"What confidence, then, could we reasonably feel that if we committed ourselves to the policy it proposed, our constituents would reap the fruits of the promise held out; and on what ground could we, as fair men, approach them and challenge their support?
"The right to hold Slaves, is a right appertaining to all the States of this Union. They have the right to cherish or abolish the Institution, as their tastes or their interests may prompt, and no one is authorized to question the right or limit the enjoyment. And no one has more clearly affirmed that right than you have. Your Inaugural Address does you great honor in this respect, and inspired the Country with confidence in your fairness and respect for the Law. Our States are in the enjoyment of that right.
"We do not feel called on to defend the Institution or to affirm it is one which ought to be cherished; perhaps, if we were to make the attempt, we might find that we differ even among ourselves. It is enough for our purpose to know that it is a right; and, so knowing, we did not see why we should now be expected to yield it.
"We had contributed our full share to relieve the Country at this terrible crisis; we had done as much as had been required of others in like circumstances; and we did not see why sacrifices should be expected of us from which others, no more loyal, were exempt. Nor could we see what good the Nation would derive from it.
"Such a sacrifice submitted to by us would not have strengthened the arm of this Government or weakened that of the Enemy. It was not necessary as a pledge of our Loyalty, for that had been manifested beyond a reasonable doubt, in every form, and at every place possible. There was not the remotest probability that the States we represent would join in the Rebellion, nor is there now, or of their electing to go with the Southern Section in the event of a recognition of the Independence of any part of the disaffected region.
"Our States are fixed unalterably in their resolution to adhere to and support the Union. They see no safety for themselves, and no hope for Constitutional Liberty, but by its preservation. They will, under no circumstances, consent to its dissolution; and we do them no more than justice when we assure you that, while the War is conducted to prevent that deplorable catastrophe, they will sustain it as long as they can muster a man, or command a dollar.
"Nor will they ever consent, in any event, to unite with the Southern Confederacy. The bitter fruits of the peculiar doctrines of that region will forever prevent them from placing their security and happiness in the custody of an association which has incorporated in its Organic Law the seeds of its own destruction.
"We cannot admit, Mr. President, that if we had voted for the Resolution in the Emancipation Message of March last, the War would now be substantially ended. We are unable to see how our action in this particular has given, or could give, encouragement to the Rebellion. The Resolution has passed; and if there be virtue in it, it will be quite as efficacious as if we had voted for it.
"We have no power to bind our States in this respect by our votes here; and, whether we had voted the one way or the other, they are in the same condition of freedom to accept or reject its provisions.
"No, Sir, the War has not been prolonged or hindered by our action on this or any other measure. We must look for other causes for that lamented fact. We think there is not much difficulty, not much uncertainty, in pointing out others far more probable and potent in their agencies to that end.