READILY and, I trust, feelingly acknowledge the duty incumbent on us all . . . to provide for those who, in the mysterious order of Providence, are subject to want and to disease of body or mind; but I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for making the Federal Government the great almoner of public charity throughout the United States . . . .

I never justify, sustain, or in any way or to any extent uphold this cruel, heartless, aimless unnecessary war.

I cannot find any authority in the Constitution for public charity.

In expressing briefly my views upon an important subject which has recently agitated the nation..., I fervently hope that the question is at rest and that no sectional or ambitious or fanatical excitement may again threaten the durability of our institutions.

The dangers of a concentration of all power in the general government of a confederacy so vast as ours are too obvious to be disregarded.

It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble, acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence.

You have summoned me in my weakness. You must sustain me in your strength.