Year: 1877

lind ourselves rushed into a war, requir.


ing indeed but a petty fraction of our


military strength, yet involving a serious drain


upon our treasury; to be reimbursed in the end


by cesslon OF territory, acquired at the wrong


time, located in the wrong place, inhabited BY


an undesirable population, adding weakness


where we want strength, discord where we


need peace, and a lack of patriotic inspiration


where most OF all we require the devoted spirit


OF true American Nationality.


| We are passing through an era of test and


trial for the Republic. The war of the Rebellion


is long since over, but the political questions


resulting therefrom, the new adjustments


rendered necessary by theiissueIofithe conflict,


the permanent status of races brought into
| new relations have not been settled upon q


basis that gives adequate guaranty for peace,


harmony and security in the future. L do not
| wish to eXaggerate these sources of disquietude


nor do 1 wish to underrate them. They


present the grave problems of statesmanshp
| for the present generation, and it yet remains


to be seen whether our wisdom in peace is
| equal to our pfowess in war. Nor would il be


Just TO ignore or belittle the grave difficulties
| which the states lately in rebellion have upon
| their own hands and within their own borders
| questions which they alone can adjust, but


which are assuredly rendered more difficult


to them by their Jealousy and distrust of the
| National Government And in certain aspects


these questions are being continually com pca-
| ted and rendered more embarrassing by the
| action of the States themselves


When, after the close of the Rebellion the


states engaged in it were re-admitted to q par
| tlclpatlon In the Government of the Union,
| they all came in with Constitutions dist nctly
| recognizing and affirming the paramount


authority of the National Government, and the
| paramount allegiance due to it from every


citizen of the United Estates. Several of the


states thus reconstructed have since changed
their Constitutions, and in every instance, save
| one, they have struck out the paramount


authority of the Union and the paramount


allegiance lof the lcitizeus to the National
| Government. The latest example is that of
| Georgia. that has just voted for Convention
| to revise her Constitution on which she was
| re-admitted to representation in Congress,
| and her distinguished Senator, Mr.. Hill, is
| credited by the public press with declaring that
among the prime motives for changing the
Constitution of Georgia is to strike from its
pages the assertion that the late war was a
rebellion and further to erase and annul that


majestic uttsrance contained in the thirty
| third section of the Declaration of Funda-
| mental Principles" which expresses more true
patriotism than was ever before proclaimed on
| the soil of Georgia. 1t is in these memorable
words:


"The State of Georgia shall forever remain a
member of the American Union; the people thereof
are part of the American Nation; every citizen
thereof owes paramount allegiance to the Constitu-
ton and Government OF the United States, and no
law or ordinance of this State in contraveuton or
subversion thereof shall lever have any binding
force,'


Mr.. Hill is reported as saving that this patri-
| otic provision should be struck from the organic
Law of Georgia, and he concluded his speech
by assuring his hearers that the full power OF
the South is Just dawning, and that the day is


not far distant when it will control the
Government of the Union. .sssU
In view of these significant facts and still
more significant tendencies in the Southern
part of our country, ask men of all parties


here assembled to-day on the soil Of Connecticut,
| if they think it wise to provide now by the
acquisition of Mexican Territory for the
| creation of additional states, holding these
| views of the National Government-as inevita.
| bly, they would hold them by reason of prox-
unity OF location, and by the character and
| creed OF the men who would naturally inhabit
| and control them. In the states north of q
| certain line countless majority of the people
of all parties believe their paramount allegiance
to be due to the Government of the United
States, SO that conflict between Northern
state and the United States is practically i'm
possible. In majority of the states south of
same line abe great mass of those who term
themselves the "goverHing cless' believe in an
allegiance to their respective local Govern
ments superior to that which they owe to the
Government of the Union. 1t is the same
heresy that hurried tens of thousands of brave
and honorable men into a conflict with the
Government in 1861 and now, sixteen years
having elepsed with their frightful record of
| war and of blood, of cruelty and of carnage
the tragedy ends in one important aspect Just
where 1T began, with the men who precipitated
the conflict in solid power from Maryland to
Mexico, resolute in purpose and holding with
tenacity the creed that underlay the Rebellion
creed that Is utterly irreconcilabe with
lasting devotion to the Union OF the States.
L do not have the slightest doubt that these
views are honestly held BY those who avow
them; they proclaimed by able men with the


force and skill l-not indeed of logic, but of a
sophistry which deceives the unwary and
sometimes entraps even the watchful.


