Lay aside all rancor, all bitter sectional feeling, and to make your places in the ranks of those who will bring about a consummation devoutly to be wished—a reunited country.

Tradition usually rests upon something which men did know; history is often the manufacture of the mere liar.

God forbid that the day should ever come when to be true to my constituents is to be hostile to the Union.

The troops of other states have their reputation to gain, the sons of the Alamo have theirs to maintain.

The principle for which we contend is bound to reassert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.

Sir, it is true that republics have often been cradled in war, but more often they have met with a grave in that cradle. Peace is the interest, the policy, the nature of a popular Government. War may bring benefits to a few, but privation and loss are the lot of the many. An appeal to arms should be the last resort, and only by national rights or national honor can it be justified.

If slavery be a sin, it is not yours. It does not rest on your action for its origin, on your consent for its existence. It is a common law right to property in the service of man; its origin was Divine decree.