Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-01-21
THE CRIsIs-sPEECH OF HON. JOHN
A. .GURUEY In TIE HOUSE, ON Sc
CESSION.

MI. OnitrIn6n--OOmlng, as L DO from inc
most populous free State city in the West,
whose commercial and moneyed interests
are more strongly and generally interviewer
with the interests of the South than any
other; O city which casts nearly 5000
more votes than any in the Valley of
the Mississippi, must regard it as a duty
which | owe to my constituents to indicate
in few words to this body and the country,
what are their views and intentions in refer
enee to the present crisis in our political
affairs.
Sir, for nearly a quarter of a century
have lived upon the very line Of freedom
and slavery in or near q city from whence
you can almost toss a stone to the Kentucky
shore and ] must therefore believe that l
have a fair knowledge of not only the po-
litical opinions Of my own neighborhood,
but of the nine or ten million people west
of the Allegheny Mountains. And here, in
passing, will take the liberty to say that,
during the whole period of my residence in
the West the inhabitants Of Kentucky and
Ohio, in the peighborhoOd of Cincinnati,
have lived together in the most friendly in
tercOurse and, come what may, we mean
that this state Of things shall continue.
Many of our young men have been so tortu-
nate as to become the husbands of the fair
daughters of Kentucky, while many of our
young ladies have made the hearts of Ken
tuekians more than thrice glad by consent
ing to become their brides; and if gentle
men here could only see the extraordinarily
fine broods of rosy-cheeked and healthy chill
dTen which we raise upon either side of the
river from these happy unions, they would
be at no loss to realize the bond of friendship
that unites us together; nor could they won
der at the remarkable increase of population
in our fertile valley.
Indeed, sir, truth compels me to say that
such is the good understanding of the people
in all that region, that if our citizens were 70
hear of slave insurrection on the opposite
side of the river-of which, | am happy to
say, there is no fear--endaDgering the lives
of the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters
of that State, they would fly to their relief as
they would to the rescue Of the inmates of
burning building in our own city.
And what more signal evidence of the fra
ternal feeling between the people of Tennes-
! see, Kentucky, and Ohio could be given than
that furnished by the meeting Of the legis-
lators of those States last winter at Columbus,
theeapital of my own State, where they ad-
| dressed each other in words of warmest
! friendship Surely if any political heresy
| existed in our State it must have been quite
| as apparent then as now. But there was
none against which the law makers of Ken
| lucky and Tennessee protested. They met
and rejoiced together like brothers dwelling
together in unity.
Mr.. Chairman, from the location of my
county it might be supposed that its people
are among the most conservative of the free
States; but whether they are so or not one
thing dU know they are for the- Onion,
! the Constitution, and the enforcement OF the
laws at all hazards, and at any cost. At the
same time, we are for rendering Justice TO all
sections of the Confederacy. We are for the
faithful execution of all laws upon the ma
tional statute book, and not for infringing
| L. -I,A &c 4l,oS IL
Who does not know that their rights are as
sacred to them as ours to US 2 And as to the
subject of slavery, as it exists by State laws
they have it. 1t is business that belongs
exclusively to them, not to us; let them take
care of it in their own way; hands off Thai
is all we ask. .r-l..-g
But, sir, while affirming these facts, mus
frankly add some remarks on another sub
iect of great moment and peril in reference
to which we are almost unit | refer, Mr.
Chairman, to the now boldly-preached doc
trine of State Secession doctrine so absurd
to our minds that we are of the opinion tha
it is q waste of time to seriously consider it
What is it? Why, sir it is the widest, tht
very widest, phantasy of the nineteenth cen
tury. Who does not know that if one Stat
can go out Of the Union, so can two, or three
or half a dozen, until we find ourselves will
twenty or thirty petty sovereignties, will
clashing interests, and waging each agains
? the other a horrible internecine warfare.
To say that our fathers contemplated am
such Secession, with its necessary fruits o
blood and carnage, is to cast the foulest Sian
der upon their memories.
1t is sufficient for us to know that we liv
under the very Government which thei
wisdom and sagacity founded the best an
fIeest in the world That it was established
not by States as States, but by the people 9
all the States. BY. them the Constitution
was framed and by them it was ratified, i
conventions called for that purpose. 1t
e enough to know that it is recognized by tn
8 whole world as one of the great politica
: powers of the earth and that, as SUCH
contains all the elements of self-preserva
ton. 1t is Government of internal as we
, as external power; of law, of justice, of OF
e der, and supreme authority. 1t has the in
4 disputed right to declare war, to make peact
and to do all things that great nation ma
: do in order to secure the peace and the bal
= piuess of its citizens. 1t has the right to dt
T fend itself against foes, whether they com
from without or from within its borders
- from traitors at home and enemies abroa'
! Otherwise, sir, that glorious flag which no
. floats over our heads, and regarded as Il
. emblem of power every where, and the shiel
of our safety would soon trail with dishonC
If in the dust. Who says that such Cover
y ment, one of the strongest political powe
II of The world, shall be disrupted by traito
and Iebels'in arms?
Remember, ye who now seek its destru
IT tiop, that it has stood up strongly, proud
n gloriously for more than seventy years, whi
D, the revolutions of the Old World have swel
away more than dozen thrones. 1t has e
,f countered the perils of war with pOwerf
o foreign nation, and several times grappll
~ with rebellion at home, and in every contii
has come off more than victorious; and
will do it now.
s. Much has been said about compromises
r both Houses; but pray, what care the mi
Id who have carried their States out of Il
Union in their way, and stolen United Stat
Of property, about compromised Who do
d not know that they laugh and mock at t
!, ~ attempts made here and elsewhere to bri
> them back by some bargain or compremis
Who does not know that the contrelh
e men of the cotton States spurn, and I
ia ready to spit upon every proposition lookl
ld to the restoration OF peace and good ORD
They are too mad with rage to reason.
M Sir, they have already seized upon o
;S forts, upon our armories, our custom-hous
M our post. Offices and Magazines and TO Gro
~ all, have fred into vessel in the service
the United States, carrying at its mast-he
rn the flag that everywhere else is a shield
IN, protection. What else do We heart
a telegraph tells us that they have plan
ily cannon upon the banks of the Mississ
River 90 interrupt the navigation OF q
- river; to stop our steamboats, or blow tn
to pieces. They insult the men nom
as North-west who trade upon the Mississip
ut indeed, they treat them as conquered
as ple Our most honored merchants are
dared home from Louisiana and our m