SPEECH OF MR. WADE. The House being in committee of the whole on the state of the union— Mr. WADE said: I propose to say a few things on the old theme of which, we have all heard so much—the subject of slavery and the threatened dissolution of the union. These two seem to constitute a sort of duality—a “ two in one ” subject, as inseparable as the Siamese twins. A part of what I have to say, will be with the intention of calling the minds of gentlemen, to the purer and better days of the republic—to contrast those days with the present, and try if we can search out the old landmarks of constitutional liberty, and from these, to determine how far we may have wandered into the domains of despotism. At this day, and under the perils to which liberty and the union are exposed, I believe this to be the most acceptable service which a patriot can render to his country. I desire sir if it be possible, to reproduce before the people of this day, the living realities of those purer and better days, when the union and the constitution bad their birth. For, sir, it is in the spirit only in which the union and constitution were organized, that they can be preserved, if preserved at all. If the ethical principles in which the union and constitution were brought into being, were the principles of despotism, of human bondage—if the spirit which presided at their birth, was the cold and sunless spirit of a crushing despotism, then in the perpetuity of that fell spirit, will rest their only peace and permanency. But if, on the other hand, the union and constitution were produced from the gentle, genial spirit of liberty, and the changeless natural equality of human rights, then in the same spirit, must they be administered, to be perpetuated. No self-evident axiom, no demonstration in mathematics, is more convincing than this. Gentlemen may tell us—they do tell us—that, in order to preserve the union, we must throw the rein over the neck of despotism—must yield to the necessities or to the caprices of slavery. Sir, doing this, is a dissolution of the union. Its life expires the moment we yield to this senseless elamor. Sir, in order to preserve the union, necessity is laid upon us, to go back to the birth of the union prior to the constitution, and to catch and hold the spirit which animated those great and good men, and apply it now, and for all time, to the administration of the government. In no other way, sir, is it possible to preserve this government. It will bear no other treatment, more than man’s natural body can bear strychine or arsenic. Sir, if the constitution and union are to be used merely as instruments for propagating and making perpetual human bondage, they cannot be preserved—neither is it desirable that they should. They were designed by their framers, to be instruments of perpetual good; and to change them from this their original design, into instruments of ceaseless evil, is in itself to destroy them; and the obligation to obey them ceases, when their nature is changed by usurpation or corruption. I do not say these things by way of menace, but as simple, fundamental truths, as necessary in the science of government, as are axioms in mathematics. But, sir, the preservation of this union and constitution, does not lie in force, but in the preparation of the hearts of the people. There is no better preparation for these, than a revival of that sentiment of veneration and affection for our fathers, which in individuals, is the highest possible development of a great character. Patriotism itself, that first duty of the citizen, may be said to consist in the sum of our individual affections and veneration for our fathers. That sum of individual sentiments, constitutes the national sentiment of patriotism. To that spirit I appeal for the adjustment of all our internal troubles, both political and sectional. In that spirit, I shall endeavor to retrace our steps to the period when our constitution and union were brought into existence, and to persuade my fellow members to accompany me in the sanie spirit, to a short communing with the mighty dead. In that spirit alone, can we calm the agitated waters of political strife, either in this Hall or among our constituents. To this end, I shall exhibit the fruits of their
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