should see distinctly to what end or for what object it is that so much
suffering is already upon them, and so much more already in visible and
near prospect.

And now, Sir, is it possible,--is it possible that twelve millions of
intelligent people can be expected voluntarily to subject themselves to
severe distress, of unknown duration, for the purpose of making trial of
an experiment like this? Will a nation that is intelligent, well
informed of its own interest, enlightened, and capable of
self-government, submit to suffer embarrassment in all its pursuits,
loss of capital, loss of employment, and a sudden and dead stop in its
onward movement in the path of prosperity and wealth, until it shall be
ascertained whether this new-hatched theory shall answer the hopes of
those who have devised it? Is the country to be persuaded to bear every
thing, and bear patiently, until the operation of such an experiment,
adopted for such an avowed object, and adopted, too, without the
co-operation or consent of Congress, and by the executive power alone,
shall exhibit its results?

In the name of the hundreds of thousands of our suffering
fellow-citizens, I ask, for what reasonable end is this experiment to be
tried? What great and good object, worth so much cost, is it to
accomplish? What enormous evil is to be remedied by all this
inconvenience and all this suffering? What great calamity is to be
averted? Have the people thronged our doors, and loaded our tables with
petitions for relief against the pressure of some political mischief,
some notorious misrule, which this experiment is to redress? Has it been
resorted to in an hour of misfortune, calamity, or peril, to save the
state? Is it a measure of remedy, yielded to the importunate cries of an
agitated and distressed nation? Far, Sir, very far from all this. There
was no calamity, there was no suffering, there was no peril, when these
measures began. At the moment when this experiment was entered upon,
these twelve millions of people were prosperous and happy, not only
beyond the example of all others, but even beyond their own example in
times past.

There was no pressure of public or private distress throughout the whole
land. All business was prosperous, all industry was rewarded, and
cheerfulness and content universally prevailed. Yet, in the midst of all
this enjoyment, with so much to heighten and so little to mar it, this
experiment comes upon us, to harass and oppre