which God may give me. In that case, what men may say of me, what proscription they may visit me with, what enmity they may exhibit, what denunciations they may hurl, are all matters of the most profound indifference to me. I will speak and act for my COUNTRY, as duty demands, with no more consciousness of those things, than the dead have of the storms that oversweep their graves.

Thus far, fellow-citizens, I have confined my remarks to the national aspects of our affairs. I should deem my obligations unfulfilled, were I to omit a distinct reference to the position and policy of Missouri in the present crisis. We belong to a State which, in the elements of material greatness, takes a front rank in our country. Some of us have lived here many years, some all their lives, and all of us are attached to our home. Through the criminal machinations of a traitorous Governor and Legislature, now happily deposed from power by the people,-Missouri became a battle-field. She has been wasted by the tread of war, till over a large part of her surface devastation and misery prevail. Thousands of her people have endured untold sufferings, and her interests, in every department, have been grievously shattered. The impoverishment which inevitably follows civil war, has fallen crushingly upon her citizens. Her wealth is probably not one-half now, what it was considered to be eighteen months ago. In every light her condition is deplorable; and it was made so by the insane attempt, in the face of a clear impossibility, to precipitate her into the whirlpool of Southern treason.

To restore her to her former high estate must be the work of years, and be done by her own people. It is, therefore, our manifest duty to bring ourselves, with all our powers, to the earnest consideration of what will best achieve her restoration, and most conduce to the welfare, present and future, of ourselves and our children. On this subject, coming so directly home to every heart, I have a few sincere and plain words to leave with you.

In the first place, every man, woman, and child within our borders, might as well at once dismiss all thought of Missouri's ever becoming a part of the "Southern Confederacy," even if that death-stricken abortion should be resuscitated, and exist till the end of time. She has no interest in common with them, which should, or ever will, lead her "to share the common danger of the South." She is, in latitude, climate, and productions, a northern State, and were she this moment severed from the northern and united with the southern portion of the country, the severance would be so utterly unnatural, so completely ruinous to her, that her people would, by tens of thousands, desert her territory, and seek better homes within the Union; and their places would never be filled from the South. But besides this, Missouri lies directly in the path between the Atlantic and Pacific sections of the Union; and the national government would wage endless war, and ought to do so, rather than suffer her to become the possession of any foreign power. Her destiny, therefore, is fixed, finally and irrevocably, IN THE UNION.

Such being the case, how shall we best and soonest restore her, in the Union, to sound and stable prosperity? In my opinion, there is no serious difficulty in answering this question. As it has, for many years, been generally conceded by cool-headed and sagacious men, slaveholders among us, that Slavery is not essential to our prosperity, and, indeed, has but a limited field here in which it is profitable as a system of labor; as it is known to retard immigration to our State; as it is, beyond doubt, the origin and life of this horrible rebellion; as it is undeniably true, that, but for its existence among us, we should have been almost wholly exempt from the immediate presence of this war within our boundaries; and as, judging from the past and the present, it may be expected to be a fruitful source of trouble in the future; it appears to me, in the exercise of the best judgment I possess, that, to provide, in some well-considered, equitable, and gradual way, for its eventual removal from our soil, would do more than all other things, to lift Missouri speedily out of her present unhappy condition, and start her forward in a fresh and higher career of prosperity. As to when this subject should be brought before the people for practical discussion, or how the result should be effected, or when the process should begin, or when the day of final extinction should be fixed, I have nothing now to say. To express my opinion upon the main question, is enough for the present. This, however, should be said that whenever presented to the popular mind, no fanatical, radical, or impetuous views should have influence; for it

is a subject which will tax the best and purest minds of our State to their utmost, to deal with it in wisdom and justice. Such views certainly have no influence upon me. I consider the question with reference solely to our interest as a people; having no opinions concerning it which I would force upon others, nor any intolerance toward those who may differ from me. Our fortunes are closely linked together, and, humanly speaking, our destiny must be carved out by ourselves. We should, therefore, in a fraternal spirit, consider what will bring the greatest amount of permanent benefit to all. For my part, I will be faithful in the calm pursuit of what may at any time seem to me for the highest good of our whole State; and, appealing to Heaven for the sincerity and purity of my motives, will cheerfully commit the issue to the hands of an all-wise and gracious PROVIDENCE.

THE REBELLION:

ITS CHARACTER, MOTIVE, AND AIM.*

With nations, as with individuals, there are turningpoints, at which their destiny hangs upon present loyalty to honor, truth, and duty, and their prosperity, perhaps their existence, depends upon the courage and fidelity of a single hour. In all the history of the world there can probably be found no more eminent illustration of this truth, than that which, eightysix years ago, made the FOURTH OF JULY memorable for all after time. An infant NATION was then struggling into existence, and the great problem was, whether it should exist, or be strangled in its cradle. That question, so far as involved in the exercise of human will and human efforts, rested with fifty-six men, selected from three millions constituting the nation, and charged with the most momentous interests of humanity, in their own day and in the ages that were to come. Had they been faithless to their high trust, or too feeble in heart and hand for the new and perilous exigency, the infant nation would have been smothered at its birth, and you and I might this day have

* An Oration delivered at Washington, Missouri, July 4, 1862.