erican
people, acting through a National Convention.

The only alternative to this proposition is the proposition that the
present Congress be called upon to submit to the States a thirteenth
article embodying the amendments recommended by the committee. In
order to the submission of these amendments to the States by Congress,
a two-thirds vote in each House is necessary. That, I venture to say,
cannot be obtained. Were it otherwise, who can assure you that the new
article will obtain the sanction of three-fourths of the States,
without which it is a nullity? As a measure to defeat all adjustment,
I can understand this proposition. As a measure of pacification, I do
not understand it. There is, in my judgment, no peace in it. Gentlemen
here, of patriotism and intelligence, think otherwise. I am sorry that
I cannot agree with them.

Gentlemen say, if this proposition cannot prevail, every slave State
will secede; or, as some prefer to phrase it, will resort to
revolution. I forbear to discuss eventualities. I must say, however,
and say plainly, that considerations such as these will not move me
from my recognized duty to my country and its Constitution. And let me
say for the people of the free States, that they are a thoughtful
people, and are much in earnest in this business. They do not delegate
their right of private judgment. They love their institutions and the
Union. They will not surrender the one nor give up the other without
great struggles and great sacrifices. Upon the question of the
maintenance of an unbroken Union and a whole country they never were,
and it is my firm conviction they never will be divided. Gentlemen who
think they will be, even in the worst contingency, will, I think, be
disappointed. If forced to the last extremity, the people will meet
the issue as they best may; but be assured they will meet it with no
discordant councils.

Gentlemen, Mr. LINCOLN will be inaugurated on the 4th of March. He
will take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States--of the whole--of all the United States. That oath will bind
him to take care that the laws be faithfully executed throughout the
United States. Will secession absolve him from that oath? Will it
diminish, by one jot or tittle, its awful obligation? Will attempted
revolution do more than secession? And if not--and the oath and the
obligation remain--and the President does his duty and undertakes to
enforce the laws, and