Year: 1861

grave apprehensions. may never be drawn


around ou while this government retains
! its.integrity and its power; but those once


broken, that which you 50 much dread,


sooner or later will surely come to pass


Sooner or later; for sooner or later the


question must rbc put to the arbitrament
! of arms; and what is your ability to cope


with the united and constantly ly .reinvigera-
] ted North? We are strong and rich you,


comparatively weak and poor. We, though


not so impetuous, are as brave as you are.


for We are one people and have fought side


BY side, and know each other. But we


Lave one element Of strength besides our


population, our wealth and our diffused


Intelligence. whiyh you would do well to
! take into serious consideration before you


enter upon this struggle; We can afford to


lose twenty battles, and come to the twen-
ty.EFst in greater force than at the first;


but what becomes of you and your wives


aud your daughters if your slaves see you


defeated in single one2 Have any Of
you heard your mothers tell how they found


themselves parceled out amoug the leaders


in the great projected rising which was s.


nearly successful about forty years ago? g.


i You. say that we of the North hate you.


True, you have L'one your best by word


and deed to do away all love between Us,


and you have provOaed very few-not a


handfull-to speak too harshly. and un-
charitably of you But this is all that
your peevishness and violence have been
able to accomplish We do not love slave
ry; and yet for the sake of peace with you,
for the sake of our common country, and
in loyal observance of constitutional obliga-
tion. We give you back your es'caped slaves.
at whatever cost. Nay. although we will
not allow you to take advanta &c OF your
own wrong. and make the emergency which
you have brought upon yourselves by CIV
ing the Rei ubliean- party which has catsed
the ignorant creatures around you tC' ex-
peet, in their poor, dumb way. black re
public upon the success of that party; Ye.t.,
if the frightful calamity which you appre-
hend were really to threaten you, the North
Republicans we believe and
all-FoAld, in spite ofall that you have
said and done, 90 down tomorrow, if nced
were. to your suceor. We are ready to Sc
cure to you by constitutional provision, if
you deem it necessary. the absolute control
of your State institutions in perpetuity,
nay be the cresd, the sentiments,
and the numbers of your non-slaveholding
fellew-citizens. Those shall be made, if
they arc not now. inviolable; but as to the
territory, is it unconstitutional
or unreasonable that all citizcnS. of all
quarters, should be required to submit to
the common viii as expressed through the
Legislature? ,r


Here, then, is the case. Cease your
efforts to destroy this government; remain
true to your allegiance those of you who
have not yet forfeited it; return to it, those
who have; seek redress for your grievances,
real or fancicd in mode consistent with
the Constitution which you helped to frame.


in the Legislative body. in which you have
SO poweraful voice. or at the supreme
tribunal to which you have consented to
refer all questions of your dignity or your
interest, and your safety will he secured,
property protected, your prosperity be
placed in your own hands. ard your hon
or be left untarnished. But keep on in the
career in which some of you have started,
ind IN ono event. you meet either dishon-
)rable defeat VIII ch brings untold of hOr-
rors in its train. or, in the other, you win
,nly the destruction of that prosperity, and
the loss of that position which have accru-
d to you as an integral part of this repub-
ic. As you stand now. disaster threatens
7ou on either side; but we vii! stretch out
o you the open hand Of fellow-eitizens
md brothers. We beseech yOa, by the
memory of our common struggle and our
common glory, in the name of kindred and
humanity, do not compel US change our at
itHde and close it. n z51s17 ~. s1