Book S" V as ■ NOH^' AIVI> THEi\. OF THE HON. CHARLES H. VAN WYCK. UPON THE REPORT OF THF. COMMITTEE OF THIRTY-THREE CPON THE STATE OF THE UNION /.^■.^^ DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVKR, JANUARY 29, 1861. Mr. VAN WYCK. This week compIetes{| Why, with no greater cau?e of complaint, the nineteenth nnniversaiy of one of thej [were your people then so .strongly attached most exciting scenes witnessed in the Ame-jlto the Union ? Why did you tlien deny the rican Congress. Ou the 25th day of Janua-, [power in Congress or the'States to dissolve ry, 1842, John Quincy Adams introduced; it ? If the Union was an indissoluble bond the petition of forty-five citizens of Haver-ilthen, why not now? hill, Massachusetts, praying for a peaceful* j The position we occupy on the slavery dissolution of the United States. Desiring! [question, and the policy of the Government that the right of petition should be recog-ljas to the Territories, is the same held by the nized, he moved its reference to a committee,! jfather.s of the Republic, nearly all the states- with instructions to report against its pray-jimen of the South, and the Democratic party er. He, with nearly the entire North andiidown to 1848. Because we entertain those South, M'ere opposed to dissolution. For aiyiews and believe in that policy, and for no t\'w years previous to that time, by rea.^onj other reason, political incendiaries would of the excitement with England and her co- htrample upon the flag and burn the temple lonies, and other causes, the slavery agita-ijof freedom. tion was deeper and more intense than ati. On the question of dissolution we now any period in the history of our country. jjstand where the people of the South and the The very men who then could not find wordsi'Deraocratic party stood in 1842. Shall we sufficiently strong to anathematise those theyi now hesitate to stand like men where they called traitors, now seem to be courting a|, proudly stood? And if fall we must, will it traitor's doom, and madly rioting in a trai-|]not be'some consolation to fall amid such tor's saturnalia. The folly of Abolitionistsj '.splendid ruins, because it will be amid the did not force the South into treason against; | wreck of your father's policy and your own God and man. Efforts were then being madej we will be ingulfed? The "Abolitionists of to abolish slavery in the dock-yards, arse-||the North claimed to be oppressed in 1842 uals, and District of Columbia. Personal! jbecause Congress had spurned the right of liberty bills existed in many of the States -'petition. Did you propose a great national New York had passed one in 1840. Henry|jCoramittee to bargain a truce with traitors A. Wise then predicted, with as much hope|!by a barter and betrayal of principle? To of l*ulfillment as most of your prophesies at some of the men who are now reeking with this time, that in ten years a black Repre-, treason and conspiring against the freedom sentfltive would appear in the National Leg-jlof man, a reference to their past acts and islature. All the evils which you now la-jideclarations might bo of profit, ment existed, then, and the permanency of [ When the petition referred to was present- vour institutions in more jeopardy. Sinceiied, Mr. Hopkins, of Virginia, asked "If jt that time, Florida has been added to the ga-|jwas in order to burn the petition in presence laxy; Texas has been bought and acquired! jof the House." and surrendered to slavery; California was j Mr. Wise, of Virginia, asked " If it was in obtained, and the Constitutioa of a sover-; 'order to move to censure any member pre- eign people placed on her mountains and! 'senting such a petition? and to move that the valleys the royal robe of free labor, andiHouse do now proceed to inquire whether a planted on her brow the diadem of liberty ;' member has offered such a petition to this New Mexico has been acquired, and that im-;!boily, and to proceed accordingly." raense Territory, larger than the original! mV. .Merriwether, of Georgia, "Did not thirteen States, you have been siifl'ered toHthink that such a petition should be allowed dedicate to the " peculiar institution."! jto come within the walls of this House.'' Three-fourths of the territory acquired sincei I Mr. Campbell, of South Carolina, "Did 1842 has been surrendered to slavery; and! not think that a petition of such a character filave property has been steadily increasing should be thus lightly pased over." in numbers and value. In 1850, a morej| Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, resolved ; stringent slave law was given to appeaseli ,,„, . . • . , ., . vour B-rowinp- dpmiind<3 i "That, in presoutmg to the coneiJeration uf this %uur growing aeraanos. House a petition for a diseolutioi. of the Union, the d X z incmtoi horn MosuftcliOPetts-iMr. Adutiis) han juKtl.y iiicuricil thu cinsuri' of tliis House.'' ' l Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky, moved tho fnl-; lowing resohition : " Whereas the Fftlcial Con&titiitiMii is a }■!