was established, and we are vainly to appeal to it for protection, then, sir, conscious of the rectitude of our course, the justice of our cause, self-reliant, yet humbly, confidingly trusting in the arm that guided and protected our fathers, we look beyond the confines of the Union for the maintenance of our rights. A habitual reverence and cherished affection for the government will bind us to it longer than our interests would suggest or require; but he is a poor student of the world's history who does not understand that communities at last must yield to the dictates of their interests. That the affection, the mutual desire for the mutual good which existed among our fathers may be weakened in succeeding generations by the denial of right and hostile demonstration, until the equality guaranteed but not secured within the Union may be sought for without it, must be evident to even a careless observer of our race. It is time to be up and doing. There is yet time to remove the causes of dissension and alienation which are now distracting and have for years past divided the country.

If the senator correctly described me as having in a former period against my own preferences and opinions acquiesced in the decision of my party; if when I had youth, when physical vigor gave promise of many days and the future was painted in the colors of hope, I could thus surrender my own convictions, my own prejudices, and co-operate with my political friends, according to their views as to the best method of promoting the public good; now, when the years of my future cannot be many, and experience has sobered the hopeful tints of youth's gilding; when approaching the evening of life, the shadows are reversed and the mind turns retrospectively, it is not to be supposed that I would abandon lightly or idly put on trial the party to which I have steadily adhered. It

is rather to be assumed that conservatism which belongs to the timidity or caution of increasing years would lead me to cling to; to be supported by rather than to cast off the organization with which I have been so long connected. If I am driven to consider the necessity of separating myself from those old and dear relations, of discarding the accustomed support, under circumstances such as I have described, might not my friends who differ from me pause and inquire whether there is not something involved in it which calls for their careful revision?

I desire no divided flag for the Democratic party, seek not to depreciate the power of the senator or take from him anything of that confidence he feels in the large army which follows his standard. I prefer that his banner should lie in its silken folds to feed the moth; but if it unrestrainedly rustles impatient to be unfurled, we who have not invited the conflict shrink not from the trial; we will plant our flag on every hill and plain; it shall overlook the Atlantic and welcome the sun as he rises from its dancing waters; it shall wave its adieu as he sinks to repose in the quiet Pacific.

Our principles are national; they belong to every State of the Union; and though elections may be lost by their assertion, they constitute the only foundation on which we can maintain power on which we can again rise to the dignity the Democracy once possessed. Does not the senator from Illinois see in the sectional character of the vote he received that his opinions are not acceptable to every portion of the country? Is not the fact that the resolutions adopted by seventeen States on which the greatest reliance must be placed for Democratic support are in opposition to the dogma to which he still clings, a warning that if he persists and succeeds in forcing his theory upon the Democratic party its days are

numbered? We ask only for the constitution. We ask of the Democracy only from time to time to declare as current exigencies may indicate what the constitution was intended to secure and provide. Our flag bears no new device.

Upon its

folds our principles are written in living light; all proclaiming the constitutional Union, justice, equality, and fraternity of our ocean-bound domain for a limitless future.

CHASE

ALMON PORTLAND CHASE, an American statesman and jurist of

He subsequently studied

and received his education at Dartmouth College. law with William Wirt, and was admitted to the bar in 1829, and the next year began practice at Cincinnati. An edition by him of the statutes of Ohio brought him into notice soon after, and in 1834 he was appointed solicitor for the United States Bank in Cincinnati. He engaged in the anti-slavery movement in 1837 as counsel for a fugitive slave, and in 1842 defended Van Zandt, the original of Van Tromp in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," who was indicted for aiding slaves to escape. The case was carried up to the supreme court of the United States and there argued by Seward and Chase in 1848. His connection with this famous case brought Chase into great prominence as an anti-slavery champion, and in 1849 he was elected to the United States Senate. In 1855 he was chosen governor of Ohio and re-elected to that office in 1857. In 1861 he entered Lincoln's cabinet as secretary of state and continued to occupy that responsible position until appointed chief justice of the United States in 1864. As chief justice he presided at the impeachment trial of President Johnson. He died in New York city, May 7, 1873. Chase was a man of unusual abilities in more than one direction, and during the Civil War period was of the utmost service to the government. His legal opinions are noted for the excellence of their literary style.

SPEECH ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL

DELIVERED IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, FEBRUARY 3, 1854

[The bill for the organization of the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas being under consideration, Mr. Chase submitted the following amendment: "Strike out from section 14 the words was superseded by the principles of the legislation of 1850, commonly called the compromise measures, and; so that the clause will read: 'That the constitution and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Nebraska as elsewere within the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which is hereby declared inoperative,'" and proceeded to say:]

MR

R. PRESIDENT,-I had occasion a few days ago to expose the utter groundlessness of the personal charges made by the senator from Illinois [Mr. Douglas] against myself and the other signers of the Independent Democratic Appeal. I now move to strike from this

bill a statement which I will to-day demonstrate to be without any foundation in fact or history. I intend afterward to move to strike out the whole clause annulling the Missouri prohibition.

I enter into this debate, Mr. President, in no spirit of personal unkindness. The issue is too grave and too momentous for the indulgence of such feelings. I see the great question before me and that question only.

Sir, these crowded galleries, these thronged lobbies, this full attendance of the Senate, prove the deep, transcendent interest of the theme.

A few days only have elapsed since the Congress of the United States assembled in this Capitol. Then no agitation seemed to disturb the political elements. Two of the great political parties of the country in their national conventions had announced that slavery agitation was at an end, and that henceforth that subject was not to be discussed in Congress or out of Congress. The President in his annual message had referred to this state of opinion and had declared his fixed purpose to maintain, as far as any responsibility attached to him, the quiet of the country. Let me read a brief extract from that message:

"It is no part of my purpose to give prominence to any subject which may properly be regarded as set at rest by the deliberate judgment of the people. But while the present is bright with promise, and the future full of demand and inducement for the exercise of active intelligence, the past can never be without useful lessons of admonition and instruction. If its dangers serve not as beacons, they will evidently fail to fulfil the object of a wise design.

"When the grave shall have closed over all those who are now endeavoring to meet the obligations of duty, the year 1850 will be recurred to as a period filled with anxious apprehension. A successful war had just terminated. Peace