AN ORATION 
 
 DELIVERED U THE iftETnODIST EFISCOriL CDURCH; 
 
 WILMINGTON, N. C, 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSHUA G. WRIGHT, Esq.. 
 
 on THS 
 
 FOVRTH OF JCLY; A. D. 1851. 
 
 PRINTED AT THE ''HERALD^^ BOOK AND JOB OFriCK- 
 
 WILMINGTON, N, C, 
 
Geo?^ge Washington Flowers 
 Memorial Collection 
 
 DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 ESTABLISHED BY THE 
 FAMILY OF 
 COLONEL FLOWERS 
 
 P^pWet Collection 
 like Univcr«ty Ubraiy 
 
3 
 
 WfLMiNOTON, N. C, June 5th, 1851. 
 Dear Sir: — At a meeting of the " Committee of Arrangements" for the next 4th July, 
 your name was presented, and you were unanimously selected as the •« Orator" for th« 
 •ccasion. 
 
 In making this appointment, the Committee are aware that they have departed from 
 the usual course on such occasions. Hitherto, we have been accustomed te listen to 
 words from more youthful lips ; and it was pleasant, as well as profitable thus to be re- 
 minded of the glory of the past and of our bright prospects for th« future. But those 
 prospects are now clouded — the condition of the Country is such as to excite the anxiety 
 of all good men; and the citizens of Wilmington are desirous of listening to older and 
 more experienced counsels. The Committee believe that there is no one else, through 
 whom this unanimous desire of the citizens can be more fully met ; and they cannot but 
 ludulge the hope that, under the peculiar circumstances, you will accede to their request, 
 I beg to add my personal solicitations to those of the committee. 
 
 Most respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 ROB'T H. COWAN", 
 
 To Joshua G. Wright, Esq. 
 
 Wilmington, N. C, June 6th, 185L 
 Dear Sir : — Your communication informing me that I had been selected to deliver an 
 Oration on the ensuing 4th of July, has been received. Under ordinary circumstances I 
 should certainly decline the honor which has been tendered me, but in responding to 
 your solicitaiion my action his been controlled by the existing crisis in the condition of 
 the country, and my disinclination to lalier in the discharge of any duty which her inte«« 
 rets's may seem to require. 
 
 1'here is emphatic truth in your remark that her "prospects are now clouded," and 
 though I tcel thai I ca;i but inadequately answer the appeal which patrioti-m at such a 
 lime makes lo every citizen of the Kepublic, still to the extent of my ability, I am ready 
 for the call. 
 
 I beg that you will convey to the Committee my thanks for the appointment which they 
 have confeired, and permit me to express my sense ot obligation to you, for the kin 
 x«rms in which, as its organ, you have addressed me. 
 
 Wit.i the highest respect, your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSaUA G. WRIGHT. 
 
 To R. H. Cowan, Esq., Chairman of Committee. 
 
 WiLMiNOTON, N. C, July 5lh, 1861. 
 
 My Dear Sir: — We have been instructed by the Committee of Arrangements'* lo 
 ten<le» their thanks for the highly eloquent and able Address delivered by you on the 
 morning of the 4th inst ; and to reque-ft a capy of the same for publication. 
 
 1 i coiumuni .-ating thes^e insiructi )ns, we beg to express our entire concurrence with you, 
 in your .-^entim'^ntH upon the qucaiions at issue hctweeu ti^e Xorth an l the South. Espe- 
 cially in 'hose, vvaich relate to our duty towards the J^tate of lr<oulh Carolina. We biv 
 H<=ve that those sen' iinonts will |>a cordially recrived, and heartily rc-ponded to by the 
 ^jreat majority of the ci'.iiensof Wilmington ; aui we trust that you will permit them to 
 
4 
 
 be pfaeed before that very large portion who were prevented by the crowded state of the 
 
 Ckurch,fiom bearing the address. 
 
 With high respect, your obedient servants, 
 
 ROB'T H. COWAN. 
 JAS. F. McREE, 
 WM. C. HOWARD 
 
 To J. G. Weight, Esq. 
 
 Wilmington, N. C, July 5th, I8!il. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Yonr note soliciting a copy of my Address for publication has just reach- 
 ed me. Prepared «s it was at your request, I feel that you have measurably a ri^ht of 
 property in it. and though your estimate of its merits may be much too hi^h, still I do not 
 feel at liberty to withhold my acquiescence in the wish expressed by you. 
 
