Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1863-02-13
SPEECH OF HON HENRY NAY,

arc Lue SUBJECTS VI government.
This, sir, is a beautiful theory, and ad-
mirabe for its moral design but, sir, the
history of man and his governments from
the beginning Of the world refutes it.
" What constitutes Slater
Not high raised battlements, or labor mound
Thick wall, or moated gate
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets
crowned
Not bays aad broad afm'd ports,
Where, laughing at the storm, rich nayies
ride;
Nor starr'd and spangled courts,
Where low-brow d baseness watts perfume to
pride
No men, high-minded men,
With powers as far above dull brutes endued,
In forest, brake, or den,
As beasts excel cold rocksand bfambles rude;
Men, who their duties know,
But know their rights; and knowing, dare
maintain,
Prevent the long-aim blow,
And crush the tyrant, while they rend the
chain
These constitute a state
Sir, do not propose to enter further
into this inquiry than to point to the re-
cords geography herself unfolds, round
the whole world, to overthrow this as
serted power. l do not venture to deny
the influence that the laws Of nature ex-
ert in fixing the boundaries of nations;
but, sir, dispute their presiding power.
The limits that separated our colonies;
the pride and dominion of State power,
and even now the warning spirit of Sc
cession, are but 50 many proofs that the
reformed institutions we have attempted
to establish in this New World of ours
can fad no preserving aid in the physi-
cal plans of our Creator.
However pleasing to our hopes, or
soothing to our auxieties, we must dis
miss these delusivo ideas. Our honora-
Bile love of empire, or of union, must
yield to the nature of man, and, until We
can alter it, be contented to find the iu-
risdictions, at least of free government,
in those boundaries his consent or his
passions have fixed.
Can all the rain that falls upon the Al
leghany's sides-can the swift torrents,
or the tides that swell the banks of the
Potomac, OR Rappahannock, or Cumbor
land, or Mississippi, wash away from
kindred hearts the memories of the pre-
cious blood this cruel war has shed Can
mountains hide from sorrowing eyes those
graveyard highways that stretch across
the land
q Where every turf beneath their feet
Hath been soldier sepulchre2'
or rivers sink beuealh their beds the viii
tened bones that choke their channels
up? Can home, aud all its fond endear-
ments, smoulderiDg in ashes, be forgot
ten ? Can the agony of the broken heart
be cured Can flaming anger, hate, re-
venge, be soothea or pride, ambition,
glory, all subdued? No, Mr.. Speaker
you may subjugate, exterminate the peo-
pie OF the South; but, until you can tear
out each living heart and throw it to the
dogs of war, you can never reunite them
with you in political union.
l shall not stoop to consider in com
parison with the profound motives have
here presented the questions of material
interest that may be involved, or count
in mercenary measures the precious lives
of my couutrymen.
Sir, the vital principle Of our Union
is consent, and not force aud when |
hear the advocates Of the latter appealing
to the nation" and " its unity" / recog-
nize at once the insidiors arguments for
centralized power to be erected upon
the ruins Of the Republic. Aud, sir, the
views that find inevitable force in the ar
rangements of our physical geography,
have, fear, the same unhappy tendency.
Until my honorable friend from Ohio,
Mr.. Vallandighan, whose powerful ar
gnments for peace | so much admire, and
whose sincere devotion to his country
have so much reason to know-can cal
ter the nature Of man, he will pardon
me for rejecting, as | do, tho bright
hopes he presents.
1t is the part of wisdom and duty to
recognize the necessities that control all
human affairs. If we cannot re-estab-
lisa political union, let us, while saving
our constitutional liberties, retrieve a
union for peace and for commerce.
Iur' speaker, Tue question now before
US is between separation and subjuga-
ton. Let us not deceive ourselves. We
must choose between these fearful alter
natives, and take the olive branch, or
closer clutch the sword.
l have made, sir, my choice, and in
tend to abide its issue As I have from
the FIRST, SO will to the last stand by the
side of peace and constitutional liberty
Rather than the havoc of this desolat
ing war with its appalling effects shall b,
longer continued, / would prefer to SCI
the Union, the States, counties, cities anC
towns, with their governments all sepa
rated and dissolved, if peacefully, int
the elements Of society or Of nature anC
trust to find in the wants of my fellow
men, undebauched by the lawlessness o
war, yet purified by the adversely of theiI
failure, the principles and motives of {
harmonious reconstruction of govern
ment. Rather than meet the anarchy OF
despotsm. or both, that are now SO sure