Litchfield enquirer., 1833-08-01
sPEECH or Mn. wERsrER.

which you have been kind enough to receive me, on this, my RSst visit to Pittsburgh: and to make all due acknowledgements to your worthy mayor, for the sentiments which he has now seen fit to express.
 Although, gentlemen, n has been my for tune to be personally acquainted with very
 few of you, feel at this moment, that we are not strangers. We are fellow countrympn, fellow citizens bound together by thou sand lies of interest, of sympathy. of duty i; united, hope may add. by bonds of mutu- al regard We are bound together, for good or for evil, in our political interests. know that am addressing Amev:cansy every one of whom has true American heart in his bts- som and feel that have also an American heart in my bosom. l address yOH, then, gentlemen, with the same fervent good wish es for your happiness-the same brotherly | afectiOn-aDd the same tokens Ofregard and
 esteem, as if, instead of being upon the bOr-
 dcrs of the Ohio. I stood by inc Connecticut | or the Merrimack. As citizens, cOunlrymen.
 and nrighbors, ! give you my hearty good wishes, and thank you over and over again,
 for your abundant hospitality.
 1 Gentlemen, the mayor has been pleased fO
 advert, in terms beyond all expectation or
 merit of my own, to my services in defence
 of the glorious constitution under which we
 live, which makes you and me all that we
 are, and all that we desire to be. He has
 vastly overrated and exaggerated any efforts
 of mine. hut he has not Ovrrrated the impor-
 tance of the crisis to which his remarks allude. | Gentlemen, it is but few short months
 since dark and portentons clouds did hang
 over our heavens. and did shut out as it were,
 the sun in his glory. A new crisis had arisen in the history Of this Government. For forty
 years our government had gone on, meeting with occasional resistance, incidental, or i'll directed-not concerted. But now, time had come, when authority of law was resist ed by the authority of law-when the power Of our General Government was resisted by the arm of state government, and when mil itary force, under all the sanctions ofthe state constitution and state law. was threatening to impede the operations of the Federal Govern msnt This was, gentlemen, a crisis. Eve ry one felt it to be such. I, and every good citizen of the country, felt it 10 be such. A general anxiety pervaded the breasts of all
 who partook of the glory of their country at home-and how was it abroad? Why every intelligent friend ofhuman liberty throughout the world, looked with amazement at the spectacle which we exhibited. In day of unquestioDed prosperity, after halfa century's
 happy experimentation we were the won- der of all the liberal men tn the world, and the envy of alt the iliberal-when we had shown
 ourselves to be fast advancing to national ra-
 nown--what was threatened Disunion !-
 There were those among us, who wished to
 break up the government, and scatter the
 four and twenty states, into four and twenty
 sections and fragments!
 Gentlemen, it was at this moment, that the President of the United States, true to every duty-cOmprehendi and fully understanding fHn cnne 10th of December, in language which inspired
 in me new hopes Of the duration of the repub-
 lie. It was patriotic, and worthy to be carri- ed through at every hazard. Gentlemen, speak without reserve upon this subject: l have differed with the President. as all know, who know any thing of SO humble an indvid- al as myself, upon many important subjects In relation to Internal Improvenents-re. chartering the U. s. Bank-perhaps in the degree of domestic protection. and the dis position of our public lands, have been moi able to see the interests of my country in the way which he did. But when the crisis ar- rived sn which our Constitution was in dan ger, and when he came forth like a patriotic Chief Magistrate. I. for one, taking no coun. cil but patriotism-feeling no impulse but the impulse of duty-felt myself bound to yield, net lame and hesitating, but cordial and efficient support to his measure.
 Gentlemen, hope that the result of that experiment may prove sautary in its conse- quences, t0 our Government, and to the inter- ests of the community. hope that this sig nal expression of public opinion. which has for the time put down the Despotism of Null- 1 fcatioD.. may produce a lasting effect through 1 out our whole country. know full well, that popular topics may he urged against the Proclamation. know it may be said. in re- gard to the law ofthe last session of Congress, that if such laws are to be maintained, Con. | gress may pass what laws they please and en- force them. But this argument forgets, that members Of Congress are but the agents of the people, chosen at short intervals, and al. ways removable at pleasure. by the people, whose servants in tue National Legislature are so much subservient, aDd as willingly obe- dient, as any other of their servants. It is ea- sy for those who wish, and who pursue, 1 measures calculated to break up the Union, to raise the cry decentralization. But repel it. | | am no consoldatiOnist--I disclaim it. | 1 wish to preserve the constitution. without ad- ditiOn or disninuiiOn of one j0t or little. For the same reason that would not add, I would not withdraw. Those who have put me in public station, placed me there not to alter the Consultation, but to administer it. If a change be desired, our masters must make that change-if alterations are required, you, and the rest of your fellow citizens must take the change. The Constitution is our power of attorney-Omr letter of credit-Our creden- tiaIs-we are to act accordingly, without in terpoiatiOn or alteration. honestly and truly |