"I do not intend here to enter into a statement of grievances; I
do not intend here to renew that war of crimination which for
years past has disturbed the country, and in which I have taken
a part perhaps more zealous than useful; but I call upon all men
who have in their hearts a love of the Union, and whose service
is not merely that of the lip, to look the question calmly but
fully in the face, that they may see the true cause of our
danger, which, from my examination, I believe to be that a
sectional hostility has been substituted for a general
fraternity, and thus the Government rendered powerless for the
ends for which it was instituted. The hearts of a portion of the
people have been perverted by that hostility, so that the powers
delegated by the compact of union are regarded not as means to
secure the welfare of all, but as instruments for the
destruction of a part--the minority section. How, then, have we
to provide a remedy? By strengthening this Government? By
instituting physical force to overawe the States, to coerce the
people living under them as members of sovereign communities to
pass under the yoke of the Federal Government? No, sir; I would
have this Union severed into thirty-three fragments sooner than
have that great evil befall constitutional liberty and
representative government.
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