Year: 1860




epair of the Republic. They say that the
great experiment Of free coniederated Gov
ernment is about to fail, and that the Ameri-
can Union is to be added to the list of those
Republican Governments which rose and
I Aourished, fell and faded from the earth, in
the olden time. They had hoped that our
/ Union was SO wisely famed, that it would
escare the common doom of republics. and
I disproye the seeming truth of history which
everywhere declares that Democratic Gov
ernments are unstable and brief, flourishing
for a day and then swallowed up in mon
archies, empires and despotisms. Such they
say, was the fate of the Roman Republic and
such the fate of Greece. Such the destiny
Of the Italian Republics in after years, such
the experiment of the Common wealth of
Cromwell, and such the result Of every ef
fort that has been made since the beginning
Of time to establish the principle that man
kind shall be ruled democratically, instead
Of aristocratlcally, monarchically, or despot-
ically.


History is certainly against u.s. The Gov
erumeuts which have endured the longest
have been complete despotisms. Next to
them in duration have been hereditary mon
arches. After them elective monarehes.-
And the briefest and most ephemeral of all,
whether in ancient or modern tme, have
been republics. Our republic has not as yet
stood as long as that of Rome or the Confed-
eracies Of Greece. The experiment of the
South American Coniedelncies and free Gov
ernments has -ignally failed. So also has
that of the once yaunted Union of the States
of Mexico.


Everywhere, therefore, are we appalled, by
the facts Of history and of cotemporaneous
events, as they rise before us. All seem to
tell us, with words of warning and of doom,
that We cannot hope better fate


Nevertheless, we do not hesitate here to
say that we are not of those who despair of
the Republic. We believe that the prnci-
plies upon which it is founded will give life
and strength, through many long ages, TO a
Republic of North America, if not to the one
in its entirety. now existing. Govern
ment so wisely framed as that under which
we live, has never before existed. Never
was there so perfect reconciliation of gem
eral with individual rights; never was there
so harmonious an adaptation of central ard
surrounding powers, each State sovereign in
itself, SO far as all its local affairs are con-
cerned, and yet subject, in regard to all af-
fairs of general aud national concern, to the
supremer power of the Federal Government
that same Federal Government being held
in check 10y the representatives Of each indi-
vidual State in the Senate, and by the repre-
sentatives of the people Of each State in the
lower House Of Congress.


a system of Government like this, being
once established, can never utterly fuil-
States may fly off, but new States will come
in their place. The original force and at
traction will be there, and even the frag-
ments which fly off will, by an inevitable
law, grayitate to the common center again
There will always be a mutuality of interest
between the greater number of the States of
this Ccniederacy, and. 10y the instinct of self
preservation, if nothing more, they will re-
main together. In union there Is strength,
and esp 'cially in a union Of SO admirable a
character as Ours.


Those States which choose TO leave the I'm
ion can 10 50, provided they are permitted
But they will 90 forth to stand in a most
precarious position. They will carry in their
bosoms the seeds of their own dissolution
For one thing, they will carry the corrosive
poison of that bapeful doctrine, (secessou)
which first led them forth, and as a cancer it
will forever eat into the body polite of their
new COnfederaey. There will be no guaran
tee Of permanenee, no security for a moment,
no real union to depend on, no strength.


We say, there will always be Union
The principle which lies at the foundation of
this Confederacy is too powerful 10 be extin-
guished. There is SO much wisdom in the
original form of our Government that it
must be perpetuated under one condition or
another. There will always be States de-
nying the doctrine of secession and clingng
to the Federal Union, as it now stands, not
alone for the sacred memories which
surround and hallow it, but for their own in
terest, happiness and prosperity Not in
vain upon the front of our Republic has been
written ESto Perpetaa, for it will indeed last
through the ages that are to come.