The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1861-03-07

State of the Union..-Speech of Hon. HI.
Waldron, of Michigan, in the House of
| Representatives, February l6s 1861.
The House having under consideration the report
from tue select committee of thirty-thres-
Mr.. Waldron said:
Mr.. SPEAKER The topics of this
discussion are novel and strange to an
American Congress. They are such
as were never dreamed of by the pat
riots and statesman who framed our
Government. They are such as their
children, in the confidence which long
years of peaceful security have impart-
ed, believed to be impossible. But the
delusions of the past-I might almost
add, the hopes of the future-vanish
into thin air. A Union established by
sacrifices and hallowed by imperisha-
BILE memories, trembles in the agonies
of dissolution. The spectacle of to-
day is one of disloyal States, of revof-
ted people, Of divided nationality.
You may call this secession. / call it
conspiracy ripened into revolution.
But it is not my purpose to quarrel
about terms; nor will stop to refer to
the causes which have brought these
evils upon us. / have not risen to in
dulge in the language of elimination
or complaint. 1t is entirely foreign to
my present purpose to inquire which
political party is responsible for the
perils which surround us. The people
have already visited the sins of our po-
litieal opponents upon their heads, and
with their verdict l am content. 9th
er matters press upon our attention.
The fair fame of our Government is
tarnished, its flag defed, its property
despoiled, its reputation among foreign
nations dishonored, and the enemies of
republican progress exult in the declar-
alton that "free institutions are fail
ure." / turn, therefore, from the re-
sponsibilities of the past to the ques-
tion of the present, and the response
bilities of the future. The question of
the day is: Haue zoe a Government at
all! rr ~ saK
| Minor issues of compromise and ad-
lowed up by, this most momentous of all
justment must give way to, and be swal-
questions. When / am appealed to in
behalf of compromises and concessions,
1 must first inquire, what shall / save ?
What do get as an equivalent for
concession? Is the Union, which /
am called upon to preserve by CON-
promise, able to outlive the demoraliz-
ing humiliation of the sacrifices which
are made in its behalf? And here
take occasion to say, that will go as
far as any man in the line of toleration
and Cancellation, where no surrender
of vital principle is involved. If
pride of opinion is in the way, sacri-
, fee it. If the prejudices ofethe past
or the passions Of the present are OBJ
stacles, forget them. 1t shall never
: be said of me that, in this hour, my ac-
ton was controlled by dictates of pas
sion or considerations of partizan ad-
vantage; but there is one thing to be
, settled, here and now, in advance of
!, any efforts to reconcile and compro.
mise. If this Government is a mere
. partnership, with no power for its own
preservation, and subject to dissolution
at the caprice of any of its members,
then it is utterly useless to patch it up
by compromises. IT it is SO helpless
that the first touch of the traitor des-
troys it, then it is good for nothing af.
, ter it is 'ssaved - and time spent in the
, endeavor to "save it'' is worse than
thrown away. For one, / have no
compromise to offer in behalf of Un-
I. ion which is so feeble as to excite only
: contempt, and which exists at the suf.
=. ferance of men who assert the power
to blast its interests at the very mo.
, ment when they cease to control its
f destinies. Much as we may detest the
, treason of the cotton States, still we
, cannot but contrast their energy and
5 zeal in destroying Union, with the
} imbecility and helplessness of the au.
: thorities which were sworn to preserve
, it.
r There is, then, this objection to oil
t these propositions for compromise. that
e the Union you propose to preserve OF
$ restore is rendered perfectly worthless
/? by the concessions you make in the eff.
fort to preserve it You incorporate
t into its system poison which not only
mars its beauty, but destroys its vitali
). ty for good. The very principle on
r which this policy of compromise rests
: is, that the will of majority, constitu
tionally expressed, shall be nulliied al
the pleasure of dissatisfied minority;
e and to that principle l never will con
, sent. Thefreemen of the United States
2 have under the forms of law, for the nine
& eenth time, elected President; and it il
D useless to disguise the fact that his au
2 thority is denied in advance, unless the
! defeated party is allowed to dictate the
D policy of his administration. The yer
: dict that was involved in his election i.
! to be ignored as the price of acquies
: cence on the part of the yanquished
4 In the last canvass, portion of oul
Z fellow citizens demanded, at the han6
of the Federal Government. protection
e for slavery in the Territories of the Re
n public; and the demand was resisted
y even to the disruption of the Democrat
ic party-a party which never before
hesitated when demands were made
upon it in behalf of the slave power
. That demand was so Objectionable thai
n