 You will please accept my thanks for the flattering opinion you have expressed of it, 
 and believe me, 
 
 Very truly, your friend and servant, 
 
 JOSHUA G. WRIGHT. 
 To Mewni. R. H. Cowaw, J. F. McReb and W. U. Howard, Committee, 
 
Friends and Freemen : 
 
 I come to greet you, on this proud day of American 
 Independence. The revolution of another year has given 
 it another and a higher mark in the calendar of time, and 
 now as ever, we hail its advent with patriotic pride and 
 joy. It is the Sabbath day of Freedom which has come 
 again to bless our land, and with reverent patriotism we 
 are here to hallow its return. Nor is it only here, but 
 ■every where throughout our wide domain, on this our an- 
 nual anniversary the national heart beats vvith a quicker 
 throb and responsive to the emotion the national voice is 
 heard in its loudest and loftiest anthems of liberty. But 
 let us not dishonor the <Bccasion, or attempt to limit its il- 
 limitable influence, by restricting its importance to the 
 narrow confines of our country. From the day that it first 
 stood forth in commanding .dignity before the world, it has 
 belonged to the world, and though peculiarly consecrated 
 to American feeling, still its glory has gone abroad through- 
 out the universe. It was to us the great day of deliver- 
 ance, and therefore is it, that like the Passover of God s 
 own people we have set it apart from every other day in 
 the sun's whole course/' Anxious to pajT- it appropriate 
 homage, we have come up hither to mingle in the minis- 
 trations of a pure patriotism, and to bring anew our obla- 
 tions to its altar. The crowded mart, but yesterday so 
 thronged with the busy sons of commerce, is this da} 
 hushed — fee-Tnrrdy sons of toil forbear their wonted work 
 — the scholar turns from tlie lettered labor of his: life — 
 
I 
 
 6 
 
 Tind e'en the bower of beauty is deserted, in order that its 
 fair (inhabitant may lend the ornament of her presence, to 
 this great gala day of Freedom. 
 
 And well does it become us, thus to signalize this great 
 epoch in American history. It may be that it needs no 
 such commemoration but it deserves it. It cannot be that 
 we can ever grow forgetful of the deeds of those whoso 
 memories should be itiurned in our hearts, but filial grati- 
 tude to our fathers, demands that we should in some signal 
 way mark our appreciation of the greit work wrought by 
 them for their chddren. Full well did they know the 
 perilous hazards they i.icurred, 'vhen reso:vin<^ to be free> 
 they sent forth their bold Declaration of Independence 
 like a trump^^t note of defiance to the oppressor. But 
 through the gloom, they saw the glory, and their souls 
 exulted as in prophetic vision they beheld the blessings 
 that their ultunaie triumph w^ould secure to posterity. — 
 When looked the world upon such a scene as that of our 
 fathers, as in high debate, they argued out the question of 
 Independence for their country, and more than all, when 
 they closed and crowned the argument by the adoption of 
 that great measure which may well be styled the very 
 creed of liberty. Nor classic Greece, nor imperial Home 
 in their palmiest day can parallel the sublime heroism of 
 that band of sages then convened. For ages had the 
 rights of man been the very scorn and scotf of tyranny, — 
 long had the deep darkness of despair rested upon the po- 
 litical heavens, and Ihougli he e and there a. star gleamed 
 out, they were the stars of an appalling night. 
 
 At length the light of our great example broke upon the 
 world, and as at creation's morn, th? fi ^t of Omnipotence 
 went forth " Let there be hght" and all earth grew glad 
 beneath the quick descending radiance, so did the bright- 
 ness of that flame of lil)erty kindled by our fathers in 
 this Western iienusphere, spread abroad to gladden the 
 
7 
 
 suffering millioiis of mankind. Like the pillar of fire by 
 night, which blazed out for the escape of the Hebrew host, 
 it pointed us the way of deHveran( e from our enslavement, 
 and beneath its clear light we read, and the world with us, 
 those axioms of liberty enshrined in that great State Pa- 
 per, which in its recital of our wTongs furnished the 
 amplest vindication of our rights. Englishmen l)oast 
 their Magna Charta, won by the bold Barons of Runny- 
 msde from a tyrant King, but with how much prouder tri- 
 umph should Americans point to that Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, which first spoke this great land of ours into 
 existence as a nation among the powers of the earih. As 
 loyal subjects, often had we sent up the prayerful petition 
 to the throne, but the voice of supplication fell u:»heeded 
 on the inexorable ear of tyranny. As indignant freemen, 
 often had we thundered out the bold remonstrance against 
 the aggressions of royalty, but in taunting tones the an- 
 swer came back to us that our claims for redress were but 
 the clamor of rebellion. '1 hus trifled with and trampled 
 on — with every avenue to ch mency closed against us, we 
 turned from an English Parliament to an American Gon- 
 gress, nor was it long ere Richard Henry Lee, the Ameri- 
 can Cicero as he was styled, moved that great measure of 
 Independence which was so gloriously sustained by his 
 brave compeers in council, and which eventuated in the 
 Declaration that the " United Colonies were and of right 
 ought to be Free and Independent States.'' 
 
