Mt. Vernon Democratic banner (Mount Vernon, Ohio : 1853), 1862-07-22

              - - "1.1 '' - , . " -'- " ."" - "-''''"' j"' .i.riL... ' ." -lib - ..,v: M tl'minilB ETBXT TWIDAT MOUrors T 0 fn TSrd ward DImIe, Sd Story. ftii4t $3.50 vith)a tlx moatfi; $3.00 after Um xpl- ttnei or ut year. 1 OHA.TIOJST noiv. GEoaGE t, cunTis, Before the City Council and Citizen of JULY 4, 1883. IjU. ifatp a Of wTfciifiw oir thx City . IId I; Mfr Ai libertj to consult my own in-tu cliatioRTlone, I should' hare asked you to 0 - cxeuse me from talcing part in the proceedings -.-of this day. At a much earlier period of life, 1 snioyed the distinction : of being placed on - ."the long roll of those 'who hare successively 4tT,epoke to the people of Boston, at the bidding . of their municipal authorities, oh this, ourna- tuonhl anmrersary. At this particular juncture, I could well have desired to be spared from the performance of any such public duty. I had prepared myself to bear what is now npos us, in silence arid obscurity ;-doing the infinitely little that1 may, ta alleviate personal suffering, sustaining the Lopes of those who i afe pearest to me, and endeavoring to cherish n i4) my own breast, a living faith in the strength rtKt,n4 perpetuity of our republican forms of gor- rhroeat. - - ':; : .,- - ' '. i . But private wishes are nothing private tastes are nothing in the presence of great public trials and dangers. We cannot, if we would, escape the responsibilities which such trials and dangers entail upon us. If we fly , to the uttermost parts of the earth, the thought ,..of our eountry is with us there. If we put on "tUenles of the stoic, or wrap ourselves in the philosophy of the fatalist, .the heart will beat for the land of our birf.br applause in spite v of the outward man. There is no peace, . : there is no hope, there is . no h a ppin essoin a tat of indifference to the welfare and honor of our country. The most sordid of men, whose sole delight consists in laying, day by day, one more piece of gold upon his already - swollen heaps, has no more assured rest from i. aokiety for his country, in times of real peril, than he whose whole being quivers beneath , the blows which public disasters or disgraces inflict upon a refined and sensitive nature. . To love our coeatry; to labor for its prosperi ty and repose ; to contend, in civil lire, for the - measures which we believe essential to its good; to yearn for that long, deep, tranquil flow of public affairs, which we fondly hope is r to reach and bear safely on its bosom those in Kom w are to-liavS' a earthly- ' ipofonw i ! t' . . t. tiotis deeply; how could I bring here at such -'A time as this, 'the doubt and . misgivings of one fearful for himself? The thickly crowding memories of the far -off dead, who have fallen in: the bitter contests of this civil war - admonish me of the insignificance of such fears. Who shall bring a thought of the exertions, the sacrificed or the responsibilities of publiediaeourse Vnto the presence of the calani- - ities of hi country. ; 1 am here for a far other purpose. I come to plead for the Constitution of our country. Applause. I am here to show you, from my earnest convictions, how dangerous it may be : to forego all care for the connection between 'the political past and the political future. I m here to state to you,- as I have read tkem. on the page of , history, the fundamental conditions, on which alone, as I believe the people of these States can be a nation, and preserve their liberties. I am here to endeavor to rescue the idea of union from heresies as destructive .as the disorganizingand justly reprobatedhere--ieirf accession. -1 wish to do what I can to -define to rational and ioteJIigeat minds the . real nature and limits f the national supremacy; and to vindicate it from the corroding ia-fltienco of doctrines, which are leading us away .iromtke political faith and precepts of a free : people. - Do you say that there is no need of such a discussion? Heflect for a moment, I pray .you, on what has already crept into the com-tnon uses of our political speech. We hear men talk about the "old" Constitution ; as if that admirable frame of government, which is '.not yet older than some who still live under its sway, and which has bestowed on this nation a vigor unexampled in history, were al-- ready in its decrepitude, or as if it had become uspended from its. functions by general eon-sent, to await at respectful distance the advent of some new authority, as yet unknown. We -hear men talk of the "old' Union ; as if there were a choice about the terms on which the Unioq can subsist, or as if .those terms were 'not to be taken as having been fixed,, on the daV3 on hlch' Washington and his compatri ots signed the Constitution of theUnitedStates. I Applause. You will not say that this ten-dencv this aDDarent willineness to break away' from the p&st and i(s obligations, and to throw oarieltes upon a 'careksa tempting of .the future" does not demand your sober con- ,ideratipn, I.heg you also to call before you -another symptom of these unsettled . times. With ail extravagance partly habitual to us, 'and partff springing 'from the ' intense, exertions of the year which has just passed, we ' have encountered the doctrinea of eecession -Mid disunion with' many theories' of national tinity apd the Federal - Authority; which ,'are 0Ot founded lp history or in law. Are you ' pot' conscious that there has been poured forth frpnv hqndredrf, of American pulpits, platforms, jnd presses, and on the ' floors of Congress, a :- species of what 'is called arguraent, in defence jpf the national eq'premacy,-which, ill befits the mature of our republican institutions t When f hear one of those 'courtier-like preachers or rriUrs by Our,5 American sovereigns, 'resting he autborUy 'of our government on a doctrine that might have gained him promotion at the -fianda of James or 'Charles Stuart. : I cannot fislp wishing that he had lived iu.an age when such Uac kiscsl if; noi actuaJIy believed to be eouad, ,wcre,"at all eVeota, exceedingly usefhl to the teacher i." -My friends; I cannot beaf the thought eradicating the .eupemaey of oar tiooal coreroment by anything but the just -title on waieh it was foaoded t , end 1 1 will not i4rt the so liX ground of our republican od-.titutiooal liberty for.nay, purpose ,ob . earth, vwhUetherpia ne opeof. maieuUt U, . . f Ap- Jsnow.of.eo lufi fouadAtleafor th title of goysmtnent in this