RATES OF ADVERTISING.
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Vatrigt Union.
310NDAY MORNING. APRIL 1, 1861
SPEECH OF
HON. JOHN J. CRITTENDEN,
BEFORE THE LEGISLATURE OF BENTIICHY,
Tuesday, 26th March, 1861.
Mr. Speaker and gentlemen of the Senate and /louse set
Representatives :
It is my great honor on this occasion to ap
pear before you upon your joint invitation to
address you upon the subject of our national
affairs. I thank you, gentlempu for the great
honor you have thus seen fit to confer upon me.
I have been long, very Ipng, in the service of
my country. The time has come when lam
to retire from it ; I do it cheerfully and wil
lingly. You and your predecessors have con
ferred many honors upon me ; you have given
me your confidence. Repeatedly have I bad
the honor of being elected to the Senate of the
United States ; I am now a private citizen, and,
after all my trials and my attempts in the ser
vice of my country, you are pleased to receive
me with approbation; I am grateful to you,.
gentlemen. By these honors and this exhibi
tion of your confidence you endeavor to make
the repose of my old days, after a life spent in
your service, agreeable, happy and humble ;
you can confer no greater reward upon me; I
can receive none greater. I know that I ant
indebted as mach to your partiality as I am to
the value of any service I have rendered for
these tokens of regard and confidence.
I am invited, Mr. Speaker, to address you
and the honored assembly on the subject of our
national affairs. It is a gloomy subject, Mr.
Speaker. Never in the long history of our
country has anything like or at all parallel to
the present condition of our country presented
itself for our consideration. But a little while
ago we were a great, u n ited people—our name
was known, and known only to be respected,
throughout the land. Our power, our great
ness was everywhere recognized, and our flag
was everywhere considered as the emblem of a
great and growing nation. Now sir, what is
the condition to which we are reduced. Where
is that glorious Union that we promised our
selves should be perpetuated ? Where are
those ten thousand sentiment's offered in toasts
and orations that the Union was to be Perpetu
ated ? " Let it be perpetuated—cite perpetua"
—was the sentiment expressed• on thousands
and thousands of public occasions.
What is our condition now, and how has it
been brought about? I need not state very
particularly the causes which have produced
these effects, nor need I recur to the present
condition of our nation with a view of telling
you what it is. It is a sari story—so sad that
it is impressed upon every heart—known to
every citizen. I shall not detain you idly by
any particular details of causes. It is enough
to say that it has all grown—our national ca
_lamity—our national misfortune—has all grown
out of a controversy between the slaveholding
anti non- slaveholding States, furnishing ques
tions of slavery, and questions of anti-slavery
—questions about the Territories of the United
Staten.
These agitations have long exasperated, on
the - One side and on the other, a vast portion
of the United States. It has resulted in the
formation of sectional parties—a sectional party
in the North and a sectional party in the South.
The sectional party of the North has finally
succeeded in electing a President forthe United
States,and installing their party in all branches
of the Government. This has excited increased
apprehensions in part of the South as to the
safety of their peculiar institutions. They
dread that the Northern power will employ
itself in destroying one of these institutions,
and depriving them of their property.
Under this apprehension, what have they
done? They have sought a most violent rem
edy against this apprehended evil by seceding,
as they term it, from the Union of these States,
and forming for themselves a separate, distinct
and independent Government out of the seven
States that have seceded—S. Carolina, Missis
aippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and
Texas. , These States have in so far as they
possessed the power, broken our Union, and
established, or attempted to establish, for
themselves an independent Government, and to
. put that Government into operation. This is
the present attitude in which our country
stands. While these revolutionary movements
were in progress, attempts were made in the
Congress of the United States, then in session,
for the adoption of such measures as might
check them_ It was hoped that if these mea
sures could. not recall to the Union the States
that bad already seceded, they might secure
the allegiance and adherence to the Union of
;the remaining States.
Among many other gentlemen who proposed
measures for adjustment and reconciliation, I
submitted a series of resolutions, believing that
their adoption might pacify our country, put a
stop to revolution, and preserve and restore our
Union. I need not undertake to occupy -your
time by reciting those resolutions. They are
known to you all and had the honor of being
expressly approved by you. This object was
- mainly to satisfy the claims of the South to
remove with their slaves to the Territories of
the United States.
On the other hand, this right was denied,
upon the ground that the Territories belonged
to the United States.; that no individual State,
nor ano of the States separately, had an inter
est in the Territories, but that they belonged
to and were under the absolute control and gov
ernment of the General Government. Sir, let
that be admitted. Admit that the territory is
under the absolute control of the General Gov
-ernment ; but, sir, does it not follow that that
General Government ought so to administer
this great property, so to exercise its great
functions, that every class of States, and every
State, shall equally participate in and equally
enjoy that which belongs to all?
