The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1864-04-22
back the boast FIRST uttered in behalf OF

back the boast FIRST uttered in behalf OF
my native State.
But sir, I will forget statcs. wo have
something greater than States and State
pride to talk of hore to-day. All personal
or State feeling aside, ask you what is the
proposition the enemy of bis country has
just mado? What is it.?
For the first tmo in the history of this
contest, IL is proposed in this Hail to give
up The struggle, to abandon the war. and
let treason run riot through tho lapdi I
Will. u can, dismiss feeling from my heart.
and try to consider only what bears upon
the logic of tho speech to which wo have
just listened.
| First of all, the gentleman tells US tina,
the right of secession is q constitutional
right l do not propose to enter into the
argument. have expressed myself hith
.erto upon State sovereignty and State
rights, of which this proposition of bis is
i the legitimate child.
But the gentleman takes higher ground
land in that agree with m-nsmely
that five million or eight million people
possess the right of revolution. Grant il (;
We agree there. If ffty.nino men can
make revolution successful. they havo the
right Of revolution. IL one State wishes 10
break its connection with the Federal Gov
eminent, and does IL by force maintaining
itself, 1t is an independent State. If. the
eleven southern States are determined and
resolved to leave tho Union, to secode, to
revolutiouize, and can maintain that revo-
luton by force, they have the revolutionary
right to do so. Grant il. / stand on that
, platform with the gentleman.
And now the question comes, 10 IL our
constitutional duty to let them do ID? That
: is the question, and in order TO reach il |
beg TO call your attention, not to an argu.
I ment, but to tho condition Of affairs which
would result. from such actiou-the mere
statement of which becomes the stroupes,
, possible argument. What does this gentle
man propose Where will ho draw the
line of division If tho rebels carry into
successful accession what they desire to car
ry, If thoir revolution envelops as man,
, States as :hey intend it shall envelop, !
they draw the line where Isbam G.. Harris
tho rebel Governor of Tennessee. in th,
rebel camp near our lines, told Mr.. Vallan
digham they would draw i.--along tho lin,
of the Ohio and of the Po.omac--ii the,
make good their statement to him that tho
will never consent TO any other line, then
ask what is this thing that the gentleman
proposes to do'
He proposes TO leave 10 the United State
territory reaching from the Atlantic to th
Pacific, and one hundred miles wide II
: the center From Wellsville on the Obi
e river 10 Cleveland on The lakes is on
u hundred miles. ask you, Mr.. Chairman
il there be man here SO insane as TO sup
! pose that the American people will ALLOW
their magnificent national proportions t.
be shorh 10 so deformed shape as this
! tell you, and l confess it here, tha
while hope / have something Of human
courage, l have not enough to coniem
plate such a result. am not brav
enough TO 60 TO the brink Of the .preci
pice Of successful secession and lool
down into IFS damned abyss. If my visiol
=, were keen enough to pierce TO lis bottom
l would not dare to look. II there be
It man here who dare contemplate such
o scene, | look upon him either as the brav
II est OF the sons Of woman or as down
. right man. Secession to gain peace J.
o Secession is the tocsin OF eternal wa,
There can be no end to such a war q
D will be inaugurated if this thing be done
Suppose the policy of the gentleman
were adopted to.day. lie. The order g
: forth; sound the "recalP' on your bugles
and let it ring from Texas TO the far At
!, lanlic, and tell the armies to come back
Call the victorious legions back owe
the battle fields OF blood, forever now dis
$ graced. Call them back over the territof,
!. which they conquered. Call them back
u and let the minions Of secession chas
them with derision & jeers as they com,
n And then tell them that the man acros
y the aisle, from the free State of Ohio
e gave birth 10 the monstrous proposition
II Mr.. Chairman, il such a word shoul
J, be sent forth through the armies OF th
!, Union, the wave Of terrible vengeanc
= that would sweep back over this land
could never find parallel In the record
5 Of history. Almost in the moment o
d final victory, the "recall'' is sounded b,
It craven people not deserving freedom
{. We ought every man to be made slave
y should we sanction such a sentiment.
g The gentleman has told us there is n,
such thing as coercion jus.ifabIs unde
8 the Constitution. ask him, for one mo
r ment, that no statute ever was enforced
: without coercion. 1t is the basis OF every
e law in the universe-God's law as wei
e as mans. A law is no law without coer
: cion behind i. When man has muir
a dered his brother, coercion takes tn
murderer, tries him, and hangs him.
When you levy your taxes, coercion Sc
3 cures their collection it follows th
A shadow OF the thief, and brings him t,
justice it accompanies your diplomacy L
foreign courts, and backs the declaration
/, OF the nations rights by pledge of th,
r nation s.power. But, when the life OF tn,
nation is imperiled. we are told that it hal
4, no coercive power against the parricide
>, in its own. bosom Again, he tells vi
, that oalhs taken under the amnesty proc
lamalion are good for nothing. The oatl
Of Calico, he says, was not binding upoI
J him. l am reminded of another oa,l
that was taken but perhaps it, too, wa
an oath on the lips alone, to which th,
heart made no response.
: remember to have stood In q line o
] nineteen men from Ohio on that carpe
yonder on the first day of the session, an,
[ remember that with uplifted hands besor
I Almighty God, those nineteen took an oat
to support and maintain the Constitution
of the United States. And / remember tha
another oath was passed around, and eacl
) member signed it as provided by Law, utter
ty reondiattpp the rebellion and its pre