 And now came *' the tug of war." Nor should we ever 
 €31 the return of this memorable anniversary, fail to offer 
 the passing tribute of our regard to those brave spirits who 
 vyhen the day of debate was over, at once sought the field 
 of many a bloody fight, to champion the cause of our 
 country. Would that with the hand of a skilful minstrel, 
 I €ould so touch "the harp of this celebration," as to tune 
 its strings to strains of richest melody in honor of thos^ 
 
8 
 
 ^vhose deeds have made the day« of our Kevolution em- 
 phatically the heroic age of our land. The story of their 
 sufferings and their heroism has been often told, but 
 should never be forgotten. We owe it to them, to our- 
 selves, and to our children, to cherish the recollection of 
 their achievements, and to keep bright the escutcheon of 
 their fame, " Think of your forefathers and of your pos- 
 terity." was the exhortation of Galgacus of Britain, when 
 leading on his followers against the invading legions of 
 Rome, and well may we adopt the sentiment of the barba- 
 rian chief, towards the heroes of our revolutionary strug- 
 gle. In the commemorative recollection of them, we not 
 •only discharge a pious duty to the dead, but also do much 
 to perpetuate in the living, that spirit which shall prompt 
 them^to emulate the deeds of those who have done so much 
 for us and for the world. From the day that the alarum of 
 liberty was first sounded on the field of Lexington, to that 
 ■on which the proud hurrah of victory was heard upon the 
 still more memorable plains of York Town, it was clear to 
 cver}^ discerning eye, that the American heart was fixed in 
 invincible revolt ao^ainst that alleo^iance which it had so 
 long confessed and felt. And when at length the behest 
 of the nation was heard in the call to arms, Pallas like, 
 America stepped forth in all the panoply of war. 
 
 For seven long years, with chequered fortune, we fought 
 the good fight of a righteous cause — a cause which the ar- 
 gument of words having been found too feeble to defend, 
 was committed to the sterner argument of the ball and 
 the bayonet, on the fi^ld. Guarded by that God who rules 
 the destinies of men and nations, we triumphed, and with 
 as too will triumph all the subjugated sons of earth. Al- 
 ready, like eager Pilgrims, do they press to our land as to 
 the Mecca of Freedom — already has nation after nation 
 broken its yoke of bondage, and long since has the prophe- 
 ry of ihr poc^t. so beautifully descriptive of the anticipated 
 
9 
 
 emancipation of the old world, become in many cases the 
 
 recorded truth of history. 
 
 »/ 
 
 I saw the expecting regions stand, 
 
 To catch the coming flame in turn, 
 I saw from ready hand to hand, 
 
 The bright but, [struggling glory burn. 
 
 And each as she received the flame, 
 
 Lighted her altar with its ray, 
 Theri__smiling to the next who cams, 
 
 Speeded it on its sparkling way."' 
 
 And is it not a source of joyous satisfaction for us to 
 know that we are of lineage with those who first struck 
 that blow for liberty in this new world, which has been felt 
 to the remotest borders of that old world from which our 
 fathers came. Should it not swell your hearts with exul- 
 tation, men of North Carolina, to remember that the first 
 high note w^hich was heard for Independence in the days 
 of our Colonial vassalage, w^as sounded within the confines 
 of your own brave commonwealth. To the bold spirits of 
 Mecklenburg belongs the imperishable glory of declaring 
 themselves, in May, 1775, a free and independent people, 
 subject to no power but their God and the General 
 Government of Congress, to the maintenance of which 
 independence, they solemnly pledged to each other their 
 mutual co-operation, their lives, their fortunes and their 
 most sacred honor." Nor is this all. Turn to the Jour- 
 nal of the Provincial Concrress of North Carolina, assem- 
 bled at Halifax, in April, 1776, and you will there find the 
 Jlrst legislative recommendation of a Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence by the Continental Congress, that was made on 
 the Continent of America. These are pioud memorials 
 of the past, hung up in history, where all the world may 
 read them, and learn from them, that as our fathers were 
 no laggards in the cause of freedom, so never will their 
 sons dishonor such sires, by submitting to aggression on 
 their rights, come when or whence it may. 
 