No matter whether you consider it a property
held in trust for the individual States, or as a
property held absolutely for the General Gov
ernment, to be controlled or disposed of by the
-General Government, it equally follows that
that General Government, to be just and to act
upon the principles of the Constitution, ought
to so administer the property that each and
every State—every portion of the Union—may
have an equal participation in and an equal
enjoyment in that which belongs equally to
all--the territory of the United States.
It seems to me, therefore, that there is in
justice in excluding from that equal and full
enjoyment any class of States because of any
institution that may exist in them. The Con
stitution gives to the other States no right to
monopolize that territory, and to assume the
entire ownership and enjoyment of it. The
Constitution accepted them at its foundation.
It accepted them as . slaveholding States. It
accepted them at the time of its adoption as
entitled to equal rights, notwithstanding they
held slaves. It accepted. elaveholding and
non-slaveholding *lns as standing in equal
favor with the Coffstitution, and entitled to
equal rights and equal justice from that Con
stitution.
So regarding it, it seems to use that it would
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VOL. 3.
be unjust for the free States to assume and
usurp to themselves the entire control of these
Territories, and so control them as in effect to
exclude from them portions of the citizens of a
certain class of States. I thought, therefore,
air, that the North was in the wrong, and that
the South was in tae right in respect to this
question of property and rights in the Territo
ries of the United States ; and one of the objects
of the measures which I proposed, one of their
chief objects, was to procure, by an amendment
to the Constitution, an acknowledgment of this
equal right on the part of the South. Upon
Constitutional principles this right would
extend to all the Territories of the United
States, and the Southern States in common
with the free States, would have an undivided
and equal right in all the Territories of the
United States. But, as a common enjoyment
would be difficult, it appeared more convenient
that there shiould be for this purpose a sort of
partition of the Territories of the United States
between the different classes of States, slave
holding and non-slaveholding.
Our fathers—those who have gone before us
—in the year 1820. upon the question of the
introduction of Missouri into the Union, were
involved in this very question of slavery agita
tion. The admission of Missouri was objected
to because of its constitution, in view of the
fat that slavery existed in the new State and
waY sanctioned by its constitution. Manifest
ing at that early period an opposition to the
exclusion of slavery, they rejected it in the
first instance—they opposed the admission of
Missouri. A compromise was then drafted.—
The line of 36° 30/ was made the divi
ding boundary or line. Upon the north of it
slavery was to be prohibited; upon the south
of it slavery was not to be prohibited. So the
matter rested. It produced peace. Now instead
of the common, undivided right to go into all
the Territories, the South has an implied pro
mise that she may go there and carry her
slaves, if she pleases, into all the territory
south of the line of 36° 30'. That compro
mise applied also to the territory acquired by
the Louisiana treaty. What have we done in
the present emergency—an emergency present
ing the same questions ! I proposed that we
should again adopt this line of dvision and
apply it to the territory which we had since
acquired in our war with Mexico—that again
we should renew the compact that in the terri
tory north of 33b 30/ there should be no
slafvery, and that in the territory south of
it slavery should be recognized. It seemed to
me that this was just, equitable and right. But
it did not appear so to the Congress of the
United States.
I believe if these measures, thus offered, had
been, at a suitable time, promptly adopted by
the Congress of the United States, it would
have checked the progress of the rebellion and
revolution, and saved the Union. But I say
it did not seem so to the Congress of the Uni
ted States, and they declined to adopt these
resolutions, with the exception of one. That
was an amendment to the Constitution, which
it adopted so far as it could, to be referred to
the several States for their adoption—an
amendment declaring that the General Govern
ment should have no power whatever over sla
very in the States, and that no amendment
should be made to the Constitution of the Uni
ted States which should give Congress any
such power. It said nothing in respect - to the"
Territories either .as it regarded the Territories
themselves or as it regarded slavery in the Ter
ritories. They declined to permit slaves to be
carried into the territory south of 36° 30 1 . In
the meantime the revolulion proceeded. This
revolution has undertaken to form itself into a
government distinct and independent. The
revolting States have broken the Union which
united us heretofore, and they are.putting this
government into operation, and we stand here
to-day astonished at the great events that are
occurring around us—astonished at the revolu
tion that is glaring us in the face—and inqui
ring what is to be done.
