Chicago (IL) Tribune, "No Disunion," December 10, 1859

           NO DISUNION.

    We propose to show that the fire-eaters in Congress, who are now dinning the ears of peaceable Northern men with their threats of Disunion, are under bonds to keep under the guns of the Federal power, and that they dare not, if they could, rupture the tie which binds them to the North. We mean what we say––"dare not."

   The country has seen with regret and alarm the recent turmoil in Virginia, consequent upon the mad endeavor of that old man Brown, with his score of moss-troopers at his heels. Whatever his purpose––whether an insurrection of that servile race or a stampede of a regiment or so of the blacks––he succeeded in throwing Virginia into a tremor of fear from which she has not yet fully recovered. Disguise it as they may, the reasons which impelled the Governor of Virginia and his advisers, civil and military, to such extraordinary demonstrations, are apparent. The rescue of Brown is not the thing that they apprehended. There has never been a shadow of proof that such a rescue was anywhere seriously thought of. The Sheriff of Jefferson County and his posse of half a dozen deputies might have put the old man to death without let or hindrance from any quarter whatever. Under all the excuses which have been framed, to conceal the real meaning of this marching, counter-marching, mustering and drilling which we have seen chronicled in the volumes of letters from the seat of war, it has been too painfully conspicuous. It was the dread and fear of trouble from the slaves that lay behind all the pretense which have shown forth to the public; and this fear was confessed in Wise's Proclamation when he exhorted the people of the surrounding county to stay at home on the day of the execution––stay at home, he might have added, and see to it that you have not an insurrection, carrying fire and blood in its train, at your doors. We submit that this is the true interpretation of the history of the Harper's Ferry affair. 

   Gentlemen disunionists––you who are blastering away in Congress about your intention to overturn this government and set up in opposition to the Federal power an Oligarchy of your own––what will you do when the protecting hand of Uncle Sam is withdrawn and you are left to the tender mercies of your slaves? Commence with Maryland, and with the Census of 1850 in your hands, travel down on the map through the sea-board counties and up your navigable rivers, and see what material you have to deal with at home. Black––everywhere black––and in the situations most exposed from the sea, the blackness of darkness itself! In some of the counties in the planting districts, the white population is only a fraction compared with the Slaves. Look at Dallas county Alabama, with its 7,000 whites and 22,000 blacks; Brunswick in Virginia with 4,000 whites to 9,000 blacks; Halifax, North Carolina, with 5,000 to 10,000; Monroe and Liberty (?) in Georgia, with 8,000 to 15,000; Washington in Mississippi, with 546 to 7,843; Tensas, in Louisiana, with 900 to 8,140; Charles, in Maryland, with 5,000 to 10,000; and at Beaufort and Charleston in South Carolina, with their 30,000 whites and 90,000 blacks! What fields are these for all future madmen like John Brown, when the more insane men of the fire-eaters spurn the power that protects them. Move the line of freedom down to the Northern boundary of Virginia by a dissolution of the Union, stir up the blood of the North, drive her fanatics to frenzy by insult and aggression, and from these districts and the whole South would come up a wall of agony that has not been heard in all the world since St. Domingo was over run and conquered by a servile race. 

   We do not over-rate the danger of the South's exposure. We have been faithfully through her territory (on the map) pencil in hand, and with the statistics of her population before us. The result of the examination, may well startle Southern statesmen. See:

   Maryland has, in 9 counties, 71,347 whites and 81,339 slaves. 

   Virginia, in 40 counties, 200,000 whites and 293,389 slaves. 

   North Carolina, in 22 counties, has 113,810 whites and 133,864 slaves.