jostle against each other in the realms of space, without caus ing the crush of the universe. 2. There can be no such thing as a peaceable secession, Peaceable secession is an utter impossibility. Is the great Constitution under which we live, covering this whole country, is it to be thawed and melted away by secession, as the snows on the mountain melt under the influence of a vernal sun, disappear almost unobserved, and run off ? 3. No, sir! No, sir! I will not state what might produce the disruption of the Union: but, sir, I see, as plainly as I see the sun in heaven, what that disruption itself must produce; I see that it must produce war, and such a war as I will not describe, in its twofold character. The con 4. Peaceable secession !-peaceable secession! current agreement of all the members of this great republic to separate! A voluntary separation, with alimony on one side and on the other. Why, what would be the result? Where is the line to be drawn? What States are to secede ? What is to remain America? What am I to be? An American no longer? Am I to become a sectional man, a local man, a separatist, with no country in common with the gen tlemen who sit around me here, or who fill the other House of Congress? 5. Heaven forbid! Where is the flag of the republic to remain? Where is the eagle still to tower?-or is he to cower, and shrink, and fall to the ground? Why, sir, our ancestors our fathers and our grandfathers, those of them that are yet living amongst us, with prolonged lives-would rebuke and reproach us; and our children and our grandchildren would cry out shame upon us, if we, of this genera tion, should dishonor these ensigns of the power of the gov ernment and the harmony of that Union, which is every day felt among us with so much joy and gratitude. 6. What is to become of the army? What is to become of the navy? What is to become of the public lands? How is any one of the thirty States to defend itself? 7. Sir, we could not sit down here to-day, and draw a line of separation that would satisfy any five men in the country. There are natural causes that would keep and tie us together; and there are social and domestic relations which we could not break if we would, and which we should not if we could. WEBSTER. SIR, 74. FREE TRADE. IR, next to the Christian religion, I consider free trade, in its largest sense, as the greatest blessing that can be con ferred upon any people. Hear, sir, what Patrick Henry, the great orator of Virginia, whose soul was the very temple of freedom, says on this subject: 2. "Why should we fetter commerce? If a man is in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, because his spirits are broken; but let him twist the fetters from his legs, and he will stand erect. 3. "Fetter not commerce! Let her be free as air. She will range the whole creation, and return on the four winds of heaven to bless the land with plenty." 4. But it has been said that free trade would do very well if all nations would adopt it; but, as it is, every nation must protect itself from the effect of restriction by countervailing measures. 5. I am persuaded, sir, that this is a great, a most fatal error. If retaliation is resorted to for the honest purpose of producing a redress of grievance, while adhered to no longer than there is a hope of success, it may, like war itself, be sometimes just and necessary. But if it have no such object, "it is the unprofitable combat of seeing which can do the other most harm." 6. The case can hardly be conceived in which permanent restrictions, as a measure of retaliation, could be profitable. In every possible situation, a trade, whether more or less restricted, is profitable, or it is not. This can only be decided by experience; and if the trade be left to regulate itself, water would not more naturally seek its level than the inter course adjust itself to the true interest of the parties. 7. Sir, as to this idea of the regulation by government of the pursuits of men, I consider it as a remnant of barbarism, disgraceful to an enlightened age, and inconsistent with the first principles of rational liberty. I hold government to be utterly incapable, from its position, of exercising such a power wisely, prudently, or justly. 8. Are the rulers of the world the depositaries of its collected wisdom? Sir, can we forget the advice of a great statesman to his son: "Go, see the world, my son, that you may see with how little wisdom mankind is governed." 9. And is our own government an exception to this rule, or do we not find here, as everywhere else, that "Man, proud man, Dressed in a little brief authority, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep?" HAYNE 75. OUR COUNTRY. HIS lovely land, this glorious liberty, these benign institutions (the dear purchase of our fathers), are ours: ours to enjoy, ours to preserve, ours to transmit; generations past, and generations to come, hold us responsible for this trust. Our fathers from behind admonish us with their anxious par ental voices; posterity calls out to us from the bosom of the future; the world turns hither with its solicitous eye; all, all conjure us to act wisely and faithfully in this relation which we sustain. 2. We can never, indeed, pay the debt which is upon us; but, by virtue, by morality, by religion, by the cultivation of every good habit, we may hope to enjoy the blessings through our day, and to leave them unimpaired to our children. Let us feel deeply how much of what we are and what we possess, we owe to this liberty and these institutions of government. 3. Nature has, indeed, given us a soil which yields boun teously to the hand of industry; the mighty and fruitful ocean is before us, and the skies over our head shed health and vigor. But what are lands and seas, and skies, to civilzed man, without society, without knowledge, without morals, without religious culture? and how can these be enjoyed in all their excellence, but under the protection of wise institutions and a free government? 4. There is no American who does not at this moment, and at every moment, experience in his own condition, and in the condition of the most near and dear to him, the influence and benefits of this liberty, of these institutions. Let us, then, acknowledge the blessing; let us feel it deeply and powerfully; let us cherish a strong affection for it, and resolve to maintain and perpetuate it. The blood of our fathers, let it not have been shed in vain; the great hope of posterity, let it not be blasted. 5. The striking attitude, too, in which we stand to the world around us, cannot be altogether omitted. Neither individuals nor nations can perform their part well, until they understand and appreciate all the duties belonging to it. It is not to inflate national vanity, nor to swell a light and empty feeling of self-importance, but it is that we may judge justly of our situation, and of our duties, that I earnestly urge the consideration of our position and our character among the nations of the earth. 6. It cannot be denied but by those who would dispute against the sun, that with America, and in America, a new era commences in human affairs. This era is distinguished by free representative government, by entire religious liberty, by improved systems of national intercourse, by a newly awakened and unconquerable spirit of inquiry, and by diffu sion of knowledge among the community, such as has been before altogether unheard of and unknown. America! Amer ica! our country, our dear native land, is inseparably con nected, fast bound up in fortune and by fate, with these great interests. If they fall, we fall with them. If they stand, it will be because we have upheld them. WEBSTER 76. THE STATE CONSTITUTION. [Hon. WILLIAM GASTON was born in South Carolina, 1778. His Congressional career was of unsurpassed brilliancy. As a profound jurist he was also cminent among the great legal minds of our country. But his greatest praise was in his profoundly religious life. No political or judicial business ever prevented him from observing every duty of a zealous, practical Christian.] SIR, IR, I am opposed, out and out, to any interference of the State with the opinions of its citizens, and more especially with their opinions on religious subjects. The good order of society requires that actions and practices injurious to the public peace and public morality should be restrained, and but a moderate portion of practical good sense is required to enable the proper authorities to decide what conduct is really thus injurious. 2. But to decide on the truth or error, on the salutary or pernicious consequences of opinions, requires a skill in dialectics, a keenness of discernment, a forecast and comprehension of mind, and, above all, an exemption from bias, which do not ordinarily belong to human tribunals. 3. The preconceived opinions of him who is appointed to try become the standard by which the opinions of others are measured, and as these correspond with, or differ from his own, they are pronounced true or false, salutary or pernicious. Let the Arminian pass on the doctrines of the high Calvinist, and he will have no hesitation in branding them as utterly destructive of the distinctions between right and wrong, and leading to the subversion of all morality. 4. Let the Calvinist determine on the soundness and the tendencies of the Arminian faith, and he will have little diffi |