Page images
PDF
EPUB

ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR AND CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA

I DEEM it a happy circumstance that this dissatisfied position of our fellow-citizens does not point us to anything in which they are being injured, or about to be injured; for which reason I have felt all the while justified in concluding that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety of the country at this time, is artificial. If there be those who differ with me upon this subject, they have not pointed out the substantial difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an artificial panic may not do considerable harm; that it has done such I do not deny. I promise you, in all sincerity, that I bring to the work a sincere heart. Whether I will bring a head equal to that heart will be for future times to determine. It were useless for me to speak of details of plans now; I shall speak officially next Monday week, if ever. If I should not speak then, it were useless for me to do so now. If I do speak then it is useless for me to do so now. When I do speak, I shall take such ground as I deem best calculated to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the country, and tend to the perpetuity of the nation and the liberty of these States and these people. Your worthy Mayor has expressed the wish, in which I join with him, that it were convenient for me to remain in your city long enough to consult your merchants and manufacturers; or,

ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR AND CITIZENS. 201

as it were, to listen to those breathings rising within the consecrated walls wherein the Constitution of the United States, and I will add, the Declaration of Independence, were originally framed and adopted. I assure you and your Mayor that I had hoped, on this occasion, and upon all occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I never asked anything that does not breathe from these sacred walls. All my political warfare has been in favor of the teachings that came forth from these sacred walls. May my right hand forget its cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof my mouth, if ever I prove false to those teachings.

SPEECH IN INDEPENDENCE HALL

AT PHILADELPHIA.

I HAVE never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and framed and adopted that Declaration. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that independ ence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of the separation of the colonies from the mother-land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, but I hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that, in due time, the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on that basis? If it can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.

ROBERT COLLYER.

203

AB

BRAHAM LINCOLN'S greatness and worth lay in his simple manhood. So that the excuse we offer for the faults and failings of some great men, "They were only human," was the very crown of his excellence. He was a whole man, human to the core of his heart.

NEW YORK, 1880.

Rahert Ballper

SPEECH

BEFORE INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, FEB., 1861,

WHILE HOISTING A NEW FLAG.

EACH additional star added to that flag has given additional prosperity and happiness to this country, until it has advanced to its present condition; and its welfare in the future, as well as in the past, is in your hands. Cultivating the spirit that animated our fathers, who gave renown and celebrity to this hall; cherishing that fraternal feeling which has so long characterized us as a nation; excluding passion, ill-temper, and precipitate action on all occasions, I think we may promise ourselves that additional stars shall from time to time be placed upon that flag, until we shall number, as was anticipated by the great historian, five hundred millions of happy and prosperous people.

« PreviousContinue »