Year: 1861

velopment here of the fearful and uncom-
promising hostility to Slavery which else
where pervades the world. of which the
recent invasion Of Virginia was an illus
tration.


NATIONAL GREATNESS ISsEPARABLE FROM


NATIONAL UNION.


Mr.. President, have designedly dwelt
SO long on the probable effects of disunion
upon the safety Of the American people, as
to leave me little time to consider the 9TH
or evils which must follow in its train; but
practically the loss of safety involves eve
ry form of public calamity. Wien the
guardian angel has taken fight. everything
is lost. Dissolution would not only ar
rest but extinguish the greatness of our
country. Even separate confederacies
could not exist and endure; they could
severally preserve no share of the common
prestige Of the Union. If the constella-
tion is to be broken up, the stars whether
scattered widely apart or grouped in small
clusters, will therefore shed forth feeble
glimmerings and lurid lights. Nor will
great achievements be possible for the
new confederacies. Dissolution would sig
nalize its triumph by acts of wantonness
which would shock and astound the world.
1t would provincializo Monnt Vernon, and
give this Capitol over to dissolution at the
moment when the dome was rising over
our heads that was to be crowned with the
statue of liberty. ~
DIsUNIoN TIE DESTRUCTION OF WEAK RE-


PUBLICs.


After this there would remain for disu-
nion no act of stupendous infamy to be
committed. No petty confederacy that
should follow the United States can pro-
long or even renew the majestic drama of
national progress.


NATIONS THRENoDY.


Perhaps it is to be arrested because its
sublimity is incapable of continuance
Let it be SO. if we have indeed become de-
generate after Washington, and the inhex-
ible Adams. Henry, and the peerless Ham
ilton. Jefferson, and the Majestic Clay,
Webster. and the acute Calhoun, jackson.
and Scott, who rises in greatness under
the burden of years, and Franklin, and
Fulton, and Whitney, and Morse, have all
performed their parts, let the curtain fall!
While listening to these debates | have
sometimes forgotten myself in making
their contrasted effects upon the page who
customarily stands on the dais before me.
and the venerable Secretary who sits be-
hind him. The youth exhibits intense.
but pleased emotion in the excitement.
while at every irreverent word the agesi
mans eyes are sufused with tears. Let
him weep no more. Rather rejoice. for
yours has been lot of rare felicity. You
have seen and been a part of all the great
ness of your country, the towering nation
al greatness of all the world. Weep only
you, and weep with all the bitterness Of
anguish. who are just stepping on the
threshold of life, for that greatness perish
es prematurely. and exists not for you nor
for me, nor for any that shall come after
US! The public prosperity-how could it
survive the storm? Its elements are indus
try. in the culture of every fruit, mining Of
all the metals; commerce at home and on
every sea; material improvement that
knows no obstacle and has no end; inven-
tion that ranges throughout the domain Of
nature; increase of knowledge as broad as
the human mini can explore. perfection of
art as high as human genius can reach, and
social refinement working for the renova
ton of the world.


DISSOLUTION AND DEsoLATIoN.


How could our successors prosecute
these noble objects in the midst Of brutal
izing civil conflict? What guarantees
will capital invested for such purposes
have that will outweigh the premium Of
iered by political and military ambition?
What leisure will the citizens find for stu
dy. or invention, or art. under the reign of
conscription? Nay, what interest in them
will society feel when fear and hate shall
have taken possession of the national
mind! Let the miner in California take
heed, for its golden wealth will become the
prize of the nation who can command the
most iron. Let the borderer take care, for
the Indian will again Turk around his
dwelling. Let the pioneer come back into
our denscr settlements, for the railroad.
the post-road. the telegraph, advance not
one furlong into the wilderness.


With standing armies. consuming the
substance Of our people on the land, and
our naval and our postal steamers with
drawn from the ocean, who will protect or
respect, or who will even know by name
our petty confedcracies.


OUR NAVY A HARBINGER OF THE WORLDS


FREEDOM.


The American man. of-war is a noble
spectacle. have seen it enter an ancient
port in the Mediterranean. All the world
wondered at it. and talked of it. Salutes
of artillery from forts and shipping in the
harbor saluted its flag. Princes and Prin-
ccsses. and merchants paid it homage, and
oil the people blessed it as harbinger Of
hope for their own ultimate freedom.


imagine now the same noble vessel
again entering the same haven. The flag
Of thirty three stars and thirteen stripes
has been hauled down. and in its place q
signal is run up, which faunts the device
Of lone star or palmetto tree. Men ask
who is the stranger that thus steals into
our waters? The answer contemptuously
given is, she comes from one of the OBJ
scure republics of North America: let her
pass on. sl sf W
LIBERTY AND UNIoN--oNE AND INsEPARABLE.


Lastly, public liberty. our own peculiar
liberty, must languish for time. and then
cease TO live. And such liberty! Free
movement cverywhere-through our own
and and throughout the world--free