The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-02-04

that great watershed itself, extending 10 fNoI-
folk, and, therefore, almost to the North Caro-
lima Inns, does belong, and must ever belong
in common to the central and southern States;
under one Government; CT else the line of sep
~aaration Will be the Potomac to its head waters.
All of Delaware and Maryland, and the coun-
ties of Accomac and Northampton, in Virgin
Ia, would, in that event, follow the fortunes OF
TIC northern confodcracy. In fact, sir, disa-
grceable as the idea may be to many within
their limits on both sides, no man who looks at
tho map and then reflects upon history and
the force of natural causes, and considers the
present actual and the future probable position
OF the hostile armies and nayics at tho end OF
the war, ought for a moment to doubt that
either the States and counties which l have
named must go with the North, or Pcnnsylva-
MIA and New Jersey with the South. Militia
Try force ca either side cannot control the des-
tiny of the States lying between the mouth of
the Chesapeake and the Hudson. And if THAT
bay we're itself made the line, Delaware, and
the Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia,
would belong to the North; whisc Norfolk, the
Only capacious harbor on the southeastern
coast, must be commanded by the guns of
some new fortress upon Cape Charles, aud Bal
tinore, the now qucenly city, seated then upon
the very boundary of two rival, yes, hostile,
confcdcracics, weald rapidly fall into decay
And now, sir, I will not ask whether the
Northwest can consent to-seParation from the
South. Never. Nature forbids. We are only
"a part of the great valley of the Mississippi.
Thereisns-4fne Of 1atitue npon which to sepa-
rato. Neither party would desire the old line
of $50 so on both sides of The river; and there
is no natural bot ndary east and west. The
nearest to it are the Ohio and Missouri rivers
But that line would leave Cincinnati and st.
Louis, as border cities, like Baltimore, to de-
| cay, and, extending fifteen hundred miles in
length, would become the scene of an eternal
4border warfare without example even IN the
worst Of times. Sir, we cannot, ought not,
will not, separate from the South. And if
you of the East who have found this war e
gainst the South aud for the negro, gratifying
to your hate OF profitable to your purse, will
tcontiuuc It till a SEP ~aratiou be forced betwoen
tie slavehofding and your non-slaveholding
!, Slater, then, believe me, and accept it, as you
did not the other solemn warnings of years
past, the day uhich diyides the North from the
South, that scJ.sanrc day DEGREES eternal d.
) rorce Jet,ccen the West and tie East.
Sir, our destiny is fixed. There is not one
drop Of rain which descending from the hcav-
ems. and fcrtiiizing our soff, causes it to yield
I an abundant harvest, but flows iato the Mis-
: sissippi, and there. mingling with the waters
J of that mighty river, finds IT'S way, at last, to
= the Gulf of Mexico. And we must and will
follow it with travel and trade, not by treaty
: but by right, freely, Peaccably, and without
restriction or tribute, under the same Govern
: ment and flag, to its home In the bosom of
that Gulf. Sir, We will not remain after scpa.
= ration from the South, a province CT appen-
y dage CT tie East, to bear her burdens and pay
= her taxes; nor hemmed in and isolated as we
!, are, and without a sea-coast, could we long
9 remain a distinct confederacy. But wherever
we 60, married to the South or the East, we
bring with us three fourths of the territories
e of that valley to the Rocky mountains, and / il
may be to the Pacifc-the grandest and mos!
: magnificent doHry that bride ever had to be-
stow.
Then, sir, New England, freed at last from
the domination of her sophistcrs, dreamers
5 and bigots, and restored to the control once
. mere of her former liberal, tolerant, and con-
: sentative civilization, will not stand in the
way of the reunion of these States upon the
! terms of fair and honorable adjustment. And
; in this great work the central free and border
slave States, too, will unite heart and hand
I To the West, it is a necessity, and she de-
j lnands it. And let not the States now called
!, confederate insist upon separation and indie.
q pendence. What did they demand at Hrst7
{ Security against abolitienism within the Union.
Protection from Hthe irrcpressible conflict
and tho domination of the absolute numerical
majority. A change CT public opinian, and
7 consequently. of Political parties in the North
g and West, SO that their local institutions and
d domestic peace should no longer be endanger-
s ed. And, now, sir, after two years of persist
u ent and most gigantic effort on the part of this
Administration to compel thom to submit, but
? with utter and signal failure, the people of tie
I free States are now or are fast becoming salts
fed that the price Of the Union is the utter
; suppression of abolitionism or anti slavery as a
political element, and the complete subordina-
: tion of the spirit of fanaticism and informed.
!, ding which gave it birth. In any event,
. they are ready now, if 1 have not greatly mis-
} read the signs of. the times, to return to the
/, old constitutional and actual basis of ffty
= years ago-three 6fths rule of representation
= speedy return of f~ugitiyes from labor, equal
: rights in the Territories, no more slavery agi-
. tation anywhere, and transit and temporary
: sojourn with slaves, without molestation, in the
= free States. Without all these there could be
/; neither peace or. permanence to a restored
: union of States ''part slave and part free
:. With it, the South, in addition to all the other
great and multiplied benefits of union, would
be far more secure in her slave property, her
!, domestic institutions, than under a separate
| government. So, let no man North or West,
!. tell me that this would pcrpetuatc African sla-
very. know it. But SO does the Constitu.
!, ton. I repeat, sir. it is the price of the Union.
Whoever hates negro slavery more than he
loves the Union, must demand separation at
: last. / think that you can never abolish sla-
y = very by fighting Certainly you never can
a : till you have first destroyed the South, and
= then, in the language, first of Mr.. Douglas
and afterwards of Mr.. Seward, converted this
Government into an imperial despotism.-
, And, sir, whenever I am forced to a choice
! between the loss to my own country and race,
: of personal and political liberty with all its
blessings, and the involuntary domestic seryi.
tude of the negro, 1 shall not hesitate one mo-
mcnt to choose the latter alternative. Che
: sole question to-day is between the Union
with slavery, or final disunion, and, I think,
; anarchy and despotism. 1 am for the Union.
1t was good enough for my fathers. It is
good enough for us and our children after u.
Z And, sir, let no man in the South tell me
z that she has been invaded, and that all the
. horrors implied in those most terrible words
y all rar hara ham r;e;kod ...o. L. H.