•}■ inaiimt form of Qoviirnmont and ot pcrptiuat oblii^iitii.ii, \mtil altered or modified in the mode pointed out in that in-j strument." * * '• A proposition, there-! fore, to dissolve the organie hiw. is si direct proposition' to each member to commit perjury, and involven tbei crime of liigh treason:" * . * '• is nl wound at the Constitution, the existence of th6 coiin-j try. and the liberties of tho people of these Stiitcs." I "It struck him with horror, it stupified him; he had not Ijclieved it possible that there could be men wild enough in the coun-l try, and viad ejwiijjh, to make .1 proposition^ that the Government of the United States, should terminate its own existence, and then! to submit it to the members of that House,} inviting them to conntiit perjury or raorali treason.'' "Coining from any quarter, iti was sacrilege. The Union was the only means of safety and liberty." Mr. Wise asked for a voice from the tombs, ^ that the Farewell Address of Washingtoi)| might be heard. After extracts were read, | he said, " that the anti-slavery party was! against the Government; was an English! party. Yes, while the English Aliolitionists! were moving on Jamaica, and coiiteraplatingi to make their next demonstration on Cuba;' while thev were establishing lines of a com- mercial marine, connecting England and the "West Indies with this country, and thus; opening the way for a uiilitary marine toj follow, which, at the first sound of the toc-| sin, would pour in armies of trained freej blacks upon the whole South, this proposi-! tion to dissolve the Union was siinullane-i ously brought forward.'' Can any ardent^ southerner present so formidalile a list of: grievances now ? " .'\nd how hapi)ens it' that men, who held these sentiments, should; be found bringing forward Tory plans fon upturning the (jovernnient ?'' "It was a, I'ritish abolition disunion party." Speak- ing of Mr. Adams's motion to report against the petition, he adds: "What did that amount to? No more than this, that it was not ex- pedient to dissolve the Union just at this time ; not yet; not now. They had not yet lost all their love for that Union recom- mended by the Father of their Country. " '■ This very ex-President was the very man Ck-ho, for the first time, invited the Congress of the United States to receive, discuss, de-! liberate upon, a proposition to break thej union of the States. It pointed to that which, should God spare his life, he expect- ed to witness before ten years passed over his head — the election of a black Represen- tative to a seat on that floor. English in- fluence at home and abroad w;;s in league to dissolve this Union." " Go on ; you shall have your reward. Go on with this, your moral treason, and carry it so far as to come ^vithin Chief .Tu-tiee Miir>hairs decision in Burr's case; and you shall get your homp. |There were no dissolutionists in his section of the country. If they dared to show their ifaces in his section, they would meet with a very speedy and a ytvy summary disposal." :So spoke Henry A. Wise, now (nie of the ileader? of this organized armed rebellion. I Mr. Underwood, of Kentucky, said : "They jhad no right to dissolve this Union ; but were jbound to sustain it. IJecause ^e knew that :to dissolve the bonds of this Union, and se- 'paratc the difTerent States composing this Confederacy, making the Ohio river the line, and Mason and Dixon's line the boundary, he knew, as soon as that was done, slavery was done in Kentucky, Maryland, and a large- portion of "Virginia, and it would extend to !all the States south of this line. The dis- jsolution of the Union was the dissolution of jslavery." Mr. Botts, in his remarks, stated that a similar resolution, some three or four years ago, was prepared by a member from South iCarolina. Mr. William Butler, of that State', 'desired to know to whom he referred ; he [replied Mr. Rhett. Mr. Rhett then disclaim- |ed any serious intention in the resolution, Ithat " he only proposed it as an amendment jto a proposition to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; that he bad no ex- pectation of passing it or taking a vote on !it." • South Carolina talks very much of status i9«o just now. What was her status quo \n J1812? I Mr. .Marshall further said : "You maydis- isolve — God in his mercy forfend that you ever should. But you will never do it but by force. Never! Never!" "Will they tell the American people that the people of |Massachusetts have a right to dissolve their Quion. It is the detestation of the South to Jabolition that makes her a unionist. And it \s the love of the North for abolition that ;has brought her in favor of dissolution." " It goes beyond southern nullifiers. The convention that sat at Columbia never took the ground that Congress had power to dis- solve the Union.'' Our case is here fully made otit, and the argument exhausted. Your own men have proved that neither Congress nor the States 'can dissolve this Union, save by force; anil jwhen you have already