Year: 1861

past success. Several new States will before
long be ready 70 take their places with us, and
make good, in part, the loss Of the old ones.
The mission of furnishing a great example Of
free Government to the nations Of the earth,
Will still be in our hands, impaired, l admit,
but not destroyed; and doubt not our power
TO accomplish it yet, in spite Of the temporary
drawback. Even the problem of coercion will
20 on to solve itself without our aid. For If
the sentiment Of disunion become so far uni
versal and permanent in the dissatisfied States
as TO show no prospect Of good from resistance,
and there be no acts Of aggression attempted
on their part, will not say that may not ia.
vor the idea Of some arrangement of peaceful
character, though do not now see the author.
ity under which it can be originated. The
new Confederacy can scarcely be other than
secondary power. 1t can never be maritime
State. 1t will begin with the necessity of keep
ing eight millions Of its population to watch
four millions, and with the duty of guarding,
against the egress of the latter, several thou.
sand miles of an exposed border, beyond which
there will be no right of reclamation. OF the
ultimate result of similar experiment, can.
not, in my own mind, have moments doubt.
At the last session l ventured to place on re.
cord in this House, prediction by which I
must abide, let the effect of the future on my
I
any reason to doubt its accuracy. l now re-
peat it. The EXPERIMENT WILL ANONYMOUSLY
FAIL.


But there are exceptions to the adoption Of
this peaceful policy which it will not be wise to
overlook. If there be violent and wanton at
tacks upon the persons or the property of the
citizens Of the United States, or of their Gov.
ernment, see not how demands for immediate
redress can be avoided. If any interruptions
should be attempted Of the regular channels Of
trade on the great water-courses or on the
ocean, they cannot long be permitted. And if
any considerable minorities OF citizens should
be prosecuted or prescribed on account Of their
attachment to the Union, and should call for
protection, cannot deny the obligation of this
Government to afford it. There are persons
in many of the States whose patriotic declara
tions and honorable pledges Of support of the
the i'll will Of their infatuated fellow citizens.
1t would be impossible for the people of the
United States to look upon any prescription Of
them with indifference. These are times which
should bring together all men, by whatever
party name they may have been heretofore dis
tinguished, upon common ground. When l
heard the gentlemen fom Virginia the other
day so bravely and so forcibly urging their
manly arguments in support Of THE UNION, THE
CONSTITUTION, AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE
LAWS, my heart involuntarily bounded towards
them as brethren sacredly engaged in a COM
mon cause. Let them, said to myself, accept
the offered settlement of the differences that re-
main between us, on some fair basis like that
proposed by the committee, and then, what is
to prevent us ALL, who yet believe that the Union
must be preserved, from joining heart and hand
our common forces to effect it? When the cry
ont hot oh 10 in do Of cipk
the first duty of every man on board, no matter
what his particular vocation, is to lend all the
strength he has to the work of keeping her aAoat.
What shall it be said that we waver in the view
Of those who begin by trying to expunge the
sacred memory Of the 4th Of July2 Shall we
help them to ob!iterate the associations that
cluster around the glorious struggle for inde-
pendence, or stultify the labors Of the patriots
who erected this magnificent political ed6ce
upon the adamantine base of human liberty?
Shall we surrender the fame Of Washington and
Laurens, of Gadsden and the Lees, Of Jefferson
and Madison, and of the myriads of heroes
whose names are imperishsbly connected with
the memory of a united people? Never, Never.


For myself l can only interPose against
what seems to me like the madness of the moon,
the barrier of single feeble remonstrance.
But in any event it shall never be said of my
share in the action of this hour of danger, that
it has been guided by vindctive passions, or mar
row considerations of personal or party advan.
tage. well know what hazard among many
whose good opinion has ever been part Of the
sunlight of my existence, in following what |
hold to be a higher duty. Whilst at any and
at all times shall labor to uphold the great
principles of liberty, without which this grand
system of our fathers would seem to be mock
cry and show, shall equally strive to give
no just ground to enemies and traitors to ex-
psnd the circle of mischief they may do.


Although not very frequently indulging in
the profession of a devotion to the Union, which
has heretofore been too often associated with
public policy deemed most dangerous to its
safety, will venture to add, that no man over
the boundless extent of our dominion has more
reasons for inextinguishable attachment to it
than myself 1t is inwoven in my affections
with the faithful labors in its support oftwo gen.
erations of my race. 1t is blended with not
inconsiderable personal stake in its continuity.
1t is mingled with my earnest prayers for the
welfare of those who are treading after me.
And, more than all these, it colors all my Wis.
ions of the benefcient spread of Republican
institutions as we'll in America as over the
rest of the civilized world.


If, then, so great o calamity as q division be
about to befall US, it shall be hastened by no
act of mine. 1t shall come from the wilful
passions of infatuated men, who demand it of
US to destroy the great principles for which our
fathers struggled in life and in death, to stain
our standard with the symbol of human oppres
sion, and to degrade us, in the very hour Of our
victory, before our countrymen, before all the
nations of the civilized world, and before God.
Rather than this, let the Heavens fall. My duty
is performed.


Coop AGAIN.-The Albany Journal, in a
leader reurging the necessity Of compromise,
Wednesday, says: ,...


"Let the people, irrespective of party, speak"


In another article the editor thus pointedly