.be prrsrrr,•cl. But !:hey arc certainly at liLerty to choose their own name- a popular one will never make the Yirtuous mind cli1irr to " enor, nor an unpopu~ar one make it fly from trnth. 'fhe.r may change as often as the camel10n, but 110 <:hange in names can make the Ethiop white or the Lcopanl loose his i::pots- 110 changC" in names as yet hath wrought n11y change in their principles; they :-:till remain the same ~nHexible despisers of the Bovereiguty of their ;:;rnte. But if by adopt- mg the title of l:nion men, they mean to insinuate that they are the cxc·lu,;:i,·e friewli-: of this Union, and that the ~tate Rights Party nre its foci-:, they are guilty o-f a charge which I clrh-e back up[on] them as false ancl foul; and defy them to shew in the history of the two parties, the first eviclence of our hostility to the Union, 01· the first evidence of their attachment to it. I know that. our Northern & East- ern oppressors, hrancl the wl1ole ~outhern States as Disuniouists; but if they will reflect for a moment upon our condition in this Gorern- ment they will require no greater cdcleuce of the attachmrnt of the South to the Union, than the fact of their continuence in it, under the aec-umulatecl wrongs that nre heaped upon them. lf we had only half of their sclfishnei:;s or if we had not quadruple their patriotism; we would have been out of the Confederacy many a day ago. But :r wuulcl ask them together with all their federal allies amon~st us who are co-open1ti11g with them in their measures of plunder autl in- sult, where are to [be] found the manifestations of their uoasted de- votion to the Union? In any sacrifise of interest which they haYe made? In any amicable concessions? In the restoratiou of property plundered or in the reparation of the frienclships which they hin-e ue- trayed and the patriotism? No_, for such honorable conduct has ne,·er marked their dealings. And sure I am that their Union-affect.ion is not to be found in the character of their political doctrins- tloctrins which thC'y have only adopted to legalize their sy:,:tem of oppression arnl outrage on the South-and which if perse,·ered in, will terminate, not iu the preservation of the Union, but most inevitably in its de- struction. Let their principles triumph and the Union will be at onc·c destroyed, either b_y Consolidation, or by by [sic] llriving the South, to seek in a go,·ernment of its own, some other security for property aml safeguards to life. The l,oastecl threat that it shall he presen·e1l by the fcclernl lrnyonet is all idle aud empty vaunting. It ne,·er (•1w he preserved by force- it must be prcserre<l by good faith, friendly con- cession & equitably legislation. The only hopr of it!-. perpetuity i~ to be founcl in the virtue firmness ancl patriotism of the ~tnte Ili~ht::i men. They are tlw only trne ancl sinC"ere friencls or this ITniou. 'l'hc_v nre the fric111ls of it, as it c·ame from the ha11ds of it::: frnmt'r:-; they nn• the friends of it as a Constitutional l"nion. The)' look upon it ns :1 golden band of friendly allianc·e intPn<lC"cl to himl the Htntrs lol,!cther by tlw forec or affection in om• har111u11iou~ famil)·; hut nut as our enemies woulcl ha,·e it, a galling irn11 1·lrnin lii11ding one portion of tlw State~ in Pternal ~crYitllllP and l1011cla~l' to anotlwr. No; i-Uc-11 an r11io11- OIIP \\'hich, !-hall !,('l'\"P 0111,r to J'('lhH·I' tli(• l'ail'<'/:t pnrtio11 111' this Conti11Pnt aml the loftiest nf thr hm1rn11 l'llt·r into JH1,·erty and clrg-rndatio11, rn11i:;t e,·rr W<'igh in the p,.:ti111atio11 or tlw true lo,·1•r,.: of liuerty, lighter than the nttom that. tl11nt:-: i11 tlw :-:1111bl•11111. Hrl'orc· I would ::ee the pC"opl<' of my StatC" th1' rn~:::c l,.: or r111·1• \\'ho,-e \'irtlll'.; arP
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