Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-02-10

There can be no such thing as peaceable Sc
cession Peaoeabla secession is an utter
impossibility. Is the great Constitution IN
der which we live, covering this whole
country, is it to be thawed and melted
away by secession, as the SHOWS on the
mountain melt under the in
fuence of the vernal sum- disappear
almost unobserved, and run off? No, sir!
No, sir! l will net state what might pro-
duce the disruption OF the Union but sir,
I see IS plainly as / see the sun in heaven
what disruption itself must produce see
that it must produce war, and such war as
7 viii not describe, IN its tao, fold character!
Peaceable secession Peaoesble seces-
sion! The concurrent agreement Of all
the members of this great republic
to separate A voluntary separation, with
alimony on one side and on the other. Why,
what would be the result? Where is the
line to be drawn? What States are to So
cede? What is to remain Americanr What
am I to be? An American no longer? Am
1 to become sectional man, q local man, a
seperatist, with no country in common with
the gentlemen who sit around me here, or
who fill the other House of Congress?
Heaven forbid Where is the flag of the
republic to remain? Where is the eagle
still to tower? or is it to cover, and shrink,
and fall to the ground? Why, sir, our an
cestors, our fathers and our grandfathers,
those of them that are yet living amongst US
with prolonged lives, would rebuke
and reproach us; and our children and
our grandchildren would cry our shame up
on us, if we of this generation should dis
honor these ensigns of the power of the
government and the harmony Of that
Union which is every day felt
among us with SO much joy and gratitude.
What is to become of the army? What is
to become of the navy? What is to become
of the public lands How is each of the
thirty States to defend itself7 l know, al
though the idea has not been stated distinct
ly, there is to be, or it is supposed possible
that there will be, Southern Confederacy.
1 do not mean, when 1 allude to
this statement, that any one Sc
riously contemplates such state of
things. l do not mean to say that it is
true, but l have heard it suggested else
where, that the idea has been entertained,
that, after the dissolution of this Union,
Southern Confederacy might be formed. 1
am sorry, sir, that it has ever been thought
of, talked of, or dreamed of, in the widest
flights of human imagination. But the
idea, 80 far as it exists, must be of separa-
ton, assigning the slave States to one
side and the free States to the other.
Sir, 1 may express myself too strongly, per-
haps, but these are impossibilities in the
natural as well as in the physical world, and
l hold the idea of a separation of these
| States, those that are free to form one gov
eminent, and those that are slave-holding
to form another, as such an impossibility.
We could not separate the States by any
| such line, if we were to draw it. We could
not sit down here to-day and draw line of
separation that would satisfy any five men
in the country. There are natural causes
| that would keep and tie us together, and
there are social and domestic regulations
which we could not break if we would, and
which we should not if we could.
Sir, nobody can look over the face of this
country at the present moment, nobody can
| see where its population is the most dense
and growing, without being ready to admit,
and compelled to admit, that ere long
the strength of America will be in the
Valley of the Mississippi. Well, now, Sir,
beg to inquire what the widest enthus-
! last has to say on the possibility Of cutting
that river in two, and leaving free States
/ at its source and on its branches, and slave
/ States down near its mouth, each forming
| separate government? Pray, sir, let NE say
to the people of this country, that these
their consideration. Here, sir, are nve mil
\ lion of treemen IN the free States north of
! the Chic River. Can anybody suppose that
this population can be severed by line
| that divides them from the ter
| ritory OF foreign and an alien government,
| down somewhere, the Lord knows where,
| upon the lower banks of the Mississippi /?
! What would become of Missouri? VIII she
| JOIN the reimbursement OF the slave States :?
! Shall the man from the Yellow Stone and
/ the Platte be connected IN the new republic,
| with the man who lives on the southern ex-
tremity of the cape of Florida? Sir, am
ashamed to pursue this line of remark 1
dislike it, l have an utter disgust
for it. l would rather hear of
natural blasts and miidews, war,
pestilence and famine, than to hear gentle
| men talk of secession. To break up this
great government; to dismember this glo-
rlous country to astonish Europe with an
act OF folly such as Europe for two Gen.
turles has never beheld in any government
or any people! No, sir! 10, sir! There
will be no secession! Gentlemen are not
serious when they talk of secession.
Sir, hear there is to be convention
held at Nashville. I am bound to believe
that, If worthy gentlemen meet at
Nashville In convention, their object will be
to adopt coneiiatory counsels; to advise
the South to forbearance and moderation
and to advise the North to forbearance and
moderation; and to inculcate principles of
brotherly love and affection and attachment
to the Constitution of the country as it now
is. believe, if the convention meet at all,
1t will be for this purpose; for, certainly, if
they meet for any other purpose hostile
to the Union, they have been singu-
larly inappropriate in their selection
of place. remember, Sir, that when the
treaty of Amiens was concluded between
France and England, sturdy Engishman
and a distinguished orator, who regarded
the condition of the place as ignominous to
England, said in the House of Commons, that
if King William could know the terms of
the treaty, he would turn in his coffin Let
me commend this saying of Mr.. Windham,
in all its emphasis and in all its place, to
any persons who shall meet at Nashville for
the purpose of concerning measures for the
overflow of this Union over the bones of
/ Andrew jackson ~