country, butcoont-i-that k ; consent which ridee. ta. compact,.' coo tract, , rftipelaUooconcessiona a tontedaQt publie. rra-3rter 0iye:qe wHolemaeeesiofi7 ; :'ipolitiel overeign j powers-riodoeL- by pujol w transaction. ,and a piibUo.! charters and you hare ireo oe civi cohtracty . ti( wkkk AN 1 1 eAn apply ihe rules or publle law and 4he ob- 1 lifeatioiis of-insttce between" man 'ana man ; on which I can aeoarate the legitimate bowers of the government, from' the rights of the people :,oo which I can, with; perfect! propriety assert the authority of law. in. the--halls of criminal jurisprudence or, if need he, at the. mouth of the cannon.' But when' you speak of any other right of one collection, of ; people or States to govern another collection of people or States; when rou go beyond a public charter to create a ' national unity ana a duty of loyalty and submission independent ' of that charter: when you undertake to found .gov ernment on something not embraced by a gran tJ I understand ycu to employ, a language and ideas that- ought never to be uttered by an American tongue, and which, if carried out in practicewill put an end to the principles on "which your, liberties . are : founded. - (Ap- plaufce.l . - ! - - For these and many ' other reasons most appropriate tot our consideration this day-let us recur to certain indisputable facta in our history. I Bhall make no arolory for insist ing on the precedents of our national history. No nation can sifely lay aside the teachings, the obligations, or the facts of its previous ex- isience. xou cannot maae a tuouia rota oi your political condition, and write upon it a purely original system, with no traditions, ho compacts, no beliefs, no limitation, derived from the generations who : have gone before you, without ruinously failing to improve. Ileyolutionory i ranee tried such a proceeding, and property, life, religion, morals, public order, and public tranquility, went .down into a confusion no better than barbarism, out of which society could be raised again only by the strong hand of a despot. Wi are or a race which ought to have learned by the. experience of a thousand years, that reforms, improvements, progress, must be conducted with a fixed reference to 1 those antecedent facts which have already; formed the chief conditions of the national existence. Let us attend. to some of the well knowu truths in our nistorv. 1. The Declaration of fndependence was not accepted bv the people of the colonies, and their delegates in Congress were not au thorized to enter into a Union, without a res ervation to the people of each colony, or its distinct separate right of internal self-govern ment. To represent the abstract sentiments of the Declaration as inconsistent with any law or institution existing in any one of the colonies, is to contradict the record and history of its. adoption. What, for example, do you make of the following resolution of the people of Maryland in convention, adopted on the 28th day of June, 1776, and laid before the Continental Congress three days before the Declaration of Independence was signed.: "That the deputies of said Colony or any three or more of them, be authorized and em powered to concur with the other United Colonies, or a majority of them, in declaring the United Colonies free and independent States ; in forming such further compact and confederation between them; in making foreign alliances, and in adopting such other measures as li a I h oA'inAcreA nMMUirv for securing the jnWt; of .America; and, that said Colony KIOHT Or KKGCLATItiO TBI IXTKKNAL GO Vf RAWEST AMD POLICE Or THAT CoWST BK BE'iEEV-ID TO THE PEOPLE . THEREOF." This annunciation of the sense and purpose in waiclf the people of Maryland accepted the Declaration, m just as much a part of the record as the Declaration itself: and it clearly controls for them the meaning and application of every po itical axiom or principle which the Declaration contains. It was in, tended to signify to the country and the worlds that the people of 3faryland confiented to separate themselves from the sovereignty of Great Britain, on the condition, that the right to maintain within their own limits, juat such a system of society and government as they might see fit to maintain, should belong to them, notwithstanding anything said in the Declaration to which they were asked to give their assent.' Several of the other colonies, made a similar express reservation ; and all of them, .and all the people of America, understood that every colony accepted the Declaration, in fact, in the same sense. No man in the whole country, from the 4th of July, 1776, to the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, ev er supposed that the revolutionary Uongress acquired any legal " right to interfere with the domestic concerns of any one of the colonies which then became States, or any moral authority to lay down rules for determining what laws, institutions, or customs, or what condition of its inhabitants,; should be adopted or continued by the States in their internal govT eniment. yrora that day to this, it has ever been a deceived doctrine of .American Law, that the Revolutionary Congress exercised, with the assent of the whole people, certain powers which were needful for the common defence; but that these powers in no wav touched or involved the sovereign right of each Plate to regulate its own internalcondition.-.' ' ' 2. When the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified, in 1781, there was placed in the very front ofthe instrument the solemn declaration that, "Each State retains it sovereignty, freedom,, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction; and right, which ia not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled;" and the powers given to the UnTted States in Congress related exclusively to those affairs in which the States had a common concern, and were framed with a view to the common defense against a foreign enemy in . order to se cure, by joint exertions, the ' independence and sovereignty of each of the States. ;;"'-; 3. When the Constitution of the' United States; was finally established, in 1788,' the people of each- State, acting tbrouih author ized agents, executed by a resolution or other public act, a cession of certain sovereign pow ers, descnoea ia tne institution to the government which that 'Constitution provided to receive' and 'exercise' them.' " These powers he me driceabeolateiT granted by public jnstru- ments duly executed in. oenajj or. tne people oi -l c . " iLiJ.