commenced that pro- icess, you leave us only one course — to op- pose force by force. You have driven us to the wall ; and we will not, we cannot sur- render. We are told that a removal of the icause of danger will produce peace. But what is the cause? You say slavery agita- tion. In that you stop one degree short of the real cause — which is slavery itself. Now, will you exercise an enlarged patriotism by removing the cause of danger ? You may have an open powder magazine on a public thoroM^jhfare of the world Will \fju qunr- rel with every traveler who carries a lighted taper whenever his convenience or wants require ? Bettor close your deadly magazine, and remove it from the trciid of men. We do not ask this. We only insist thiit yon shall not with it curse the common Territo-j ries of the nation. Yon do not pretend that jour institution is endangered in the vStates.l True, you sometimes lament about personal liberty bills, and the tardy execution of thol fugitive slave law. The attemptf'd prohibition of slavery i m the Territories is the real cause of complaint, j The condition of all the Territories we nowj own is settled, and we had hoped the inor-j diuate desire to plunder our weak neighbors was subdued. But, mark what the Vice President, and one of the defeated candidates for the Presidency, in a letter to the Gov- ernor of Kentucky, January 6, 1861, says : "The Southern States cannot afford to be shut oflf from all possibility ofe.xpansion towards the tropics by the hostile action of the Federal Government.'' Let us not be deceived ; thisi key unloins, far away towards the light of the sotting sun, .ire cheered by the songs which the emigrant learned in his tsouthern home. Your seven million live huu- Idred thousand population who have not the [advantages of negro property can cros3 thu dark line wliicli slavery rc.Hr,', tiiui nui be compelled to work iu the furrow wet wiih the sweat of the slave. This very day, is! not a fair proportion of tho popiilatioii ot' that countf}' — of whicli '• 'Twas biiid that far througli thi' IbroBt ■wild And over tlie mountains bold, Waa a land wliose rivers arid dai itening caves Went gcm'd with the puruBt gold" — men reared in a southern clime? Let nie illus- trate; A poor boy was born in Kentucky; not to an inheritance of wealth and slaves, buten-j titled to the privileges of that immense ferri-| lory over which your fathers said the darkj wing of slavery should never be spread. He: removed to Illinois ; by industry carved out| for himself reput;ition, honor, and greatness, and now stands a living embodiment of the principles we profess — the lawfully elected President of the United States. Will Ken-1 tucky this day sny that the ordinance of Jef-] fcrson, excluding slavery from the greatj Northwest, prevented her citizens from en-j joying its benefits, or aspiring to the high-. est offices in the gift of a free people ? j The policy of the dominant party must pre- vail. In 1820, the polii-y of the dominant and slaveholding part}- said slavery should! not go north of3t>°30''; in 1854, you reversed[ that policy, and the dominant party saic^that slavery should have a struggle with freedom north of that line, and that free labor or slave labor should be baptized in fire and blood oni the plains of Kansas. We submitted to the| bruXe force of majorities then. In 185C,you claimed that your Nebraska bill was sus-j tained by the people; and the whole patron-i age of the Government, the Treasury and sword of the nation unsheathed to subdue us} we submitted to the brute force of majori- ties then. Mr. Douglas told you that by his tkeory of popular sovereignty you hod ac- (|uired New Mexico to slavery; wesubmitted to' the brute force of majorities then. We never! made any ruffian's threat or braggart's boast,' f'7dt/ waiting for another e.xjiression of the \vi\\\ of the American people. And now, in the| same spirit with which you demand the right to convert men into merch:indise, you talk of dismembering a great liepuhlic and es- tablishing empires. Do gentlemen so se- riously mistake the nature of our Union? The Amph\ctiBth Mocking its desolation" — you are striving to prevent the fulfillment of the prediction made by the Bishop of Cloyne more than a century ago, when speaking of this vast continent : "Times noblest empire is the Inst." You have been shorn of your strength by your own Delilah ; and now in your blind- ness would wrap your arms around the pil- lars of the Republic and perish in its ru- ins. But your northern allies are atoning for their work of folly by branding their own falsehoods. Ought not this to remove ap- prehension from the minds of your people ? You trusted them to believe thoir false- hoods. Why not believe them when the dangers they have produced imd the fears they have excited are extorting from them an honest confession? If you will not hear .Moses and the Prophets, you would not be convinced though one rose from the dead. This hour witnesses the fulfillment of all we have predicted as to the encroachmenta iaud demands of slavery. From coercing the labor of one race, it places its hand on our throat, and, in the language of the highway- man, demands our money or our life, our Government or our jirinciples. Do they fail to see that, when this institution is carried to the Territories, the freemen of the North are driven from it? What a commentary upon this institution that, like the Upas tree, every green leaf and flower of those rights which exalt man and dignify his existence, must perish beneath its shadow. A few days since, when thei gentleman from Georgia was delivering hisi valedictory, and presenting his grievances} to the world, he said they could not tolerate^ that white men like St;M.