procal compromises. I would not be "stiff in the back and firm in
the knees." There is such a thing as too much "backbone." I say I
would "back down" to save the country. I am not ashamed of the
expression. Our Government itself was a compromise, and in nothing
more so than as to the slavery question. HENRY CLAY was the great
compromiser. The Missouri Compromise was his. Resigning his office as
Speaker, on the floor of Congress by irresistible argument, and
eloquence unequalled--though twice defeated, he succeeded in
establishing the compromise line of 36 deg. 30'--and thereby erected a
barrier which severed the angry currents of opinion on this
distracting theme, and which was as valuable to this nation as the
isthmus at the equator, holding in check the mighty ocean on either
side. The North has compromised before; let her do it again. Let our
friends at the South take as little as they can, and let the North
yield as little as she can, but let us come together. The party that
stands between the people and the preservation of the Government will
be crushed to atoms. It will be remembered in history only with curses
and indignation.

We all love this Union, and we mean to preserve it. There is no one
here who, as he has witnessed the freedom, the comfort, the
prosperity, and the pure religion disseminated among the people, has
not hoped this nation was to accomplish great social and moral good
for our whole race. Yes, in fond conception we have seen her the
Liberator and Equalizer of the world--walking like an angel of light
in the dark portions of the earth. These sacred anticipations may not
be disappointed without a fearful accountability somewhere. And, sir,
suffer me to say that this whole people have a strong regard for each
other, notwithstanding the petulant differences which have arisen
between us. Kindred blood flows in our veins, and that of our fathers
mingles on the same field; and even now, in the day of our country's
peril, our affections meet at the hallowed grounds of Mt. Vernon, of
Marshfield, and of Ashland.

We have our history. WASHINGTON and FRANKLIN, and HENRY and SUMTER, as
well as Bunker Hill, and Yorktown, and Trenton, are yours, and they
are all ours.

We have our religion--and with every diurnal revolution of this
sphere, from North and South, through the efficacy of a common faith,
a goodly company are ascending to that realm of peace where their
harmonious union shall never more be sev