Year: 1862

The House having under consideration the
confscation and emancipation bills


Mr. HOLMAN said:


Mr. SPEAKER: "Never despair of the Re-
public" was the noble maxim of ancient lib
erty which inspired a free people with irresist-
iblc courage and gave them the empire of the
world. The American people, in more en-
lightened age, bearing a greater commission
and more responsible to the world Of mankind,
may learn from il lesson of forttude and
wisdom. The weakness of a Republic is
found in the vacilations and division of pub
lie council in the presence of danger, when
fortitude is necessary to safety. So auspicious
was the beginning of our Republic, so fortu-
nate in its progress and development, that it
has attained in its infancy position of unex-
ampled greatness by the natural and inherent
force of its institutions; and now, after gen.
erations Of uninterrupted prosperity, with the
wisdom of its form of government unques-
toned, meeting the first great vicissitude to
which nations and especially Republics are
exposed, the fortitude, courage, and constancy
OF Its people are subjected to the judgment of
experience. Shall we pass the ordeal III
safety? Shall our policy, based on the expe-
rience of the past and the dictates of reason,
remain firm and mistaken, or shall it waver
with every change of fortune?


The admirable adjustment of the political
powers of this nation under it its wise Consti-
tuition has been the source of its greatness.
One nation, but many States; people emf
nently free, vet with such a unity OF power As
to give to their Government stability and
Strength wonderful adjustment of political
elements; a Constitution, the offspring of the
wiscst craftsmanship, the ripest experience,
the purest patriotism that has adorned the
pages of history. So wonderfully has it adj
justcd the balances OF political power that the
Government has been compared TO the fabled
mountain of granite hewed out by the Druids,
which the finger of a child might rock, but
which the combined force of armies could not
remove from its base. While the Federal
power might not impair the domestic and lin
tied sovereignty Of the States, it was still, in
the judgment of its founders who reared it
on the ruins of war, and of the generations
who in peace watched the development of Its
strength, armed with ample powers to defend
itself against every enemy at home or abroad
Government too weak to enslave its people,
yet too strong to be readily overthrown.


The Government of the United States Is
the oldest Government established bv writ
NCu anu uti-
egated powers, and securing their observance
by the solemn sanctity of an oath. The Con-
stitution of the United States Is the first char
/, ter b. which permanent Government has
been established. Almost the whole Of the
new hemisphere Is covered by nations where
the strongholds of liberty are constitutions


limitations. They have. in the main, failed
in their development. But the Constitution
: of the United States is the model of them all
Its mastery over the nation is the secret
source of our wonderful progress. 1t is said
by the great historian of this age, that or
the discovery of the New World. legend wa.
widely diffused throughout the Old, that i
, concealed fountain whose ever flowing wa
tiers terminated age and restored TO It's prime
> The legend" SAYS the historian, "was true
! but the youth to be renewed was the youth o
society. the lie to bloom atresh was the life o.


the race" The renovating principle was the
liberty that springs from limitations or politi
4 cal power. Political society was TO be organ


lied on a new foundation. The new life o


the race was that inexhaustble fountain o
freedom-a Government where political power
Is hedged in by impossible barriers; the free
dom that springs up where the boundaries o


Government are fixed, where Its agents of Sc
cret encroachment are fettered. The Con


stitution of the United States has, indeed


been the regenerator of the race. Is it wis