\ER should address' southern audiences ; and that freedom of the press and circxilation of printed matter could not be allowed iu his State; and, for fear the incoming Administration should exercise itsi power to prevent the rifling of the mails inj southern States, where we pay from thel Treasury §2,500,000 for their transportation, he gave notice, in advance, that they would' commit treason and destroy the Union.; Can the enormity of the slave power be pre-: sented in anj' stronger light ? This very day, beneath the shadow of hoary oppres-j sion, and at the foot of thrones covered with the dust of centuries, free speech and free| press begins to grow and flourish. Yet thej American Republic, at the peril of its exist-| ence, is forced to extend a system more des-' potic than tyranny and more dogmaticali than priestcraft. j The popular sovereignty candidate for the! Presidency, after the humiliating boast that' he could travel through the South unharm- ed, adds that Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky — the graves of his parents were| there — but he dare not visit them. Darel not 1 Is that the language to address tol American citizens ? That littfe sentence' contributed more to the election of Lincoln than the speeches of all his friends. If that' were true, freemen could feel and understand its force ; and the quiet, though stern men of the nation would naturally inquire upon; what principles the Government was being! administered. Dare not go by the graves of his fathers ! A man born in Kentucky, withi no brand on his brow, and no stain on his! seul, pure and upright in all the relations of! life, charged with no crime against the lawSj m>f God and man, dare not travel through what he boasts to call his country, to plant} flowers or shed tears upon the graves of his ancestors ! And you coolly say we must have no Government to protect such men.! Kentucky has spurned the demagogue, and now she repudiates his libel. Now, you ask us to compromise. What have we to concede ? We have done you no wrong, and propose none. You have! been compromising for years, until youi yourselves have often told us the day for comi)romise was ])ast. You compromised iu 1850, and called it a finality. You com- promised in 1854 by violating a siicred com- promise, called that a finality, and said you had removed the agitation out of Congress. The only finality we have had for years, we had at the ballot-box the 6th day of Novem- ber last. True to your instincts, you are' trying to set aside that finality that you may renew agitation. Yon propose now to lay your hands upon the ark of the covenant our fathers set up, to amend the Constitution, to give you greater guarantees for slavery than the States exacted when each held slaves. You have suggested no compromise that does not involve submis.)id- ding; no wonder tliev should strive to ban- ish the ajiparition of the bloody hand, and men like the Senator from Illinois should desire to act as though they had never ut- tered a word or cast a vote. Your unholy crusade, therefore, against the Union, is to extend thi area of slavery. For that purpose you invoke the f Jod of bat- tles, when your system ignores all His attri- butes and delieo the spirit of His teachings. You talk of the sacredness of your homes, when for years you have been despoiling the homes of thousands, and suffer four million human beings to have no iiearthstones around which the affections may cluster. You talk about the recollection of wives and children to nerve your arm. when your system de- stroys tlie relation of husband and -wife, and violates the hoJif'st tie of parent and child. You talk of reconstruction. Believe it not. The compromises ofiJie present Constitution once lost, you never can regain. Think you another Senate can be formed wherein Del-i aware and Florida can equal New York and I'ennsylvania ? Another House of Repre- HiiUtatives wherein you will be allowed twenty Representatives on account of your! property in man? You are now opposed to the Army and Navy, because you boldly as- sert that an enforcement of the laws means a coercion of the States. You were willing to vote millions to transport troops and pro- visions two thousand miles, over jirairie and desert, to coerce our brethren in Utah, when you said they