h^ V3ERC10N 
 
 OF THE 
 
 
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 Inion Mea^iiR 
 
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 BALTIMOPvE. 
 
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COERCION 
 
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 F T II £ 
 
 IN^ O E T H, 
 
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 Ittiflti Ptasure 
 
 BALTIMORE, 
 
 1860. 
 
.6 
 
 
€0frci0tt of t|)e M% 
 
 AS 
 
 The very consequences of error and delusion lead 
 inevitably to the detection of truth; and the alarm- 
 ing effect which has been already produced by the 
 mere agitation of the question of disunion, fore- 
 shadowing the fatal results which must certainly 
 flow from its actual consummation, demonstrates 
 conclusively to the public mind, the fallacious and 
 delusive character of the arguments urged in favor 
 of that measure. It is said that the Union^ if con- 
 tinued, will prove detrimental to the interests of the 
 South. But what must be the consequences of Dis- 
 union? The w^hole Country shaken and shattered 
 from its centre. — Trade and labor prostrated and 
 paralized. — Society uprooted and destroyed. — War, 
 devastation and calamity stalking with ghastly front 
 throughout a land hitherto, under the auspicious 
 influences of a benificent Union, peaceful, glorious 
 and happy. Viewing these consequences as certain 
 to follow in the wake of dissolution, is it not the in- 
 terest, and the duty of the people of the United 
 States to exhaust every means in their power by 
 which they may possibly be averted ?~That the 
 
the Secession meiia.ces of the South, aud of South 
 Carolina, in particular, are jDregnant with force 
 aud significance, can no longer, for a moment be 
 denied. That they have been uttered with a full 
 conviction of deep and grievous wrong is equally 
 undeniable; and further, that the evils complain- 
 ed of are not visionary, nor impalpable, is indis- 
 putably true. Burning with the recollections of 
 past insults and injuries received at the hands of 
 some of the Northern States, — and filled with a 
 reasonable anticipation of future outrage and ag- 
 gression ; conscious, moreover, of her Constitutional 
 rights, and the correlative obligations of the North, 
 South Carolina has threatened to secede from the 
 Federal Union, because those rights have been as- 
 sailed, and those obligations avoided. Her rights, 
 and those of the rest of the Slave States, are known 
 to be Constitutional. The intelligence^ the con- 
 servatism, and good sense of the whole country, 
 declare them to be just and Constitutional. The 
 Supreme Judicial Tribunal has solemnly declared 
 them to be Constitutional. 
 
 The rights which South Carolina asserts, are, 
 therefore, in accordance with sound judgment, and 
 the law of the land. The question would seem 
 naturally to follow — how are they to be constitu- 
 tionally vindicated, when infringed upon and at- 
 tacked? The Secession threats of South Carolina 
 imply that there is no mode of redress, in such 
 an event, to which recourse can be had by a mem- 
 ber of the Confederacy ! But, surely, the Consti- 
 
tutioual rights of a State can be protected witliiii 
 the Union. So long as the Federal Government 
 acknowledges and upholds them, they can he con- 
 stitutionally maintained ; and State pride and State 
 chivalry would seem to dictate a resort to every 
 legitimate means of enforcing them, before flying 
 in a spirit of anger and resentment, to Secession 
 and revolution; a course which can be justified 
 only when the Federal Government shall have 
 proved recreant to the trust reposed in it. South 
 Carolina however, ignores the possibility of pre- 
 serving her rights within the Union, and announ- 
 ces her intention to desert it. She admits that her 
 domestic institutions have been wantonly assailed, 
 her honor insulted, her principles outraged, and 
 gaUantly turns her back upon her assailants, and 
 wants to run away ! Instead of baring her breast 
 boldly to the storm, and meeting the real issue, 
 she goes off at a tangent, with the premature idea 
 of Secession— an idea which should not be contem- 
 plated until all proper and Constitutional means 
 for obtaining redress shall have been ineffectually 
 
 tried. 
 
 It would be superfluous to attempt here to trace 
 to its source that agitation, which has so long 
 rocked the country in a storm of angry bicker- 
 ing and dissension till now, with suspended breath 
 and terror-stricken gaze, we behold it tottering 
 with fearful portent of approaching ruin.— The 
 primary cause seems to have been the setting up, by 
 a class of men. of their own consciences, as above 
 
6 
 
 the law of the land in a matter which respects the 
 settled civil; social and political rights of others. 
 
