Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-04-27

up the struggle, TO abandon the war, an
let treason run riot through tn
land / will, if I can, dismiss feelin
from my heart, and try to consider oni
what bears upon tie logic of the speecl
to which we have just listened.
First of all, the gentleman tells us tha
the right of secession is a constitutions
right. do not propose to enter into tn
argument. have expressed myself hith
erto upon State sovereignty and Stat
rights, of which this proposition OF his
the legitimate child.
But the gentleman takes higher GROUND
and in that l agree with him-namely
that FIVE million or eight million people
possess the right of revolution. Grant 1t
we agree there. If fifty-nine men cal
make revolution successful, they have th'
right of revolution. If one State wishe
to break its connection with the Fedora
Government. and does it by force main
tanning itself, it is an independent State
If the eleven Southern States are deter
mined and resolved to leave the Union
to secede, to revolutionize, and can main
tain that revolution by force, they have
the revolutionary right to do SO. Grant
it. | stand OH tkst platform with the
gentleman.
And now the question comes, is it oul
constitutional duty to let them do it 2
That Is the question, and in order to reach
1t | beg to call your attention, not To an
argument, but to the condition of affairs
which would result from such action
the mere statement of which becomes the
strongest possible argument. What does
| this gentleman proposef Where will he
draw the line of division? If the rebels
carry into successful accession what they
desire to carry. if their revolution envel-
ops as many States az they intend it
shall envelope, ifthey draw the line where
Isham G. Harris, the rebel Governor of
Tennessee. in the rebel camp near our
lines, told Mr.. Vallandigham they would
draw it-along the line of the Ohio and of
the Potomac-if they make good their
statement to him that they will never
consent 10 any other line, then ask what
is this thing that the gentleman proposed
to do?
He proposes to leaye to the United
States territory reaching from the AT
lsntic to the Pacific, and one hundred
miles wide in the centre! From Wells
vile on the Ohio river to Cleveland on the
lakes is one hundred miles. l ask you,
Mr.. Chairman. if there be man here so
insane as to suppose that the american
people will allow their magnificent ma
tional proportions to be shorn to so de-
formed a shape as this?
| tell you, and l confess it here, that
while hope have something of human
courage, ] have not enough to contem-
plate such a result | am not brave
enough to go to the brink of the preci-
pice of successful secession and look down
into its damned abyss If my vision were
keen enough to pierce to its bottom,
would not dare to look. If there be a
man here who dare contemplate such
scene, look upon him either as the bra
vest of the sons of woman, or as a down
right Madman. Secession to gain peace
Secession is the tocsin of eternal war
There can be no end to such war as will
be inaugurated if this thing be done.
Suppose the policy of the gentleman
were adopted to-day. Let the order go
forth sound the ''recalP on your bugles,
and let it ring from Texas to the far At
lantic, and tell the armies to come back.
Call the victorious legions back over the
battle fields of blood, forever now dis
graced. Call them back over the terrific
ry which they have conquered. Call them
back, and let the minions of secession
chase them with derision and jeers as
they come. And then tell them that that
man across the aisle from the free State of
Ohio, gave birth to the monstrous propo
sition
Mr.. Chairman, if such word should be
sent forth through the armies of the Un-
ion, the wave of terrible vengeance that
would sweep back over this land could
never find parallel in the records of his
tory. Almost in the moment Of final vic
tory the ''recalP is sounded by craven
people not deserving freedomi We ought
every man to be made slave should we
sanction such sentiment.
The gentleman has told us there is no
such thing as coercion justifable under
the Constitution. / ask him for one mo-
ment to reflect, that no statute ever was
enforced without coercion. 1t is the ba-
sis of every law in the universe-God's
law as well as mans. A law is no law
without coercion behind it. When a man
has murdered his brother, coercion takes
the murderer, tries him, and hangs him
When you levy your taxes, coercion Sc
cures their collection it follows the shad-
ow of the thief and brings him to justice;
it accompanies your diplomacy 10 foreign
courts, and backs the declaration of the
nations rights by pledge of the nations
power. But when the life of the nation
is imperiled we are told that it has no CO.
erciye power against the parricides in its
own bosom Again he tells US that osths
taken under the amnesty proclamation
are good for nothing. The oath of Gal
ileo, he says, was not binding upon him.
am reminded of another oath that was
taken; but perhaps it too is an oath on
the lips alone to which the heart made no
response.
/ remember to have stood in line of
nineteen men from Ohio on that carpet
yonder on the first day of the session, and
I remember that with uplifted hands be-
fore Almighty God those nineteen took
an oath to support and maintain the Con-
stitution of the United States. And re-
member that another oath was passed and
each member signed it as provided by
law, utterly repudiating the rebellion and
its pretenses. Does the gentleman not
blush to speak of Galileo's oath? Was
not his own its counterpart
He says the Union can never be restor-
cu DtCduSc vi l1ic ndlIca cAkCu-
dered by the war. To prove it he quotes
what some Southern man said few years
ago, that he knew no hatred between peo-
Piles in the world like that between the
North and South has been in one nation |
for eighty-eight years
Have we seen in this contest anything
more bitter than the wars of the Scottish |
border? Have we seen anything bitterer
than those terrible feuds in the days of |
Edward when England and Scotland were
the deadliest foes on earth And yet for !
centuries those countries have been ce-
mented in an indissoluble union that has |
made the British nation one of the proud !
est on EARTH
said little while ago that accepted
the proposition of the gentleman, that the
rebels had the right of revolution; and
the decisive issue between us and the re-