were in rebellion to the Gov- ernment. You sent the Army into Kansas! to subdue the freemen in the North. You have used the Federal troops to enforce tiie fugitive slave law. When John Brown, with as much authorit}'- to seize the property of the nation as j'ou possess, took the arse- nal at Harper's Ferry, the marines of the United States were sent to its rescue You! dreaded not then its despotic power. Thei camp had no terrors. The plume of the sol- dier and the gilded trappings of the officer did not fill you with disgust. Yoti oppose coercion, yet, by force of armed men, you seize the forts and navy-yards of the United Slates, and trample the stars and stripes in the dust.' I desire not to preserve this Union at the point of the bayonet : but we do not mean f'o lie driven from it b}' force, if you desire a peaceable secession, why do you not seek it? A convention of all the States possibly would bid the seceding States depart in peace. But; when you forcibly seize the Federal prop- erty, and tlien fire upon its (lag. you should not sit down and picture the horrors of civil [War. You seem willing to spread the pall of desolation over the land, strike down the last home of the oppressed, the last hope of freedom, for the purpose of e.xtending, in the name of liberty, and under the shield of re- ligion, the institution of slavery. Tlie gen- tleman from Maryland, [Mr. Haiuus,] who has just taken his seat, appeals to us most earnestly to make some compromise to save the Union. Why not appeal to the men who arc laboring for its destruction? As well stop the bold fireman who is heroically struggling with the Haraes, instead of seiz- ing the incendiary who applied the torch to the temple. We desire not the destruction even of South Carolina. Jewish history, which you so much venerate, admonishes us Ithat they had a South Carolina in their con- |federacT. and she seceded. After, three se- vere battles, the disunionists were extermi- jnated. The conquerors indulged in no shouts 'of victory, but '• came to the house of God, and abode there till even, before God, and lifted up their voices and wept sore; and said: Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be :to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?" If the people consent, let the cotton States depart. Then let us vote millions to pur- ichase the slaves of the border States as fiist as either of them may desire to sell ; then,. let us purclfase for them a home in Central lAmerica, where, by our fostering care, we may rear them to habits of industry and good government, and, in a measure, atone :fbr the injury and injustice ages of oppres- sion have heaped tipon them. An intelligent correspondent of the New York Herald furnishes that paper the fol- lowing figures: Slavery in Maryland has de- creased 6.0Q0 in the last decade. There are 'in that State 80,000 slaves ; which, at Sr>00 per head, would only amount to 840,000,000. A duty of ten per cent, on the S-iOO.OOOjOOC-'- of annual import.^ would pay for them in a single year. Baltimore would soon rival j Philadelphia as a manufacturing city, and jMaryland would be converted into a garden jto supply the wants of northern cities. Del- aware has only 2,000 slaves. One million ilollars would indemnify the owners, and make her a free State. Missouri has but 100,000 slaves. Fifty million dollars would pay for them, and make her rival Illinois in wealth, population, and improvement. Thus less than Si 00,000, 000 would rid them all of an institution tor which neither their cli- mate nor products are suited, and bestow on them the advantages of free labor. You also insist upon dissolving the Union Ijecause some men believe that slavery will finally pass from the earth. Who that has faith in God does not helieve that in the end T " Like the tilled; You mav break, will; But the sCPiit of the rosea will hang rouiid it still." vnse in which ri).s(»s have once hoen dis- you may i uiii, the T.•\^e, if you all forms of oppression will aisappear? The principles of our fathers we will ever Continued struggles for thousands of years, i adore as "token? upon our hands"' and as offering up millions of lives and oceans of: :■• frontlets between our eyes." You may blood, have not yet solved the problem olVshatter the Union, but the holiest associa- the white man'.s deliverance. Man for agesjtiou for ages to come will gather around and was as blind as the unthinking horse; the{ garnish its ruins. The travel-stained pil- mind in its crude dovelopment revealed not!;grini in liberty's cause will, through all time, to him the secret of his p(jwer, nor his right[;wce[) its overthrow, divine to a free inanhood as of stern justice uprising from the innate intelligence within him. Had it been otherwise, the throne and he who sat on it would have been powdered in the dust; nor longer would the body have, submitted to stripes and chains, nor the| ^'^o" "i^^J destroy our temple, but, like the spirit flapped it.s wings against Ijonds andi^^^^^ed olive on the Acropolis, the burnt prison walls in its soarings to be free. Thei^^"-"^? '^^''1' immediately put forth a •' fresh wild democracies of Greece would havci^^o*^*^! '^ cubit in length. " Have you some made liberty calm and tranquil as a summer: l^odern Minotaur, for which periodic: lly you sea, and the" turbulent republics of the Swiss! ,"''11 ^^'^ct a tribute of principle ? Can you cantons would have humbled the proud pa-i'^o*^ ^i^ satisfied with the golden fleece; "but laces of Europe before the stern and steadyN^^''^ .