Gentlemen say there will not be war, if we do not agree. I wish I
could think so, but I cannot. But if war should come, let me ask the
gentlemen from New York who think principles are standing in their
way, will you take the risk? Will you see the soil of Pennsylvania
drenched with blood? Can you risk all this hereafter, when you can
avoid it by accepting a proposition that involves no sacrifice of
principles? Never in my whole life have I felt the weight of official
responsibility as I feel it now. God grant that war may be averted
from the country!

Let the lightning this day flash to the extreme limits of the Union,
the glad tidings that we have settled these questions. The message
would be received with gratitude and thanksgiving. Our friends in the
Border States say, "We love the Union, we wish to stay in it; we do
not wish to be driven out." Can you not, will you not, do something
for them? Let us trust this matter to the people. I am not afraid to
trust the people of Pennsylvania. New York and Massachusetts, trust
yours!

We talk calmly of war, but we forget its calamities. Let us remember
that we should not sacrifice one life for this paltry abstraction. Let
us remember how great are the miseries of war. Let us think of the
rush of angry armies, of the widows and orphans, of the sorrow and
desolation that war always leaves in its path.

Christian men! remember that our great Saviour was a Prince of
Peace--that he came to conquer with peace, not with the sword. "The
Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

Disunion is a crime against every thing. Above all, it is a crime
against GOD. Christians, pause and reflect. Let me entreat you to help
us save this country from disunion.

I speak earnestly. We Pennsylvanians are upon the border. Our soil
must be the battle ground. Upon us will the heavy trouble fall. Once
more I say, let us trust the people. They are always right. They will
do something; and honest men, sincere men, tell us that unless
something is done, the border slave States cannot be retained in the
Union.

I am not here as a party man, but as an American citizen, and a
citizen of Pennsylvania. I am here to perform my duty to the whole
country, if I can find out what that duty is.

Our friends say there is great apprehension at the South that the
Republican party meditates unconditional interference with Southern
rights. I do not believe for a moment that there is any ground for
such an apprehension. Bu