! There can be no doubt, think, that an over
whelming majority of the people of this coun-
try, and especially the North, are hostile TO
further annexation of Southern Territory. That
was plainly shown when Mr.. Seward's pro-
posed purchase of the island of St. Thomas was
peremptorily rejected, and still later when
| General Grants very earnest advocacy OF the
San Domingo scheme utterly failed to secure
support even at time when his Administra-
tion was peculiarly powerful and influential in
shaping measures and directing policies. For
period of sixty years from the adoption of the
Federal Constitution, annexation of territory
on the South was favorite policy with our
Government. In 1903 we purchased Louisiana;
in 1919 we purchased Florida; in 1845 we an
| nexed Texas; in 1S48 we took q vast arear from
Mexico, and in 1858 we paid large price for
| small tract from the same country. All these
purchases were made by Southern Presidents
i except the small one of 1858, and that by
l President wholly devoted to Southern inter-
/ ests,


The aggregate area OF these additions to our
domain is at least two and quarter millions of
square miles, nearly three times as great as the
whole of the territory fought for by our Revo-
lutiOnary Ancestors, and covered by the Treaty
/ CT Peace in 1888. 1 do not mean to imply that
l the whole benefit of these acquisitions went to
the Southern section of the country or TO its
l peculiar interests Fate and fortitude rescued
l a large proportion ofithe Louisiana purchases
to Northern interests, as some prosperous and
| powerful states in the West strikingly testify
| to-day. The MAGNIFICENT empire of California
and the neighboring Territories were also res
i cued after one of the most memorable struggles
| in our civil and parliamentary history. But
Northern annexation as an original movement
| has never tiourished with US. Mr. Seward en-
/ Joys the honor of being the first statesman to
| add to our territory on the North, as he did in
| the purchase of Alaska. A Southern President
/ gave away valuable piece of territory on our
Northeastern frontier in 1912, and another
l Southern President four years later gave away
| vast tract of most valuable country on our
| North Western trontier-nearly five times az
great as the state of New York. L wish to make
| no reflections on the great men who made
| those settlements, but take no risk in saying
| that if either treaty were to be negotiated now,
the United States would demand a far differe mt
| boundary both on the NORTHEAST and the
Northwest 1 wish further to say that II in
| 1912 or in 1916 claims as strong as those which


were given away on our Northern frontier by
| Mr.. Tyler and Mr., Polk had existed on our
l Southern border they would have been main
| tanned at the cannons mouthsunder the old cry


of indemnity for the past and security for the
| future


While regretting that our Government did
| not stand for its extreme rights both in the
| North East and the Northwest 1 would not
| attempt to force annexation or acquisition of


territory in any direction-but at the same time
| l most frankly avow that the incorporation of
| British American Provinces in our Union


would be a vast addition to our strength and q


large element added to our growth and prosper
| ity. No manlier, stronger, ADLER, better portion
| of the Anglo-Saxon race can be found on the
| globe than those who inhabit the Dominion OF


Canada. They are not at present contemplat-
| ing any union with us-nor are we making the
| slightest overtures towards them, but the con-
| tinued growth of mutual interests the quick


ened and quickening Influence of constant in


tercourse will, in my judgment, ultimately
| bring us together Our relations with them
l daily grow more intimate; we are drawn to-


wards each other by a thousand ties of interest,
| friendship and kindred, and the outpouring of


our sympathy for their lately stricken city is


but an expression of the kindly regard we feel


for their entire people.


In my remarks L have been compelled to
| speak of the North and the South as In GER


tain sense antagonistic forces in our govern


ment. 1t is not my speaking of this antagon-


ism that creates it-nor would the fact cease to