Young as a nation, our triumphs
under this system have had no parallel in human history. We have tamed a
wilderness; we have spanned a continent. We have built up a granary that
secures the commercial world against the fear of famine. Higher than all
this, we have achieved a moral triumph. We have received, by hundreds of
thousands, a constant tide of immigrants--energetic, if not well
educated, fleeing, some from want, some from oppression, some from the
penalties of violated law--received them into our society; and by the
gentle suasion of a Government which exhibits no force, by removing want
and giving employment, they have subsided into peaceful citizens, and
have increased the wealth and power of our country.
If, then, this temple so blessed, and to the roof of which we were about
to look to see it extended over the continent, giving a protecting arm
to infant republics that need it--if this temple is tottering on its
pillars, what, I ask, can be a higher or nobler duty for the Senate to
perform than to rush to its pillars and uphold them, or be crushed in
the attempt? We have tampered with a question which has grown in
magnitude by each year's delay. It requires to be plainly met--the truth
to be told. The patriotism and the sound sense of the people, whenever
the Federal Government from its high places of authority shall proclaim
the truth in unequivocal language, will, in my firm belief, receive and
approve it.
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