-r.JL' ! - i i. L : . -. e?-'-enji- m cttou otaie, were (.ocnceiurou iacpoiB wi ue- fng resumed : for I hold that there is noth ing in the nature of political powers which "u vueuj, wneu , aosoiuieiy ,csucu- !oj more capable of .being resumed at pleasure by (jrauHirs, mio ngQt oi property is wnep once-conveyed by un absolate deed. In' both cases, and if that contract, u ii K rju wJtfi the (institution, provides for a common arbiter to determine its meaning and AtSrn; there is no resulting right ia th 4 the .instrument itself, to - determine any . ee- , J At the BAmf .Urae, it i, never to b forgottee that the po.were, and nghta i of eeparete- inter-pal, government which ere not, ceded -by the people of Jhe States, or whch fax dy not, by adopting the CoasUtutin,;2reeyto: restrain, remained la the peopl .of eacb State, .ia ruu eovereignty. ' It might have been enourh'-for their safety to hare rested, upon-, this as a-, fa miliarly understood and weli-deZad criuclnle of pablsrlaw', imtlUi ia every4 kuch grants nut to people &d not eee4t4ei Una! to Impl cation lone. i .Thrr to theXJonatitution an it anetwlnieot Which ae!lisio between the fighuu npreraaey' of the elates' that "The powers jiet. delegated ( to the United States, are reserved to the States. rat-pectively, or to people.'' ' - . : We thus see tbat from, the first dawn 'of: Our national existence, . thrpugh. avery form which it has yet assumed,, a dual character has constantly attended our political condition. A nation has existed, because there has all along existed a central authority havfcg the right"td prescribe the rule ' of action for the whole people, on certain subjects, occasions, and relations. In. this sense and in no other, to this extent but no , further, we have been, since 1776, and are now, a nation. A( the beginning, the limits of this central authority, in respect to which we are a nation, were defined by general popular understanding ; but recently were they fixed id written terms and put lie charters, first by. the Articles of Confederation, and ultimately, and with a more enlarged scope and a more efficient machinery, by the Constitution. The latter instrument made, this central authority a government proper, but with limited and defined powers, wMcb are supreme within their own appropri ate sphere. In like manner, from the begin- hing, there has existed another political body;fother man wants "a sweeping confiscation of distinct, sovereign within its own sphere, and independent as to all the powers, and. objects of government , not ceded or restrained under the Federal Constitution. This body is the State; a political corporation, of which each inhabitant is a subject, ' as he is at the same time a subject of that other political corpora tion known as the United States. .'.i- AH this is familiar to you. But I state it here, because I wish to remind vou that the careful preservation of this separate political body, the State, this sovereign right of self- government as far as it has been retained by the DeoDie of each State. has ever been a cardinal rule of action with the American people, and with all their wisest statesman, Northern and Southern, of every school ofpol- itics. There have been great differences of opinion, and great controversies, respecting X 1? f If 1? A 1 AL me aiviaing line wnicn separates, or ougai 10 be held to separate, the national from the State powers. But no American statesman has' ever lived,.at any former period, who would have dared to confess a purpose to crush the State sovereignties out of existence; and no man can now confess such a wish, without arousing a popular jealousy, which will not slumber, even in a time of civil war and national commotion. Applause. What is the true secret of this undying popular jealousy on the subject of State rights? What is it, that even now when we are sending our best blood to be poured out in defence of the true principle of the national supremacy causes all men who are not mad with same revolutionary project, to shirk'from measures that appear to threaten" the integrity of State authority, and to pray that at least that bitter and dreaded cup may pass from us? It in the original, inborn and indestructible belief that the preservation of the State sovereignty, within its just and legitimate sphere, is essential to the preservation of Republican liberty. Beyond a doubt, It was this belief which led the people Jrom the .first ,to -object a they did nofalwayr underetand-all the grounds of this conviction. It has been, as it were, an instinct; and in one, I hope that instinct is as active and vigilant this day, as I am sure it was eighty years ago. For i am persuaded that local self government, to as great an extent as is consistent with national safety, is indispensable to the long continued existence of Republican government on a large scale. A Republic, in a great nation, demands those separate institutions, which imply in different portions of the nation some rights and powers with which no other portion of the nation can interfere. You may give the mere name of a republic to a great many modes of national existence ; but unless there are local privileges, immunities, and rights, that are not subject to the control ofthe national will, the Government, although resting on a purely democratic basis, will be a despotism' towards all the minorities. A great nation, too, that attempts republican government, without such local institutions and rights, must soon lose even the republican form. Twice within the memory of some who are yet living, have the people of FraneeV tried the experiment of calling themselves a Republic ; and France, be it re membered has been, ever since her great Rev olution, essentially a democratic countrv. Hut her republics have never been anything but huge democracies, acting with overwhelming force sometimes through a. head called a Directory, sometimes through a First Consul. sometimes through a Presidentf but ending speedily in an Emperor and a Despotism. It is impracticable for a great and powerful democratic nation, whose power is not broken and checked by local institutions of self govern ment, to avoid conferring on its head and representative a large part or the whole of its own unlimited force. If that head is not clothed with such power, there will be anarchy. Louia Napoleon, by the present theory of French law, is the representative ofthe whole authority of the frehch nation so con stituted by uni versal suffrage ; and if his pow er did not in fact correspond to this theory. order could not be preserved in France; .