Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath, Those other two equaled with me in fate, Seasons return; but not to me returns Of nature's works, to me expunged and rased, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers XLVIII.—THE PRETEXT OF REBELLION. 1. If war must come-if the bayonet must be used to maintain the constitution-I can say, before God, my conscience is clear. I have struggled long for a peaceful solution of the difficulty. I have not only tendered those states what was theirs of right, but I have gone to the very extreme of magnanimity. The return we receive is war, armies marched upon our capital, obstructions and danger to our navigation, letters of marque to invite pirates to prey upon our commerce, a concerted movement to blot out the United States of America from the map of the globe. 2. The question is, Are we to be stricken down by those who, when they can no longer govern, threaten to destroy? What cause, what excuse, do disunionists give us for breaking up the best government on which the sun of heaven ever shed its rays? They are dissatisfied with the result of a presidential election. Did they never get beaten before? Are we to resort to the sword when we get defeated at the ballot-box? I understand that the voice of the people expressed in the mode appointed by the constitution must command the obedience of every citizen. They assume, on the election of a particular candidate, that their rights are not safe in the Union. What evidence do they present of this? I defy any man to show any act upon which it is based. What act has been omitted or been done? I appeal to these assembled thousands, that, so far as the constitutional rights of the Southern States-I will say the constitutional rights of slaveholders-are concerned, nothing has been done, and nothing has been omitted, of which they can complain. 3. There has never been a time, from the day that Washington was inaugurated first President of these United States, when the rights of the Southern States stood firmer under the laws of the land than they do now; there never was a time when they had not as good cause for disunion as they have to-day. What good cause have they now that has not existed under every administration? If they say the territorial question--now, for the first time, there is no act of Congress prohibiting slavery anywhere. If it be the nonenforcement of the laws, the only complaints that I have heard have been of the too rigorous and faithful fulfillment of the fugitive slave law. Then what reason have they? 4. The slavery question is a mere excuse. The election of Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present secession movement is the result of an enormous conspiracy formed more than a year since, formed by leaders in the southern confederacy more than twelve months ago. They use the slavery question as a means to aid the accomplishment of their ends. They desired the election of a northern candidate by a sectional vote, in order to show that the two sections cannot live together. When the history of the two years from the Lecompton charter down to the presidential election shall be written, it will be shown that the scheme was deliberately made to break up this Union. 4: They desired a northern Republican to be elected by a purely northern vote, and now assign this fact as a reason why the sections may not longer live together. If the disunion candidate in the late presidential contest had carried the united South, their scheme was, the northern candidate successful, to seize the capital last spring, and, by a united South and divided North, hold it. That scheme was defeated in the defeat of the disunion candidate in several of the Southern States. XLIX. NO NEUTRALS; ONLY PATRIOTS AND TRAITORS. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 1. But this is no time for a detail of causes. The conspiracy is now known. Armies have been raised, war is levied, te accomplish it. There are only two sides to the question. Every man must be for the United States or against them There can be no neutrals in this war, only patriots or traitors. We cannot close our eyes to the sad and solemn fact, that war does exist. The government must be maintained, its enemies overthrown; and the more stupendous our preparations the less the bloodshed, and the shorter the struggle will be. But we must remember certain restraints on our action even in time of war. We are a Christian people, and the war must be prosecuted in a manner recognized by Christian nations. 2. We must not invade constitutional rights. The innocent must not suffer, nor women nor children be victims. Savages must not be let loose. But while I sanction no war on the rights of others, I will implore my countrymen not to lay down their arms until our own rights are recognized. The constitution and its guarantees are our birthright, and I am ready to enforce that inalienable right to the last extent. We cannot recognize secession. Recognize it once and you have not only dissolved government, but you have destroyed social order, and upturned the foundation of society. You have inaugurated anarchy in its worst form, and will shortly experience all the horrors of the French Revolution. 3. Then we have a solemn duty—to maintain the government. The greater the unanimity, the speedier the day of peace. We have prejudices to overcome from a fierce party contest waged a few short months since. But these must be allayed. Let us lay aside all criminations and recriminations as to the origin of these difficulties. When we shall have again a country with the United States flag floating over it, and respected on every inch of American soil, it will then be time enough to ask who and what brought all this upon us. I have said more than I intended to say. It is a sad task to discuss questions so fearful as civil war; but, sad as it is, bloody and disastrous as I expect the war will be, I express it as my conviction, before God, that it is the duty of every American citizen to rally round the flag of his country. L.-THE ROMAN TWINS. A. J. H. DUGANNE. 1. "Twas told by Roman soothsayers, Sprang from the loins of Mars; Were twin-born on the earth, And in the lap of a she-wolf Were suckled from their birth. Aha! I think this legend This ancient Roman myth For mine own time and mine own clime, 2. Romulus stood with Remus, The nascent walls of Rome; Of slavery's strife and liberty's life, |