Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1862-05-02
lpolitifal.
ELOQUEN,r ExTRACTs.

portion of the able speech delivered by
Hon. D. w. VooRuEEs, Of Indiana, in
the House Of Representatives. February
20sa, a the
Pledges Of the Govefnment.v
long to see the States once more tc-
united as equal and honored members
of this Federal Union,' with the Consti-
tuition unchanged in letter or spirit, ex-
tending its protection and its blessings
alike to them all. | have no wish, how
ever, for the kind of a Union which now
seems to meet the appreciation of many
of the distinguished leaders of the dom
inant party. Rome had her subjugated
provinces reduced to squalid wretched-
ness by her vast standing armies Her
trembling tributaries walled and bled
beneath her cruel power Her consuls
went forth to govern, to rob, to plumber,
to scourge, and to cruelty. She reduced
independent sovereign States to terrific
rial vassalage. She received their en-
forced homage asa eonqueror. She con-
fiscated their lands and their substance.
She filed her lap with extorted wealth.
But does the sad sequel to her history
commend her policy to us for adoption +?
Standing armies preyed upon her vitals
aud smote down her liberties. Unwill-
ing, unequal, and dishonored States arose
against her whenever the opportunity
offered. The Gaul, the Briton, the Tar
tar, the Hun, the Goth, the Yandall,
all
Dealt upon the seven hilled city's pride, 3"
riAed her of her glory, and repaid her a
thousand fold for the bitter humliations
which her arrogance had inflicted All
history repeats the same teaching.
England, in modern times, has con-
tributed her example to this great lesson
of history Her whole existence has
been one protracted struggle to hold
within her grasp conquered and vassal
colonies. Her success has, indeed, thus
far been great, but her experiment is
not over She has formed many unions
with weaker powers whose soil she has
laid waste, and whose people she has
murdered, but what sorrowful speetaclos
they are She has union with Ireland,
but who wants to behold one like it on
this continent, filled with blood, with
bitterness, with tears Of grief, with cries
Of hate, with charging armies, with rev.
olution following revolution in quick
succession, and with all those repulsive
crimes which forever attend such events,
and over which humanity has shuddered
and wept in all agesY No, sir, let us
labor for no such Union as this. Al his
tory, all ages and every cline contain
volumes Of teaching on this momentous
subject 1t becomes the American states
men to heed their warnings
Give us back the Union as it always
heretofore has been, consisting Of equal
and honored members. Fail to do this
strip The States Of their attributes as
States under the Constitution, and reduce
them to territorial bondage, a measure
already introduced into the other branch
Of Congress, and though our armies may
be victorious in every field though they
may, in their triumphant march, cross
every river, scale every mountain, and
encamp in every valley, from the Poto-
mac to Mobile, there will never come
day when the angel Of peace will return
to the land there will never come day
when the drum beat and roll call Of vast
standing armies shall cease to be heard,
and there will never come day when
the foot Of the Federal tax gatherer shall
cease to be heard at the threshold Of
every laborer's hamlet from the Atlantic
70 the Pacific ocean. There will be no
peace in such a Union. The lightnngs
Of civil war will re forever playing in
iitful CLEANS along our horizon. The
people Of the South are "our kindred
and countrymen," and the blood which
we inherit in common, the proud race to
which we belong never yielded passive
obedience to the degrading conditions Of
inequality and dishonor.
! am fully aware that the sword must
bring the conclusion Of this unnatural
strife. | am fully aware that the results
must DO obtained on the battle field now.
! There was a time when it was not 50,
and history gill embalm in everlasting
iufamy the names Of those who rejected
pcaco--wbo rejected union when both
were offered on honorable terms. I leave
the past, however, at least for to-day,
and deal with the present. Let the ar
mics move on and bring speedy issue
10 this war Of "kindred and country
men," but let them move on in the name
Of the Constitution, in the name Of the
laws; in the name Of the Union, com
posed Of equal and honored members"
in the name Of God aud guided by the
prccepts Of an enlightened Christianity.
Sir, Congress, however, spoke again
on this important subject Who will for
got the scene who witnessed itY Who
will forget the 22d day Of last July in
this Hall? II was the darkest day in all
the calendar Of American history. Dis
may or gloom sat Oh every face A rout-