Speech Of Hon G W Hughes Of Md On The State Of The Union Delivered In The House Of Representatives February 5 1861

Author : James M. Quarles
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331187844
Total Pages : 20 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (878 download)

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Download or read book State of the Union written by James M. Quarles and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-11 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from State of the Union: Speech of Hon. James M. Quarles, of Tennessee, Delivered in the House of Representatives, February 1, 1861 The House having under consideration the report from the select committee of thirty-three - Mr. Quarles said: Mr. Speaker: I have not sought the floor in the vain belief that any feeble utterances of mine can stay the tide of events which is, I fear, bearing us with irresistible force into the maelstrom of anarchy and civil war; but in the hope that I may possibly induce gentlemen on both sides of the House to pause and reflect before they plunge our common country irrevocably into revolution and fraternal strife. Sir, I should be recreant to the high trusts which a generous and patriotic constituency have confided to me, if I did not exert my every energy to allay the excitement which now unhappily pervades every section of our country, and do every act which patriotism can prompt to give peace to our distracted land. This is not the time for disquisitions upon the theory of our Constitution, or for refined and critical distinctions between the rights of the Federal Government and those reserved to the States. Revolution actually exists, and we must deal with stern and unyielding facts. Six of our sister States have shot madly and hurriedly from their accustomed orbits, and no longer revolve around our Federal governmental center. The "sweet wreath of our Union has been unbound," universal distrust and wide-spread pecuniary disaster pervades every circle of society and all the avocations of life; and it is the first and highest duty of a patriot and Representative to address himself to the task of composing the differences which have produced these baneful consequences. Mr. Speaker, there is no man who has less sympathy with the hasty and reckless course of our sister States of the South, in their wild scheme of disunion, than myself. They have been rash and precipitate in their action, and have refused even to advise and consult with us of the border slave States, whose interests were to be so materially affected by their action; but, in a delirium of excitement, which seems to have overborne their reason, they have rushed madly on, reckless of consequences to themselves or others. And without stopping to refute the political heresy of secession, under cover of which they seek to shelter themselves, I content myself with the declaration that I believe it has no warrant in the Constitution of the United States. I think, sir, that when our forefathers adopted our present form of Government, they intended that it should be enduring, and were not guilty of the folly of leaving a reserved right in any one of the States to destroy the very Government they ordained, and consequently every right which was expressly delegated to it. I do believe, however, in the sacred right of revolution; and whenever any Government becomes oppressive to its citizens, it is as well their right as it is their solemn duty to throw it off, and establish such a form of government as is consonant with their honor, liberty, and interests. This is the right our fathers exercised when they threw off the yoke of British domination and tyranny; and this is the word they used to describe it. It is the bolder and manlier word, and savors of the spirit of 1776. I deny the constitutional right of any State to secede from the Union, but affirm the inalienable, inherent right of every free man in it to revolutionize his Government whenever it becomes oppressive and destructive of the ends for which it was formed. But sir, in order to get at the true cause of the revolution now in progress in the Gulf States, it is necessary to revert to the initial point. Why this dissatisfaction among whole communities in the South? Is there no cause for it, or does it exist alone in the distempered imaginings of southern gentlemen? Let us arrive at a correct diagnosis of this political disease; and, if poss.