Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1863-03-20
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND. FRIDAY


confess, sir, that I apprehend no Difficult
ties or misfortunes in the event of sepa.
ration, at all commensurate with those
that must inevitably prove the sequences
of reunion by mere force Of arms.
can conceive two great republics ex.
banding to grandeur, moving side by side
upon principles almost identical, extend.
ing the area of self-government, the one
northward and westward, the other south
ward and westward, united for mutua
defence and protected by wise and &c.
nervous alliance from the jar Of conflicting
interests. | can conceive them gravitat.
ing toward each other, drawing nearer
and nearer as asperities and unpleasant
memories soften with the lapse of time,
until, when the safe and natural limits
of political affinity shall have been de-
termined, the two mighty nations shall
merge again into one upon a foundation
perfected by the experiences of the past.
But | cannot conceive happy, prosper
Gus, and republican union, cemented by
blood, re-moulded in repugnance, and
prolonged by the submission of the weak
to the dictation of the strong.
A partnership in our confedoracy
should be granted as a boon, and only to
those that seek it; not enforced as an OBJ
legation on those that ask it not 1t should
be held privilege to be proud of, not an
imposition to shrink from and protest
against. Were l certain that, in mill
tary sense, this war would prove success
full, nevertheless | would oppose it; for,
with the destruction of the resisting pow
er of the South, would vanish every hope
Of their existence as equal and contented
members of one household How much
more firmly then shall | oppose it, when
feel that as a mere trial for supremacy
in arms, it will result only in mutual cx-
haustion.
In my view, therefore, this war nomi-
nally for the Union, has actually been
waged against it. With that belief, Ia
Their than prolong it, would concede a
separation as the only means of an ulti-
mate reunion upon such principles as a
true republic should entertain Animosi-
ties have been engondered, and conflict
ing principles have been developed by
hostilities to an extent that renders re-
union in the present state Of feeling al
event to shrink from as unnatural Thos,
conflicting principles may be recoucileG
when the smoke Of battle Shall have pass.
ed away, but suYely not until then When
every conciliatory measure shall have
been resorted to in vain; when nogotia-
ton shall have been exhausted when
the purpose Of The Southern people to
abstain from political companionship with
us shall have been demonstrated as fixed
and irreyocable and not the passionate
resolves Of heated blood, then, as a ne
cessity useless to struggle against, / shall
not only counsel, shall urge a separa-
lion.
Sir, it is natural that for every patriot
this word separation should be fraught
with sorrow and foreboding 1t is hard
to realize the sundering of ties that We
have been taught to believe sacred and
eternal lie who beholds the shadow Of
death lowering above the scene of his
domestic joys-the husband bending over
the form of his dying wifo-thc father
gazing at the ashen sign Of dissolution
that marbles the lineaments Of bis favor
lite child, in his agony rebels against pro-
violence, But when the spirit has flown
when what is earthly has been consigned
to earth, and what is immortal has gone
to its immortal home, the mourner bows
before the will from which he knows that
there is no appeal. Let us likewise bend
before an memorable truth.
cannot measure the affection Of my
countrymen for the sublime inheritance
bequeathed to us; but know that there
dwells in my own breasta boundless love
and great pride for those principles
which the builders Of our nationality
made the arch-pllars Of their work ]
yearn toward the Union with an intensity
made only deeper by listening to the sol
emn tones Of its passing bell In my
childhood | was taught to love my coun-
try, and my manhood has made that sa-
cred lesson part Of my religion, a part
Of myself, an essence and a necessity in
all that is spiritual within mo 1t is not
that wild enthusiasm superficial
/ glow 50 readily fed by grandiloquence
and bonfres on Independence day; but
| it is steady and reasonable love, matured
by the conviction that benefcenoe, free
dom, and prosperity are the attributes,
and might be made the eternal accessories
Of our political institutions.
Here, sir, has been magnificent TEN.
/ pleas perfect in all It's parts os human
ingenuity and labor could make it--ad-
mirably suited to be the home Of a great
and happy family; impervious to the as
saulls Of foreign enemies the refuge Of
the oppressed the pride Of its inmates ;
the envy and wonder Of the world But
upon what foundation was%be structure
built? Sir, upon the free will Of the peo-
pie. Not Of one state or Of ono section
bat Of all The states and all the sections.
While that free will existed the temple
was Of a nature 10 withstand the ravages