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

| the more periect Union" OF 1897. Stronger
yet than all these, perhaps, but made up of all
ct them, was common interest. Variety of
climate and soil and therefore of production,
implying also extent of country, is not an elc-
naent of separation, bat, added to contiguity,
becomes a part of the ligament Of interest,
and is one of its touehest strands. Variety OF
! production is the parent of the earliest COM
atrstls.-Af f,lllde-
! yelopsnent, are, as between fureign nations,
hostages Tor peace; and between States and
| people united, they are the frmest bonds OF
| Union But. after all, the strongest of the
many original impelling causes to the Union,
was the securing of domestic tranquility. The
statesmen of 1857 well knew that between
thirteen independent but contiguous States
without a natural boundary, and with nothing
to separate them except the machinery of SIM
/ liar governments, there must be a perpetual.
in fact an eirrepressibe conflict OF inrisdic.
tion and interest, which, there being no other
common arbiter, could only be terminated by
the conflict of the sword. And the statesmen
of 1862 ought to know that two or more con-
federate governments, made up of similar
States, having no natural boundary either, and
separated only by different governments, eau
not endure long together in peace, unless one
or more Of them be either too pusillanimous
for rivalry, or too insignificant to provoke it,
or too weak to resist aggression.
These. sir, along with the establishment of
justice, and the securing of the general vel
fare, and of the blessings of liberty to them
selves and their prosperity, made up the causes
| and motives which impellcd our fathers to the
Union at first.
And now, sir, what ono of them is wantingl
What one diminishedS On the contrary,
many of them are stronger to-day than in the
beginning. Migration and intermarriage have
kf,ak o<,c
merce, trade, and production have immensely
multiplied. Cotton, almost unknown here in
1887, is. now the chief product and export of
the country. It has set in motion three
fourths of the spindlcs of New England, and
given employment, directly or remotely, to
full half the shipping, trade, and commerce
of tho United States. More than that: cot
ton has kept the peace between England and
America for thirty years; and had the people
of the North been as wise and practical as the
statesmen of Great Bri ain, It would have
maintained Union and peace here. But VIC
are being taught in our FIRST century and at
our own cost, the lessons which England learn
ed through the long and bloody experience of
eight hundred years. We shall be wiser next
time. Let not cotton be king, but peacema
ker, and inherit the blessing.
A common interest, then, still remains to
rs. And union for the common defense, at
e-eud OF ttts WIT, taxed; fndgbrcu, Empower.
ishcd, exhausted, both sections must be,
and With foreign fleets ure armies around us,
will be ffty-fold more essential than ever be-
fore. And finally, sir, without uuion, cur do
mestio tranquility must forever remain unset
tied. IF it cannot be maintained within the
Union, how then outside of it, without an ex-
odus or colonization of the people of one sec
tion or the other to distant country ?? Sir,
repeat that two governments so iDterlinled
and boand together every way by physical
and social ligaments, canrct exist In peace
"'':...lout a common arbiter. Will treaties bud
us /? What better treaty than the Constitu-
tution2 What more solemn, more durable !?
Shall we settle our disputes, then, by arbitra-
tion and compromise Sir, let us arbitrate
and compromise now, inside of the Union
Certainly it will be quite as easy
And now, sir, to all these original causes
and motives which impelled to union at first,
must be added certain artificial ligaments,
which eighty years of association under COM
mon Government must have most fully devel-
oped. Chief among these are canals, steam
navigation, railroads, express oHpanies, the
post Office, the newspaper press, and that terri
Bile agent of good and evil mixed--"spirit of
health, ard yet goblin damned'--if free, the
gentlest minister of truth and liberty; when
enslavcd, the supplest instrument of falschuod
and tyranny-the magnetic telegraph. All
these have multiplied the speed or the quanti-
ty of trade, travel, CON munication, migration,
and intercourse of all kinds between the diff
ferent States and sections and thus, SO long
as healthy condition of the body-poiitic con-
tinued, they became powerful cementing agen-
oies of union. This numerous voluntary asso-
Citations, artistic, literary, charitable, social,
and scientific, until corrupted and made fanat-
ical tie various ecclesiastical organizations,
until they divided and the political parties,
30 long as they remained all national and not
sectional, were also among the strong ties
which bound us together. And yet all of
these, perverted and abused for some years in
tho hands of bad or fanatical men, became
still mpro powerful instrpmeptalities in the ia
tai work of disupion just as the veins and
arteries af thP human body, Designed to ean-
vey the yitalizing fluid through every part of
it, viii carry also, and with incrcased rapidity
it may be, the subtle poison which takes life
away. Nor is this all. 1t was through their
agency that the imprisoned winds of civil war
were al let loose at first with such sudden and
appalling fury; and, kept in molten by politi-
cal power, they have ministered to that fury
yer since. But, potent alike for good and
evil, they may yet, under tho control of the,
People, and in the hands of wise, good, and
patriotic men, be made the most effective
dSeHcfes. uuucl IofIutuoS, III tuo AS untoh VI
these States
Other ties also, less material in their nature,
but hardly less persuasive in their influence,
have grown up under the Union. Long asso-
citation, commen history, national reputation,
treaties and diplomatic intercourse abroad, ad-
mission of new States, common jurispyu-
dence, great men whose names and fame are
the patrimony of the whole country, patriotic,
music and songs, common battle fields, and
glory won under the same flag. These make
up the poetry of Onion and yet, as in the
marriage relation, and the family with similar
influences, they are stronger than hooks of
steeL He was wise statesman, though he
may never have held an Office, who said, Let
me write the songs of people, and I care
not who makes heir laws.n Why is the Mar
seillaise prohibited in France Sir, Hail Co.
lumbia aud the Star Spangled Banner-Penn-
sylvania gave us one, and Maryland the other
=