on were defeated, were defeated by a heavy
majority.

But the members comprising that Convention represent the true feeling
of the people who elected them, and they represent the present feeling
of Virginia. The people of that State are full of anxiety. They fear
that the new administration has designs which it will carry into
execution, fatal to their rights and interests. They are for the
Union, _provided_ their rights can be secured; provided, they can have
proper and honorable guarantees. It is useless to discuss now whether
they are right or wrong. Such is the condition of affairs now, and it
is too late to enter into the causes which produced it. We must deal
with things as they are.

I have known many gentlemen who have represented the interests of New
England long and well. I know what sentiments filled their hearts
years ago, and I do not believe those sentiments are changed now. I
appeal to Vermont. Among her representatives here, I see a gentleman
with whom, for a long time, I was upon terms of peculiar intimacy. In
the whole course of that intimacy I cannot recall a single occurrence
which did not impress me with his integrity, his ability, his justice.
I appeal to him. I appeal to him by every consideration which can move
a friend, which can influence a patriot, which can govern the action
of a statesman. I appeal to Massachusetts, to all New England, which I
know possesses many like himself; and I ask you to consider our
circumstances, to consider our dangers, and not to refuse us the
little boon we ask, when the consequences of that refusal must be so
awful. Can you not afford to make a little sacrifice, when we make one
so great? Can you not yield to us what is a mere matter of opinion
with you, but what is so vital with us? Will you not put us in a
position where we can stand with our people, and let us and you stand
together in the Union? I have no delicacy here. The importance of our
action with me, transcends all other considerations. I do not hesitate
to appeal to New England for help in this crisis.

If New England refuses to come to our aid, it will not alter my course
or change my conviction. In no possible contingency which can now be
foreseen shall these convictions be changed. _I will never give up the
Union!_ Clouds may hang over it, storms and tempest may assail it, the
waves of dissolution may dash against it, but so far as my feeble hand
can support it, that support shall be given to it