Again the Senator's hand was lifted high in command for silence and
again he faced Seward and his Northern colleagues with figure tense,
erect.
"When you repudiate these principles, and when you deny to us the right
to withdraw from a Government which, thus perverted, threatens to
destroy our rights, we but tread the path of our fathers when we
proclaim our independence and take the hazard!"
Again a cheer and shout which the Vice-President's gavel could not
quell. When the murmur at last died away the speaker's voice had dropped
to low appealing tenderness.
"We do this, Senators, not in hostility to others, not to injure any
section of our common country, not for our own pecuniary benefit, but
from the high and solemn motive of defending and protecting the rights
we inherited, which we will transmit unshorn to our children. We seek
outside the Union that peace, with dignity and honor, which we can no
longer find within.
"I trust I find myself a type of the general feeling of my constituents
towards yours. I am sure I feel no hostility toward you, Senators from
the North--"
He paused and swept the Northern tiers with a look of tender appeal.
"I am sure there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there may
have been between us, to whom I can not now say in the presence of my
God, I wish you well!"
Seward turned his head from the speaker, his eyes dimmed--the scheming
diplomat and unscrupulous politician lost in the heart of the man for
the moment.
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