Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1863-01-16

WILL advance power you cannot suhdue,
except at the cost of your own and your
country's ruin. With the objects an
nounced in this proclamation as the
avowed purposes of the war, the South
cannot be subdued, and ought not to be
subdned. Applause These men of
the South are blood Of our blood, and
bone Of our bone I; and | appeal to you,
men Of Illinois, to judge them by your
selves, and to answer what they will do
by detFmining what you would do under
Sfhe same circumstances, if in their places
4 Were the Federal government, or any
other power, tc advance its armies upon
this State, to desecrate our homes, de-
stroy our rights, and loosen among US
horde of savages to revel in the indis-
.criminate massacre of our decrepid men,
and our mothers, daughters, and wives,
we would meet his power with defiance
at the eastern border, burn every blade
'of grass upon cur prairies, make every
turf soldiers sepulcbre, and fight des-
perately to the end, until the last man in
the State should sink to his death in the
crimsoned torrent of the Mississippi on
the west. Long-continued applause. |
But, if the South could be subdued in
such war, our victory would be our de-
feat. Subdue her, and what will fol-
low? How will we hold her, and how
will we govern her?
Subdued to the purposes of this pro-
clamation, and the States are no longer
coequal stars in the republican galaxy,
but Its pale and dshonored satellites,
shedding forever throughout the system
a baleful and pestilential light,
To hold them as colonies involves a
change in our form of government. AS
it was originally formed, it is incapable
of holding colonial possessions. The ex.
istence of territorial government is
preparatory, and therefore only tempo
rary existence. 1t is one Of the stages
of transition to the condition of soyer
eign State, and is not, in its nature, the
government of dependent colony. If
the Federal authority is to be extended
to such dependencies, the Federal con-
stitutlon must be modified The modi-
fication Of the constitution demanded for
such an emergency would necessarily in
vest the Federal government with all the
political power which had been held by
those subjugated colonies before they
were reduced from the dignity of States.
With this vast increase of power in the
central government, with all the appli-
ances of the military authority required
to preserve peace in the colonies, keep
down instructions, and guard their peo-
pie, with an immense standing army, a
number of military governors, and count
less officials, to regulate and manage the
colonial governments-al to be appoint
ed by the Federal Executive, how long
would the States that have not been sub
jugated be able to maintain their dignity
and rights, and postpone the inevitable
result of absorption in a mighty central
lied military dcspotism Il
But would such vast powers in the Fe-
deral Executive be essential to the sue
cessful government of the subjugated
States? They would. You must govern
them as subjugated colonies, and hold
them by military power. History teaches
us the course of nature in people thus
subdued. Each generation will grow up
to seize in manhood the sword that fell
from the death-loosened grasp of the &C.
neration that preceded it, and insurrec-
tons and rebellions will become the re-
gular recurring experience of the nation.
Tell me, men Of Illinois, how long has
the American heart cherished its hatred I
Of England, begottcn i'll the struggle of
the Revolution J.? We conquered in that
great struggle and achieved our free
dom. Had we failed and been subject
ed to the rule Of England, and that
which we now regard as our greatest
glory been our ever present shame, -
would not our mothers, leading US in
childhood to the graves of our fathers,
and pointing from the place of the repose
of their bodies to that Of the repose of
heir souls, have sworn us, in the pre-
ience of the dead and of heaven, to re-
ieem the past aud avenge its wrongs ?
Immense applause Under this pro-
;lamation, when the President issues
hat which it promises, this will have be-
zone to the South as the war of the Re-
folution was to America May the be-
lefcent Providence that has so long
Watched over and guided this nation sus-
,end the visitation Of its wrath, and
each the Executive a wisdom and mo.
leration which will stay his hand from
hat most desperate act
Has Italy forgotten, or did she ever
orget and forgive, her subjugation by
Austria Does not the Hungarian, amid
he desolation Of his country, still watch
N the banks of the Danube for the com
ne Of the day when he may strike down
he dominion Of the Caesars and restore
be violated constitution Of his country
las Poland forgotten the wrongs long
asst, and is she quiet at the feet Of the
espots Of Europe? Has ireland en-
raced the English fetter with obsequi-
US loyei Tell nc, cxiled sons Of the
Evergreen Island why leap your
m ~ al ftto ,.~n0...t r. Al