ndence of thought to which my country,
as a nation, owes its existence and its grandeur."

"You boast your patriotism, and yet you seem to excuse those who seek
the dismemberment of your country."

"I do not excuse them, but I would not have them judged harshly, for I
believe they have acted under provocation."

"What provocation can justify rebellion against a government so
beneficent as ours?"

"I will not pretend to justify, because I think there is much to be
forgiven on either side. But if anything can palliate the act, it is
that system of determined hostility which for years has been levelled
against an institution which they believe to be righteous and founded
upon divine precept. But I think this is not the hour for justification
or for crimination. I am convinced that the integrity of the Union can
only be preserved by withholding the armed hand at this crisis. And
pray Heaven, our government may forbear to strike!"

"Would you, then, have our flag trampled upon with impunity, and our
government confessed a cipher, because, forsooth, you have a
constitutional repugnance to the severities of warfare? Away with such
sickly sentimentality! Such theories, if carried into practice, would
reduce us to a nation of political dwarfs and puny drivellers, fit only
to grovel at the footstools of tyrants."

"I could better bear an insult to our flag than a deathblow to our
nationality. And I feel that our nationality would not survive a
struggle between the sections. There is no danger that we should be
dwarfed in intellect or spirit by practising forbearance toward our
brothers."

"Is treason less criminal because it is the treason of brother against
brother? If so, then must a traitor of necessity go unpunished, since
the nature of the crime requires that the culprit be your countryman.
How hollow are your arguments when applied to existing facts!"

"You forget that I counsel moderation as an expediency, as even a
necessity, for the public good. It were poor policy to compass the
country's ruin for the sake of bringing chastisement upon error."

"That can be but a questionable love of country that would humiliate a
government to the act of parleying with rebellion."

"My love of country is not confined to one section of the country, or to
one division of my countrymen. The lessons of the historic past have
taught me otherwise. If, when a schoolboy, poring over the pages of my
country's history, I have stood,