10 
 
 Stciiidiiig as we do at so roiiiote a distanct' from llie day 
 of our national thraldom, and encompassed with so many- 
 blessings which a munificent Providence has lavished up- 
 on us, I fear that we far too inadequately appreciate the 
 merits of those whose labors have secured to us the vast 
 and various good wc now er\]oj. Indeed it is no easy thing 
 for a people rejoicing in the plenitude of such prosperity 
 as now gladdens our land, to realize aright its condition du- 
 ring that long night of misrule, which once brooded over 
 its happiness and its hopes. History may narrate and ima- 
 gination lend its aid to the page which speaks of that 
 eventful period, and yet how little can we know of the he- 
 roic deeds and still more heroic sufferings of those lion- 
 hearted men who launched out so boldly on all the varie- 
 ties of an untried being. Regardless of all consequences, 
 they threw^ themselves upon the waves of war which rolled 
 over our land, and with "hearts of controversy" breasted eve- 
 ry surge that threatened to ingulf them. Let us then on this 
 day, under the auspices of which they won their trophies, 
 take due care that we prove not forgetful of their memory, 
 and though no sound can aw^ake them to glory again." 
 still let us never fail to hand down the sacred traditions of 
 their fame to each succeeding generation that may live 
 after them, 
 
 To the sages who spoke — to the heroes who bled — 
 
 To the day and the deed, strike the harp-strings of glory; 
 Let the song of the ransonrd remember the dead, 
 And the tongue of the eloquent hallow the story." 
 
 But it is not my purpose to blazon the glories of the past. 
 Time would fail me, to tell the chivalrous stoiy of the feats 
 of arms performed by the men of our revolutionary contest. 
 Nor is it necessary that I should here rehearse it, or mar 
 shal again the shadowy ranks of the dead^ while the fields 
 of their fame are all before you. Monmouth and York, 
 Eutaw and Saratoga, still consecrate our land, while with- 
 
11 
 
 in your very i^nze ;is it were, your own Kiii^-\s iMouutaiii 
 still stands in all the majesty of nature, as one of the proud- 
 est monuments of their valor. In the annals of your 
 country's history you will find the record of those sufferings 
 and achievements about which I have said but little, 
 though 1 could not with my sense of the proprieties due to 
 this day, have said less. 
 
 But though the Congress of '76 had proclaimed our In- 
 dependence, and though our fathers in passing through the 
 fierv ordeal of the war which follcAved, had so gloriously 
 secured our liberties, there yet remained an arduous and 
 perilous task for the sages of our country to accomplish. 
 From the bondage of our political condition we had as- 
 cended to a proud position among the powers of the earth, 
 but even then from the summit of our political Pisgah, we 
 w^ere only permitted to look out upon that land of promise 
 which the prospect disclosed to our view. The truths an- 
 nounced in that great manifesto of freedom which we had 
 sent forth to the world were recoo^iiized, and to that recoo^- 
 nilion the sign manual of King George had been given, 
 but for those who had so triumphed over the reluctant 
 Monarch, there was as yet no government. What was to 
 be the future character of our national existence was the 
 great problem presented for solution. Successful against 
 foreign aggression, how were we to protect ourselves from 
 those internal elements of discord and disaster so rife 
 among every people, and only the more likely to exist 
 among us, on account of those free principles which per- 
 vaded our land. 
 
 These were grave questions and great were the difficul- 
 ties which attended a practical answer. An attempt was 
 made to furnish that answ^er in the creation of a league of 
 friendship between confederate and independent States, 
 and in the constitution of a Congress, whose authority 
 should be co-extensive with tlie liMiits of \hr N-aWou. But 
 
so restricled were its powers, or rather so entirely destitute 
 was it of all executive power, that the body politic exhaust- 
 ed as it was by the war of the revolution, and still more 
 enfeebled as it was by the impotence of the new confede- 
 racy, languished at the point of dissolution. At this pe- 
 rilous crisis in the history of our country, the memorable 
 Congress of '87 convened in Philadelphia, and after near 
 four months of anxious deliberation by an assembly of de- 
 voted patriotism and distinguished statesmanship, they 
 presented to the country for its adoption, that miodel polity, 
 bearing on its front this inscription: "We, the people of 
 the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, 
 establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for 
 the common defence, promote the general welfare and se- 
 cure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posteri- 
 ty, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
 States of America." 
 