There was one solitary circumstance attend
ing these resolutions, however, that is well
worthy of notice. Although the discussion of
them did not sufficiently recommend them to the
Congress of the United States, it struck upon
the hearts of the people throughout the United
States, and afforded 'them an opportunity for
displaying their fraternal feelings towards us
and all the -South, and the generous temper
and disposition which prompted them to seek
reconciliation and adjustment—an amicable
settlement of all our differences upon any terms
that we might believe to be fair and equitable
—just upon the terms offered by the resolu
tions which I submitted, or upon any other
terms equivalent to them. That would have
been reconciliation enough to have saved -the
Union whatever else might have been lost. As
a testimony of the manner in which this ad
justment was hoped for hundreds and thousands
of persons in the Northern States signed pe
titions praying for the passage of the measure.
Forty thousand voters from the single State of
Massachusetts, thousands from Pennsylvania,
thousands from all the Northwestern States,
breathing a spirit of love and kindness to their
fellow-citizens and devotion to the Union,which
was willing to sacrifice anything and every
thing for its preservation. This was to me, and
it will be to you and to every, Union-loving
man, the most impressive and acceptable evi
dence of the temper and disposition of our fel
low-citizens elsewhere. It showed me that the
argument which has been so often used to dis
unite us—that the North hates the South, and
that the South hates the North—is not true.
The Almighty has not made us with hearts of
such malignity as to hate whole classes of
our countrymen for the sins of a few men. The
North does not hate the South. The South
does not hate the North. In this matter, gen
tlemen, I speak so far as my own observation
and my own experience enable me to testify.
We have our moments of irritation at times.
We have great provocations, and often these
provocations have excited unkind feelings—re
proaches without number, on the one side and
on the other. Crimination and recrimination
has existed between us. But this only serves
to form a. part of that great volume of abuse
which political strife and the struggle for party
predominancy must necessarily produce. They
pass by however. The stream is no longer
made turbid by this cause, and in purity it runs
throughout the land; encircling us in the arms
of a common fellowship—a common country.
So may God forever preserve us.
We have not been made to hate one another.
We do not hate one another. The politicians
who tell us that we hate each other are either
honestly mistaken or they are seeking epheme
ral popularity by professing to be our friends,
andshowing us by the hatred which they profess
for other sections, that their protecting love
for ns is over all, But the people will not
always be led by politicians. They have risen
upon this occasion, and I believe in my •heart
that there is at this moment a majority of
Northern men that would cheerfully vote for
any of the resolutions of compromise that
were proposed by men of the South in the last
Congress. I have assurances of that character
given to me by some of the most. respectable
men, some of tby most influential men of
Pennsylvania. I have assurances given to me
by hundreds of letters from the most intelligent
men of that State, to get my resolutions sub
mitted to the people. They came to me•from
HARRISBURG, PA., MONDAY, APRIL 1, 1861.
every Northern State, I believe without a soli
tary exception, to get my resolutions submit
ted to the people. "We want," said they, "to
preserve the Union. We differ from our repre
sentatives in Congress in this matter. They
are elected as partizans, on party platforms,
and are subjected to the control of their party.
They do not feel as we do. They feel and act
like partizans, and want to maintain every
syllable and every letter of their platform.—
We wish to preserve our sacred Union. We
love our brethren. Put your resolut ions before
us. They will pass by hundreds and thousands
of majorities." Gentlemen, I believe that in
Pennsylvania they would have passed by one
hundred thousand majority• If these resolu
tions have done nothing else, they have at least
elicited evidences of affection for us from our
Northern brethren. They ought to be consid
ered as having attained something in this light,
something important, too, considering the value
of the Union. The people were ready to sanc
tion the compromise. The generosity and pa-'
triotism of their hearts have not stopped to
calculate the consequences to party of the
downfall of their platform. They have in
dulged these feelings as fellow-citizens and
fellow-countrymen, and they are willing to give
you all you ask and all you want. They would
rather give you more than you are entitled to
than part with you.
We are not to be outdone in generosity, I
trust, by the people of the North. It' they are
thus anxious to preserve the Union, shall we be
more lukewarm in that sacred cause. What we
should do is this: Insist upon our rights, but
insist upon them in the Union, and depend upon
it that the people will grant them to you. This
or that Senate, and this or that body or con
vention may refuse, but, mark me, your coun
try has a great, warm heart. The citizens of
this Republic will work out the redemption of
their country, if we will but combine and co
operate with them to preserve this Union. Let
us struggle in the Union, contend in the Union,
make the Union the instrument with which we
contend, and we shall get all that we ask—all
that we can desire—ell that reason can warrant
us in expecting.
