Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1861-01-11
Gbc National Crisis.
REMARKS OF
]. MORTIMER KILGouR. Z

n
at the County Convention, held an Frede-
rick city, on Monday, the 17th ultimo,
to consider the present periloas condi-
tioacf national affairs.
After the resolutions of the majority
and minority reports were read, aud
Messrs. LYNCH and Ross had addressed
the meeting in favor of the minority re-
port, Mr.. KILGoUR arose and said:
Mr.. PRESIDENT: Every sentiment
every word--of the resolutions reported
by the minority of the committee finds a
ready response in my heart, and in my
Judgment. am no disunionist. | love
this Union as dearly as any man within
the bounds of the republic. My heart
pulsates with as true q devotion to the
glorics of the present and the proud me-
mories of the past, as that of any man
who hears me to-day. Its stirring ma
tional songs arouse, within my bosom,
as lofty an enthusiasm-and the stars
cleaning from its banner, wherever it
floats under heaven, on the sea, or on the
land, call up as warm a glow upon my
cheeks, and kindles as bright fire in
my eyes, as burns or sparkles upon the
cheeks, or within the eyes of any other
American citizen, be he who he may, as
he gazes upon it.
AS look up to the grand temple of
the American Union, lifting its lofty
towers far up into the blue heavens, to
catch the sunlight of law-regulated liber-
ty and christian civilization, and scatter
it in blessings all over the world-wth
the artistic symmetry and sublime pro-
portions of its architecture-th wonder
and admiration of the MISUNDERSTANDING
beneath its protecting roof thirty millions
Of the happiest, freest, and most enlight-
ened people upon earth--when look
upon it thus, and remember what it has
been, what it is, and what it would be,
if left alone, and no storms of unholy
passions could assail it, l could weep my
heart away to think that its shattered
fragments may soon cucumber the bosom
of the earth. Sir, during tho last Presi.
dental contest, was an unpaid WorkinS
i
myself, heart and soul, to efforts in be-
half of John Bell and Edward Everett,
because | believed that their election
would secure peace and harmony to the
country, and that the platform upor
which they stood, was an olive brancl
which should have been accepted by boil
the North and the South. | gave then
my time and my voice without stint, ant
none mourned their defeat more sincere
ly than l did, for in its announcement
coupled with that of the election of Abra
! ham Lincoln, the candidate of the aboli
ton republican party of the North,
thought l heard the tones of " that fire
bell at night which disturbed the slum.
bers Of the immortal author of the De-
claration of Independence"
Sir, / repeat it, / am no disunionist-
no secessionist-bu there is great cri-
sis in the country which must be met, and
: dealt with as it is. We must tear all
DISCUSSES from the danger which threat
ems US, and look at it face to face, if we
would arrest it, or place ourselves in q
position to recover from the effects of the
desolating storm which it may pour upon
our unhappy country. And we should
be about it, here to-day, and address
each other as to our duty, with thoughts
and feelings devoid of partizan bias OF
bitterness. Beside the colossal proper
tons of this crisis-this danger-party
sinks into utter insigDifcance.
Mr.. President, accept, as fact, the sen,
timent of my esteemed friend, Mr.. VIM
j. Ross, who has just addressed you, anc
who uttered the sentiment with all tn,
gravity and solemDity of his high posi-.
ton, in this community, as christian
gentleman, with all the emphasis of un
biased, well-informed and matured iud o.
mcnt, and with the touching pathos of /;
manly heart, that the compact which
bound this Union together-thc compac
which our fathers made has been alread,
broken-violated by one party, it is ne
longer binding upon the other parties tc
it. Yes, sir, the Union is already dis.
solved, for though we have the cold anc
hollow forms of common Constitution
and common government, President
of the United States, national congress
and national laws, yet they seem almost
now as the puppets of a pantomime. -
Long ago nine Northern States secedco
from the Union, by deliberately multiplying
the Fugitive Slave Law. All social ties
between the two sections have been brok-
en-; the business relations have been
fatally interrupted; and the sacred ties Of
church fellowship rudely torn assunder.
I A deep and bitter hatred has been cxcit-
ed between the North and the South
which reached its eliminating point OF
taunting and insulting triumph upon the
one part, and Of burning, singing
sense of injustice and wrong, and fixed
and unaltcrable determination to resist
upon the other, by the election of Abra-
ham Lincoln to the Presidency. This il
a sectional triumph--the triumph Of 0
party distinctly marked by geographical
lines-a party breathing through the on
ly bond Of its organization settled and
uncompromising hostility to the South
and its institutions. Already the waves
Of that triumph, roaring with the mad
spirit which possesses them. are gather
ing with resistless force along Mason and
Dixcn's line, and as they fling their foamy
crests against the heavens, threaten to
ovcrwhelm us all 10 common ruin.
And, again sir, John Bell has declared
that the Union was cemcnted, and was to