29 shall be bound by oath or affirmation ^to support this Constitution." You hence see, that before the members of the Legislatures in these Rebel States can take any action looking towards a national convention, or any other action which this Government can recognize as valid, they must first be qualified by a solemn oath of allegiance. Will they take this oath 'i If so, then all the ends of a convention are already gained. Will they decline the oath ? Ifso, then you can have no convention to which tlicy can beparties. Thus, as you see, this plan breaks down on all sides. It is practicable only under circumstances which render it absohitely needless. It is a mere illusion. The gentlemen who presented it as the chief plank in a political platform, either sadly deceived themselves, or calculated far too largely upon popular ignorance But making no account of these serious, I think, fatal objections, let me in all soberness ask, —What is this convention to do, pro vided you have secured it ? If it does anything towards makingpeace, it must of course propose such amendments to the Constitution as will be acceptable to those who are in arms against the Government. To do this it must very essentially remodel the fundamental law of the land, perhaps dividing up the nation into a confederacy of four or five Republics. The Constitution as it is, and the Union as it was, will be very likely to disappear under the operations of tliis theory. Yery well ; the convention, we will suppose, has agreed upon these amendments ; and now comes the question of their adoption by the people. Is there any prospect that the people of three-fourths of the States will adopt any amendments that Jefferson Davis and his co-conspirators will accept as a satisfactory basis of peace ? Not the least in the world. There is but a bare possibility of any such agreement in the convention ; and then when the matter comes before the people, there is not the slightest chance of securing a constitutional majority in its favor. Yery well ; where are you now ? Your convention has failed ; and you come back to the position of fighting out this question to ultimate victory, or giving up the Union as dead and gone with a hostile Government upon your very borders. You come back to your present position at last, with all the dangers incident to this circuitous route.
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