>'0" c^'^y off someMedeabesides ? Pur- tramp of enlightened freemen. Everywhere' i^tie not so far that, like Aristomenes. you we sympathize for the oppressed, aiid hope ;'"<'}' 'o^e your shield, and there may be no for their deliverance. Mr. Yaiicyin a speech,! i'^^'^se of Trophouius in which to findit. in New York city last October, said, the Rus-li Let us be true to the Constitution, the sian serf had the right to revolution. Every! j'^'^"'""> ^^^ *^P laws; let us no longer se- man can run the parallels. In the late hc'-iiPul^'^*-''" (breams thataredead ; and the rain- roic struggle for Italian nationality and unity! p^ow of promise will arch again for us, and were we not allowed to breath^ the prayerjl'^^^^ visions of night once more be gilded that from her baptism of blood the sun" ofil'^^'t^ glory- universal freedom might break forth and ' I think I can see the finger of the Al- Hght man's pathway with a brightness aslit^^'ghty moving on the troubled waters. Men clear and beautiful and free as that whichij^'^d "'^tions will do but little in warring tinged her mellow waves, beamed in bcatity^i'^gfi'"^'^ His decrees, or compromising His upon her valleys, and fringed the brown!|.ii',flgiients. Reckless threats or idle boasts summits of her towering mountains. f of your power and courage will avail no- We believe the time must come when the: I'^'Dg- The gentleman from Virginia exult- white race will be free and the African nou^'^ that I.eonidas and his three hundred longer a slave. Do you now propose to re- |Sp:^rlans were slaveholders. He may yet tard the civilization of the world for centu-ii'C''i''n that, a people can possess the vices and ries and to turn back the hands on the dial||<^'\'ils of one generation withont attaining to of liberty? "Would you inaugurate thctime|{''h^'r valor and greatness. Remember that when beneath shadows of the monuments ll^is "rm is strong whose cause is just. The reared in freedom's cause the watch-firesj|slaves of the Greeks were of the white will cease to burn ; " when the patriot mo-jji'^ces, of those captured in "war, with whom ther, nursing her half-famished infant, willjitliey compromised by giving slavery instead startle at the hoot of the owl or the rust-jjOf death. At that period of the world, the ling of the raven's wing?" God grant youiiEthiopian was highly esteemed. The Gre- may never accomplish so much. I wo'uldMcian said "he was of swarthy complexion rather hope for returning reason, or even from his neighborhood to the sun, was a fa- avenging justice, and patiently await theij^'orite of the gods, and sometimes honored lime when "Freed(>m, hand in hand with labor, Walketli strong and brave; On the forehead of his neighbor No man writeth. • slave !' " |by visits from the celestials.'' Peter falter- jcd in the path of duty, and fell. Christ re- fused to compromise, and established His Idivinity. Like Peter, we are erring. Ifanv- ^thing could seduce us from the integrity of I said last winter, I repeat now : 1 will in- our faith, it would be to strike hands over stitute no comparison between the North and, the altar of our common liberties with noble the South as to numbers or natural cour-: patriots at the South and on this floor, who, age. Read the lessons of history, and learn feeling that they have a country to save and from them of those who have been reared a God to serve, have rebuked disunion and "where nature's heart beats strong and high branded treason. amid the hills.'' You may widen and deepen All hail the gallant State of Kentucky, the gulf between freedom and slavery, but peering like a rock in mid-ocean, unshaken can you vainly hope to bridge the Hellespont !by wind and wave, beating back the mad, or cnnal Mount ATho='' te'mpcstuous billows! Your gallant Holt ^ nnmftBked treason at the capital, and your noble Anderson sustained vour honor and ours at Fort Sumter. Land of the "dark and bloody ground," whose name kindles glorious associations and holy memories ! Brave, loyal men of Kentucky; you of the •• lion heart and eagle eye " have given a new augury that the Union must be preserved in fadeless immortality. Corae not as suppli- .ants, nor with arms in your hands, but as you are coming, with the simple garland ot olive on your brow?, and hearts glowing v^ith love for the Constitution and laws of your country ; make known your grievances ; and the nation will rise up with one accord to do you justice. Do such a people wrong? Never! Southern men who have made this charge against