The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-06-21
TIsnry Cay en- AbslatIonlsua.

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delivered in the United States Senate Feb
FuaFy z, 1889, on the Reception OF Adolf
I. ton Petitions:
Sin: am not in the habit Of speaking
lightly OF the possibility of dissolving this
happy Union. The Senate knows that
have deprecated illusions, on ordinary &C.
casioRs, to that direful event The cOun-
try will testify that, If there be anything
in the history of my public career worthy
Of recollection, it is the truth and sincerity
Of my ardent devotion to its lasting pres
ervatiOn. But we should be false in our
allegiance to it, if we did not discriminate
between the imaginary and real dangers
by which it may be assaulted. Abolition
should no longer BE- regarded as an imag-
mary danger. The AbOitioniSts, let me
suppose, succeed in their present aim of
uniting the inhabitants Of the free States
as one man, against the inhabitants Of the
slave States Union on the one side will
beget union on the other. And this pro-
cess Of reciprocal consolidation will be at
tended with all the violent prejudiceS, EN-
Filtered passions, and implacable almost
ties which ever degraded or deiOrmed
human nature. A virtual dissolution will
have taken place, while the forms Of its
existence remain. The most valuable ele-
nent Of union, mutual Kindness, the feel
ings Of sympathy, the fraternal bonds,
which now happily unite us, will have
been extinguished forever. One section
will stand in menAcing and hostile array
against the other. The collision of opin.
ion will be quickly followed by the CLASH
vi arms. ! VIM moi attempt 10 'nescrIoe
scenes which now happily lie concealed
from our view. AbolitonistS themselves
would shrink back in dismay and horror
at the contemplation of desolatcd fields,
9SNbag~ ~ '''A''- -z,->;~'S ~e',; hpNSSa~|v.
@au tne overthrow OF tie JaiyeSI fabric Of
human government that ever rose to ami
mate the hopes Of civilized man. Nor
should these Abolitionists tlatter them
selves that, if they can succeed in their
object Of uniting the people Of the free
States, they will enter the contest with
numerical superiority that must ensure
victory. AllhistOry and experience proves
the uncertainty Of war. And We are ad.
monished by Holy Writ that the race is
not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong. But if they were to conquer,
whom would they conquer! \ foreign
foe--One who had insulted our flag, inva-
ded our shores, and laid our country
~XsteF1 NJ, siy; H0, SIR. It would De a
conquest without laurels, without glory
a SELF a suicidal conqucst-a conquest VI
brothers over brothers, achieved by one
over another portion OF the descendants Of
common ancestors, who nobly pledged
their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor; had fought and bled, side by side,
in many hard battle, on land and ocean,
severed our country from the British
crown, and established our national indie.
pendence.
=
am, Mr.. President, no friend to slave
ry. The searcher of all hearts knows that
every pulsation of mine beats high and
strong in the Cau.e Of civil liberty
Wherever it is safe and practicable, | de-
sire to see every portion of the human
family in the enjoyment of it. But pre-
fer the liberty ot my own countrymen to
that Of any other people, and the liberty
Of my own race to that of any other race.
The liberty Of tie descendGHts Of AJricn
IL the United States is incompatible nith
the surety 4Md liberty ct tie European
Their slavery forms an ex-
exception resulting from
stern and memorable necesSity--to the
general liberty vi the United States. We
did not originate, nor are We responsible
for, this necessity. Their liberty, il it
were possible, could only be established
by violating the Incontestable powers Of
the States, and subverling the Union.-
And beneath the ruins OF the Union would
be buried, sooner or later, the liberty Of
both races.
But if one dark spot exists on our po-
litical horizon, is it not Obscured by the
bright and etfulgent aud cheering light
that beams all around US! Was ever q
people before so blessed as we are, if true
to ourselves? Did ever any other nation
contain within its bosom so many elements
of prosperity, Of greatness, and of glory?
Our only real danger lies ahead, conspic.
uOuS, elevated and visible. 1t was clearly
diScerncd at the commencement, and dis.
tinctly seen throughout our whole career.
Shall we wantonly run upon it, and de-
stroy all the glorious anticipationS Of the
high destiny that awaits us? beseech
the AbOitionists themselves, solemnly, to
pause in their mad and fatal course Amid
the infinite variety Of objects of humanity
and bcnevolence which invite the employ
ment of their energies, let them select one
more harmless, that does not threaten TO
dcluge our country in blood. call upon
that small portion of the clergy which has
lent itself to these wild and ruinous
schemes, not to forget the holy nature of
the divine mission Of the Founder Of our
religion, and to profit by his peaceful ex.
anplcS. entreat that portion OF my
countrywomen who have given their coun-
tenance to Abolition, to remember that
they are ever most loved and honored
when moving in their own appropriate and
delightful sphere; and to reflect that the
ink which they shed in subscribing with
their fair hands Abolition petitions, may
prove but the prelude to the shedding of
the blood Of their brethren. adjure all
the inhabitants of the free States to re-
buke and discountenance, by their opin-
ion and their example, measures which
must inevitably lead to the most calami-
tous consequences. And let US all, as
countrymen, as friends and as brothers,
cherish in unfadng memory the motto
which bore our ancestors triumphantly
through all the trials Of the Revolution,
and, if adhered to, it will conduct their
posterity through all that may, in the dis
Pensatiods Of Providence, be reserved for
them.
Az AsTONIsmED ".ABoRIGINE. "A Salt
Lake correspondent, in speaking of the