- The most skeptical person may be convinced of this, who will read the Constitution of the Freneh - Empire, remenrbering' that it la ' the work of the Emperor himself. ' .' lurning now to our own country, let us sup pose that the States of this Unioa, from the . . 1 . - il. . Tl ' ft II. . 1 . 1 auauuc to me raciuc, were oomerateu 10-07 and that the "people of this whole country were a consolidated democracy, "one and indivisible." No laws would then be made. no juetice administered, no order maiatained, no institutions up-held, save in the nam and by the authority of the nation. -What sort or a Republic," think you, would that be ? If it started with the name and semblance, how long would it preserve (the eubstances of Re publican institutions? In order to act at all in the discharge of the" vast duties devolving upon it, tne governmental such a xtepublic. extending over.a, country ao enormous,. must more ana more d maae ine aepository oitne irresistible force of the hationV'and the theory mac ne wiu or me government' expresses .'in all.cs the will of the ruling majority,, must soon, corner, upon jn- taai;. pmoipotent power, oeneata wqicn minorities ana individuals can nave no ngius. - This is no mere epectllatioo. ' Every reflect ing man in this country knows, that he ha some civil rights, 7wh!cnh.e"doea not hold at the'will and pleasure! of a majority ofthe' people of the United Stateei He,know9Hhat he holds-these rights by ,a.tnqrt vhich cannot lawfully be touched by all (tbe residue of, the nation. This Is Republican Liberty, as J-nn-derstaaJ and value It rand without thie;prio--cipla in soma form of active and secure operation, I do not believe that any valuable Re publican libertT.ia possible ia may great Dem-ocratle country the face ftbt earthy Cer- It seems to one'.wlij ookjr hack -upon. w history; and Who keeps before hini tlie settled condiuoue of our liberfiV alxuost' impossible nation and a wrongrui assertion or Jstate riov-ereignty, we are exposed -Jo all the evils of civ il war, and to the oangerofjlestroyingtherue principles of bur syetenn,'a the effort to 'maintain them. !hat this danger is real and prac-ticai, will be conceded ndWf bj every tnan who will contemplate the projects that spring up on all eides,. looking to the acouieition of, powers which hare never belonged to the Federal Union by any theory under which it 'has yet existed. The main resemblance between these project is, that none-; of them will fit the knbwn basis of the Constitution and that as, means,' therefore, of curing the disorders of our country, or ' of making' tnen: obedient to the Constitution, their tendency is i merely mis chievous. At the same tune,, they are none of them founded on any tneory or a new Union, or pf a new form of national existence, which their, authors can explain to ns or to themselves. One-man, -for -.instance;' wishes the government to assume the ; power of emancipating all the slaves of .fbe -Sopth, by some decree, civil or military.'; But he cannot possibly explain what the government of the union is to oe, wxien - n jias uonc xms. An all the property of all the people of the revolt ed States, guiltyand innocent alike. But he does not tell you what kind of a sOverigtr the United States is to be", after such .a seizure shall havebeeo ' consumSnated. A third, in addition to these things, -and as if in imitation of the Austrian method of dealing with rebellious Hungary; wishes to-declare a sweeping forfeiture of all political rights ; an utter extinguishment of the corporate State existence, and a reduction of the people of the revolted States to a condition of military or some other vassalage. But he not only does not show the Constitution enables the Federal Government to obliterate a State, but he does not even suggest what the Union is to be, when this, is done, or even whence the requisite physical force i to be -derived. Multitudes of politicians tell us that slavery is the root of all the national disasters, and that we must "strike at the root." But none of them tell us how we are to pase through these disasters to a safer conditin, or what the condition, is to be when we shall have; "struck at the root." (Applause.) j Now it seems to me, endeavoring as I do to repress all merely yaink and useless regrets for what is passed, and to find some safe principle of action for the present and the future, that there is one thought on which the people of ine-unitea oiates snouia steaany nx ineir ai tention. We have seen that pur National Union has had three district stages. The first was the Union formed by sending delegates to the Revolutionary Congress, and by a general submission to the measures adopted by that body, for the common defence. The second was the closer Jeague of the Confederation, the powers of which were defined by a written charter. Th; third was the institution of a-govern uientipreper, with sovereign but enumerated powersiunder the Constitution. Now I infef fronVwhat I see of some of the currents of Mi4 ftmd private opinion, tbatmaBy""- rtfj a vague expecta- T ' TsrmiQpa now, nece? fcV -' -T'a'rii-Biei.i l will result iDluc . iationi oi i -uvu rela tions, a new Union and a new -Constitution of some kind they khow not whaC. He would be a very bold and a very rash man, who should undertake to predict what new Constitution can follow a civil war in a great country like this. But looking back to the com nence- ment of pur national existence, we see that there never has been a change in the form of the Union; there never has been a .change in the form of the Union ; there never has heen a new acquisition or political power by the central government, which has been gained by force; ouch additions of foreign territory, as we have obtained by arms or treaty, have merely increased the area of the Union, but they have not augmented the political powers of the government in the smallest degree. The inhabitants of those regions have come into the Union subject to the same' powers to which we, who were original parties to the formation of the Constitution, have always been subject, and to no others. The national authority has never gained the slightest in crease or its political powers by force of arms. In every stage in which its powers have been augmented, the increase has been , gained by the free, voluntary consent of the people of eacn estate, witnout coercion or any kind. This consideration certainly affords no rea son why the Government of the United States should not vindicate .its just authority under the Constitution, over the whole of its territo ry, by military power. The right of the Gov ernment of this Union to exercise the-powers embraced in tire Constitution rests. I reneat upona voluntary, irrevocable cession of these powers by the people of each State ; and no impartial publicist in the world will denv that the right to put down all military or other resistance to the exercise of those powers rests upon a just and perfect title.' Applause. 