It was marvellous to see how this untutored man, by
mere self-discipline and the chastening of his own spirit, had outgrown
all meretricious arts, and found his own way to the grandeur and strength
of absolute simplicity.
He spoke upon the theme which he had mastered so thoroughly. He
demonstrated by copious historical proofs and masterly logic that the
fathers who created the Constitution in order to form a more perfect
union, to establish justice, and to secure the blessings of liberty to
themselves and their posterity, intended to empower the Federal
Government to exclude slavery from the Territories. In the kindliest
spirit he protested against the avowed threat of the Southern States to
destroy the Union if, in order to secure freedom in those vast regions
out of which future States were to be carved, a Republican President were
elected. He closed with an appeal to his audience, spoken with all the
fire of his aroused and kindling conscience, with a full outpouring of
his love of justice and liberty, to maintain their political purpose on
that lofty and unassailable issue of right and wrong which alone could
justify it, and not to be intimidated from their high resolve and sacred
duty by any threats of destruction to the government or of ruin to
themselves.
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