Speech of Hon. G. W. Hughes, of MD., On the State of the Union
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| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Hughes, George Wurtz) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Speech of Hon. G. W. Hughes, of MD., On the State of the Union: Delivered in the House of Representatives, February 5, 1861 If we say the darkness shall cover us, in the darkness as in the light, our obligations are still with us. We cannot escape their power or fly from their presence." When Admiral Lord Nelson was about to engage the allied fleet at Trafalgar, the signal flew from the mast head of his ship "England expects every man to do his duty;" and in response to that appeal, there rose from sea to sky one wide wild hurrah - the harbinger of victory. With how much more propriety may the appeal be made to the Representatives of the American people, in the hour of danger to come forward and do their duty; for never in the history of our country, in peace or in war, has she stood more in need of the best services of her sons; for never before have more important questions been agitated, and more serious consequences likely to flow. The problem to be solved is not less momentous than the preservation of the Union. The experiment is to be finally tried whether or not the people of this country are really capable of an intelligent self-government; whether we shall remain a great, a powerful, and a united people, or be shattered into fragments; whether peace and prosperity and order shall reign throughout the land, or "chaos come again." Upon the speeches and votes of the gentlemen on this floor these grave consequences may depend. I much fear, sir, that we are fast drifting towards the verge of that fearful cataract beyond which lies inevitable destruction; which the sagacious mind of Washington apprehended, and against the approach to which he raised his warning voice. Should the plunge be taken, all is over. The history of free governments will be closed, never to be reopened. The cause of human rights and of human liberty will have perished forever. I express myself thus strongly because I am gloomily impressed with the future of our country, if the threatened disruption of our Government should not be arrested; or, if it must needs be dissolved into its original elements, a peaceable separation should not be affected. And I confess that I now have little hopes of either. It has been said "that those whom the gods mean to destroy they first strike with judicial blindness, and then drive them mad." It is to be feared that we may offer a striking illustration of the truth of that saying in our own history. It may be that God, in His anger, is about visiting us with a just chastisement for sins committed or for duties unperformed! It may be that we have fallen short of our high mission, and have failed to accomplish our allotted destiny; that, while we enjoyed the inestimable blessings of our political system, we had forgotten that we held a precious trust for the benefit of posterity. This trust we can honorably discharge only by respecting the example of our fathers, and transmitting it unsullied to our descendants. We must inculcate in our children their glorious precepts; cherish their republican principles: imitate their simplicity and economy; and strengthen the institutions which they established. These institutions form a wise and safe system of government, to which we should adhere with a religious devotion. And above all, let us not forget that our national Constitution, under the shadow and protection of whose wing we have grown to be a mighty people, was the result of a mutual compromise of various and conflicting interests, feelings, and jealousies; and that it can be sustained only by the same sacrifices and compromises; by a steady adherence to the great and immutable principles of justice; and by preserving inviolate its conditions and guarantees. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more
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