A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
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A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861
Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
Conference Convention (1861 : Washington, D.C.); United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861
The people love the Union; they will not give it up. They are true. My
heart almost leapt from my bosom when that telegraph message was read
from Missouri a few days ago. Tennessee has taken up the cry, "Union
for ever," The nation is troubled. All nations are, at times. But our
troubles are not insurmountable. We are all here together to settle
them. Why not settle them, and give peace to the Union, and joy to the
hearts of the people?
We can settle our difficulties. The right feeling animates gentlemen
from both sections. Where was the heart in this Conference that did
not start with emotion, when, some days ago, that glorious old patriot
from North Carolina (Mr. RUFFIN) told us of his devotion to the Union?
Who did not honor and respect him? Old men and young men wept as they
listened. Friends! Countrymen! I come here from a Border State. These
States have a vital interest in the result, therefore we speak
earnestly. Let us say to the angry passions of the country, "Peace, be
still!"
The Border States are united; they have common interests. Beside the
hearthstones of each, sit wives, and children, and families, connected
with each other by ties of blood, of interest, of social intercourse.
We are one. Is Maryland or Delaware ready to say that either will
part company from Pennsylvania? No! We are brethren--come weal, come
wo, we will stand by each other, and we will stand by the Union.
Gentlemen say there will not be war, if we do not agree. I wish I
could think so, but I cannot. But if war should come, let me ask the
gentlemen from New York who think principles are standing in their
way, will you take the risk? Will you see the soil of Pennsylvania
drenched with blood? Can you risk all this hereafter, when you can
avoid it by accepting a proposition that involves no sacrifice of
principles? Never in my whole life have I felt the weight of official
responsibility as I feel it now. God grant that war may be averted
from the country!
Let the lightning this day flash to the extreme limits of the Union,
the glad tidings that we have settled these questions. The message
would be received with gratitude and thanksgiving. Our friends in the
Border States say, "We love the Union, we wish to stay in it; we do
not wish to be driven out." Can you not, will you not, do something
for them? Let us trust this matter to the people. I am not afraid to
trust the people of Pennsylvania. New York and Massachusetts, trust
yours!
We talk calmly of war, but we forget its calamities. Let us remember
that we should not sacrifice one life for this paltry abstraction. Let
us remember how great are the miseries of war. Let us think of the
rush of angry armies, of the widows and orphans, of the sorrow and
desolation that war always leaves in its path.
Christian men! remember that our great Saviour was a Prince of
Peace--that he came to conquer with peace, not with the sword. "The
Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
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