Britain and her
dependencies."

And now, fellow-citizens, having stated to you this infallible proof of
the growth and prosperity of the nation, I ask you, and I would ask
every man, whether the government which has been over us has proved
itself an infliction or a curse to the country, or any part of it?

Ye men of the South, of all the original Southern States, what say you
to all this? Are you, or any of you, ashamed of this great work of your
fathers? Your fathers were not they who storied the prophets and killed
them. They were among the prophets; they were of the prophets; they were
themselves the prophets.

Ye men of Virginia, what do you say to all this? Ye men of the Potomac,
dwelling along the shores of that river on which WASHINGTON lived and
died, and where his remains now rest, ye, so many of whom may see the
domes of the Capitol from your own homes, what say ye?

Ye men of James River and the Bay, places consecrated by the early
settlement of your Commonwealth, what do you say? Do you desire, from
the soil of your State, or as you travel to the North, to see these
halls vacated, their beauty and ornaments destroyed, and their national
usefulness gone for ever?

Ye men beyond the Blue Ridge, many thousands of whom are nearer to this
Capitol than to the seat of government of your own State, what do you
think of breaking this great association into fragments of States and of
people? I know that some of you, and I believe that you all, would be
almost as much shocked at the announcement of such a catastrophe, as if
you were to be informed that the Blue Ridge itself would soon totter
from its base. And ye men of Western Virginia, who occupy the great
slope from the top of the Alleghanies to Ohio and Kentucky, what benefit
do you propose to yourselves by disunion? If you "secede," what do you
"secede" from, and what do you "accede" to? Do you look for the current
of the Ohio to change, and to bring you and your commerce to the
tidewaters of Eastern rivers? What man in his senses can suppose that
you would remain part and parcel of Virginia a month after Virginia
should have ceased to be part and parcel of the United States?

The secession of Virginia! The secession of Virginia, whether alone or
in company, is most improbable, the greatest of all improbabilities.
Virginia, to her everlasting honor, acted a great part in framing and
establishing the present Constitution. She has had her reward and her