This, my fellow-citizens, is the great fact of
the sentiment and opinion of our brethren
everywhere. Now, the great question which
we are called upon to decide is, what, in this
unparalleled, stupendous crisis—what shall we
do? Seven States of our common country—
lately moving in harmony—claiming no other
rights than as the fellow-citizens of a common
Government—withdrew from this Government,
and are now denying their allegiance to it—
avowing their determination to form a separate
Government, and actually forming that sepa
rate Government,'as an independent Govern
ment—as separate from this. They are at
tempting to ignore all relations to us, and
claiming treatment as a foreign power.
What is the wish of us ally It is, and ought
to be, by some-means or measure to bring back
to this Union—to bring back into—to perfect
reconciliation with us, fellow-citizens, who have
thus gone astray and abandoned us. Aye, that
is the wish of all. Though we may think they
have acted rashly, we cannot yet look upon
them as foreigners. They are, some of them,
of our families—some of them are our brothers.
They may secede from the Government, but
they cannot secede from the thonsanclatfoction
that "bind' tlieni to us. They cann ot from those thousand relations of consanguinity
and love which unite them with us. Nature has
tied these knots. Party difficulties and political
troubles can never untie them.
They proclaim themselves independent as a
nation. How shall we treat these erring breth
ren ? how shall the General Government act
towards them ? how shall Kentucky and the
other slave States conduct themselves towards
these seceding States? The object of all is to
bring them back. We wish them well, but we
think they have greatly erred—at least I do.—
We think they have done wrong to themselves,
wrong to us, and wrong to all mankind , by
breaking up that Government whose promises
reached humanity in every region in the world
—promises that have been indissolubly con
nected with liberty and political happiness.
The wrong to all these interests which they
have done proves conclusively to my mind that
the Union cannot be broken. It is not yet
broken. These States may have seceded.—
"Seceded"—a word altogether illegitimate,
having no origin or foundation in any constitu
tional right, and all that can be enigmatical
in meaning—that I am willing to apply here,
divested of all right and significance ; simply
it is revolution against us—whereas revolution
acknowledged and avowed is war upon the na
tion against whom that revolution is attempted.
Our. Union so far as it exists in the sanctum
of the Constitution—so far as it exists in the
South--if all our laws, all popular opinion
and sentiment still exist in theory though dis
obeyed and disregarded by those who attempt
to form another nation, the wish of us, all is to
bring them back—to be again one and indivis
ible. How shall it be best done?
What is the policy for the General Govern
ment to pursue? Now, Mr. President, without
undertaking to say what the exact policy—
under circumstances so singular as the present
hour presents us with—l will only undertake
to say that they ought not to pursue a course of
forcible coercion. Not the policy of coercion,
I say. Our object and desire is to bring them
back into terms of former Union and fellow
ship. This is the object of our private affec
tions, as well as of our public policy. To at
tempt by coercion—by arms—to force them
back into the Union at the point of the bayo
net—to shed their blood—is no way to win their
affections. Let them go on in peace with their
experiment. This Government is not bound to
patronize revolution against herself—therefore,
I say, let its policy be the policy of forbear
ance and of peace. Let them make this experi
ment under all the advantages that peace can
give them. We all hope, for their own good
and their own welfare, that their experiment
will fail of success—that when the increased
exp enses of a Government formed of a few
States, and the thousand inconveniences that
attend its disruption from the great body to
which it belonged—like tearing off an arm from
the human system—when they have come -to
experience all the pains and inconveniences—
all the troubles and all the pests that attend,
and must inevitably attend, this extraordinary
movement—they will begin to look back to the
great mansion of their tribe—the grand Union
of this great Republic—they will wish to re
turn to their brethren, no longer to try these
hazardous experiments of making Governments
separate from this Government. These are truly
hazardous experiments. I think they will fail.
I hope so only because that will have the effect
of bringing them back into this Union. It
will have the desirable effect of restoring our
lost brethren to us. I am, therefore, for the
peace policy. Give them an opportunity of
making the experiment. Do not excite them
by war or bloodshed. They have been suffi
ciently misled by other causes. Add to those
causes the irritation that the sight of blood will
necessarily create, and we can have no possible
hope of reconciliation—them to us or we to
them.
Let us rather trust to peace. Let us trust to
their experience—the inconvenience of their
errors. They will come back. We will invite .
them back—not receive them as offenders or as
criminals; we 'will receive. them as brethren
who have fallen into error—who have been de
luded, but who, discovering their errors, man
fully returned to us, who magnanimously re
ceive them and rejoice over them. I want the
General Government to pursue this policy of
peace and forbearance. What shall the sepa
rate States do? Those slavehotding States still
adhering to the Union. ought to be more par
ticularly forbearing.
