erly hate—national debt—the din of battle
—and a series of wars and national calami-
ties unparalleled in the history of the ages
which have gone by, I ask myself involun-
tarily what fell spirit has the God of
Mercy for a time permitted to satiate its
revenge for some wise but unseen purpose ?
What spirit, like the divinity which in
wrath attended AEneas, the representative
of national power, has exclaimed. Shall I
wage war for so many years with one sec-
tion of this Confederacy? What spirit
cried out, Who, if I satiate not my revenge
—if I maintain not the government—if I
wipe not out slavery through footsteps of
blood—will any longer adore the divinity of
Anti-Slavery, or as a suppliant honor the
political shrines reared in my service? Was
it not the spirit of Northern Fanaticism
which I may personate as the goddess of
Abolitionism ?
And when I ponder over the agonizing
picture which this land now presents,
wasted by civil war, I feel like exclaiming
''Great God I what do I see and hear ?
The end of things created?"
And yet pursuing a train of thought con-
sonant with the final safely of AEneas
through his many perils until at last he
founded a mighty people, I gather hope
that in some form and at some time, through
peace, national safety and national deliv-
erance will be reached. Otherwise—if
there is to be no peace, no cessation to
brother shedding brother's blood, no secu-
rity for constitutional freedom and good
government, no accents of reconciliation, I
would repeat in the same suppliant tones
the prayer of AEneas, or say as Manfred im-
plored:
"Ye toppling crags of ice !
Ye avalanches ! whom a breath draws down
In mountainous overwhelming, come and
crush me."
But it seems, Mr. President, that in the
midst of this national revolution, men are
not content to struggle if perchance they
may safely steer through it. We must
have a State revolution—peaceful though it
may be, through force of circumstances,
yet none the less thorough in upturning
our social system, and all the elements of
our domestic life, than if accompanied by
battles and fire and sword. An institu-
tion—that of slavery of the negro—co-
existent with our State life—is to be sud-
denly destroyed—and unconditionally—
without a provision for the negro, whether |
too old or too young to provide the neces-
sary means of sustenance—and without a
single guarantee or promise of any compen-
sation to the owner for a species of property
which was secured by stronger safeguards
under the Constitution of the United States
and the Constitution of the State, than any
other species of property. I might be ex-
cused, therefore, if under these circumstan-
ces I dealt with this subject more under the
inspirations of passion or feeling, than un-
der the guidance of sober reason. I shall,
however, endeavor to bring with me to the
discussion of the theme of emancipation,
calm argument and the application of just
principles, rather than tirades of abuse or
exhibitions of temper.
Parties must exist in every government
where power is derived from the people.
And a wholesome party feeling is the best
safeguard for the preservation of free gov-
ernments. Parties will always divide them-
selves on principle, whatever may be their
designation for the time being, into radical
and conservative elements. And when I
first read Macauley's History of England,
I was struck, with the philosophical truth
contained in this passage. Speaking of
the distinction which divided the political
elements of the English people at the pe-
riod of sixteen hundred and forty-one, he
says:
" Not only in politics, but in literature,
in art, in science, in surgery, in mechanics,
In navigation and agriculture, nay, even in
mathematics, we find this distinction.
Everywhere there is a class of men who
cling with fondness to whatever is ancient,
and who even when convinced by over-
powering reasons that innovation would
be beneficial, consent to it with many mis-
givings and forebodings. We find also
everywhere another class of men sanguine
in hope, bold in speculation, always press-
ing forward, quick to discern the imper-
fections of whatever exists, disposed to
think lightly of the risks and inconveni-
ences which attend improvements, and dis-
posed to give every change credit for being
an improvement. In the sentiments of
both classes there is something to approve,
but of both the best specimens will be
found not far from the common frontier.
The extreme section of one class consists
of bigoted dotards, the extreme section of
the other consists of shallow and reckless
empirics, "
I shall aim, Mr. President, in the discus-
sion of this subject to avoid being classified |
