u have assigned me. A long separation from
all deliberative bodies has rendered the rules of their proceedings
unfamiliar to me, while I should find, in my own state of health,
variable and fickle as it is, sufficient reason to decline the honor
of being your presiding officer. But, in times like these, one has but
little option left him. Personal considerations should weigh but
lightly in the balance. The country is in danger; it is enough; one
must take the place assigned him in the great work of reconciliation
and adjustment. The voice of Virginia has invited her co-States to
meet her in council. In the initiation of this Government, that same
voice was heard and complied with, and the results of seventy-odd
years have fully attested the wisdom of the decisions then adopted. Is
the urgency of her call now less great than it was then? Our godlike
fathers created, we have to preserve. They built up, through their
wisdom and patriotism, monuments which have eternized their names. You
have before you, gentlemen, a task equally grand, equally sublime,
quite as full of glory and immortality. You have to snatch from ruin a
great and glorious Confederation, to preserve the Government, and to
renew and invigorate the Constitution. If you reach the height of this
great occasion, your children's children will rise up and call you
blessed. I confess myself to be ambitious of sharing in the glory of
accomplishing this grand and magnificent result. To have our names
enrolled in the Capitol, to be repeated by future generations with
grateful applause--this is an honor higher than the mountains, more
enduring than the monumental alabaster. Yes, Virginia's voice, as in
the olden time, has been heard. Her sister States meet her this day at
the council board. Vermont is here, bringing with her the memories of
the past, and reviving in the memories of all, her Ethan Allen and his
demand for the surrender of Ticonderoga, in the name of the Great
Jehovah and the American Congress. New Hampshire is here, her fame
illustrated by memorable annals, and still more lately as the
birthplace of him who won for himself the name of defender of the
Constitution, and who wrote that letter to John Taylor which has been
enshrined in the hearts of his countrymen. Massachusetts is not here.
(Some member said "She is coming.") I hope so, said Mr. TYLER, and
that she will bring with her her daughter Maine. I did not believe it
could well be that the voice w