But what shall old Kentucky do? Our affec
tions are all clustered upon her. Her peace,
her honor, her glory, her interest, are ours.—
Her character is ours, and a proud heritage it
is. I love her with all my heart. lam one of
the oldest of her children. I have been one of
the most favored of her children, and with
I
heartfelt gratitude do acknowledge it--with all
my heart's devotion do I acknowledge it. I can
never repay the obligations which I feel I owe
to her. What shall Kentucky do—our country
—our magnanimous old State—what shall she
do in this great crisis—this trial of our nation's
faith ? Shall we follow the secessionists—shall
we join in the experimental government of the
South, or shall we adhere to the tried govern
ment of the Union under which we live—under
which our fathers lived and died ? I call upon
you to t bear witness, as candid, truthful men—
do you know of any wrong that the Government
has ever done you? Can you name any in
stance of wrong suffered on account of your
connection with the great Union of which you
are a part ? Kentucky herself came into exist
ence under the Constitution—and under the
Union that she still clings to. Under its pro
tection she has grown from a handful of pio
neers and a few hunters to the noble State that
she now is—in every passage of her history
maintaining her character for honor and fidel
ity—t he devotion to truth, devotion to country
—seeking' at whatever distance, at whatever
sacrifice, every battle field upon which the
honor and the interest of her country were to
be combatted for. That is cld Kentucky.—
Fearing none—feeling herself in influence and
power irresistible in the right cause, irresisti
ble in defence of herself, she has gone on and
prospered. Where is the man of Kentucky
that fears that anybody will come hue to take
away our rights from us. Our self-possession
and character is founded upon this conscious
ability to defend, ourselves—that there is none
so bold as to attack us, we being in the right,
they in the wrong.
Now what, I ask again, is Kentucky to do?
This is a question upon which many of us, fel
low-citizens, differ in opinion. I came not here
to-day to reproach any oue for his opinion. I
came to argue the matter with my fellow-citi
zens and to present my views of the subject as
one of the people of Kentucky. We should
counsel together on such occasions. No man
should be entirely given up to his opinion in
such matters. He should listen with respect
to the arguments of all. It is the good of the
country that is at stake, and the opinions of
all should be heard and determined upon calmly
and dispassionately. If we differ, it is only
about the means of advancing the interests of
that country.
What wilt we gain by going off with this seces
pion movement—this "experimental govern.
ment? Is it not a hazardous experiment? Can
seven States well bear all the expense that
„,mpst arise out of the maintenance of armies,
of tiiiirliSJECollielialliii — a -, 'stareiSTY6VErnizretir
like our own with like expenses? They must
have a President. They will probably not gil'e
him a less salary than we give our President.
They must have a Congress. They will not
give their Congressmen less than we give ours.
They must have all the retinue, all the differ
ent departments of Government, and they will
not place them, I think, at a less cost than we
can. The army and the navy, the expense of
which our legislators frequently complain of
without being able to diminish, that they must
have also. How can these seven States defray
the expenses ? Is it our interest to join this
experimental government—to give up the grand
heritage which we enjoy under the established
Constitution made by the men most venerated
by us, under which we have lived—a govern
ment which has been thought throughout the
world to be a masterpiece of Littman wisdom—
shall we, who have grown and flourished under
it and regarded it as the most firmly established
government in the world if its principles are
properly respected—shall we quit that and go
into the secession ranks, fall into the footsteps
of the revolutionary government ? It would
not be wise. I can see nothing that we are to
gain by it. What will you gain ? What is
such a change to gain for any citizen? What
evil is Kentucky to disburthen herself of ?
What is the danger that now threatens her?
Does she escape it by this revolution ? Are
these States any stronger by going out of the
Union ? I see nothing that is to be gained. I
see no remedy in dissolution of the Union. The
Union, on the contrary, seems to me to be the
shield and arm of our defence. Kentucky re
tains in the Union all her physical powers that
she could possibly have in the new Confederacy
—all her means of physical resistance are just
equal in the Union to what they would be out
of the Union. In addition to this she posses
ses claims by law and by the Constitution
which all the world sees, knows, can read and
understand. With these immunities and rights,
with the laws and the Constitution, does she
not have additional power? To the physical
power she is able to carry the immunities and
laws which form the charter. She can appeal
to our courts, to the Union, to the fellow citi
zens of the Government and the Union. • She
is stronger in this attitude, is she not ?
It is nothing but passion, it seems to me, that
can have misled her so far. I will not go into
the means by which people are sometimes
misled by leaders. I will not go into the causes
that sometimes delude these leaders themselves,
but that we have gained nothing, that we can
gain nothing by going into it and sharing with
it, seems to me very evident.
