Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/262

THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS mighty Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail, by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people. By the frame of the government under which we live, the same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their vir- tue and vigilance, no administration, by any ex- treme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years. My countr3rmen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this whole subject. Nothing valu- able can be lost by taking time. If there be an •object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatis- fied hold the right side in this dispute there is still no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken 252