one question in this country now; or, if there
be others, they are but secondary, or so subordinate that they are all
absorbed in that great and leading question; and that is neither more
nor less than this: Can we preserve the union of the States, not by
coercion, not by military power, not by angry controversies,--but can we
of this generation, you and I, your friends and my friends,--can we so
preserve the union of these States, by such administration of the powers
of the Constitution as shall give content and satisfaction to all who
live under it, and draw us together, not by military power, but by the
silken cords of mutual, fraternal, patriotic affection? That is the
question, and no other. Gentlemen, I believe in party distinctions. I am
a party man. There are questions belonging to party in which I take an
interest, and there are opinions entertained by other parties which I
repudiate; but what of all that? If a house be divided against itself,
it will fall, and crush everybody in it. We must see that we maintain
the government which is over us. We must see that we uphold the
Constitution, and we must do so without regard to party.

Now how did this question arise? The question is for ever misstated. I
dare say, if you know much of me, or of my course of public conduct, for
the last fourteen months, you have heard of my attending Union meetings,
and of my fervent admonitions at Union meetings. Well, what was the
object of those meetings? What was their purpose? The object and purpose
have been designedly or thoughtlessly misrepresented. I had an
invitation, some time since, to attend a Union meeting in the county of
Westchester; I could not go, but wrote a letter. Well, some wise man of
the East said he did not think it was very necessary to hold Union
meetings in Westchester. He did not think there were many disunionists
about Tarrytown! And so in many parts of the country, there is a total
misapprehension of the purpose and object of these Union meetings. Every
one knows, that there is not a county, or a city, or a hamlet in the
State of New York, that is ready to go out of the Union, but only some
small bodies of fanatics. There is no man so insane in the State, not
fit for a lunatic asylum, as to wish it. But that is not the point. We
all know that every man and every neighborhood, and all corporations, in
the State of New York, except those I have mentioned, are attached to
the Union, and have no idea of wit