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EPITAPH
HERE LIE THE MUTILATED AND DISJOINTED
RESMiLIISrS
OF THE
w
N)@©LI§T mm OF eovsRmtRKNT
ever contrived by the wisdom of Man, or blessed by the smiies of Heaven,
for promoting the greatest good of the greatest number of the
People of the Human Race;
TILE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
BORN
On the 4th of July, 1776/
ushered into the world amidst the rejoicings of millions of men in both
hemispheres ; the roaring of cannon, bonfires, illuminations, and every
other demonstration of public and universal joy ;
THIS YOUNG REPUBLIC,
the gaze and admiration of the world, after encountering stupendous
difficulties throughout a
LOI\G A YD BLOODY WAR,
Waged with the most powerful nation of the earth, in support of its newly
declared Independence, finally, by the blessing of God, and under
the leadership of the Noblest Man that ever lived in the tide of time,
GLORIOUSLY TRIUMPHED,
and on the 17th of September, 1787, with a view to the formation of
A MORE PERFECT UNION,
established and proclaimed a written Instrument of Government, which for
comprehensive and accurate knowledge of man's nature; enlarged views
of the duties and obligations of men associated in civil society; wise
and benificient provisions designed ' to establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to
themselves and their posterity ;" as well as by its admirable system of
checks and balances, and the rare wisdom with which it sought to reconcile
conflicting opinions and prejudices, by the most enlightened mutual
concession and forbearance, has never been surpassed, if equalled, by
any of the most illustrious productions of Ancient or Modern times.
This Great Work was denominated
The Constitution of the United States.
Under the operation of this celebrated Instrument of Government, wisely
administered by a succession of Statesmen, some of whom will live in
the annals ot all time, beginning with him who was first in Peace
as in War, as always in the hearts of his Countrymen,
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
In the short period of the life of man, accomplished a career of prosperity
and renown to which nothing in the Ancient Republics can compare.
Nor has anything ever been witnessed, in the career of the most celebrated
Empires and Kingdoms, to which this
YOUNG REPUBLIC
might not have attained, and to which indeed it was steadily ascending, by.
the concurrent and far-seeing judgments of calm-minded and unprejudiced
men in all parts of the World. Emerging from a state of Colonial
dependence, it rapidly advanced, from a confederacy of thirteen
comparatively feeble States, to an imposing Confederated
Assemblage of
THIRTY THREE SEPARATE AND INDEPENDENT
SOVEREIGNTIES, FIVE TERRITORIES,
* and a
SEPARATE DISTRICT,
The Residence of the Federal Government, and subject to Federal rule.
Its Population, which, at the Era of its Birth, scarcely exceeded
THREE MILLIONS,
In the year 1860 reached, if not exceeded, the astonishing increase of
THIRTY MILLIONS;
Its Commerce and Navigation comprised and covered a list and description
of articles of its own growth, produce and manufacture, and of that of
all other parts of the world, which, by its substantial results and
the universal employment it afforded, enriched and rendered
happy the homes of all these Millions of People with
EVERY COMFORT AND LUXURY OF LIFE.
its Internal Trade was a source of boundless wealth. Its Agriculture and
Manufactures reached a point of the highest prosperity. Its Resources
of every kind and description were exuberant. Its Revenues, from
Domestic and Foreign sources, exceeded the wants of the
Nation. At one time it was out of Debt.
ITS TERRITORY
was washed by two Oceans, and its area reached nearly to that of all
Europe combined.
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Glittering with Stars and Stripes, which had lighted up the Land and the
Ocean, by the Spiendor of its Victories, floated in triumph in
every Sea, and on hostile shores. It. enjoyed
the universal respect, and attracted
the admiration of the World.
Its Ambassadors to other Nations were everywhere received with the most
flattering marks of distinction.
