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Page 66
SAMUEL SULLIVAN COX,
OF OHIO. (BORN, 1824-DIED, 1889.)
ON SECESSION; DOUGLAS DEMOCRATIC OPINION;
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 14, 1861.
MR. CHAIRMAN:
I speak from and for the capital of the greatest of the States of the
great West. That potential section is beginning to be appalled at the
colossal strides of revolution. It has immense interests at stake in
this Union, as well from its position as its power and patriotism. We
have had infidelity to the Union before, but never in such a fearful
shape. We had it in the East during the late war with England. Even so
late as the admission of Texas, Massachusetts resolved herself out of
the Union. That resolution has never been repealed, and one would infer,
from much of her conduct, that she did not regard herself as bound by
our covenant. Since 1856, in the North, we have had infidelity to the
Union, more insidious infractions of the Constitution than by
open rebellion. Now, sir, as a consequence, in part, of these very
infractions, we have rebellion itself, open and daring, in terrific
proportions, with dangers so formidable as to seem almost remediless. *
* *'
I would not exaggerate the fearful consequences of dissolution. It is
the breaking up of a federative Union, but it is not like the breaking
up of society. It is not anarchy. A link may fall from the chain, and
the link may still be perfect, though the chain have lost its length and
its strength. In the uniformity of commercial regulations, in matters
of war and peace, postal arrangements, foreign relations, coinage,
copyrights, tariff, and other Federal and national affairs, this great
government may be broken; but in most of the essential liberties and
rights which government is the agent to establish and protect, the
seceding State has no revolution, and the remaining States can have
none. This arises from that refinement of our polity which makes the
States the basis of our instituted labor. Greece was broken by the
Persian power, but her municipal institutions remained. Hungary lost
her national crown, but her home institutions remain. South Carolina may
preserve her constituted domestic authority, but she must be content to
glimmer obscurely remote rather than shine and revolve in a constellated
band. She even goes out by the ordinance of a so-called sovereign
convention, content to lose by her isolation that youthful, vehement,
exultant, progressive life, which is our NATIONALITY! She foregoes
the hopes, the boasts, the flag, the music, all the emotions, all the
traits, and all the energies which, when combined in our United States,
have won our victories in war and our miracles of national advancement.
Her Governor, Colonel Pickens, in his inaugural, regretfully "looks
back upon the inheritance South Carolina had in the common glories
and triumphant power of this wonderful confederacy, and fails to find
language to express the feelings of the human heart as he turns from the
contemplation." The ties of brotherhood, interest, lineage, and history
are all to be severed. No longer are we to salute a South Carolinian
with the "_idem sententiam de republica_," which makes unity and
nationality. What a prestige and glory are here dimmed and lost in the
contaminated reason of man!
Can we realize it? Is it a masquerade, to last for a night, or a reality
to be dealt with, with the world's rough passionate handling? It is sad
and bad enough; but let us not over-tax our anxieties about it as yet.
It is not the sanguinary regime of the French revolution; not the rule
of assignats and guillotine; not the cry of "_Vivent les Rouges! A mort
les gendarmes!_" but as yet, I hope I may say, the peaceful attempt
to withdraw from the burdens and benefits of the Republic. Thus it is
unlike every other revolution. Still it is revolution. It may, according
as it is managed, involve consequences more terrific than any revolution
since government began.
If the Federal Government is to be maintained, its strength must not
be frittered away by conceding the theory of secession. To concede
secession as a right, is to make its pathway one of roses and not of
thorns. I would not make its pathway so easy. If the government has any
strength for its own preservation, the people demand it should be put
forth in its civil and moral forces. Dealing, however, with a sensitive
public sentiment, in which this strength reposes, it must not be rudely
exercised. It should be the iron hand in the glove of velvet. Firmness
should be allied with kindness. Power should assert its own prerogative,
but in the name of law and love. If these elements are not thus blended
in our policy, as the Executive proposes, our government will prove
either a garment of shreds or a coat of mail. We want neither. * * *
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