 The President, in his late message to Congress, 
 attributes, and justly, the most palpable violations 
 of Constitutional duty — which have yet been com- 
 mitted, to the Acts of hostile legislation by different 
 states at the Norths in order to defeat the execution 
 of the fugitive slave law. That those measures have 
 been in the main productive of the present danger- 
 ous condition of affairs in our country, is a fact be- 
 yond question. There is to be found the root of the 
 whole evil. — On many of the Northern statute books 
 are written laws utterly subversive of the Act of 
 Congress of 1850 — which was in fact but an amend- 
 ment to the act of 1793 — itself based upon a clearly 
 expressed clause in the Constitution. Their effect 
 has been to foster the fell spirit of sectionalism and 
 abolitionism, whose malign influences are so vividly 
 apparent in the present heart-rending crisis. 
 
 What then is to be done? The South must have* 
 immediate action. — The President declares himself 
 powerless in the j)remises, and refers the whole mat- 
 ter to the consideration of Congress. What shall 
 Congress do in this unparallelled emergency ? Let 
 the whole South — let the patriotism and union lov- 
 ing spirit of the whole country answer, with one 
 stentorian voice — ^-'Coerce the North!" 
 
 When, during the administration of General 
 Jackson, South Carolina was unwilling to have an 
 offensive law executed within her territory, and 
 threatened nullification. Congress passed the ^'Proc- 
 
lamation and Force bill" — a law to enforce her obe- 
 diencCj and tlie Act was hailed with nniversal ac- 
 claim throughout what were then known as the Tariff 
 and Non-slaveholding States. The whole power of 
 the General government was at once brought to 
 bear upon the delinquent State ; and the guns of Cas- 
 tle Pinkney, under the command of Gen. Winfield 
 Scott; were pointed at the City of Charleston. And 
 yet South Carolina had done no more than issue 
 a threat to nullify the Act of Congress, commonly 
 called the tariff law. What has been the course of 
 the Non-slaveholding states, in reference to the ex- 
 citing subject of Slavery ? Has it not been distin- 
 guished by a virtual and thorough nullification of 
 the fugitive slave law? a nullification infinitely 
 worse than that of the tariff law by South Carolina, 
 because not aimed solely at an Act of Congress, but 
 at our great National Charter, the Constitution it- 
 self. Let Congress now do as it did in the days of 
 Jackson. Let it act towards the Nullifying States 
 of the present day, as it acted in the case of Nul- 
 lification then. Let another " Force bill" be passed — 
 and let the President be invested with dictatorial 
 power, if necessary, to compel the refractory States 
 of the North to repeal their seditious and treason- 
 able laws, and to make them ^' stand back," in their 
 proper and Constitutionally defined position, as 
 ecj[ual and by no means superior members of a free 
 Confederacy of Sovereign States. Let troops be 
 ordered to Massachusetts, the hot-bed of slavery 
 agitation, as they were formerly ordered to South 
 
8 
 
 Carolinca — aud, should she persist in an attitude of 
 defiance to the Constitution and laws of the land, — 
 subjugate her by force of arms. 
 
 But by no means let the South, or any portion of it 
 secede from this Union. The time has not yet arrived 
 for such a movement. The Federal Government 
 has not yet been one of oppression ; and its resour- 
 ces will not be denied to the vindication of right 
 and justice. So long as the rights of a State are 
 acknowledged and upheld by the powei- of the Gov- 
 ernment, that state is both morally and politically 
 bound to remain within the Union. When any 
 State is sustained in a violation of the rights of any 
 other state, by the power of the General Govern- 
 ment, then, and not till then secession becomes jus- 
 tifiable and necessary for the self-preservation of the 
 State so aggrieved. Until such an emergency actu- 
 ally arises, there can be no justification for the 
 threatened action of South Carolina. The mere vague 
 anticipation of its future occurrence is not a suffi- 
 cient ground for such a course of procedure. If it 
 were so, the Union might be at any time dissolved on 
 the score of mere timidity and apprehension. That 
 there are many in the South whose counsels of seces- 
 sion are of a mercenary and selfish nature is but too 
 obvious. 
 