us will be the first to renounce^ it. No, sir: the least of the rights of Ken- tucky under the Constitution can never be taken or attempted to be taken from her. Should her rights be invaded, thousands of northern swords would leap from their scab- bard.s. and every free State Avould feel proud to furnish men and treasure in her defense. The great commoner sleeps well on your bosom, and you are determined that his grave shall never be moistened with brothers' blood, and over his tomb shall never be heard the battle-shock of brothers in conflict. You venerate his memory, and cherish the senti- ments he uttered in the Senate Chamber in 1850, when Georgia was threatening to cc- cede from the Union; when he said : " Now I stand here in my place, meaning to be un- awed by any threats, whether they come from indi- viduals or from States. 1 Khould deplore as uiach as any man that arms should be raised against the au- thority o( the Union, either bj- individuals or by States. But after all that has occurred, if any one State, or a portion of the people of any Slate, choose to place themselves in military array against the Gov- ernment of the Union, I am f»r trying the strength of the Government ; I am for ascertaining whether wc have a Oovernaient or not — practical, efficient, capa- ble of maintaining its authority and upholding the powers and interests which belong to a Government. Nor, sir, am 1 to be .alarmed or dissuaded from any such course by intimidations of the spilling of blood. If blood is to be spilt, by whose fJault is it ? It will be the fault of those who choose to raise the standard of disunion and endeavor to prostata this Government. And, sir, when that is done, so long as it pleases God to give me a voice to express my sentfments, or an arm, we.-ik and enfeebled as it may be by age, that voice and that arm will be on the side of my country, for the support of the general authority, and for the maintenance uf the powers of this Union.'' The true men of Kentucky need bm-e no fears of their brethren in the North; but had they, to their devotion and nobility almost auy concessions would be yielded that a brave, loyal people ought to ask of brave, loyal brethren. We have been told by Senators that some of the southern btates are on the war path,' and, while they are brandishing the toma- hawk and scalping-knife, about converting the warfare of opinion into a contest of blood; while the Catalines of the nation are con- spiring in the Capitol to de.'itroy the liberties of the i>cople and the jiowers of the Govern- ment : while treason has been flaunting in the departments of the Administration, and our proud ensign, which has commanded the fear of hostile nations and the respect of all the world, defiantly insulted, we are called upon to compromise with rebels, with can- non pointed at us stolen from the national arsenals. For m\'self, sir, never! I would rather perish on the threshold of this Capitol, defending the stars and stripes which float over it, than vote, at such a time, for any compromise involving a sacrifice of principle. You yourselves would despise a people who would exhibit the cowardice to retreat in the face of an armed an threatening foe. The true men of the north and South will rally round that standard sheet, determined to defend and protect it from enemies with- out and foes within. Some stars on its glit- tering fold may dart off into a comet's wand- ering or a meteor's flight, but they will find the}- shine not so brightly in any other con- stellation. In the ma'dness of the hour, you sing no more our national ballads. '■ The Star- Spangled Banner" and '-Hail Columbia," wliich for years have inspired glowing pat- riotism, no longer kindle in your hearts the holy emotion of freedom. You sing now the more incendiary Marselaise. Beware lest, while you sing, your slaves may learn to act its poetry — " But man is man. and who is more ? Then shall they longer lash, and goad us? Oh, liberty! c^n man resign the«, Once having felt thy generous flame ; Can dungeon, bolts, and bars confine thee, Or whips thy noble spirit t«une?" No loyal American, whatever bis individ- ual or sectional grievances, can wantonly dishonor the flag of his fathers. His heart will cling to it in the spirit of Ruth, when she said to Naomi, " Whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou lodgest, 1 will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest will I die; and there will I be buried." When the passion of the hour subsides, and rea.^on leads to a calm reflection, you will say, with us : '■ 'Tis the flag of America, it floats over the brave; 'Tisthe fnirest unfurled on the land or tlie wave; But, thou brightest in story and matchless in fight, 'Tis the herald of mercy as well as of might. " In the cawse of the wronged may it ever be first, 'Where tyrants are humbled, and fetters nre bunt ; Be justice the war shout, and dastard is he 'Who would scruple to die 'ueatb the flagof tbefr^e " W. H. Moore, Printer, Washington, D. C. '■&. ?o