w
and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles and the
restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections.

That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy
the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will
neither affirm nor deny; but if there be such, I need address no word
to them. To those, however, who really love the Union may I not speak?

Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our
national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes,
would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you
hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any
portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you,
while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones
you fly from--will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake?

All profess to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can
be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in
the Constitution, has been denied? I think not. Happily the human
mind is so constituted that no party can reach to the audacity of doing
this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly
written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If by the
mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any
clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of
view, justify revolution--certainly would if such a right were a vital
one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities and
of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and
negations, guarantees and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that
controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever
be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question
which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can
anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, express
provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be
surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does
not expressly say. _May_ Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories?
The Constitution does not expressly say. _Must_ Congress protect
slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say.

From questions of this class spring all our constitutional
controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities.
If