But if we possessed this power, would it be wise to exercise it under existing circumstances?  The object would doubtless be to preserve the Union.  War would not only present the most effectual means of destroying it, but would vanish all hope of its peaceable reconstruction.  Besides, in the fraternal conflict a vast amount of blood and treasure would be expended, rendering future reconciliation between the States impossible.  In the meantime, who can foretell what would be the sufferings and privations of the people during its existence?

The fact is that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war.  If it can not live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish.  Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force.

But may I be permitted solemnly to invoke my countrymen to pause and deliberate before they determine to destroy this the grandest temple which has ever been dedicated to human freedom since the world began?  It has been consecrated by the blood of our fathers, by the glories of the past, and by the hopes of the future.  The Union has already made us the most prosperous, and ere long will, if preserved, render us the most powerful, nation on the face of the earth.  In every foreign region of the globe the title of American citizen is held in the highest respect, and when pronounced in a foreign land it causes the hearts of our countrymen to swell with honest pride.  Surely when we reach the brink of the yawning abyss we shall recoil with horror from the last fatal plunge.

By such a dread catastrophe the hopes of the friends of freedom throughout the world would be destroyed, and a long night of leaden despotism would enshroud the nations.  Our example for more than eighty years would not only be lost, but it would be quoted as a conclusive proof that man is unfit for self-government.

It is not every wrong—­nay, it is not every grievous wrong—­which can justify a resort to such a fearful alternative.  This ought to be the last desperate remedy of a despairing people, after every other constitutional means of conciliation had been exhausted.  We should reflect that under this free Government there is an incessant ebb and flow in public opinion.  The slavery question, like everything human, will have its day.  I firmly believe that it has reached and passed the culminating point.  But if in the midst of the existing excitement the Union shall perish, the evil may then become irreparable.