Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/23

HAYNE measure, and that it has done no good to the West. The South comes in, and in the most earnest manner represents to you that this meas- ure, which we are told "is of no value to the East or the West," is "utterly destructive of our interests. ' ' We repres^t to you that it has spread ruin and devastation through the land and prostrated our hopes in the dust. We sol- emnly declare that we believe the system to be wholly unconstitutional and a violation of the compact between the States and the Union ; and our brethren turn a deaf ear to our complaints, and refuse to relieve us from a system "which not enriches them, but makes us poor indeed." Good God! Mr. President, has it come to this? Do gentlemen hold the feelings and wishes of their brethren at so cheap a rate that they re- fuse to gratify them at so small a price? Do gentlemen value so lightly the peace and har- mony of the country that they will not yield a measure of this description to the affectionate entreaties and earnest remonstrances of their friends? Do gentlemen estimate the value of the Union at so low a price that they will not even make one effort to bind the States together with the cords of affection? And has it come to this? Is this the spirit in which this gov- ernment is to be administered? If so, let me tell gentlemen the seeds of dissolution are al- ready sown, and our children will reap the bit- ter fruit. What, sir, was the conduct of the South dur- 13