interminable duration until some Philip or Alexander, some Casar or
Napoleon, would rise to cut the Gordian Knot, and solve the problem of the
capacity of man for self-government, and crush the liberties of both the
dissevered portions of this Union. Can you, sir, lightly contemplate these
consequences? Can you yield yourself to a torrent of passion, amidst
dangers which I have depicted in colors far short of what would be the
reality, if the event should ever happen?

I implore gentlemen--I adjure them from the South or the North, by all they
hold dear in this world--by all their love of liberty, by all their
veneration for their ancestors--by all their regard for posterity--by all
their gratitude to Him who has bestowed upon them such unnumbered
blessings--by all the duties which they owe to mankind, and all the duties
they owe to themselves--by all these considerations, I implore upon them to
pause--solemnly to pause--at the edge of the precipice before the fearful
and disastrous leap is taken into the yawning abyss below, from which none
who take it will ever return in safety.

And, finally, Mr. President, I implore, as the best blessing which Heaven
can bestow upon me on earth, that if the direful and sad event of the
dissolution of the Union shall happen, I may not survive to behold the
melancholy and heart-rending spectacle.
H. Clay.


CXXXI.

NATIONAL GLORY.

We are asked, what have we gained by the war? I have shown that we have