 Hence came that Union which was born of the constitu- 
 ent sovereignty of the people — which has so long stood the 
 test of time, and beneath the broad banner ot which we 
 have so long lived and prospered. It matters but little 
 now what were the impediments which first checked its 
 formation, nor shall I usurp the office of the historian by 
 the labored recital of them. Suffice it to say that the ex- 
 isting social institutions of the country — the chartered 
 rights so dear to many of the Colonies, and more than all 
 the State sovereignties content with their own political 
 condition and jealous of a superior sovereign,— none more 
 so than your own North Carolina — together with the great 
 diversities of interest, opinions and habits then prevailing, 
 seemed to forbid the hope of success in the formation of a 
 government adequate to the exigencies of the country, and 
 comprehensive as the country itself. Despite all these ob- 
 stacles, however, it triumphed, — those States that had gone 
 so glorioiislv too^ether through thr wnr of the Eevohition. 
 
rallied around it — the Anierican Itcpublic: \v;ls roiii[)K'te, 
 and as it stood out iii all its lovely grandeur before the vis- 
 ion of the victims of tja-anny, was to them like the " Holy 
 City coming down from God, out of Heaven, beautiful as 
 a bride adorned for her husband." 
 
 Here was a new era in the science of government, and 
 truly a benign one for the oppressed of every land. To 
 us was it permitted first to announce to the world the capa- 
 city of man for self-government, and fortunate was it for 
 the practical exemplification of the truth of the an- 
 nouncement, that in the inception of our experiment, we 
 were blessed with the presence and principles of those who 
 had been actively instrumental in the establishment of our 
 Union. JNor was this all, the spirit of the compact was 
 the very life of the government, and the political associa- 
 tion which had been formed, was everywhere sustained 
 and strengthened by a unity of feeling which gave the 
 best guaranty of its stability and success. 
 
 Would to God that a kindred sympathy of sentiment 
 was now diffused through our land.. Alas, however, for 
 the perfectibility of all things human, those cheering au- 
 guries which attended the first movement of our Nation 
 on its high career, and which were so auspiciously fulfilled 
 in its subsequent progress, seem now about to fail us. A 
 cloud of fearful aspect has thrown its darkness across tliat 
 halcyon heaven, in the blessed sunlight of which, we had 
 hoped forever to rejoice and live. That Union which was 
 based upon foundations so deep, and upborne by pillars so 
 strong, that we fondly thought it might defy all ''the waves 
 and weathers of time," seems now to the eye of many to 
 totter — perchance to its fall. 
 
 And whence this danger / In tlie perpetration of an 
 unprovoked and unremitted sectional wrong you will find 
 an answer. I'^niaticisrn irnrbed :is nn aiioe! of liii;]it. but 
 
14 
 
 with all tlie iiistiacts of a deiiiou of darkness, (iirectiiig 
 her movements, nov/ walks through the land and upon the 
 feelings, the riglits, the interests, and it may be the exis- 
 tence of the South, is waging a war of invasion which if 
 not atrested, may become a war of destruction. The truth, 
 mournful as it is, can no longer be disguised, that porten- 
 tous danger overhangs the Republic, and that the blow 
 wdiich threatens its demolition is to be wreaked on the un- 
 offending South. 
 
 A great and growing portion of tlie North and other re- 
 gions where a congenial sympathy prevails, repudiating 
 the duties of citizenship, and forgetful of the moral obli- 
 gation wiiicli binds their conscience to the Constitution of 
 the country, have enlisted in a crusade against that institu- 
 tion, to the inheritance of which you were born, and by 
 the subversion oi which you must perish — an institution 
 which has existed under the divine government, from the 
 earliest antiquity, and which was sanctioned by thai Sa- 
 viour of mankind who feared not boldly to rebuke alike 
 Sadducee and Pharisee, but from whose hallovv'ed lips there 
 never came a word of denunciation against slavery. An 
 institution which has been the handmaid of civilization in 
 all ages and well nigh all nations, which, in fine, Vv'hen re- 
 ligiously considered, is altogether defensible, and which 
 when viewed as a question of political economy, involving 
 the interests of the master and the slave, is nothing less to 
 us, than a political necessity. 
 
 Against it, the aggressive morality of the North has 
 been long directed, nor is it necessary that I should here 
 expose the spurious philanthropy, or analyze the ethics of 
 those, whose theory is a repudiation of the Old and New 
 Testament of their God. It is enouQ-h for me to know 
 that the peace and prosperity of our homes are invaded by 
 this pestilent horde — that tlie serpents of Fanaticism are 
 upon us, and tliat like Laocoon of old, we shall be cruslied 
 
If) 
 
 to our rum, unless we break free Ibrevcr from their eora- 
 plicated folds. 
 
