Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1861-05-16

hind them TO rush to the rescue Of the Pres
ident that you elected, do not make war up
on them and try 10 manufacture partisan
capital at their expense out of struggle in
which they are engaged from the holiest and
purest of motives. Renewed applause.
Then appeal TO you, my own Democratic
friends-those men that have never failed TO
rally under the glorious banner of the coun-
try, whenever an enemy, at home or abroad, |
has dared to assail ito you with whom il
has always been my pride to. act-do not
allow the modification, growing out of de- |
feat In partisan struggle, and the eleva-
ton OF a party to power that we firmly be- |
lieved to be dangerous to the country--do |
not let that convert you from patriots into |
traitors to your native land. Long con-
tinued applause. Whenever our govern
ment is assailed-when hostile armies are
marching, under new and odious banners
against the government of our country, the
shortest way TO peace is the most stipend
Gus and Unanimous preparation for war;
Tremendous applause The greater the
unanimity the less blood will be shed. Much |
applause. The more prompt and energetic
the movement and the more imposing in |
numbers, the shorter will be the struggle.
Every friend Of freedom-every champion
and advocate Of constitutional liberty
throughout the land must feel that this cause
is his own. There is and should be nothing
disagreeable or humiliating to men who have
differed, in times of peace, on every ques-
tion that could divide fellow-men, to rally in
concert in defence Of the country and against
assailants. While all the States Of this
Union, and every citizen of every State has
a priceless legacy dependent upon the success
OF our efforts to maintain this government,
we in the great valley of the Mississippi have
peculiar interests and inducements to the
struggle. What is the attempt now being
declare that they will no longer obey the
constitution of the United States, that they
will Withdraw from the government estab-
lished by cur fathers that they will dissolve
| without the consent; the bonds that have
united US together. But, not content with
that, they proceed to invade and obstruct
our dearest and most inalienable rights, Sc
cured by the constitution. One of their first
acts is to establish battery of cannon upon
the banks of the Mississippi on the dividing
line between the States Of Mississippi and
Tennessee, and require every steamer that
passes down the river to come to under their
| guns to receive a custom house officer, on
board, to prescribe where the boat may land.
and upon what terms it may put out barrel
of -four or cask of bacon.
We are called upon to sanction this policy
Before consenting to their right to commit
such acts, l implore you to consider that
the same principle which will allow the cotton
| States to exclude us from the ports of the
gulf, would authorize the New England
States and New York and Pennsylvania to
exclude us from the Atlantic, and the
Pacific States to exclude us from the ports
of that ocean. Whenever you sanction this
doctrine of secession, you authorize the
\ States bordering upon the Atlantic Oceans
/ to withdraw from us, form alliances among
themselves, and exclude us from the markets
of the world and from communication with
all the rest of Christendom. Not only this,
but there follows tariff on imports, levying
taxes upon every pound of tea and coffee and
sugar, and every yard of cloth that we may
import for our consumption the levying,
too, Of an export duty upon every bushel Of
corn and every pound Of meat we may choos,
to send to the markets of the world to pay
for our imports.
;. Bear in mind that these very cotton States,
who in former times have been 50 boisterous
in their demands for free trade. have, among
their first acts, established an export duty on
cotton for the first time in American history.
| 1t is historical fact, well known to every
man who has read the debates of the Con-
vention which framed the constitution, that
| the Southern States refused to become par
i ties to the constitution unless there was an
r express provision in the constitution prohib-
t iting Congress to levy an export duty on any
E product Of the country. No sooner have
these cotton States seeded than an export
$ duty is levied and if they will levy it on
: our pork, and our beet, and our corn, and
t our wheat, and our manufactured articles
: and all we have to sell? Then what is the
f proposition? tits to enable the tier of States
: bordering on the Atlantic and the Pacific,
: and on the Gulf, surrounding us on all sides
: to withdraw from our Union-form alliance:
e among themselves and then levy taxes on
@ us without our consent and collect revenue
G without giving us any just proportion or any
:, portion of the amount collected. Can vi
: submit to taxation without representation
: Several voices mo. - Can we permit ma
o tions foreign to US to collect revenues off ou
products--the fruits Of our industry? / asl
: the citizens of Illinois--I ask every citizel
IS in the great basin between the Rocky Noun
= tains and the Alleghanies, in the valleys o
@ the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri to te
h me whether he is willing to sanction lin
', of policy that may isolate us from the MAJ
1t kets of the world and make us dependen
,e provinces upon powers that thus choose t
,e surround and hem us in? Many voice
Of mo-" and never"
e. warn you, my countrymen, whenev6
,e you permit this to be done in the Souther
m States, New York will very soon follow the
n example New York--that great port
40 where two-thirds Of all our revenue is CO
nd lected, and whence two-thirds of our pr
ed ducts are exported, will not long be able
lis resist the temptation of taxing fifteen mi
ng lions of people in the great West when 81
We can monopolize the resources and relea
her own people thereby from any taxati,
of whatsoever. Hence | say to you, my cou
,et trymen, from the best consideration ha
al been able to give to this subject, after tl
lis most mature reflection and thorough inves
nd CATION, have arrived at the conclusion tina
ms come what may, war, ifit must be, althoul
he / deplore it as great calamity, yet, cor
ii. what may, the people Of the Mississip
ks Valley can never consent to be excluded fro
nv free access to the ports of the Atlantic Il
rel Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico Gre
ac- applause.
IN Hence, I repeat that while am not pl
7 pared to take up arms or to sanction W