 Office-seekers under a new Southern Confederacy, 
 are hot for disunion. — Men, who would sell their 
 glorious birth-right of American Citizen, for a mess 
 of pottage! And are the people of the United States 
 willing to part with their claim to that proud dis- 
 
tinction because there are Niillifiers in the North— 
 and Seceders in the South ?— No ! Let them arise in 
 the majesty of their power and Sovereignty— and 
 exclaim: "We -iV,r,^t ?A1uY; tills 2^eat confederacy to 
 h;t„ fiomembered and destroyed ! We will nut Ti^'^^de ! 
 But we will apply the remedy boldly to the root of 
 the disease which is menacing our political existence." 
 And these individual States which have dared to in- 
 sult and annul the Constitution and the laws framed 
 by the people of these United States, shall feel that 
 they have aroused a spirit of retribution and wrath 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land, 
 which will compel them to obedience, or drive them 
 out of a Union whose sacred compact they have bro- 
 ken, and wdiose blessings and privileges they have 
 shown themselves unworthy to enjoy. Yes! Let 
 South Carolina pause upon the threshold of seces- 
 sion. Let her convention, which is about to meet, 
 demand compulsory action tow^ards the North, on 
 the part of Congress, — And her petition will be borne 
 to the seat of Government by an overwhelming and 
 enthusiastic majority of the people, not only of the 
 South,, but of the whole country. 
 
 Were the politicians, and legislators, and editors, 
 and preachers, the genuine and faithful reflectors of 
 the sentiments of the whole Northern populace, we 
 might indeed apprehend formidable opposition to 
 the proposed measure. But, the contrary is the 
 fact. That class of agitators, though long in the 
 ascendant by sheer force of their respective callings, 
 are already falling into disrepute even among many 
 
10 
 
 of their own disciples; and there has ever been a 
 strong, though unobtrusive under-current of pub- 
 lic opinion, diffused throughout the respectable mass 
 of citizens, ^vlioj>'0;uia ^[irfraiiiTze ^^th any move- 
 M^§^c lending to the overthrow of the fanaticaJ ^ulf^ 
 which has usurped, in their midst, the sway of rea- 
 son, justice, and even of religion itself 
 
 It is only necessary, at a time when events are too 
 apt to be regarded, in the first instance, through the 
 medium of passion, or prejudice, rather than of 
 judgment, that there should be no misrepresenta- 
 tion, or misconception of the object, and vital prin- 
 ciple of the policy of coercion. The object would 
 be the preservation of the Union. The principle of 
 action — the inherent one of self-preservation. The 
 attitude of the Government would be that, not of 
 persecution, or enmity, but of parental solicitude 
 for each and every member of the National house- 
 hold. The severest exercise of Authority having 
 become essential to the permanent welfare of the 
 whole, it must be manifested in the form of paren- 
 tal Coercion. It is idle to hope for a quiet and easy 
 adjustment of the difiiculties which have arisen. 
 '^The times are out of joint," — and nothing under 
 Heaven, but bold, unflinching resolute action is des- 
 tined to set them right. The Union must be pre- 
 served, at all hazards; and if peaceable endeavours 
 are unavailing, coercion must be resorted to. The 
 rod, if fall it must, should fall upon the real offen- 
 ders, and authors of our Country's perilous condition. 
 
 Let the people then throughout the different States. 
 
11 
 
 who are in favor of upholding the Constitution and 
 the Union, assemble in conventions, or in their res- 
 pective legislatures, and petition Congress, as they 
 have a right to do, to pass such a ^' Force bill" as 
 has been recommended — and let them pledge them- 
 selves to assist in its execution if necessary. With- 
 out some such energetic movement, disunion — with 
 an immeasurable train of ruin and disaster will be 
 certainly upon us. Nothing but a violent and ex- 
 traordinary, though legitimate exertion of all the 
 force 0^ he Federal Government in the direction 
 suggested, can avert that deplorable result. There 
 is no other alternative. In vain shall we look for a 
 voluntary repeal by the North, of her obnoxious 
 statutes. 4jJ^^i^ vain, for satisfactory comprom- 
 ise — though the spirits of Clay and Calhoun were 
 to preside over our counsels. 
 
 Equally vain will prove the expectation, enter- 
 tained by some, of a "peaceable secession." The 
 prophetic words of Daniel Webster will be too truly 
 verified, in the event of South Carolina carrying out 
 her threat of separation. The question is "Seces- 
 sion of the South, or Coercion of the North." — 
 The former will be certain dissolution of the 
 Union ; — the latter — but an effort to preserve the 
 Union, by protecting the rights of some of the States, 
 in compelling others to fulfill their Constitutional 
 obligations. That it would be successful is more 
 than probable. The devotion to the Union is too 
 strong, in the non slave-holding States, and the res- 
 pect for its Authority too great, to leave a doubt 
 
12 
 
 that tliey would yield a prompt and ready obedi- 
 ence ; and so pacify the South, and allay forever the 
 agitation of the mischievous slavery question, which 
 has undoubtedly reached, and will then have passed 
 its point of culmination. It will be time enouo-h, 
 when every thing else has been tried, and has fail- 
 ed — and there remains no star of hope in the Fed- 
 eral firmament, for us to light the torch of Seces- 
 sion, or of revolution.