The Representatives of Eastern Potentates, who for ages had declined
all intercourse with the rest of the World, came to its Shores
to exchange in person, at its Seat of Government,
the Ratification of a
TREATY OF AMITY
With the United States, and bowed the head in token of respectful saluta¬
tion to
THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE OF THE REPUBLIC;
And the descendant of a long line of Kings, the youthful Heir Apparent of
the proudest Monarchy on Earth, surrounded by the Representa¬
tives of a gorgeous and powerful Aristocracy, stood,
uncovered, side by side, with the same
Chief Magistrate,
AT THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON,
IN SILENT HOMAGE.
But the
MUSE OF HISTORY
Weeps as she records the speedy downfall of this Republic, and with it the
extinction of so glorious a fabric of Human Government.
ON THE 6TH OF NOVEMBER, 1860.
A Day Memorable in the Annals of Mankind,
A decree was pronounced by the people of the United States, met in their
sovereign capacity, in trembling expectation of which all hearts had
been anxiously throbbing for months with alternate emo¬
tions, which, amid the tears of Patriots, and
the exultation of a different descrip¬
tion of men, finally
DISSOLVED THE BANDS OF THE CONFEDERACY,
And left these honored Remains upon the bank and shoal of Time, the
sport of the whirlwind and the storm. Thus
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Perished in the Eighty-fifth year of its existence, and in little more than
Seventy-three years from the adoption ot its incomparable
FED ERA L CONSTITUTION.
It may be instructive to inquire into, and may serve as a beacon light to
those whojnre to live hereafter, to enumerate some of the
causes which preceded, and finally accomplished this
GREAT CATASTROPHE.
It would far transcend the limits of this Inscription, to pretend to anything like
a minute recapitulation of even the least of these, but a brief Review
may be attempted.
It may be sufficient to state that the American People were the
Authors of tlieir own destruction.
Though they inherited the blood of a
FREE WHITE RACE:
Though their Government was designed, established and proclaimed, under the
most solemn sanctions, as exclusively a
GOVERNMENT OF WHITE MEN;
Though Six of the now non-slaveholding States, to wit:
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania, united with six slave-holding States, to wit: Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia, in
-giving in, by their Representatives in the Convention,
their "UNANIMOUS CONSENT" to the Constitution which was the work of
that Convention;
Though that solemn Instrument declared, among other wise provisions, as
follows:
'-The citizens of each Stale shall be entitled to ail the privileges and immu¬
nities of citizens in the several States."—Art. 4, See. 2.
And again:
"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof,
escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein,
be discharged from such service or labor ; but shall be delivered up on claim of
the partv to whom such service or labor may be due."—Art. 4, Sec. 2.
And again,
"This Constitution shall he the Supreme Law of the Land."—Art. 6, Sec. 2.
And again,
"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and tire Members of
the several State Legislatures, and all Executive and Judicial Officers, both of
the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirma¬
tion to support this Constitution."—Art. 6, Sec 3.
Notwithstanding these wise provisions for the formation of a "more perfect
Union," for the "establishment of justice," for "ensuring domestic
tranquility" and "promoting the general welfare,"
AMBITIOUS AND UNPRINCIPLED LEADERS,
in some of the Northern or non-slaveholding States, became Traitors to the
Constitution, to their own Consciences, and to the Country ; made war
upon the separate Institutions of the Southern or slaveholding
States, which, under the provisions of that solemn Compact they
had no right whatever to touch; thus
WSOEJITESP TIME COMPACT;
urged on domestic insurrection in those States ; promoted an armed invasion of
their Soil and Sovereignty; resisted the execution of the Fugitive Slave
Law ; forgot that they were bound by Oath or Affirmation to
support the Constitution; and even endeavored to
degrade the People of the Southern or slaveholding States, by refusing to them
an equal enjoyment of the
TERRITORIES OF THE UNION,
acquired by the common blood and common treasure of all.
This series of unmitigated wrongs and insults, continued for a succession of
years, each in violation of the plainest principles of the
COMMOIM COMPACT,
to which the common ancestors of nil, both North and South, had given their
deliberate and "unanimous consent," by their Representatives in
Convention assembled, was equally unprovoked.
