the history of the
world. [Applause:l The past was great, but
the future opened upon prospects beyond the
power Of language to describe. But where
are we now? The world looks on with scorn
and derision. We have it is said, no Gov
ernment-a mere voluntary association of in
dependent States-a debating society, or a
moot Court, without any real power to uphold
the laws or the Constitution. We have no
country, no flag, no Union but each State,
at its pleasure, upon its own whim or caprice,
with or without cause, may Secede and dis
solve the Union. Secession we are told, is a
Constitutional right of each State, and the
Constitution has inscribed its own death war;
n kls
deed no Government, and Europe may well
speak of us with contempt and derision. This
j s the very question we are now to solve-have
we Government, and has it power to main
tain its existence This question is not for
the first time presented to the consideration
of the American people. 1t arose in 1882,
when South Carolina nullified the revenue
laws of the Union, and passed her secession
ordinance. In that contest took very ac-
and secession, and upon that question, after a
struggle of three years, was elected by Mis-
sssippi as senator of the United States. A
contest so prolonged and violent had never
before been witnessed in this country. 1t was
fonght by me in every county of the State un-
der the banner of the Union. The sentiments
contained in the many speeches then made by
ME, and then published, are the opinions
now entertain. They are all for the Union
and against secession, and they are now the
opinions of thousands of Union men of the
South and of Mississippi. [Applause.1 These
opinions are unchanged, and deeply as l de-
plore our present situation, it is my profound
conviction that the welfare, security, and
prosperity OF the South can only be restored
by the re-estabishment of the Union. l see,
in the permanent overthrow of the Union, the
utter ruin of the South, and the complete pros
tration of all their interests. have devoted
my life to the maintenance of all their consti-
tutional rights and the promotion oftheir hap
pineSs and welfare; but secession involves
them and us in one common ruin. The rec
ognition of such doctrine is fatal to the ex-
istence OF any Government-of the Union; it
is death, it is national suicide. TApplause.l
This is the question now to be decided-have
we Union or have we fag-are the stars
and stripes reality or a fction-have we
Government and can we enforce its laws, or
must the whole vanish whenever any one
thinks proper to issue the despotic mandate
Is the Union indissoluble, or is it written on
the sand, to be swept away by the first angry
surge Of State or sectional passion which
sweeps over it2 1t was the declared object
of our ancestors to found perpetual Union.
The original articles of confederation, by all
the States, in 177S, declared the Union to be
"perpetual," and South Carolina with all the
States) then plighted her solemn faith that
ssthe Union of the States shall be perpetual. +"
tion of the Constitution in 1871 the declared
object of that change was to make ssthe Union
more perfect.'' But how more perfect, if the
Union was indissoluble in l778, but might at
any moment be destroyed by any one State
after the adoption of the Constitution No,
my countrymen, secession is not a Constitu-
tionai right of any one State. 1t is war-it is
revolution-and can only be established On
the ruins OF the Constitution and of the Union.
We must resist it and subdue it or the Gov
ernment will be but an organized anarchy, to
be surely succeeded, as anarchy ever has been,
by military despotism. This then, my fellow
citizens, is the last great contest for the liber
ties OF our country and of the world. Zap
plause.l If we are defeated, the last expert
ment of self-government will have failed, and
We will have written with our hands the epi-
taph OF human liberty. We will have no flag;
we will have no government, no country and
no Union; we will cease to be American citi-
zens and the despots of Europe will rejoice
in the failure of the great experiment of re-
publican institutions. The liberties of our
country and of the world Will have been en-
trusted to our care, and we will have dishon-
ored the great trust and proved ourselves
traitors to the freedom of our country and of
mankind. This is not sectional question---it
is mol Northern or a Southern question. 1t is
not question which concerns our country
only, but all mankind. 1t is this; shall we
by noble and united effort sustain the repub-
lican institutions, or shall We have secession
and anarachy to be succeeded by despotism,
and extinguish forever the hope of freedom
throughout the world God grant you, my
dear countrymen, courage and energy and
perseverance to maintain successfully the
great contest. You are fighting the last great
decisive battle for the liberties of our country
and of mankind-faint not, falter not, but
move onward in one great column for the
maintenance Of the Constitution and the Union.
Remember it was Southern man, noble son
of Kentucky Major Anderson,) who SO glori-