1 J.111S uue is lounoea on a pumie grant. But when you come to the idea Of acquiring other and ' further powers by the exercise of force, you come to a very different question Yen then nave to consider whether a people 1? -. ? jj . . . . . ' . wuose civii policy is lounaea on tne title given by consent who have i never" known or1 ad mitted any other rule of action .than! that ex pressed jn the maxim that . " governments derive their just.'po.wers from the consent of the governed" can. proceed to' foand any new' political powers on a military conauest ov- fTebellion. without changing the whole charac ter or their institutions. Jt or . my own part. wjth the best reflection I have been able to girc w voio momentous ouujeci, x nave never been able to see how a majority of the ' Amef" icaw people can. proceeil to acquire by mUita- rjr oujugauun, or oy mimary means, or maxims,' any new authority over the neonle or in- stitutione pf; anyijtate or class, of States,, with oui laiung oacK upon jjie same kind of title, as that by whfch'wriKarri of Nnptnanstv on1 his descendants acquired and held 'the throne of England, That title was foaoded on the sword r Perhaps there are some who is to be the issue let. 1 It cbme. o will ear. if this T oon have argument with those who are prepared to 'ac-' oept, or who wish for. thW issue. r A11:4he I know or expect in tbU world, of ;what may he called civil happiness, is. staked on. the pre servation 01 our republican Constitutional' freer dom. (Applause. V If bthsrsKare pt-erjafed to yield it; if others are willing to barter it for t he doubly -hazardouslfx'penment of obtaining eontrol over the destiby Afar race how subject to our eway,rdepBudeht on our reeponsibili-;lf othersare readyto ehange the ipnodar tion of our Union from free public charters to new authorities obtained bv military subfa- tvu cauDoi-ioiiow inem..- 1 Applause.) shall, bear, that tfeeult, if It eomes: wit h ? such SPation acmay be gteii .to m.VBt yod will rjardon - me. , fellow-citizens, if . writh m humble efforta, I yet endeavor to sa. tain those they maVyo few; whtj faith fariy ieek' to carry urf to the end bf these-. great -perUa with the. whole system-of opr civil -bertiea uoim-paired1 (Lonf contipued appianee , snd cries or "uooa,"r .ica will etui, 1 trust, give every honest man the freedom., to Btru?Te' to the 7T ryr last for that ioestiniable principle on -which the very authority of your, government to demand the "obedience' of all its citizens . was founded by those who created it. (Applause.) J The object for which -we'are urged by some to put at imminent hazard; the foundation principle of our federal system is, emancipation of the. slaves of the South. -. No one can be' less disposed than myself to undervalue, the capacity of my countrymen to do egreattnany thiogsr-find . to do them aucceesfully. One would supposehoweyerthat a proDOsition to effect a sweeping change in the condition of four millions of the laboring peasantry of a great region ofjcountry, and to do it In almost total ignorancejof the methods in which that particular race can be safely dealt with, so as to produce any good, would be a proposition upon which even our self-confidence would be likely to pause. .One would suppose that such an idea might suggest an inquiry into the limits of human responsibility. It is not allowed among sound moralists, .that there is any rule which authorizes a statesman to undo an original wrong; at the imminent hazard of doing another wroog, as great or greater; and there is no-rule of moral obligation for a statesman that Is not applicable to the conduct of a peo-ple. . .. " ; "" : ' ". - Setting aside, then, for a moment, all idea of constitutional restraint, let me put it to each one of you to ask himself how many persons there are in all the North, on " whose judgment you would rely for a reasonably safe determination as to what ought to be done with slavery,: haying 'a single, view to the- wel-fare of that race ? Of course' I do not speak of disposing of a few hundred individuals, but of general measures ormWementa affecting four millions of your fellow-creatues. - It has been my fortune in the course of life, to know a few truly great statesmen in this our Northern latitude, and to know many other persons. Tor whose general opinions on what concerns the welfare of the human race I should have profound respect..! But 1 have never seen the man, born, educated and living away from contact with slavery as it exists in the South, whom I could regard as competent to determine what radical changes ought; to be made in the condition of a race,, of whom all that we yet know evinces their present; incapacity to become self-sustaining and self-dependent. (Long continued applause and some hissesl) In such a case, it appears to me a very plain moral, proposition,. .that our Maker has not cast upon us the responsibility of becoming his agents jn the premises. (Applause and hisses.) But it further appears to me that, in this case, he has surrounded my moral responsibility with other limitations which I cannot transcend. Iftheorderofcivilsociety in whicbn I am placed imposes on me an -obligation to refrai from acting on the affairs of others ; if I cannbt break that oblieation without de- etroyi-ng the principle of a ben eficient govern- ment ana overturning me iounaauons oi prop erty ; if I .cannot use meana which I am temptedjtoempJoy, without danger of unspeak able wrong; or it the utter inefficiency ofth03e means is apparent to me and to all men, what is my duty to Him who; sees the moral bounds of my actions? It is. to us those means, and those only, aeainst which he has used no-sueh gigantic and insuperable moral - tfrtiiggng "Pt- -valnahly.