despots proved to be a safer or surer instrument of reform in government
than enlightened reason? Does he expect to find among the ruins of this
Union a happier abode for our swarming millions than they now have under
it? Every lover of his country must shudder at the thought of the
possibility of its dissolution, and will be ready to adopt the patriotic
sentiment, "Our Federal Union--it must be preserved." To preserve it the
compromises which alone enabled our fathers to form a common
constitution for the government and protection of so many States and
distinct communities, of such diversified habits, interests, and
domestic institutions, must be sacredly and religiously observed. Any
attempt to disturb or destroy these compromises, being terms of the
compact of union, can lead to none other than the most ruinous and
disastrous consequences.

It is a source of deep regret that in some sections of our country
misguided persons have occasionally indulged in schemes and agitations
whose object is the destruction of domestic institutions existing in
other sections--institutions which existed at the adoption of the
Constitution and were recognized and protected by it. All must see that
if it were possible for them to be successful in attaining their object
the dissolution of the Union and the consequent destruction of our happy
form of government must speedily follow.

I am happy to believe that at every period of our existence as a nation
there has existed, and continues to exist, among the great mass of our
people a devotion to the Union of the States which will shield and
protect it against the moral treason of any who would seriously
contemplate its destruction. To secure a continuance of that devotion
the compromises of the Constitution must not only be preserved, but
sectional jealousies and heartburnings must be discountenanced, and all