No pretence was made that the Southern n* si>. • Jiqld jig.St- • s 1-
sought in any way to interfere with the domestic" concerns of the Noru.
or non-slaveholding States, or force upon them their separate
institutions ; above all, deny to them any Constitutional
right; no attempt at invasion of their soil or sovereignty ; no denial to them of a
common right in the Territories of the Union, ever came from the South ;
nor was the latter ever charged with the infraction of a single
CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY.
The one great end sought, at bottom to be accomplished by all this
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on the part of the Northern or non-slaveholding States, against their gallant
high-spirited, but unoffending brethren of the South, who so large¬
ly helped to found the Republic, and contributed
so largely to its renown,
IN THE HIGHEST COUNCILS OF THE NATION,
upon the battle field and the ocean wave, was/Jdeny it as they might,) first to
abolish, with piratical and fratricidal hand, the
DOMESTIC INSTITUTIONS OF THE SOUTH,
and then to elevate the NEGRO RACE to an equality with the
FREE WHITE INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTRY;
Thus introducing practical amalgamation, to end, it may be, in after years, ia:
inter-marriage, and all other social ties, between two races, never de¬
signed by Providence to live together on terms of equalitt
Thus, the People who entertained these fanatical and treasonable g»s.
were for practically subverting the Government, as it can.,
from the hands of its founders, and making it equailv a
GOVERNMENT OF BLA C K MEN .
Doubtless there were among them many good But misguided citizens, who
never seriously reflected upon the consequences of their acts, their speeches
and their votes; and who would have recoiled with horror from the
abyss down which they were about to plunge their
country, had they so reflected ; but a for¬
midable and controlling pha¬
lanx known as
T II E REPU B L I C A N P A R T Y ,
were traitors at heart, to the
CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES,
And will be so handed down to all future time, by the truthful pen of history.
Against the monstrous doctrines and malignant designs of this party, the South¬
ern, or Slave-holding States, comprising
FIFTEEN DISTINCT INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGNTIES,
embracing an amount of high intelligence, finished education and accomplish¬
ment, lofty spirit and devoted patriotism, and
The Heroic Democratic Party ol the North,
composed of men of like patriotism and spirit, and educated and accomplished
bearing, waged unceasing but fruitless warfare, and on the above named day,
The 6th of November, 1860,
the contest, was ended by the triumph of those doctrines and designs, and the
consequent
DISMEMBERMENT OF THE CONFEDERACY.
If the most sublime exhortations of human wisdom, the most solemn and affec¬
tionate and eloquent warnings of Patriots and Statesmen, could have
averted this srreatest calamity in the history of the World it would
never liave happened.
Tlxis Tatolet
Would but imperfectly transmit the history of this great event, if a few, at lea
of these inestimable words of counsel, from some among a host of
illustrious citizens of that
GREAT CONFEDERACY OF SOVEREIGN STATES,
to their countrymen, on various memorable occasions, were not here produced.
WABHINOTOW,
THE ILLUSTRIOUS FOUNDER OF THE REPUBLIC.
In his FAREWELL ADDRESS to his Fellow-Citizens—pronounced by
British Historian to have been unequalled by any composition of inspired
wisdom—with all the earnestness of a Patriot and a Sage, and with
" the disinterested warnings of a parting friend," impressed
upon his countrymen his most anxious hopes for the
INVIOLABLE PRESERVATION OF THE CONSTITUTION.
His words were, "That the Free Constitution, which is the work of your hands.
raav be
NEDT
He aiso entreated his Fellow-Citizens to consider the
IMMENSE VALUE OF THEIR NATIONAL UNION,
And to manifest their attachment to it. by "indignantly frowning upon the first
dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest, or enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts."
JACKSON,
The second Warrior Statesman and Hero President, iu a single sentence which
has become classic, as well by its brevity as the fire of patriotism, has
embalmed his devotion to the same glorious cause.