-militMy allies can be found among, the negroes of the South; that any description of government custody or charge of them can become more than a change Kof masters, and that anything but weakness to the national cause results from projects that look to the acquisition of national power over their condition, are truths on which the public mind appears to be rapidly approaching a settled conviction. (Applause.) . . I add one word more upon this topic ; and I do it for the purpose of saying in the prea-ence of this community that any project for arming the blacks against their masters deserves the indignant rebuke of every Christian in the land. (Cheers and hisses.) When the descendants of those whofh Chatham protected against ministerial employment of the Indian scalping knife so forget the civilization of the age, and their own manhood as to sanction a, greater atrocity, we may hang our "heads fi shame before the nationB of the earth. : . .: "' . But there is another aspect of this matter, which it would be entirely wrong to overlook. The great army which has rallied with such extraordinary vigor and alacrity to the defence of the Union and the preservation of the.;Cpn-stitution, which has endured so much, and has exhibited such heroic qualities, is' not a standing army of hired mercenaries. It is an army of volunteers; of citizen soldiers who have left their homes and entered the service of their country, for a special purpose which, they distinctly understand. Permit me to say that you are bound to remember this ;- or, rather let trie cast aside the language ofexhortation,-and assert, in your name, that you remember it, with pride and exultation. The purpose for which these ; men - were asked to enter the public service was the protection of the existing Constitution from attempts to overthrow or change them by organized violence;; and that purpose is the most important element in their relation to the Government. No other army in the . world ever entered the" service of any power, with ; an understanding so distinct, so peculiar, bo circumscribed in respect to the objects for which it was to be used; so directly addresser! to the moral sense and intelligent judgment of intelligent: men. I cannot doubt that I speak the sentiments of nine men out of every ten m this community, when I say that to change that, purpose, and to use that army for any other end than the defence of the Constitution as it is, and the restoration ofthe Un ion of ; on r forefath era, would be a violation of the public faith. (Applause.) . ' v;.'-: . ' ' ' " " - It is now proposed to enlarge (hat army by a farther call for volunteers; - Let them come forth making no conditions with the Government (applause;) for ; the Government has made its own, conditions, and has made them in accordance with the letter and the spirit Of (he Constitution. (The purposes and objects of the wAr; as declared at the beginning, can never be changed, unless the- people shall be bo untrue .to themselres- as ' to compel' a change and. when they do that, they will be themselves responsible for the defeat of their own hopes. ;; " r ' ' t . . , r . ,. " .. ;- There is yet an6ther. to pie, on which, as it seems to me,' we ought carefully ' and soberly to reflect,!. I mean he hmtOry ofopinion concerning the nature of thef Union, and -the causes which friprn time, to. time have-, produced disorganized'docfrin , it.;' Bat let me ask you here" not olnisundereUnd me. 'l seek po. ocsasipri "to fasten upon, particular persons one or another " measure of responsibility for what . has 'oeeurred ; and; therefore, : in pursuance of a rule which! I ' have-iiopbeed. on my selfjn tlie preparation of tbts discourse, the name Or designation of no ; living man, in. the North or the South will pass my lips this day- (Applause.) '-' - iJ ' !;" -,-"'! ' -WJ 4 ' Whce . r. ie well acquainted with -the pbliti cat history of this country, since fbe adoption, of' the Federal Constitution tnuet. 'know that there have been 'developed at, varioW' times, certsia etranef-laionB coocernirrgthe'rikture of .the PederalrU.nioo tha. foundation of - Its authority, 'and the character of the oUi "itlot! which we owe to it. Ia general, the people of the United State hare been content to rest upon that theory respecting their government, which has always prevailed in its official ad- nu nitration, in . whatever hands that adminis-i muwiiiM oeen joagea: Tinis tneory oeing that the central government bold certain di rect and sovereign, 'i hut special, powers over tne wnoie people, ceded to it by the voluntary grant ofthe people of each State. But a sense of injury in certain localities. SDrinrincr from wrong supposed to have been committed or meditated by the. ruling majority, or "by those who at the time exercised the power of the majority, has not infrequently led men here aa elsewhere, to indulge ia speculations and acts quite inconsistent with the only basis on which the government can beaaid to have any real authority whatever.! To enumerate all these occasions, or to recite the' intemperate conduct that h&a attended them in periods of great excitement, is unnecessary. - But there ib one of- them which may serve as an; ample illustration of all tliat I -desire to Bay on this special topic. '" " " : It is commonly said and wit much logical truth that the doctrines Of Nullification lead, by natural steps, to the doctrines of Secession: and the late Mr. Calhoun who is justly con-sideredas the patron, if cot the author, ofthe former, is also popularly: regarded as the fath er 01 the latter. But it is important for us, in more aspects than" one, to know that Mr. (Jal hpun-did not contemplate ox desire a dissolution of -the Union, fie adopted a doctrine re specting it which does, indeed lifad, when conj sistently followed out to whatie called the constitutional right of secession ; but he did not see this connection, or intend the consequence. There is reason to believe that if his confidential correspondence during the times of Nullification shall ever see the light, k will be found that he wps a sincere lover of .the Union, and was wholly unconscious that he. was sowing, in the minds of those who were to come after him, seeds that wsre to bear a fatal fruit. It was in his power, at one time, to have arrested the career of the Nullifiers in South Carolina, for to them his word, was law ; and if he had so done, he" would probably have been placed by his numerous, powerful,-, and attached friends, out of that StaU, in nomination at least