Our line policy is to stand by that Union
whose bressings we have so long experienced.—
so long enjoyed—to stand fast by it until some
great pales] necessity shall drive us from it.
In the Union we know that we have found
safety—there our fathers found safety—and
these fathers constructed it for our safety. All
experience has taught us that we have the best
government in the world. Abused and malad 7
ministered as it frequently is, is it not at last
the best government in the world? Is there
any better ? Where else does liberty appear
as she does here ? She appears somewhere in
the little Republics of the old world, but so
insignificant in their numbers as not to be no
ticed, and of course to be spared by the great
despots and the great Emperors of Christendom.
There she may be said to exist in her rustic
simplicity—in tatters and rags. Here she exists
in all her splendor, with a diadem on her head.
Here is a great Republic that has avowed alle
giance to her. She as a queen beckons to all
the world, and signalizes a people that know
how to govern themselves—a people that have
entitled themselves to this liberty.
This has been the fruits of this Constitution
and this Union by which I advise you to stand
firm. Stand true to it, I say, until some great po
litical necessity drives you from that post. What
are we now to do ? A portion of our country
men are speculating on distant consequences.
They are resolving that we will quit our place
of safety and go into an experiment—join the
new revolutionary Government—and they say
that Virginia and other States will follow.—
Then they say there will be no war, and then we
will be in a better condition to re-construct.
This is all a fallacy, from beginning to end.
Can we trust our speculation upon causes that
are so dependent one upon another—upon
contingencies that lie in the future
Can we come to distant conclusions of that
sort? No. The safe way is to do that duty
which is nearest you. Do that first. You can
see that. We have not the gift of prediction.
This argument of speculation, founded upon
distant contingencies, founded upon inferences
and inferences from inferences as to what may
follow from the complication of causes, that is
least of all to be relied upon. There is no safe
logic in it. Every man can see and understand
the duty next to him, and should not attempt
to confound his conviction by endeavoring to
comprehend objects beyond his reach.
What is our nearest duty? You haVe been
told to maintain the Constitution of the United
States. It has never done you wrong, never
despoiled you of your property, never taken
from you a minute of your freedom or your
liberty during your whole lifetime. Are you
to abandon that upon a contingency ; are you
to go abroad for an experiment; is that the
next and wisest step to be taken ? Is not the
most immediate duty to stand fast in your
fidelity to that tried Government until some
necessity shall force you from it? When that
necessity comes it will need no argument. Ne
cessity requires no speculation—no argument.
When that great political necessity comes,
which alone would juskify us in sundering this
glorious Union, it will spell( for itself. It will
speak for itself in language not to be misun
derstood. We need not not wrangle or debate
or quarrel about it. It will tell all with its im
perious tongue. It will wave us to obedience.
Conform to it we must. Is that the case now?
No! Why then be in a hurry to abandon this
good Government which has sheltered us so
long? Why commit ourselves to the cold and
inclement skies of an untried country, an un
tried winter? Is that wise ? Is that the pru-,
deuce of a great nation ? Excitement, anima
tion and impetuosity may prompt us, and some
may be lured by the very danger of the expe
riment, but that is not the part of wisdom—
that is not the part of that wisdom that ought
to govern you and to govern a community—
that wisdom which is of a deliberate, reflecting
mind. You are to divest yourselves of these
passions when you come to decide such a ques
tion. Let me ask you, was ever such a ques
tidn submitted to a people before ? Here are
thirty millions of people, constituting the great
est, the freest and the moat powerful nation on
the face of the earth. Is she to fall down in a
day ? Are we hastily to go off—to fly from all
the greatness we have inherited and acquired,
and madly, wildly seek in the wilderness an
experimental government and substitute it for
the better one we now enjoy ?
The moment we are divided, what are we ?
Before all the nations of the earth our great
ness is given up. Is there any one of you, any
one whose heart swells with pride and love of
country, that would not mourn over the slight
est diminution of the greatness of his country's
power. We experienced the haughtiness and
superciliousness of a haughty nation's prince
when we were, but a feeble colony,l rojgbt.
%;tretritt reviilutrori. — lTow our fag carries
respect and fear and love over sea and over
land; it is everywhere hailed with the profound
est respect. When you are compelled to blow
from its folds seven of the stars that now adorn
it—when this waning .constellation shall show
its diminished bead—what will become of that
respect, founded in fear as well as in love ?
What will become of that respect with which it
was hailed under a peaceful government ?
