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Show l.J.O THE GOLDEN llO £?. 1nattcr ! Thi pitiful liLLlc interest 1nu t noL spancel tho nation in the great stride now uen1anued of it. Though to Lhcn1 en1ancipation itself \Yill briug \YeaHh and 1nore la tiug benef1L ·, yeL let Lhe1n be paid; as un1ner ·aiel, "A. briJgc of golu woul<l be cheap, should the retreating fiend. ucn1an,u1 1• t. " One ::;Lrokc of Titian's brush, it is said, chang d tho face of a leopard. to that of a b auLiful \YOnlan. Preedo1n is a finer artist, and. beneath her touch, barren Viro·inia an<l wa ·Leu Ken Lucky and se1ni-chuotic :.Mi ·- b souri would have their n1yriad slc ping energies break forth into Slniling uloonl anJ Leauty. Do you think, ir, that, after this fearful experience, the A1nerican people would \Vclcon1c you and hail you a · their national ·aviour if you should. re ·tore thcn1 tho Union \vith Slavery in it ? N over, never ! The 1na os n1ay tell you so, little knowing what a return to the Union with Slavery in it n1caus: but it woulu not take lou (r to teach Lhe1u, and they \YO uld. heap your na1nc \Yith Clll'l:>OS ! You 1nay think, and. they may think, that it would be a safe experiment to try : you 1nay say, " The in ·Litution 1nu t be on the down-hill: it can 110\'0r rule tho country again." 0, ir, I be ·occh you to renlctnbcr that it \Ya precisely bccau o 'lavery soeu1eu Lo our fathers to be on tho down-hill, preci ·ely because they thought they saw its grave already dug in the limitation of tho slave-trade, that they suffered it to oxi t in the ne\v govern1nent. 1~hcy d.ealt 'vith it as on TO THE rRE TDENT OF TfiE UN£TED STATES. 141 the down-hill, and lo ! we reap the bitter results of their n1i take. Slavery has far los appearance now of being 011 the down-hill than it had th n. Good things co1nc hanl; but you have only to lcavo your field. unoccupied by valuable growths one f-50a. 011 for it to be filled \Yith weeds. If you could o·ivo ns the Union again \ViLh 'lavery in it, - which God forbid ! -it ·would only be for tho old strife of wheat and tare to be rcnowe(l, only to have new war-fires kindled. in which to burn the tares ·which tho cncn1y is ever ready to sow and foHtcr. But, Sir, it is very plain that tho aHcrnativo of restoring tho Union with ~ lavery j n it is not longer before you : you arc to restore us the Union \vithout ._'lavery, or you arc to ro tore to u . a country with it::; fonn of government radically changed.. The 'O arc the alternative . The S\vord can kill tho boJ y, but not the ·oul : it 1nu t leave tho diHloyal cle1ncnt, tho 1noral causes of reLclli n, in full activity. Tho sword. cannot chano·e muttering hate to love, or treachery to good faith. ] t is funda1ncntal in tho theory of our govennuouL, that, from the Pre idoncy clown to a village justice, people mu t be repro ontou by officers elect J by th01ns lvcs and from their own 1niust. r:rhere could. never have been any ob tacle to the glorious develop1ncnt of repu IJlican crovenuncn t in this conn try, baJ. \YO not taken into it a ·o-called in ·titution wl10.,e nature it wa, to prey upon the very Li ·snos of all govenuncnt. That |