His few and memorable words were:—
" THE UNION—IT MUST AND SHALL BE PRESERVED."
Of
ADAftIS,
His great competitor, it was said by eminent authority, (Edward Everett.) that
no public man had "a deeper sense of the binding power of the
CONSTITUTION AND THE LAW.
CLAY,
The noble, the chivalrous, the lion-hearted Clay, in one of the most thrilling of
his eloquent speeches in the Senate of the United States, in 1839, exclaimed :
"I beseech the Abolitionists themselves solemnly to pause in their mad
and fatal course. Amid the infinite variety of objects of humanity and benevo¬
lence, which invite the employment of their energies, let them select some one
more harmless, that does not threaten to
JDeluge our Country in 1Blood,
" I adjure all the inhabitants of the Free States to Rebuke and Dis¬
countenance, by their opinion and their example, measures which must inevi¬
tably lead to the
MOST CALAMITOUS CONSEQUENCES."
WEBSTER,
Than whom no greater Statesman or purer Patriot ever adorned the annals of
his Country, spoke as follows in the Senate of the United States, in
his celebrated reply to Mr. Hayne :
'• While the Union lasts we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread
out before us, for us and our children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the
veil. God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. God grant
that on my vision never may be opened what lies behind. When my eyes shall
be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shi¬
ning on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States
dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched,
it may be, in fraternal blood ! Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather
behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored through¬
out the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their
original lustre; not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured—bear¬
ing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, What is all this worth? Or
those other words of delusion and folly—Liberty first and Union afterwards—
but everywhere spread all over in characters of living light, blazing in all its
ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind
over the whole heavens, that other sentiment dear to every true American
heart—LIBERTY AND UNION, NOW AND FOREVER. ONE AND INSE¬
PARABLE."
And again to the citizens of Philadelphia, in 1846, thus spoke the Great New
Englander:—"I cannot help thinking that what Pennsylvania is. and that
greater which Pennsylvania is to be, is, and will be, mainly owing to the
under which we live. I believe that no human working on such a subject, no
human ability exerted for such an end, has ever produced so much happiness,
or holds out now to so many millions of people the prospect, through such a
succession of ages and ages, or so much happiness, as
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
;This Constitution, fairly expounded and justly interpreted is
THE BOND OF OUR UNION.
"Those who opposed it were all bound in honor and .justice to follow the ex¬
ample of
PATRICK HENRY,
who himself opposed it, but who, when it had been adopted, took it in the full¬
ness of its spirit, and to the highest extent of its honest interpretation."
At a Congressional Banquet at the Metropolis of the United States, on the 22d
of February, 1852, in honor of
WASHINGTON'S BIRTH DAY,
Commodore Stockton, a Senator from New Jersey, the President of the day.
said:—
" The American people will be true to their country and to its Const i n
just so long as we arc all true to the memory of Washington. Through" all time
the virtue of our people will be gtiaged by !he intensity of their veneration for
his precepts of wisdom.
"Let forbearance and conciliation towards all the different sections of
our country distinguish our councils."
Mr. CRITTENDEN, of Kentucky, said, on the same occasion:
"What a Legacy! We rejoice in riches no nation ever knew before. What
are the mines of California, with their perishing gold, to this?" (The Farewell
Address of Washington,) "Allow me to allude to the two subjects upon which
lie has been peculiarly emphatic in his advice. The one is, to preserve
THE UNION OF THESE STATES.
These sentiments, and a great many more, eloquently uttered on the occasion
by patriotic citizens from all parts of the Confederacy, distinguished by
eminent services, were received with strains from enlivening bands,
amongst which the .inspiring airs of
HAIL COLUMBIA
and
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER,
consecrated as the music of the Union, were proudly predominant.
Alas ! that all, all should have perished, and that the Requiem of the Republic
should be sung amid the
Tears and Lamentations of Fraternal Love.
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