Sir, if there is, as I
contend, the right of secession, then, whenever a State
exercises that right, this Government has no laws in that State
to execute, nor has it any property in any such State that can
be protected by the power of this Government. In attempting,
however, to substitute the smooth phrases 'executing the laws'
and 'protecting public property' for coercion, for civil war, we
have an important concession: that is, that this Government dare
not go before the people with a plain avowal of its real
purposes and of their consequences. No, sir; the policy is to
inveigle the people of the North into civil war, by masking the
design in smooth and ambiguous terms."--("Congressional Globe,"
second session, Thirty-sixth Congress, p. 1347.)
[Footnote 130: See letter of Hon. S. K. Bingham to Governor Blair, of
Michigan, in "Congressional Globe," second session, Thirty-sixth
Congress, Part II, p. 1247.]
[Footnote 131: See "Congressional Globe," _ut supra_. As this letter,
last referred to, is brief and characteristic of the temper of the
typical so-called Republicans of the period, it may be inserted entire:
"Washington, _February_ 11, 1861.
"My dear Governor: Governor Bingham and myself telegraphed you
on Saturday, at the request of Massachusetts and New York, to
send delegates to the Peace or Compromise Congress.
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