Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1863-03-19
Eloquent Peroration.

One OF the most eloquent speeches of the
present session of Congress, was that Of
Hon. Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, de.
livered in the House few days ago:
But "the Union as it was" is CATCH
word of the hour The Union as it was
when? When Washington, to suppress re.
bellion, sent into Western Pennsylvania ff.
teen thousand men, under command Of his
neighbor and friend, General Lce-Gon.
eral Lee, who, could he leave the abodes of
glory, would smite and coniound his traitor
sou? When Webster aud Clay rallied to
the support of Jackson, and sent treason,
whipped and abashed to his lair? When
Millard Fillmore, called to the account for
the disposition of his fleets in the harbor of
Charleston, replied that he was not respon-
sble for his official conduct to the Governor
of South Carolina? Or as it was in the
waxing and waning days of u later Admin
lstration when treason sat
- squat like II toad"
at the sonle ear Of executive power, and
hatched its mischevous plot in the very
corridors of the Presidential Mansion? As
it was in the day of glory and might, or as
it was in the night Of its weakness and
shame? As il was when strong, honest men
gave direction to its councils, or as it was
when turritude claimed and took prece
dence of decrepitule in the conduct of its
atfairsi For upon this inquiry must large
ly depend the real Significance of this rally
ing cry--whether it meant re establish
ment of the flag and re assertion of the
national authority over every rood of our
domains, or ifbut an empty formula, to be
Interpreted to suit any occasion.
The Union as it was, say, rather, the
Union a. it will be when, the Constitution
maintained in all its spirit and vigor, even
its very forms preserved inviolatc, peace
restored upon the basis of our iudivisibiity,
tho self protecting power of popular gov
ernment asserted, our multiplied millions
shall present to mankind an example of
Government mightier, freer, and happier
than the world has ever seen. Then will
be realized the conviction of u great Engli h
statesman, who rising above the mists of
prejudice and traditional enmity which have
beclouded so many of his countrymon, has
asserted the justice and hopefullness of our
cause, IN words contrasting most gratefully
with the ribaldry and cynicism by which we
have been so constantly assailed:
81 cannot myself believe in such fate
Detailing that fair land; stricken though it
now be by the hand Of war; cannot be
llevo that civilization in its journey with
the sun will sink into endless night to graf
ify the ambition Of the leaders of this re
volt, who seek to wade through slaughter
to throne, and shut the gates of mercy on
mankind. | have another and far bright
er vision before my gaze. 1t may be but q
vision, but will cherish it. see one vast
confederation from the frozen North, in one
unbroken line. to tho glowing South, and
from the wild pillows of the Atlantic to the
calmer waters of the Pacific main, and sec
one people and one law, and one language,
aud ono faith, and over all that wide cont
nent the home Of freedom and a refuge tor
the oppressed of every race. -