 Tell me not that political abolition is the blown bubble 
 of tinthinking folly, and soon will burst— the mere ephe- 
 meron of a day, that will soon live out its brief existence 
 and then sleep forever — much too insignificant to arrest the 
 attention or alarm the fears of the South. I tell you nay. 
 From a contemptible club of zealots, it has become a well 
 organized party, at one time exercising a controlling influ- 
 ence over local politics, and at another making itself felt 
 in the national councils of the country. It has subsidized 
 the press for the abuse of us, polluted the pulpit with its 
 anathemas of us, aye laid its sacrilegious hand upon Church- 
 es around whose altar men of the same faith were wont to 
 worship but to rend them, and claiming for itself an identi- 
 ty with religion, unfurls its sacred standard and calls upon 
 all Christendom to rally around it. 
 
 Nor let it be said that the fanatics are few in number, 
 for if this were true they are ever active and expert in the 
 accomplishment of their nefarious purpose, and meet with 
 but little of energetic opposition from those around them. 
 It was the sentiment of Rome's great orator, '^that the bad 
 will always attack with far more spirit than the good will 
 defend, sound principles. The republic," said he, is as- 
 sailed with far more force and contumacy, than it is de- 
 fended, because bold and profligate men are impelled by a 
 nod, and move of their own accord against it; but I know 
 not how it happens, that good men are always more tardy. 
 They neglect the beginning of things and only rouse them- 
 selves in the last extremity,"' And who are they that thus 
 molest our peace and invade our rights ? Friends of the 
 slave ? They are forging fetters to bind him in a bondage 
 from which naught but death can free him. Friends of 
 the country ? They are daily slriking at its heart with 
 the murdcr(.)us ;irm nf lunnyciclc, and seem resolvcnl to 
 
t-oiuiiiiio the atUick iiiitil tliey liMve driven life from every 
 vital vein which animates it. Let them not talk to us of 
 nuUification — the doctrine of liberation which they pro- 
 mulgate, is a direct violation of the national compact — let 
 them not declaim against secession, for by conduct such as 
 theirs, the process of separation ha^^ been originated, and 
 unless checked on its way, will soon reach its consumma- 
 tion. Like treacherous allies, they have played us false. 
 They have kept but Punic faith with us, that faith, which 
 more than all the arms of conquering Rome, laid Carthage 
 in the dust. With the word of promise to the ear, they 
 have broken it to the hope, and we now find ourselves con- 
 federates of a Union wdiich every Southern heart knows 
 could never have been formed if the hostilities of the pre- 
 sent period had been waged against us in the memorable 
 days of '89. 
 
 And is it not time for the South to awake to a sense of 
 the danger which menaces her ? With all this enginery 
 of evil pointed at her life, to which I have adverted, and 
 more than all, with the almost universal public opinion of 
 the North in moral resistance against her great institution 
 — that public opinion, which, when misdirected, is a Mo- 
 lock of destruction, shall she supinely sleep on 'till she 
 can no longer command her destiny ? Forbid it Freemen! 
 
 IIow stand you men of the South this day in numerical 
 power ? Turn to the late census of your country and there 
 jou will find the startling fact that we now count a federal 
 population of more than 23,000,000— that , near 14,000,000 
 of this number belonor to the Free States, and little more 
 than 9,000,000 to the Slave States. Superadd to this, the 
 <'.onstant annual influx of that alien and hostile population 
 which crowd to our shores, with no feeling in sympathy 
 with our social condition, and you cannot fail to perceive 
 ^hc impending peril. The sAvord of Damocles overhangs. 
 
17 
 
 lis, an ill an unsuspecting hour, it may fall upon our dr- 
 fenceless heads. 
 
 And where are we in tliis exlremity to look for protec- 
 tion but to ourselves? Where are we, the masters of these 
 millions, and as such tlieir protectors, to find security for 
 them, bat in our united resolution to shield them from the 
 experiments of Fanaticism ? Where are we to fmd hope 
 for the perpetuity of this glorious confederacy of States 
 but in the union of the South for the sake of the Viiion. 
 
