Entertaining these opinions of the course to be pursued, I beg of
gentlemen to look at the question, as I have done, in a calm review
of facts and of principles. They deprecate all agitation unfriendly
to the peace and reciprocal good-will of the different sections of
the country. So do I, most heartily; and in my own humble sphere I
have earnestly exerted myself to this end. And I do, unwillingly but
decidedly, avow my conviction, derived from abundant personal
observation, that it is not by the summary suppression of petitions,
it is not by _Lynching_ this or any other petition, that
tranquillity is to be restored, and harmony assured, either in the
South or the North. And whilst I entreat of individual members of
the House to regard this question in calmness, and conclude it in
judgment, as they would any lesser question, I warn and adjure the
House itself, as a constituent branch of this government, to beware
lest, in deciding this general question of the right of petition, it
overleap the bounds prescribed to it by the Constitution.
Men of Virginia, countrymen of Washington, of Patrick Henry, of
Jefferson, and of Madison, will ye be true to your constitutional
faith? Men of New York, will ye ride over the principles of the
democracy ye profess? Men of the West, can ye prove recreant to the
spirit of sturdy independence, which carried you beyond the
mountains? Men of New England, I hold you to the doctrines of
liberty which ye inherit from your Puritan forefathers.
Pages:
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39