The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-12-14

! Tor their citizens and their institutions
rho South was content TO ask no NOR
than the right OF ingress into part Of
one-half of the Territories for her citi
xens and their property. The South said
| lyon blame us for effacing from tho
| statute book the dead letter OF the Mis-
! souri Compromise; very well then, we vii
| restore that letter In form which you have
so Invariably repudiated in fact. Lawless
as we deem &, for the sake Of the Union
| we will seek TO make II lawful by con-
| sent" and the offer was disdained. The
| answer 10 the peace conference was the
| Neet OF war dispatched TO Charleston
! the proclamation OF the 18th OF April 1851
| tho transfer OF the construction OF the
Constitution from the bench TO the bayo-
! net. the silence OF the laws by the arms
Of the United States. Not until the COM
pact OF the Constitution was shattered
beyond the reach Of surgery by the sum-
mons Of the North TO armed war against
the South did Virginia declare that an
order OF things outside the Constitution"
was no compact for her. That Union OF the
purse and sword. which was the theme
OF such impassioned defamation az the
North when the object was to divide the
South against Andrew Jackson. was well
coined with avidity, wher the object was
not the protection Of a bank. but only
the overthrow Of every Commonwealth
Of the South. 1t was elsewhere than in
Virginia that the value Of the Union had
heretofore been computed IL was with
the secession OF New England that Ham
Hton threatened jefferson unless the debts
OF the States were assumed by the Cen
eral Government. The purchase and adj
mission Of Louisiana were held to justify
the secession of New England, and for
- 4.
any new State into the Union altered the
Federal compact TO which the Common
wealths of New England had acceded
by altering their relative weight therein.
The embargo, the Non-Intercourse act
and the hOstilities with Great Britain
were deemed a juStifiable ground for a
dissolution of the Union, and the Hart
ford Nation" which assembled in Con-
gress to draw the necessary papers, was
only restrained by that glory Of New
Orleans, which was a victory over New
England quite as much as over old Eng
land The annexation of Texas was con-
sdered a ground for separation OF the
States, and for reasons which were once
more based on the federatiye character
Of the Union and the alteration OF the
relative Importance of its members On
he list Of February, 1870. Mr. Hale offered |
IN the Senate a petition and resolutions, |
asking that body TO devise, without de- |
ay, some plan for the immediate peace |
'ul dissolution Of the American Union" |
And Chase 'and Seward voted for its |
reception. It was New England who |
aught us the memorable words. "amica-
,ly If we can, violently If we must"
And what were the invasions which
he could not stand without the
hreat and preparation Of disunion? The
f free government and gave the Missis-
ippi 10 us to be our inland sea and
iediterranean of commerce. And Nir-
mia? When. for the first time. did she
ecoil, with just and natural horror, from
he fate which was prepared for her?
lot until she had no other alternative
han to make good her right to free gov
rnment out Of the Union, or to sub
1T to freedom and a dagger" in It.
ike the desert bird who "unlocks her
wn breast" to satisfy her offspring.
irglnia had partitioned and repartitioned
er own territory TO feed the Union" and
lis was her reward! That enemies and
ccusers, who had counted so critically
lie profit Of the Union; who at every
ep Of its progress had weighed so nicely ,
S commercial value; who had shouted so
udly that unless it was a Union which {
as profitable 1t was no Union for them;
lat they who had been preaching and
'acticing disunion ever since there had }
zen a Union; that they should have been s
e execuuoners Of the State which had 7
rived it best and loved IT most was the
Irious revenge Of time.
virginia's stand. |
Virginia then took her stand against +
e prostration OF every guaranty Of the a
nd ha
row of the terms upon which alone I
e had acceded to It. That she honestly \
ought this her enemies concede; that Z
e justly thought, and so far as the Z
gument of reason IS concerned, incOn- /,
Dvertably thought IT, history will finally n
termine. The South has not to plead !
.e a culprlt before the world. II was =
e name and not the truth of freedom /,
lich was victorious against us. / await q
tn confidence the final verdict, beca.se G,
an abiding faith that every appearance h
to reality as the gOurd to the oak -,
Virginia stood for the liberation OF a
lde; for free association with the world. -
r better than all anti-slavery agitation "
is this agency to unbnd the letters ~
mankind. She took her stand agai ST ~
e blind egOtism and narrow self-su fiji -
ncy, which would isolate each com ~
unity from every other and tear asun- ~
all the bands Of sympathy wherewith H.
ture Joins the populations of the earth: az
herewith and whereby nature fortifes IN
1t mind OF man which is never strong te
It's single strength. l will not confine Ell
S idea by my own poor words, but ne
e II rather in the words of New Eng OF
i'd, speaking through the lips of the pr
rest champion of her cause-one might tn
: It's conscience: Free trader exclaim- co
Or. Charming, this is the plain duty dt
plain Interest Of the human race. To W;
Ell all barriers TO free exchange; to M
up the system of restriction, root and to
men; TO open every court on earth so
every province-this Is the Office of be
iShtened humanity. To this a free ma TIC
should especially pledge itself Free da
n Of the seas; freedom of harbors. and sh
ercourse Of nations free as the winds: /
is not dream Of phianthropists. icl
are TENDING towards 1t, and let us tn,
ten it. Under wiser and more Chris Ter
civilization, we shall look back on ch
present restrictions as we do on the fro
adding bands by which I'm darker sh,
es the human body was compressed HE
growing freedom of trade is another viz
glorious illustration of the tendency ri,
our age to universality" Virginia stt
ID for the Federal Union; a Union as far
name imports, which is created bv 6@l
'ty ana reposes on the terms of that ton
n.y. An involuntary Federal Union-a am
eral Union extorted by force-is a NV,
cism. Every Government, # is said. 90
lld contain within itself the means nh
Its own preservation; therefore. a 49,,
eral Union should contain the means go
preserving the only basis Of federation sta
nights OF the component States. A o.
eral Union which could readily he W
,ided with means 80 a. "o , DC dea
"A linton 81 en- So. 80 o"n ues.ruc- der
! an Ingredient, seemed to provide for -. 80"
own Hpef rIiofi0n Y,hn ,,ra - - nIo