people has lost confidence in the
Government, and now seven States have left it. The Government cannot
realize that they are gone. We have established the right of
revolution, and that right gave to the world this splendid Government.
This was the first precedent; it will stand for all time. It will
always be acted upon when the people have lost confidence in the
Government. I _hate_ that word secession, because it is a cheat! Call
things by their right names! The Southern States have framed another
Government; they have originated a _revolution_. There is no warrant
for it in the Constitution, but it is like the right of self-defence,
which every man may exercise. The gentleman from Connecticut has
forgotten that the Government made Congress the recipient of
petitions. Why was this? It was that Congress might be influenced by
the wishes of the people and act upon them.

We are twenty States assembled here. Congress has been in session more
than two months. The Government is falling to pieces. Congress has not
had the sagacity to give the necessary guarantees, the proper
assurances to the slaveholding States. This session will make a
shameful chapter in the history of this Government, to be hereafter
written. Why should this Congress refuse to give the people
guarantees? The proudest Governments in the world have been compelled
to give their people guarantees.

We are assembled here to consult, and see what can be done; to consult
as representatives of the States. Is there any impropriety in our
stating what would restore confidence, to our putting this in writing,
and to our proposing the plan of restoration we think should be
adopted to Congress, and asking Congress to submit that plan to the
people? Are we not the representatives of the people, sent here to do
what we think ought to be done, and to ask Congress by way of petition
to repair the foundations of the Government? It is all legitimate,
and legitimate in the most technical sense.

Suppose we ask Congress to act on this proposition. We come directly
from the people. We ask Congress to submit a plan which we think will
save the Government, to the people. Is this taking any advantage of
the States? _They_ can take all the time they wish for deliberation,
and we can bring no pressure to bear on them. In these times of great
peril and trouble, we ask Congress, backed by the moral force of the
States we represent, to act and save the country.

Two or three y