Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1861-04-10

by which the people are sometimes mised by lead
ers will not go ntothe causes that sometimes de.
lude these leaders themselves but that we have,
gained nothing that We can gain nothing BY going
into i and sharing with it, seems to me very evl-
dent, ..c.s.,5, 81: r., ,.,,..'~>5 s;fs7,sas
Our true policy is to stand by that Union whose
blessings we have so long experienced-so long en-
stand fast by it until great political ne
cessity shall drive us from it In the Union We,
know that We have found safety-there our fathers
found safety-and these fathers constructed it for
our safety. All experience has taught US that We
have the best government in the world. Abused
and maladmnstered as it frequently is is it not at
last the best government in the worlds Where else
does liberty appear as she does here? She appears
somewhere in The little Republics of the old world,
but SO insignifcantin their numbers MOTTO be no.
ticed and OF course to be spared by the great des
pots and the great Emperors of Christendom There
she may be said to exist in her rustic simpliciyin
tatters and rags. Here she exists in all her spen-
dor, with dadem her head. Here is . great
Republic that has avowed allegiance to her. She as
queen beckons to all the world and signalizes
people that know how to govern themselves-a PEG.
pie that have entitled themselves to this liberty.
This has been the fruit of this Constitution and
this Union by which advise you to stand firm
Stand true to it. say, until some great political ne
cessty drives you from that post. What are we
now to do? Abortion of our countrymen are spec
uating on distant consequences. They are resolving
that we will quit our place of safety and 60 into an
experlment-joint the new revolutionary Government
and they say that Virginia and other States will
follow. Then they say there will be no war, and
then we will be in better condition to reconstruct
This is all falacy, from beginning to end. Can
trust speculation upon causes that are so de-
pendent one upon another-upon contingencies that
lie in the future2 Can we come to distant conclu-
sions ofthat sort? No. The safe way is to do that
duty which is nearest to you. Do that first You
can see that. We have not the gift Of prediction
This argument of speculation founded upon distant
contingencies founded upon differences, and infer
ences from differences to what may follow from
the complication Of causes that is least Of all to be
relied upon. There is no safe logic in it Every
see and understand the duty that is next to
him, and should not attempt to confound his con-
viction by endeavoring to comprehend objects be-
yond his reach.
What is our nearest duty? You have been told
to maintain the Constitution of the United States
It has never done you wrong, never despoiled you
of your property, never taken from you minute of
your freedom or your liberty during your whole life
time. Are you to abandon that upon a contingent
CIV; you to go abroad for experiment is that
the next and wisest step to be taken? Is not the
most immediate duty to stand fast in your fidelity to
that tried government until some necessity shall
force you from it? When that necessity comes it
uation-no argument When that great political
necessity comes which alone would justify US in sun
dering this glorious Union it will speak for ITSELF
1t will speak for itself in language not to be misun
derstood. We need not wrangle or debate or quar-
rel about it. 1t will tell all with its mperious ton
que. 1t will wave as to obedience. Conform to it
we must. Is that the case now? No! Why then be
in hurry to abandon this good government which
has sheltered us SO long! Why commit ourselves
10 sno1n eGs & frsaI
try, an untred winter? Is that wise? Is that the
prudence ola great nation? Excitement, animation,
and impetuosty mag prompt us, and some may be
ured by the very danger Of the excitement but that
is not the part of wisdom-that Is not the part of
that wisdom that ought to govern you and to govern
a community-that wisdom which is of a deliberate
rejecting mind. You to divest yourselves of
these passions when you come to decide such ques
ton. Let me ask you, was such question
submitted to people before? Here thirty mil
lions Of people, constituting the greatest the freest
and the most powerful nation on the face of the
earth. Is she to fall down in day? Are We has,
tily to 60 of-to fly from all the greatness have
inherited and acquired, and madly, wildly seek in
the wilderness an experimental government and SUBJ
stitute it for the better one we now enjoy?
The moment We are divided, what are We? Be-
fore all the nations of the earth our greatness is CIV
en- up. Is there any one of you, any one whose
y,
would not mourn over the slightest diminution of
the greatness Of this countrys power? We expe-
rienced the haughtness and superciliousness of "a
naughty nations prince when We were but feeble
colony might say involved in revolution. Now
your flag carries respect and fear and love
and land; is everywhere hailed with the profound
est respect When you are compelled to blow from
its folds of the stars that now adorn t-when
this waning constellation shall show its diminished
bo,1 hat, oof hat cd in
fear as well as in love? Wha. will become of that
respect with which it was hailed under peaceful
government? When you 60 abroad now, and when
to the question rs to what you are, you answer you
are an American, you are treated instantly WIKI
more respect than even tbs proud Ehglishman. or
all names it IS that By which . man would prefer u
travel IN Europe. Il - Your ccunsty.s 5ane ttsf
great ccuhtry whose nstnS never fails to prove q
shadow Of protectiop over you. Do you not believe
now thst Nations tr:umphing in the divis
ION @hd ACKNOWLEDGMENT of this great government?
They feared its example They feared its liberty;
but now they look to you not with good govern
ment founded on liberty and on principles which
may be to them dangerous example They look
to you to cite you an evidence that all popular
government is delusion. "Men are not capable Of
the people of the United States are showing it,
They live in country that revefes power. They
had all sway and all dominion, yet you see by
party controversy and the little exasperations that
spring out of it this great government is in an in
slant exploded under the madness Of party. In six
months that proud empire, reaching to the skies
stretching its over the world, has fallen to the
ground They are an evidence that man requires
kings and despotism to govern him-that he cannot
govern himself You, the proud nation, are now
cited an example Of the mpotency, the ncapacity of
mankind for sefpoyernmcnt-to show that Your
boosted liberty is nothing but the exhaaton Of fam
cies, having power no strength, no capacities
These are the consequences that will accrue from a
dissolution Of the Union.
Let us strive then to bring the seceders back and
reform them. Here is government formed, all its
laws and institutions perfect, The house is COM
plete and furnished Those who have left US have but
to step in and take possession Of the mansion Of
their fathers. By standing fast blythe Union and
| showing the seceders that there is no probability
that we will unite with them and if the other loyal
.1oyobold;no States will show the sane Sapnroha