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THE ELOCUTIONIST.

I.

REMARKS OF MR. CLINTON IN THE SENATE OF THE

UNITED STATES, ON THREATS OF DISUNION AMONG THE STATES.

Mr. Speaker-THE mover of the bill has menaced us with an insurrection of the western States. Such threats are doubly improper-improper as they respect the persons to whom they are addressed, because we are not to be terrified from the performance of our duty by menaces of any kind, from whatever quarter they may proceed; and it is no less improper to represent our western brethren as a lawless, unprincipled banditti, who would at once release themselves from the wholesome restraints of law and order; forego the sweets of liberty; and either renounce the blessings of self-government, or like the Goths and Vandals, pour down with the irresistible force of a torrent upon the countries below, and carry havoc and desolation in their train. separation by a mountain, and a different outlet into the Atlantic, cannot create any natural collision between the Atlantic and western States: on the contrary, they are bound together by a community of interests, and a similarity of language and manners; by the ties of consanguinity and friendship, and a sameness of principles. There is no reflecting and well principled man in this country, who can view the severance of the States without horror; and who does not consider it as a Pandora's box which will overwhelm us with every calamity: and it has struck me with not a little astonishment, that on the agitation of almost every great political question, we should be menaced with this evil.

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