Not receiving any response, Douglas took the floor in defense of his resolution.  He believed that the country should have the information which his resolution was designed to elicit.  The people were apprehensive of civil war.  He had put his construction upon the President’s inaugural; but “the Republican side of the Chamber remains mute and silent, neither assenting nor dissenting.”  The answer which he believed the resolution would call forth, would demonstrate two points of prime importance:  “First, that the President does not meditate war; and, secondly, that he has no means for prosecuting a warfare upon the seceding States, even if he desired.”

With his wonted dialectic skill Douglas sought to establish his case.  The existing laws made no provision for collecting the revenue on shipboard.  It was admitted on all sides that collection at the port of entry in South Carolina was impossible.  The President had no legal right to blockade the port of Charleston.  He could not employ the army to enforce the laws in the seceded States, for the military could be used only to aid a civil process; and where was the marshal in South Carolina to execute a writ?  The President must have known that he lacked these powers.  He must have referred to the future action of Congress, then, when he said that he should execute the laws in all the States, unless the “requisite means were withheld.”  But Congress had not passed laws empowering the Executive to collect revenue or to gain possession of the forts.  What, then, was the inference?  Clearly this, that the Republican senators did not desire to confer these powers.

If this inference is not correct, if this interpretation of the inaugural address is faulty, urged Douglas, why preserve this impenetrable silence?  Why not let the people know what the policy of the administration is?  They have a right to know.  “The President of the United States holds the destiny of this country in his hands.  I believe he means peace, and war will be averted, unless he is overruled by the disunion portion of his party.  We all know the irrepressible conflict is going on in their camp....  Then, throw aside this petty squabble about how you are to get along with your pledges before election; meet the issues as they are presented; do what duty, honor, and patriotism require, and appeal to the people to sustain you.  Peace is the only policy that can save the country or save your party."[971]

On the Republican side of the chamber, this appeal was bitterly resented.  It met with no adequate response, because there was none to give; but Wilson roundly denounced it as a wicked, mischief-making utterance.[972] Unhappily, Douglas allowed himself to be drawn into a personal altercation with Fessenden, in which he lost his temper and marred the effect of his patriotic appeal.  There was probably some truth in Douglas’s charge that both senators intended to be personally irritating.[973] Under the circumstances, it was easier to indulge in personal disparagement of Douglas, than to meet his embarrassing questions.