 These are inquiries which should assume a cogent char- 
 acter when addressed to the Southern mind, for they in- 
 volve the great question of our section, and are not to be 
 evaded by flippant flourishes of rhetoric upon the great- 
 ness of our country, or words — mere words of boastful 
 confidence on the perpetuity of our Union. A remedy for 
 the wrongs we are suffering must be found, and may Hea- 
 ven avert the day when we shall be compelled to seek it in 
 disunion. Whether you are believers or infidels in the 
 doctrine of secession, I ask not to knowv nor is it any part 
 of that mission upon which patriotism has sent me here to- 
 day, to argue out this much vexed question. But the day 
 may come — aye, most assuredly will come, unless the signs 
 of the present largely belie the future, when we shall have 
 to raise ourselves to the height of this great argument — 
 when power will retreat to its original" — when the des- 
 poiled and dishonored sons of the South may be compell- 
 ed to take up the weaporns of defence and strike for their 
 outraged rights. 
 
 Strike "till the last armed foe expires. 
 Strike for their altars and their firea ; 
 Strike for the green graves of their sires, 
 God — and their native land 
 
 1 am no alarmist — I raise no panicidal arm against my 
 eountry. Gladly would I make this Union an eternal 
 league of love, but 1 should be guilty of disloyalty to the 
 
is 
 
 Itiiui ui' our couiuioii birlli if I williliuld the wncc ut' warn- 
 ing at this great crisis in our condition. Nor let it be sup- 
 posed that they are ever tlie best friends of the country 
 whose patriotism is so sublimated in its nature, that their 
 minds are hxed in the belief that nauf^ht but un mingled 
 jiood can hereafter result from a union which has hitherto 
 been so prolific of blessings to our land — who can discern 
 nothing of wrong to the South in the past, nor of danger 
 to her great interests in the future. Such men are not the 
 true guardians of the republic, and if we but follow their 
 example, we may rest assured that the day will come, when 
 we shall be roused from our dream of fancied security but 
 to witness a reality which will be fraught with the wreck 
 of our every hope. In order then to avert the danger 
 which now stands so menacingly before us, we must con- 
 front and conquer it — we must maintain our ascendancy 
 over those Pharisa-ical purists who thank God that they 
 are not as other men are — slaveholders. We must hold 
 fast our control over this institution or we are undone. We 
 must not permit our rights to be kept in abeyance at the 
 will of others, nor hold any position inferior to that of free- 
 men in the assertion of them. Such should ever be our 
 course, and if we do not take and keep it, the day will in- 
 evitably arrive when the fair and fertile South with her di 
 minished, if not destroyed staples, and her universally de- 
 preciated interests, shall become a wilderness of want aud 
 wo. All that we ask is that the integrity of the national 
 compact may be preserved inviolate. Give us back the 
 primitive purity of the Government. Reanimate the dead 
 body of the Constitution with the spirit that was breathed 
 into it by those who first spoke it into life, and our chafed 
 spirits will be soothed — the unclenched hand of fellowship 
 extended again in amity, and our hearts hallowed to the 
 love of the Union — that Union, which in solemn covenant 
 guaranteed the protection of our interests, and which 
 
19 
 
 should never forget that great principle of Jiborlv, ttiat al- 
 legiance and protection are reciprocal. 
 
 I repeat then, let us be united upon this momentous 
 measure — let us not deliberate on its great issues with di- 
 vided counsels, lest by oar discord the enemy is embolden- 
 ed in his aggressions, and we become the instruments of 
 our own dishonor and destruction. We revolt '\ iih horror 
 from the Demon of Disunion — let iis have care lest we 
 find for him an ally in the Demon of Division among 
 ourselves. It may be that some of those who feel that the 
 preservation of this institution is to them as to us of vital 
 importance, are too a}>t to make their judgment wait upon 
 their passions, and in the rashness of their resentment are 
 eager for the adoption of a course which bodes no good to 
 our common cause. Already has our nearest sister on our 
 Southern border, given fearful indication of her determina- 
 tion to assume an independent position before the country 
 — a position which can never be defended by that arm 
 wdiich she alone expects to wield lor its defence, if, how- 
 ev^er, we cannot lend her our co-operation, let us not exas- 
 perate her by our denunciations — let us strive to win her 
 back to better counsels — let us hope that her proud spirit 
 will yet yield to clearer-sighted self-interests and the kindred 
 sympathies of her sisters. And more than all let us not 
 stigmatize her sons as traitors. 
 
