of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and
prosperity, watching for its preservation with Jealous anxiety,
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can
in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first
dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together
the various parts." Without union our independence and liberty
would never have been achieved; without union they never can be
maintained. Divided into twenty-four, or even a smaller number, of
separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened
with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between
distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made
soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace;
the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to
support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of
their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges. The
loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and
happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In
supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the
freeman and the philanthropist

The time at which I stand before you is full of interest. The eyes
of all nations are fixed on our Republic. The event of the
existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the
practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the
stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must
rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the
importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let
us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country
from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the