for the highest office in the country. . But what was it that led that eubtle, acute, and generally logical intellect, to embrace a theory respecting the Constitution, which was entirely at variance with the facts that attended its establishment ? The process was very simple, with a mind of a highly metaphysical and abstract turn. Mr. Calhoun had persuaded himself, contrary to an earlier opinion, that a protective tariff was an unconstitutional exercise of power by the general government, oppressive to South Carolina ; and he cast about for a remedy. He saw no relief against this fancied wrong, likely to come from a majority of Congress, and the people of the Union ; and reasoning fioin the premises that the Constitution is a compact between sovereign States, an infraction of which the parties can redress for themselves when all other remedy fails, he reached the astounding conclusion, that the operation of an act of Congress may be arrested in auy State by a State ordinance; when that State deems such an act an unconstitutional exercise of power. But he always main- tamed that this was a remedy 'within thcU nion, and not an act of revolution, or violence, or secession. ' - v This memorable example of the mode in which opinion respecting the nature of our Union Unaffected, is full of instruction at the present time. But, let no-one misunderstand or misrepresent the lesson that I draw from it; and, that no one may ; have an excuse for so doing, let me be as frank and expicit as my temporary relation to this audience demands. I do not say that the course and result of the late Presidential election furnishes the least justification or excuse for what the South has done. I have never believed that any circum stances of a constitutional election, could of themselyes afford a; justification to any State, Or any number of States, in withdrawing from the Union. Neither do I say, or believe, that any condition of opinon respecting a right to withdraw, can afford the slightest apology for that conduct on the part of individuals, in or out or the government, in respect to which there must always remain in every sound mind a great residuum of moral condemnation. Neither do I doubt at all the existence or a long-cherished, purpose on the. part of some Southern political men, to seize the. first pre text for breaking up the Union of these States. (Applause.) But, my fellow citizens, it does appear to me and there is practical importance in the inquiry. in reference to a future restoration of the Union that we ought soberly to consider, whether any mere conspiracy of politicians could Lave found a uniting people, if causes had not long been in operation, which have promoted the growth of doctrines and feelings about the nature and benefits of the Union fa tal to its present dominion over, their miuds and hearts. - ' What has been going On here in the North during the last twenty or twenty-five years ? jwe have had a faction, or sect, or party call it what you will constantly increasing, con stautly becoming more and more an element in our politics, which has made, not covert and secret but open and undisguised war upon the Constitution, its authority, its law,; and the ministers of its law, because its founders, for wise and necessary purposes, threw the shield of its protection over the institutions of the South. I f there is a disorganizing . doc trine, or one diametrically hostile to the su premacy of the Constitution, .which that faction has not held, inculcated and endeavored to introduce into public action, I know not where in the whole armory of disunion to look for it.' App.) They never-cared ; whether the Constitution was a com pact between inde pendent States, or so instrument of sovereign government resting ' on " the voluntary grant and stipulation of; the. people of each State. Destroy it, they said ; destroy it I for, be it one thing or another, it contains that on which the heavens .cry out and against which man ought to rebel." Arid so they went. on doing their utmost to undermine all respect for its obligations, and to render or no kind-ot impor tance the; foundations on which its authority rests. The morethat public men in the North, from weakness, or'am.bition, or for the sake of party' success, assimilated their opinions to the opinions of this fraction,". the -more it " became certain that the true ascendency and suprema cy of the Constitatloa could never be regained -without some enormous exertion'of, popalar energy" following some newryenlightened con- the country was brought to the sharp and sod- den;- Becessitr or vindicatanr the .nature ana authority of theXTnlon. there was throughout the North a general popular Ignorance of its rew nrcwr,'sija a WKiwprwfc"u"v some of its important obligation; t--s '.-"i- kWhatkasijeen going do h the Sooth; tdor- - 1 t km Mint ? tlire is much, to be learned by those who .seek, the truth, , If, you will investigate tbe.fACts-you ;,i' fir.A v t no such ' opinion as' a nirhfof seers ion had any general acceptance, in the South. Ko generalsurport was given 10 the South to the conduct of South Carolina in the tforof imlliflcation,.:.Very few -soulhera s a'eemen or poliUciaae of eiaineuce, out be longing to that state, followed 2Ir. Calhoun ' and Mr. Hayne: and. when the reai debate on the nature Of the Constitntion was closed, .. the general, min4 of 4he South was satisfied with the results . - . -.0 How is it now ? The simple truth is, that ' secessioti understood by Southern politicians . as right resulting from' the nature of th- . Union is growth of; the last twentyve; years ; and it has become the prevalent polit- tw linn wua we most active 01 me eaucaiea men of the South- who have come into pohlic life during this period. It is my belief, founded on what I have had occasion to know, that V the great body of Southern opinion "respecting; V the Constitution, its nature, its obligations, s.hd . its historical basis, has undergone a complete : revolution since the year 1835. What Mr. Calhoun never contemplated - as a remedy against supposed unconstitutional legislation, , has become familiar to men's minds as a remedy against that which- was striking deeper than legislation ; 'which might never take the form of- Congressional actknv tmt was- 'eon---atantly taking every form of popular agitation: which might never become the tangible and responsible doctrine of administration, but was yet all the more formidable and irritating, because it lay