Heaven, that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man for the shedding of a brother's blood should fall upon our land, that it be not called down by any offensive act on the part of the United States.
Fellow-citzens! the momentous case is before you. On your undivided support of your Government depends the decision of the great question it involves, whether your sacred Union will be preserved, and the blessing it secures to us, as one people, shall be perpetuated. No one can doubt, that the unanimity with which that decision will be expressed will be such as to inspire new confidence in republican institutions, and that the prudence, the wisdom, and the courage, which it will bring to their defence, will transmit them unimpaired and invigorated to our children.
May the great Ruler of Nations grant, that the signal blessings with which he has favored ours may not, by the madness of party, or personal ambition, be disregarded and lost; and may his wise providence bring those who have produced this crisis to see the folly, before they feel the misery of civil strife: and inspire a returning veneration for that Union which, if we may dare to penetrate his designs, he has chosen as the only means of attaining the high destinies to which we may reasonably aspire.
