one great and glorious republic?  A principal object in his late political movements, the gentleman himself tells us, was to unite the entire South; and against whom, or against what, does he wish to unite the entire South?  Is not this the very essence of local feeling and local regard?  Is it not the acknowledgment of a wish and object to create political strength by uniting political opinions geographically?  While the gentleman thus wishes to unite the entire South, I pray to know, Sir, if he expects me to turn toward the polar star, and, acting on the same principle, to utter a cry of Rally! to the whole North?  Heaven forbid!  To the day of my death, neither he nor others shall hear such a cry from me.

Finally, the honorable member declares that he shall now march off, under the banner of State rights!  March off from whom?  March off from what?  We have been contending for great principles.  We have been struggling to maintain the liberty and to restore the prosperity of the country; we have made these struggles here, in the national councils, with the old flag, the true American flag, the Eagle, and the Stars and Stripes, waving over the chamber in which we sit.  He now tells us, however, that he marches off under the State-rights banner!

Let him go.  I remain.  I am where I ever have been, and ever mean to be.  Here, standing on the platform of the general Constitution, a platform broad enough and firm enough to uphold every interest of the whole country, I shall still be found.  Intrusted with some part in the administration of that Constitution, I intend to act in its spirit, and in the spirit of those who framed it.  Yes, Sir, I would act as if our fathers, who formed it for us and who bequeathed it to us, were looking on me; as if I could see their venerable forms bending down to behold us from the abodes above.  I would act, too, as if the eye of posterity was gazing on me.

Standing thus, as in the full gaze of our ancestors and our posterity, having received this inheritance from the former, to be transmitted to the latter, and feeling that, if I am born for any good, in my day and generation, it is for the good of the whole country, no local policy or local feeling, no temporary impulse, shall induce me to yield my foothold on the Constitution of the Union.  I move off under no banner not known to the whole American people, and to their Constitution and laws.  No, Sir; these walls, these columns,

                        “shall fly
    From their firm base as soon as I.”

I came into public life, Sir, in the service of the United States.  On that broad altar, my earliest, and all my public vows, have been made.  I propose to serve no other master.  So far as depends on any agency of mine, they shall continue united States; united in interest and in affection; united in every thing in regard to which the Constitution has decreed their union; united in war, for the common defence, the common renown, and the common glory; and united, compacted, knit firmly together in peace, for the common prosperity and happiness of ourselves and our children.