Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864, 1861-01-11


the field, trained and equipped for battle.
On that line, a rapid march of cns or two
hours would reach the Potomac at Cum
berland. Tie possession Of Cumberland
BY al enemy would cut of your coal fields,
on which large par, Of your people de-
pend for fuel-aud would stop all trade
aud traffic on your principal railroad vest
Of Cum berland.
Your State is also divided by TIE CSes-
apeake Bay into two portions Of unequal
size, aud if the North would, as she na.t,
be the superior MARITIME power, she could,
by few vessels Of war, command the
Chesapeake Bay, cou,gol the mouth of the
fataEsco, seal up the port OF Baltimore,
and prevent aid or communication from
the one shore TO the other.
On the Western Shore, your State grad
ua!ly narrows, without a single ilIts'y
point, TO the mouth Of the Potomrc, where
tha, d bic stream meets the Chesapeake
Bay. TIE tide-Waisr Of the Poiomsc .1-
tends a mile or 60 above Gs1rge,own-bs-
low which is stream incapable Of being
forded. If your brethren at the Sou,h
we're to send al army to defend you, no
military man at the head of ths, army
would ever allow himself to be placed 10
from, Of an enemy belo% the tide waters OF
the Potomac. The first point in military
strategy, is to secure safe retreat in the
even; Of uisfortuue This rule would i'm
periously demand that be should never a.
low himself to be forced below the tides,
and, 10 the event Of defeat, be would be
forced to cross the upper waters Of the
Potomac, sod leave Mary land TO her fate.
Your commercial. emporium is within
thirty miles Of this defepceles. northern
border, without any obstructions 10 the
march Of an enemy e1oep; the brave
hearts of Mary ylaud's sons. Your white
population is about SIX Hundred Thou
sanI-and you would thu. be brought
face TO face With . government, three Of
whose States nearest to you, Peonsy l'snis,
New York, and Chic, contain white pop
ulation Of nsar Ten Millions Of people
to ssy nothing of other great and powerful
States ot the supposed NoriNo'" e"'siH
men,
If you attempt to drive the President,
elected accoring to the forms Of the Con-
s:itution, from the piacs assigned aim bJ
that Constitution for the exercise Of his
high functions, think you that the teeniDg
millions Of the North would 20. rush TO
the rescue Of the government, The North
may be SLOW to anger, but the ga!lsn:
Sou,hrCn may well look to his numbers,
his armor, and bis strength, when he
meets the slower and cooler courage Of TIE
North fairly reused into seton.
Blu, suppose you succeed 10 driving the
General Government out of Washington.
Created and supported BY the patronage
Of the General Government, it might re-
vert to you as the orieinsl grsutOr. Bat
wha. would it become? Would it not be
a waste and a ruiny What would be ;he
effec, Of the destruction Of the city Of
Washington on the adjoining counties OF
Mary land bordering 90 the Potomac
JUS, such, or nearly such, as the dcssrue-
ton Of Baltimore would produce on the
value Of property in Baltimore county and
other counties ad AGENT thereto. What
would be the value of your railroad TO
Washington, now .he mos, profitable ofal,
our State investments? If the city of
Washington is to become o waste and
crumtliug ruin, may my eyes never again
rest on the noble pile devoted to the gov
ernment of our country? If Mary y!snd
we're TO join a new government Of the
South put it, people of Maryland, to
Jour better judgnent-hov long Wonld
she remain a Slave State! With 10 right
10 demand from the North the surrender
of the fugitive slave, except under a
Union and Constitution which she is sup
posed to have abandoned, and with the
certainty tha, her soil would either be CO.
cupied by 40 enemy, or else De the battle
Geld in all contests, wars and insasions By
the North this side of the Alleghsnies,
would no: policy, would not interest,
would not safety, force those OF you Who
own slaves to send them South for securi
tv, where the labor Of the slave has long
been more profitable than with you!
Under these circumstances would you not,
in year or two, Of necessity, cease TO be
slave owners? And what would be your
condition, as free State, in alliance with
the Slave States Of the South? Would
they trust you7 would they love you?
would they treat you as their equal !
leave the answer TO your calm and deiiber-
ate judgment.
There is another matter feel bound to
state 10 you-although dol with the deep
est regret have the stronges, conviction
that the Cotton States, if they throw of
their allegiance to the General Govern
ment, intend to form q government Of
their own, and to refuse to pass any laws
prohibiting the African slsvs-trade, and
thus, indirectly a. least, to sanction that
terrible traffic. This, they well know,
would never be agreed to BY North Caro-
lima, Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Ten
nessee and Missouri. l repeat, they we'll
know that the re opening of the slsve-t trade
would bs resisted TO the last extremity BY
the Grain growing States | have uaned.
The dreams Of the Seceders of the Cotton
States look to far richer acquisitions and
associations, to be formed ou, of the prov
inces of Mexico and Central America, and
perchance of some of the West lndia Is
lands, to be cultivated by hundreds Of
thousands Of freshly and cheaply imported
slaves from the coast; Of Africa. The
Grsiu-growipg States of the South would
be more valuable to them as q friendly