THE PRETEXT OF REBELLION.-STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 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. 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 on 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 omitted, of which they can complain. 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 a 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 vigorous and faithful fulfillment of the Fugitive Slave Law. Then what reason have they? 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. 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. The conspiracy is now known. Armies have been raised, war is levied to 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. PSALM OF MARRIAGE.-PHEBE CARY. Tell me not in idle jingle, แ Marriage is an empty dream!" For the girl is dead that's single, And girls are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! "Man thou art, to man returnest!" Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, P But to act that each to-morrow Life is long, and youth is fleeting, In the world's broad field of battle, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Trust no future, howe'er pleasant, Lives of married folks remind us Such example that another, Let us, then, be up and doing, And each one a husband get. HETTY MCEWEN.-LUCY HAMILTON HOOPER. AN INCIDENT OF THE OCCUPATION OF NASHVILLE O Hetty McEwen! Hetty McEwen! What were the angry rebels doing, That autumn day, in Nashville town? For over Nashville, far and wide, NUMBER TWO. Staining heaven with crimson bars; Hetty McEwen watched that day Out-flashed her eye, her cheek grew warm, From her window, with steadfast brow, She looked upon the crowd below. Eyes all aflame with angry fire Flashed on her in defiant ire, And once more rose the angry call, "Tear down that flag, or the house shall fall!". Never a single inch quailed she, Her answer rang out firm and free: The loyal heart and steadfast hand Until the rebel rule was o'er And Nashville town was ours once more. Came the day when Fort Donelson Fell, and the rebel reign was done; And into Nashville, Buell, then, Marched with a hundred thousand men, With waving flags and rolling drums He checked his steed and bared his head, "Soldiers! salute that flag," he said; "And cheer, boys, cheer!-give three times three For the bravest woman in Tennessee! MASONIC EMBLEMS. You wear the square, but do you have Is there within your inmost soul That's circumscribed by law divine, Including all that's true? The compass,-does it trace that curve You wear the type of Deity, Ah! brother have a care; He whose all-seeing eye surveys You wear the trowel; do you have Made on the recipe of God, And do you spread with master's care, You wear the cross; it signifies The burdens Jesus bore Who staggering, fell, and bleeding, rose, Of all who'd gone before; The cross! oh let it say "Forgive, |