When you go abroad now, and when to the
question as to what you are, you answer you
are an American, you are treated instantly
with more respect than even the proud English
man. Of all names it is that by which a man
would prefer to travel in Europe. It is- your
country's name that gives you this-stamp, this
great power. It is that great country whose
name never fails to prove a shadow of protec
tion over you. Do you not believe now that
foreign' nations are triumphing in the division
and dismemberment of this great government?
They feared its example. They feared its
liberty ; but now they look to you not with a
good government founded on liberty and on
principles which may be to them a dangerous
example. They look to‘you to cite you as an
evidence that all popular government is a delu
sion. "Men are not capable of governing
themselves," they say sneeringly, "and the
people of the United States are showing it.—
They live in a country that reveres power.—
They had all sway and all dominion, yet you
see by party controversy and the little exas
perations that spring out of it, this great govern
ment is in an instant exploded under the
madness of party. In six months that proud
empire, reaching to the skies—stretching its
arms over the world, has fallen to the ground.
They are an evidence that man requires kings
and despotisms to govern him—that he cannot
govern himself." You, the proud nation, are
now cited as an example of the impotency, the
incapability of mankind for self-government—
to show that your boasted liberty is nothing
but the exhalatien of fancies, having no power,
no strength, no capacities. These are the con
sequences that will accrue from a dissolution
of the Union.
Let us strive then to bring the seceders back
and reform them. Here is a Government
formed—all its laws and institutions perfect.
The house is complete and furnished. Those
who have Jett, us have but to step in and take
possession of the mansion of their fathers,—
By standing fast by the Union, and showing
the seceders that there is no probability that
we will unite with them ; and if the other loyal
slaveholding States will show the same disap
probation of their course, will that not have
the effect of checking the career of this revo
lution ? Won't its tendency be to make them
think of returning to their brethren who are
endeavoring to persUatie them back by tokens
of love and affection ? When they see we will
not follow, won't they return to us?
This is our best policy if we want to effect
the re-union of the seceded States. It is not
our policy to increase the evil by joining them.
Will it be more difficult for them to come back
alone than if six others joined them ? Won't
that put farther from us all hopes of re-union?
It seems to me that every view, every argument
is capable of demonstration that the course of
wisdom and policy for us is to stand by the
Union. It is better for us for the. future, bet
ter for the future of the country. By showing
to our erring brethren of the South that we will
not go with them—by showing them our fixed
opinion that their experiment must prove a
failure, and that they can expect nothing like
encouragement from us—will that not have a
tendency to bring them back? I think it will.
Upon an occasion not unlike the present, ten
years ago, Mr. Clay stood near the spot which
I now occupy. The circumstances of the times
were then not altogether unlike what they are
now. He stood here in 1850. In 1848 the storm
was gathering as it has now gathered. Great
apprehensions were entertained in the country
that it would terminate in disunion. Mr. Clay
went to Congress in 1849. He brought forward
a series of compromises in 1850 and had them
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NO. 179.
passed. That pacified the country and pre
served the Union. In 1850 he came here and
in this Legislature he delivered an address.--s-
The storm had then passed, but he spoke to
them with a prophet's fire, and with all a pa
triot's concern of the character of the Consti
tution of their country and the value of this
Union. He said, "I have been asked, When
would I consent to give up this Union ? I answer,
never ! never ! never ! and I warn you, my
countrymen, now, if as thing seems to tend. this
country should be divided into a Union ands
Disunionist party, I here now, no matter who
compose that party, declare myself a member
of the Union party. Whether it be a Whig or
a Democrat that belongs to the party of the
Union, there I subscribe my name—there I
unite my heart and hand with that party."—
How would he answer the question, What shall
we do ? Shill we quit this Union now and go
off.upon the experiment of our brethren of the
South ? What would he answer who then
answered as I have stated ?
I say then it would be wisdom in us never to
consider the question of dissolution. It isnot
a question to be debated; it is not a question
to be settled upon policies or arguments. You
know the fruit of that tree is good. Stand
under it ; feed upon its rich fruits as yon have
done, until you s ie a better one at a distance,
or until some great necessity is upon us—until
a necessity like that by which our parents were
driven from Eden shall drive you from it.—
Then go ; it will be time then, and that neces
sity will be your justification. There is an
other authority still more venerable than that
of the illustrious man whom I have mentioned
—I mean General Washington. Do you believe
he was a wise man ? What did he tell you of
the value of this Union, and of your duty to
maintain and uphold it ?—not merely argumen
tative devotion, ready to argue yourselves in
or out of it on occasion; he told you to have
an immovable attachment to the Union—never
to think of abandoning it; stick to it ; fight for
it; fight in it; if your rights are disturbed
maintain them, if that desperate extremity
should .come; but that desperate extremity is
not to be apprehended. It may occur for a
short time. Wrong and oppression may be
practised for a short time. Bad rulers may
oppress you as they have oppressed others.
