Year: 1866




can mold on to power We may just as
we'll come to it first as last; that is exactly
what it means You are afraid that dem
Gratis will get the power? II you are,
that is disunion. \ man who is afraid Of


the other party coming in, and who be-


leyes that the other party viii destroy the
government, is disnnior man, because he
believes that which is fatal to the very
foundation of the fabric. do not believe
! it, and | never did believe It. Much as
belong to one of the great parties of the
country, | never believed that the other
would destroy the government if it came
into power. ! believed it would not, and
this Is why was in favor Of this govern
ment. This is the difference between Us
aud most other governments. In mon.
archial form of government the people are
not trusted; one part will not trust the
other, and they set Gpan intermediate man
and attempt TO scaffold him around in such
:. way sc 70 prevent collision. We form
ed this government upon the basis that
either Of the great parties OF the country
was safe to intrust It with.


You say that if the Union IS restored
and you give the people Of the south their
rights they viii come in and they will join
the dem ocrats, and then the democrats will
have majority over the republicans
Suppose it be so; ain perfectly willing, if
We save the Union | will execute re-
lease OF all my right for office, not only to-
day. but in all time to come, if anybody
will insure the Union, peace and harmony.
trust everybody would. | think there
Is no man so infatuated. personally and
apart from his party ties and concessions,
but would be willing to DO the same thing.
| do not believe q word oft, and tell you
that if the southern states were represents
ed here tomorrow aud came back and
joined themselves with the the north, they
would meet with just the same resistance,
precisely, from them that they now meet
from the republicans 1T they should attempt
any further secession; and why! just
because il is as much the interest Of one
party il the north as Il IS the interest of
the other party to preserve the Union, and
nobody but q man who is desirous Of ma
king mischief and desirous of fomenting
discord would ever take any other view of
1t They may have different plans and
different policies, b.. he great end and
object OF both is to preserve the govern
ment and, what is more and what is bet
ter, TO preserve themselves and their for
tunes an1 their families, and preserve
prospect fer their children.


| am republican; and [ am republi-
can because | believe that; and | would az
l..
or any other kind OF suicide as to 60 out
and preach among my fellow citizens that
one-half Of them were utterly diabolical
ana utterly corrupt, and desirous of over
turning TIE whole Of this fair fabric of
liberty under which We lived 50 long and
SO happily. What Is it but proclamation
Of political suicide | do not believe
word Of it; and however much | might Ia
ment the contingency Of a party opposed
to me getting into power, however much
might suppose it would affect In a small
way the interests ofny State or my section,
yet am willing to bow to the behests of
people in that behalf. I await the action
OF their constitutional majority expressed
through the Constitutional forms; and tho
man who is unwilling to DO that and un>
willing to trust it. is secessionist, and be-
longs precisely to the same school of seces-
sion as that which fourished in lS60.--
That was secession. Had anybody inva-
ded the rights sccessionsts? Had any
body trenched upon the rights of the
southern States No; but the secession
lists said: Although YOU have elected
your President by constitutional means
and through the medium ola Constitution
al majority, Yet we have right to antici-
pate you" Anticipate what? Anticipate
what the honorable Senator from Michi-
gan anticipates and what every man who
has no faith III the country and no faith in
its institutions apprehends. I'VE antici
pated," said they ''that your President
would not be Constitutional President;
that your party will not be Constitution
al party. 1t has got the aboitionists in it.
and they have said :hat the constitution is
a covenant with death and league with
he'll, aud they viii abolitionize the whole
country; they will destroy slavery; they
will do this, chat, and the other thing
and what then? "Wc will get oct before
they come" That was secession
They would not trust the republican party
that was it.


Now told you cannot trust the
democratic party; You cannot trust either
OF the parties with the southern faction of
the Union in its place IN the Legislative
halls of the country. But, we now haveA
scheme TO make n new Constitution and
new laws. Is not this the same thing
precisely that the seccssionists said in tho
winter of 1861. If, however, it is to be
such government az the one We have
been proud of SO long, let Us preserve 1t in
its original purity.