Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/30

THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS to the recorded opinion and acts of public as- semblies, to the declaration and acknowledg- ments, since made, of the executive and Legisla- ture of Massachusetts herself. As soon as the public mind was sufficiently prepared for the measure, the celebrated Hart- ford Convention was got up; not as the act of a few unauthorized individuals, but by author- ity of the Legislature of Massachusetts ; and, as has been shown by the able historian of that convention, in accordance with the views and wishes of the party of which it was the organ. Now, sir, I do not desire to call in question the motives of the gentlemen who composed that assembly — I knew many of them to be in pri- vate life accomplished and honorable men, and I doubt not there were some among them who did not perceive the dangerous tendency of their proceedings. I will even go further and «ay that if the authors of the Hartford Con- vention believed that ** gross, deliberate, and palpable violations of the Constitution" had taken place, utterly destructive of their rights and interests, I should be the last man to deny their rights to resort to any constitutional meas- ures for redress. But, sir, in any view of the case, the time when, and the circumstances un- der which that convention assembled, as well as the measures recommended, render their con- duct, in my opinion, wholly indefensible. Who, then, Mr. President, are the true friends of the Union? Those who would confine the 20