couched in an irresponsible popular sentiment, fomented by appeals which were . ; designed to deprive constitutional ties and obligations of : their binding moral force. (Applause.) :. V : -' Are we told that these things do Bdt' stand in any relation of cause and effect 7' Are we so simple, so uninstructed m what infiaenees " the . great movements of the human mirid. that we cannot see ' how ' intellect and pas sion -and interest .may be affected by .what passes before our eyes ? Must I wait until the whole fabrie of free conBtitutionul "government ' la pulled down upon my head, and I am bnri- " ed beneath its ruins, before I cry out in its de- " leneer Must I postpone all jadgmentrespecting-, the causes of its disintegration, . until it has gone down in the ashes of civilwarV'Snd History has written the epitaph over the noblest commonwealth that the world has seen f I fear that there is a too prevalent disposition to surrender ourselves as passive instruments into the hand of fate, too much of abandonment to tlfe current of mere events, too great a practical denial of our own capacity to bave our country by a manly assertion of "the mor- ; al laws on which its preservation - depends. Can it be that we are losing our faith in that Kuler, who has made the safety of nations to - depend on something more than physical and - material strength, who has -surrounded us with countless moral weapons for its defence? (Applause.) ' , - It is marvellous- through what -a coarse of instruction, through what discipline of suffer- and calamity, ths people of this country have . had to pass, In order fully to comprehend the truth that the nature of their government'de-" . pends upon sound deduction from a series of : historical facts; and that it must, - therefore, be defended by consistent popular action. It is now somewhat more than thirty years since Daniel Webster, (app.) combining in himself more capacities for such a task than had ever been given to any other American statesman, ; demonEtrated -that our national government can have no secure operation whatever, .wnlesa .-tltecloTaTTrtrB and : simple deduction. frpSi t he-facts of its origin is accepted as the' basis of its authority. -You know what he taught. You know -that he proved if ever- mortal intellect proved, a moral proposition that ra the exercise of its constitutional- powers the. national government' is supreme, because every inhabitant ofevery State has covenauted with every inhabitant of every other State that it shall be so; that even when the nationallieg-islature is supposed to have overstepped its-constitutional limits, no State interposition, n6 State Legislation, can afford lawful remedy or relief ; and that all adverse State action wheth--er called by the name of. Nullification" or by any Other name, is unlawful resistance.';,. We are glad enough now: to rest upon his great ' name; we march proudly under his imposing, banner to encounter the hosts of "constitatjon- Q al Secession." ' But how. was it with us even before he was laid in that unpretending tomb; ' which rises in "the scene that he loved so well, and overlooks the sounding sea, by the 'music of whose billows he went to his earthly rest ? Did we follow in his footsteps ? Did we' requite his unequalled civil services f Did we cherish the great doctrine that he taught rnr, as the palladium of a government which must perish if that doctrine loses its "pre-eminence in the national mind? How long or how well did we preserve the recollection of bis teach ings, when our local interests and feelings . Were.arrayed against the action of the Federal Power? I will not open that record. I Would to heaven that it were blotted out forever.- " But I cannot stand here this day and be guilty ; of any thing so unfaithful to my country, as la' admit that under a government' whose authority can live'only when sustained by popular-reverence for its sanctions and popular belief in its foundations, opinion in the South ; has not been affected by what has transpired in the North. (Applause.; ' " - .' '. ' .' . . , I have endeavored to state, - with fairness and precision, the principle oni which the American Union was fouuded, and to show that its preservation depends . upoo keeping the National and the State sovereignties, eachl" 'r withiu the proper limits of its appropriate sphere. .1 sm aware that tha opinion has beeb formed to a great extent in foreign countries and in the South, and by some among us, that this 'principle is po longer practicable; that the union bf free and slave States in the &am nation has become, an exploded experinient and that our interests are so. incompatible that" a. reconstruction, op the . old basis at least, ought not to be attempted. We should prob- . ably all concede . that this, view of -the subject is correct, if we believed that the incompati bility is necessary, inherent, and inevitable. : But.there id. uot enough to justif.-.the lreak. ing up. of such. 4 Union, if tba sunposed in compatibility i but the result of causes whichj we can reach or if ft arise? from an unfaithful compliance with the terms of our association; We can malte such an association no longer practicable if we choose to do so. We ca prevent it from - beeomingimpracticable if we are so resolved. If the free States, as one sec tion; and the slave States, a another, will notr respect their mutual obligations, then there is an end of the usefulness of all effort, : If we... of the-North, will not religiously and honestlyi respect the constitutional right ef every Stats1 to rnaiotain just suck domestic institutions asi it pleases to hats, and protect that right from.; every species of direct and indirect interfere ace, then there is-J absolute; inoompatibih'ty.sa If. they ofi the South,, will not as honestly and' . religiously .maintain the right of the Federal , Union-to regulate those subjects and interests i which are committed to it by the Constitution, 1 then, there is, in like man nert an vincomp&twr bility-off precisely. -the am nature. : If-tie parties, in -jeference to the coromoa domaita,4 will .admit of no compromise or concessiQa.j but each inswts on-applying to them its own poliey as -a riational policy, then the iccor-t. ib'i'itv 14 as eoujplete from that ' cause as -.it U from the others.; "The.. diSeolty is ret H t' principle ofthe association, for net V clearer than tbat principle t anJ v : a 1: been honorably adhered , co ' the world has worked more su -. .V. .-t