Mr. President, great dangers surround us.  The Union of these States is dear to the people of the United States.  The long experience of its blessings, the mighty hopes of the future, have made it dear to the hearts of the American people.  Whatever politicians may say, whatever of dissension may, in the heat of party politics, be created among our people, when you come down to the question of the existence of the Constitution, that is a question beyond all politics; that is a question of life and death.  The Constitution and the Union are the life of this great people—­yes, sir, the life of life.  We all desire to preserve them, North and South; that is the universal desire.  But some of the Southern States, smarting under what they conceive to be aggressions of their Northern brethren and of the Northern States, are not contented to continue this Union, and are taking steps, formidable steps, towards a dissolution of the Union, and towards the anarchy and the bloodshed, I fear, that are to follow.  I say, sir, we are in the presence of great events.  We must elevate ourselves to the level of the great occasion.  No party warfare about mere party questions or party measures ought now to engage our attention.  They are left behind; they are as dust in the balance.  The life, the existence of our country, of our Union, is the mighty question; and we must elevate ourselves to all those considerations which belong to this high subject.

I hope, therefore, gentlemen will be disposed to bring the sincerest spirit of conciliation, the sincerest spirit and desire to adjust all these difficulties, and to think nothing of any little concessions of opinions that they may make, if thereby the Constitution and the country can be preserved.

The great difficulty here, sir—­I know it; I recognize it as the difficult question, particularly with the gentlemen from the North—­is the admission of this line of division for the territory, and the recognition of slavery on the one side, and the prohibition of it on the other.  The recognition of slavery on the southern side of that line is the great difficulty, the great question with them.  Now, I beseech you to think, and you, Mr. President, and all, to think whether, for such a comparative trifle as that, the Union of this country is to be sacrificed.  Have we realized to ourselves the momentous consequences of such an event?  When has the world seen such an event?  This is a mighty empire.  Its existence spreads its influence throughout the civilized world.  Its overthrow will be the greatest shock that civilization and free government have received; more extensive in its consequences; more fatal to mankind and to the great principles upon which the liberty of mankind depends, than the French revolution with all its blood, and with all its war and violence.  And all for what?  Upon questions concerning this line of division between slavery and freedom?  Why, Mr. President, suppose this day all the Southern States, being refused this