will not
withhold her corrupting abundance.

And let no man at the East quiet himself, and dream of liberty, whatever
may become of the West. Our alliance of blood, and political institutions,
and common interests, is such, that we can not stand aloof in the hour of
her calamity, should it ever come. Her destiny is our destiny; and the day
that her gallant ship goes down, our little boat sinks in the vortex!

The great experiment is now making, and from its extent and rapid filling
up, is making in the West, whether the perpetuity of our republican
institutions can be reconciled with universal suffrage. Without the
education of the head and heart of the nation, they can not be; and the
question to be decided is, can the nation, or the vast balance power of
it, be so imbued with intelligence and virtue as to bring out, in laws and
their administration, a perpetual self-preserving energy. We know that the
work is a vast one, and of great difficulty; and yet we believe it can be
done.

I am aware that our ablest patriots are looking out on the deep, vexed
with storms, with great forebodings and failings of heart, for fear of the
things that are coming upon us; and I perceive a spirit of impatience
rising, and distrust in respect to the perpetuity of our republic; and I
am sure that these fears are well founded, and am glad that they exist. It
is the star of hope in our dark horizon. Fear is what we need, as the ship
needs wind on a rocking sea, after a storm, to prevent foundering. But
when our fear and our efforts shall correspond with our danger, the danger
is past.

For it is not the impossibility of self-preservation which threatens us;
nor is it the unwillingness of the nation to pay the price of the
preservation, as she has paid the price of the purchase of our liberties.
It is inattention and inconsideration, protracted till the crisis is past,
and the things which belong to our peace are hid from our eyes. And
blessed be God, that the tokens of a national waking up, the harbinger of
God's mercy, are multiplying upon us!

We did not, in the darkest hour, believe that God had brought our fathers
to this goodly land to lay the foundation of religious liberty, and
wrought such wonders in their preservation, and raised their descendants
to such heights of civil and religious liberty, only to reverse the
analogy of his providence, and abandon his work.

And though there now be clouds, and the sea roaring, and men's