You may have a mischievous President and an
ignorant and injurious Congress. All this may
occur, but all this in the wisdom of the Con
stitution is swallowed up in the general good.
That same Constitution, which, through the
infirmity of human nature, necessarily subjects
you to those evils, gives you the power of re
dressing them at short intervals of time, and
he who cannot, for the perpetual good, bear
such evils for a short time does not deserve to
be a member of a good Government. You have
the opportunity of redeeming that Government
Jay frequent elections of a President and Con
gress. If you permit a repetition of a mal
adminisiration it is your own fault.
Gentlemen, the Government is in a bad and
dangerous condition. Whether it shall fall to
pieces, and become the scoff of the world,
whether our ruins are all that shall remain to
tell our story is the question now to be deter
mined. I believe in the people more than I
believe in governments. I believe in the people
more than I believe in Presidents, in Senators,
or in Houses of Representatives._ I do not say
that to flatter multitudes. I say it because
believe in the intelligence of the people. I
believe in the public virtue of the people, what
ever may be said to the contrary. Though in
many things many people act a little unworthy
of the dignity of freemen, still, when I look at
the majestic body of the people, I find that
there' is a wisdom, a generosity, and a public
virtue that will not allow this country to be
trampled under foot, or to go down to ruins.—
They will extend their hands from the North to
the South, and from the South to the North in
fraternal sympathies. I do not believe they
will fight upon any cause that yet exists. I
believe they will not permit their rulers to:
maintain any petty platforms to destroy a
great country. The Chicago platform—a thing
no bigger than my hand—to be set up, like an
idol of old, and worshipped, and a great country
like ours, with all its millions, sacrificed upon
its altars—the people will not allow that to be
done. They are not platform-makers. Their
country and their God is what they are for.—
They are our fellow-citizens; and they will
save us. This may be a superstition, but I
have it, and it comforts and solaces me. You
are a portion of that great body, and will you
do your part? '
My friends, these remarks are desultory. I
have not pretended to sketch the sad history of
these events or to relate them in their detail. I
have not attempted to discuss all ,the probable
consequences of abandoning or standing by the
government of this Union. I have simply sat
isfied myself by saying that to join the new
government would be nothing but a specula
tion. To stand fast where you are is to per
form the duly which is nearest you, and within
your clear conviction. That is the course I
have recommended. What have you done?—
Are you not pledged to this course? What has
old Kentucky's course been? You sent some
years ago a piece of Kentucky marble to be
wrought up into the structure of that magnifi
cent monument to the Father of his Country,
now unfinished, in the city of Washington.—
That was your tribute to the patriotism and
the great name of that unequalled man. What
did you cause to be inscribed upon it? Let
me remind you. Upon the stone is engraved
these words: "Kentucky was the first State to
enter the Union after the adoption of the pre
sent Constitution, and she will be the. last to
leave it." This is the testimony engraven by
your own order. It is engraven upon the mar
ble. It stands a part of the great Monument
.to the memory of Washington, where all the
world may see it. While Washington is adored
as the founder of the Union—the founder of
his country—in that holy keepine b is this monu
ment of recorded rock in which you say you
will be the last to leave the Union. •
Now, Mr. Speaker lid gentlemen, when you
have examined in every material point of view,
in the view of every materiel interest, this
question as to the policy and course Kentucky
ought to pursue; when you have found them
all, let me say that I think your judgment will
find •it satisfactory not to remove from the
Union. But suppose you did not arrive
at that satisfactory conclusion, is there not
something in 'the stability which marks the
manhood of old Kentucky ? Here she stands
upon her own native ground; here she stands
by that flag under which she has often fought,
and stands by that Union that she has sworn
to maintain. Is there not a sentiment that you
feel in your heart that, however politicians may
reason, policy ought to sway this matter.—
There is a great deal even in doing wrong when
you do it in pursuance of a sense of fidelity
and honor—a+ sense of patriotism. Which •of
you if your child is to read the history of this
period, if it be our sad fate that our country
now is to perish, and he is left to read only the
mournful history of its fall, how would you
rather it would stand in that history—that
Kentucky in the tumult of this revolution was
led away, led away from her colors and her
Constitution, and joined in the sad experiment
of a Southern Cotton State Republic ?—that
she sundered herself from the parent Govern
ment, which was broken into fragments, and