Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1863-02-12
Wise and Eloquent Words---Speech
of Henry Winter Davis.

Davis made a speech Of great eloquence
and power We commend to our rea-
ders the subjoined extract How nobly
does the counsels Of this patriotic South
ern man contrast with the cold, tanned,
or heacherous advice of Northern dough
faces, imbeciles, and sympathisers with
treason :-Joaraai
! "The Union must be preserved, though
this generation shall perish in its defense.
, (Applause.) Perish in its defense =
Why, what is this generation? 1t is
the life of the men who are before me,
it is our liberty and the union of this
country, it is our willingness to endure
all, and to be ready in our own persons
to do what SO many at our soldiers by
the thousand have dono--on every field
of batte-to be prepared to die, that
their blood be not in vain. BY no DIAL
lance in your ladies chambers can this
be accomplished, by no debating on the
streets, nor by any consideration in the
council, but by stubborn, hard, resolute,
fearless blows upon the deadly field,
where true men lay down and seal their
patriotism with their blood and they
who live owe il to the memory of the
! dead that their blood shall not have been
shed IL vain. (Applause) An armis-
tice say the doubtful, hesitating Union
men "a yoice-"Iraitors. y An ar
mistice that would relax your arms,
would compel your submission; recog
milton Of the Confederate States the
disruption OF the American name, its
eternal degradation peace for month,
for year, for five years, wars for gen
erations, and anarchy to the end OF time.
| (Applause) Once make a division line
between the North and the South, said
the speaker and more than one will
| divide the North itself One stone from
the arch brings ii in ruin on your heads,
But who are they who moot these ques.
tious? They of the South, do not talk
of armsticcs they are the men Of the
Ieyal States Of the North, and of Mary
land they are those who have crept
smrepttiously, undertalse pretences, into
power, and now, in more than one great
State, threaten to transfer the theatre OF
civil war from the rehellious to the
loyal States | speak in the presence
of the military and political representa-
tiVes of those States, here this night,
and say, rather than that the arm OF
the government shall be palsied, welcome
the spears to our breasts, welcome civil
war to our soil and let them know that
we are not now to be frightened by civil
war in the North any more than when
its HYDRA head was raised in the South.
Appause) | here recognize but two
classes of men, and we confne them to
no political geography; They are the
enemies and friends OF the Union Ap-
plause,) whether they live in Ohio, as
in Missouri and Maryland (Applause) }
Shall those who now attempt to arrest
the powers Of the government succeed
say to those present, who stand now
here with me upon the border Of this
terrific gulf, looking into it until our eyes
swim. that they willsucceed unless we say
that we know no end to the war, no
termination to this collision, other than
the prostraton of the rebellion, and that
rebellion will be suppressed IN the North
as we'll as in the South. (Applause.) J
These are not boastful words. They are
but the sober language of common sense.
You are committed to the issue, you are
Joined in the fight, and you cannot stop
short of your own destruction or The de-
struetion of your enemies, il you would
Lay down yom arms, and instantly the
Coxes and Vallindighams, the Walls
and Reeds, will try to drag the West to
the South and expel from the Union
the Puritan states Your alternative
must be 'yictory ordeath. = (Applause.
/ profess to be no more dislnterested
than others but say there is nothing
for this country except victory or de-
struction. | do not regret the war even
though ii should fail, for America Will
have name that will live hereafter III
history, and mankind will know that the
freemen of this country in 1861 and lsoz
have not lived in vain. (Applause) we
had far betterfail in the effort than unwor-
thily shrink from it. God tries ece1y aa-
ton destined 10 eceor the cro'oa q en-
pire and enjoy the blessings Of freedom,
and they hare aeon their immortality eg
teaacitg, the poaoer of endurance, nc
resolution to encounter destruction rather
THAI yield, 1t is not the military glo.
ries of Thermopyla, platte, Salamis, and
Marathon which inspires interest IN the
thoughtful mind 50 much as the tenac-
ity Of the people who braced their minds
for long years to meet the dread alterna-
tive of destruction rather than slavery. |
1t was the unshaken fortitude OF the
Roman people which enabled them to
endure for seventeen years the taumphs
of Hannibal unchanged by 4 single VIC
tory, and that heroic endurance formed
the emnire of the world. 1t was not |