An habitual reverence and cherished affection for the
Government will bind us to it longer than our interests would
suggest or require; but he is a poor student of the world's
history who does not understand that communities at last must
yield to the dictates of their interests. That the affection,
the mutual desire for the mutual good, which existed among our
fathers, may be weakened in succeeding generations by the denial
of right, and hostile demonstration, until the equality
guaranteed but not secured within the Union may be sought for
without it, must be evident to even a careless observer of our
race. It is time to be up and doing. There is yet time to remove
the causes of dissension and alienation which are now
distracting, and have for years past divided, the country.
"If the Senator correctly described me as having at a former
period, against my own preferences and opinions, acquiesced in
the decision of my party; if, when I had youth, when physical
vigor gave promise of many days, and the future was painted in
the colors of hope, I could thus surrender my own convictions,
my own prejudices, and cooeperate with my political friends
according to their views of the best method of promoting the
public good--now, when the years of my future can not be many,
and experience has sobered the hopeful tints of youth's gilding;
when, approaching the evening of life, the shadows are reversed,
and the mind turns retrospectively, it is not to be supposed
that I would abandon lightly, or idly put on trial, the party to
which I have steadily adhered.
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