 Which of the gallant tier of the Old Thirteen has writ- 
 ten for herself a higher name on fame's unmouldering pil- 
 lar Where's the State that during each and all of our 
 national conflicts has sought and found for herself in the 
 language of her Butler, whose martyr spirit went up from 
 the plains of Mexico, "a more conspicuous place in the 
 picture'" of martial glory. Let us not then, charge upon 
 her the crime of treason, because she exhibits more of va- 
 lor than discretion. Her destiny may be our destiny — her 
 A'i('tor\' or defeat, oiirolor\' or siiamo. We should renuMii- 
 
•20 
 
 ber that we oflon misname that treason, which is but an 
 exalted sentiment of liberty, a developement of that feeling 
 which never permits a free people to prefer their existence 
 to their honor. Your Washington once was loyal to his 
 King, but when that King became a tyrant, he becaaie a 
 traitor to him and wrested trom him his dominion over that 
 free and fair land which we exult to call our country. — 
 When in May, 1765, the celebrated resolutions against the 
 Stamp Act were discussed in the Assembly of Virginia, 
 who carried them successfully through that then loyal bo- 
 dy ? Who could have saved her from the deep dishonor of 
 approving such an outrage on her rights, but her own 
 forest born Demosthenes," the immortal Henry. With 
 the quick sagacity of a patriot he discerned the iniquitous 
 tyranny of the measure — trumpet tongued, he thundered 
 out his denunciations of royalty, and soaring aloft on the 
 eagle-wing of his eloquence, exclaimed, Csesar liad his 
 Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the 
 Third— ('• Treason !" cried the Speaker. "Treason! Trea- 
 son!" echoed the House;) — may proiit by their example. 
 If this be Treason make the most of it." And mark it, 
 the Treason of that day, was the parent of the Indepen- 
 dence which we this day commemorate. Away then with 
 the words of traitor on the one hand and submissionist on 
 the other, w^ords of goading reproach as they are, words 
 which only tend to beget the treason which we deprecate, 
 or to debase us by that submission which w^e abhor. 
 
 But, my friends, I forbear to press a theme so tragic as 
 that which tells of the dismemberment of my country- — 
 and believe me it is for the love I bear my country, that 1 
 have thus this day addressed you on your position, your du- 
 ties and your danger, in order that by your union you may 
 overawe aggression, and so escape the peril of tiie future. 
 I strike another, a hoUer, and a happier chord, more in har- 
 mony witli this, the hour of our c(^]obration. 1 ascenfi to 
 
that higli summit to wbicii the greatness ol" my country 
 has advanced, and gazing thence upon creation's map, 
 vainly do I look for any land so bright, so brilliant in its 
 past and present, as this goodly heritage which God has 
 given us. With a commerce wliich puts its girdle round 
 the globe — with an agriculture which smiles on every hand 
 and pours from the horn of her abundance the amplest 
 blessings, alike for us here and for the famishing sons of 
 earth elsewhere— with an industry which animates every 
 energy, and makes glad every hill and plain and valley, 
 who can wish to mar the enchantment of a scene like this? I 
 turn to the Constitution of my country as it came from the 
 hands of our fathers, a magnilicent creation, com})lete in 
 every form and lineament of liberty, and feel that vainly 
 may the world hope to behold the Utopia of the specu- 
 lative politician, unless its realization is found in our well 
 organized system of government. Who then, can look 
 out upon this bright day of our prosperity — this Union, 
 which like a " steadfast planet" has beamed so benignly 
 for us and for the world, and not seifd up his daily litany 
 to Heaven, that the dark night of disunion may never de- 
 scend upon it, to shroud its glory ? I catch a chee ring- 
 omen in that great measure of peace which the patriotic 
 wisdom of the country has so recently matured, and hailing 
 it as a bow of promise for our land, my " faith becomes tri- 
 umphant o'er ray fears." 
 
 Let us then, wdiile with unblenching front we stand up 
 for our rights, turn no deaf ear to the invocations of patri- 
 otism, and still maintain our fidelity to the ComprGmise, 
 the Constitution and the Union. Let us still rally under 
 that starrv standard which has so lono: covered us as a 
 mantle, in peace, and which has so often waved victoriously 
 for us in war. God grant that as an unbroken brother- 
 hood of freemen, we may ever gaze on that bird and ban- 
 ner which have been so long nni1e f — tirat we niav never 
 
live to see that tree of liberty which was pkinted by our 
 fathers, watered by the blood of their sons, and that be- 
 neath the blessed dew^s of peace it may gather strength to 
 contend with every storm. 
 
 Long in its shade may children's children come, 
 And welcome earth's poor wanderers to a home; 
 Long may it live, and every blast defy, 
 'Till time's last whirlwind sweeps the vaulted sky." 
 
9 
 
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