the reason why it happened shall remain on record forever.  It was because you rejected one form of settling a question which might be offered and accepted with honor, in order to insist upon another which you knew we could not accept without disgrace.  I answer for myself only when I say that, if the alternative to the salvation of the Union be only that the people of the United States shall, before the Christian nations of the earth, print in broad letters upon the front of their charter of republican government the dogma of slave propagandism over the remainder of the countries of the world, I will not consent to brand myself with what I deem such disgrace, let the consequences be what they may.

But it is said that this answer closes the door of reconciliation.  The slaveholding States will secede, and what then?

This brings me to the last point which I desire to touch today, the proper course for the government to pursue in the face of these difficulties.  Some of the friends with whom I act have not hesitated to express themselves in favor of coercion; and they have drawn very gloomy pictures of the fatal consequences to the prosperity and security of the whole Union that must ensue.  For my own sake, I am glad that I do not partake so largely in these fears.  I see no obstacle to the regular continuance of the government in not less than twenty States, and perhaps more, the inhabitants of which have not in a moment been deprived of that peculiar practical wisdom in the management of their affairs which is the secret of their past success.  Several new States will, before long, be ready to take their places with us and make good, in part, the loss of the old ones.  The mission of furnishing a great example of free government to the nations of the earth will still be in our hands, impaired, I admit, but not destroyed; and I doubt not our power to accomplish it yet in spite of the temporary drawback.  Even the problem of coercion will go on to solve itself without our aid.  For if the sentiment of disunion become so far universal and permanent in the dissatisfied States as to show no prospect of good from resistance, and there be no acts of aggression attempted on their part, I will not say that I may not favor the idea of some arrangement of a peaceful character, though I do not now see the authority under which it can be originated.  The new Confederacy can scarcely be other than a secondary Power.  It can never be a maritime State.  It will begin with the necessity of keeping eight millions of its population to watch four millions, and with the duty of guarding, against the egress of the latter, several thousand miles of an exposed border, beyond which there will be no right of reclamation.  Of the ultimate result of a similar experiment, I cannot, in my own mind, have a moment’s doubt.  At the last session I ventured to place on record, in this House, a prediction by which I must abide, let the effect of the future on my sagacity be what it may.  I have not yet seen any reason to doubt its accuracy.  I now repeat it.  The experiment will ignominiously fail.