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Show 156 by the same name. A doctrine, more wounding or insulting: to the mechanics, fanne rs, labore rs of the North than this strange heresy, can not well be con· ceived. A doctrine more irreveren t, more fatal to repuL\ican institutions, was never fabricated in the councils of despoti sm. It does not, however, provoke us. I recall it only to show tbe s pirit in which slave ry is upheld , and .to remind the fi·ee States of the cal111 energy which they will need, to keep themselves true to th eir ow11 principles of liberty. The re is a gren t dread in this part of the country, that the union of the States may be dissolved by the confliet about slavery. To avert this ev il, every sacri f.r:e should be made but that of ho11or, freedom, and prin eiplc. No one prizes the Union more th an myself. P erha ps I may be allowed to say, tktt L am attached to it t1y no common love . 1\.Iost rnen vnlue the Union c~ s a Mea n:! ; to me it is an End. l'vlost would preserve it for the prosperity of which it is tl1e i11strumen t ; I love and woultl prese rve it for its own S<l ke. Some value it as favoring public itnprovements, facilities of commercial exchange, &c.; I value these improvements and exchanges chiefly as favoring unio11. I ask of tile General Gove rnm ent tounite us, to hold us together as brethren in peace; and I care little whether it does any thing else. So dear to me is union. It is our high est national interest. All tile pec uniary sacrifices which it can 157 poss ibly demand should be made for it. The politicians in some parts of our country, who are calculating its value, and are willin(l" to ~ urre nder it, because they may grow richer by sepa ration, seem to me bereft of reason. Still, if the Union can be p1·eserred only by the imposi tion of chains on speech and the press, by prohibition of discussion on a subject involv ing the most sacred ricrhts and dea rest interests of humanity, th en u~ion would be bought at too clear a 1ate; Lhen it would be changed from a virtuous bond into a leaaue of _cri~e and shame. Language cannot ca:ily do JUStice to our attachment to the U nion. We will yie ld every thing to it but Truth, Honor, and Liberty. These we ca n never yield. L e t the free States be firm , but also patient, forbearing, and calm. From the slaveholder they cannot look for perfect self-control. From his position be would be more than man, were he to observe the bounds of moderation. The consciousness which tranquillizes the mind can Jmrdly be his. On this subject he has always been sensitive to excess. Much exasperation is to be expected. Much should be borne. Every thing may be surrendered but our principles and our rights. .My work is done. I ask and hope for it the Divine blessing, as far as it expresses Truth, and |