In my address at Charlestown, I made these remarks, which gave no
inconsiderable offence:

"In this juncture of affairs, we anxiously ask, what more remains to be
done? I infer, from what I see and hear, that most of my countrymen
believe that the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency is to
be declared in the customary way, and that he is to be inaugurated at
Washington on the 4th of March next. The intentions of men are hidden
from our view; but the necessities of the seceders we can appreciate,
and the logic of events we can comprehend. It is a necessity of the
South to prevent the inauguration of Lincoln. If he is inaugurated at
Washington on the 4th of March, the cause of the secessionists is lost
for ever. In all their proceedings, they have been wise and logical,
thus far; and I assume that resistance to the inauguration of Lincoln
is a part of their well-laid scheme. No man can now tell whether this
scheme will be abandoned, whether it will be tried and fail, or
whether it will be tried with success. I believe it will be tried.

"True, the administration has put itself on the side of order; the city
is alarmed for its existence, knowing full well that if it is given
up to the military or the mob, and the representatives of eighteen free
States are, for a single hour only, fugitives from the capital of the
country, its re-occupation will be upon terms less agreeable to the
inhabitants of the District and the neighboring States. The possession
of Washington does, in a considerable degree, control the future of
this country. Believing, as I do, in the stern purpose of these men;
knowing, also, that Maryland and Virginia command on the instant the
presence of large bodies of volunteers,--I deem it only an act of
common prudence, for the free States, without menaces, without threats,
with solemn and official declarations even that no offensive movement
will be undertaken, to organize, and put upon a war footing, a force
of one hundred thousand men, who may be moved at any moment when
desired by the authorities of the country.

"What, then, will be our position? The way ought to be open for the
inauguration of Mr. Lincoln; but there are those who demand a
compromise as a step necessary and preliminary to that event. I do
not now speak of the demand made upon States, in their sovereign
capacity, to repeal certain laws, concerning personal liberty, alleged
to be unconstitutional. . . .

"The com