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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

no talent for the discussion of trifles. He aimed to get at the very core of the subject, and to dissect it to its minuetest fibre in search of what was sound, and to expose what was unsound, and thus ehminate the true from the false of any theory or proposition submitted to the analysis of his great mind.

Like all men of great ability, foresight and strong convictions, he not infrequently found himself in a hopeless minority, but that fact never for a moment daunted him nor deterred him for an instant from preach- ing the gospel of sound government. On such an occasion he once said :

Valiant in the security that numbers afTord, gen- tlemen freely boast of the majority anticipated for the favored resolutions. The purpose of this boasting was obvious to all; for one I freely acknowledge its power; but when such an appliance was used to force through a favored measure, we may be excused a suspicion of its justice and truth. If the intention is to deter me from the opposition which I contemplate, the result will show how fruitless of its end the attempt will be. Whilst I deeply regret my separation, on this occasion, from other members on this floor, and deplore the neces- sity for opposition to their wishes, my resolution has never faltered; the path of duty lies plainly before me; and I will pursue its way if I tread that path alone. I see in the resolutions what I deem vicious and against its vices I raise my voice. * * *

I know that I stand here with a small minority, and in making opposition to this measure, I go counter to public prejudices, and subject myself to animadversion and reproach. My arguments are misrepresented, my motives assailed, and every influence that party intolerance can command, is employed to my prejudice. However I may lament this condition, my purpose is unshaken.

I love this Union. I love its peace. I love its blessings and I but discharge a duty when I pro- claim its danger. My voice will be unheeded in this hall, it may be unheeded out of it, but if the doctrine contained in these resolutions be followed to its consequences, and the time come when the people of this State, upon the issues now presented shall choose between the blessings of our glorious Union and the horrors of a dissolution, believe me the sentiments I have given utterance to will then find a response.

These words were spoken in the house of delegates of Virginia on January ii, 1849, in opposing certain resolutions reported by the joint comrnittee on the W'ilmot Proviso and other kindred measures then under con- sideration. How prophetic they were of conditions as they existed in the constitu- tional convention of 1861. As early as 1842, in a notable address showing his profound and accurate knowledge of the constitu- tional history of our country, he pointed

out with the greatest clearness and force the dangers resulting from the constantly in- creasing powers of the Federal executive and proposed to the legislature of Virginia an amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarding the exercise of that power and limiting the president to a single term.

Whilst he was a strong Union man, he was ever a consistent and earnest advocate of the preservation to the several states of their sovereign powers and just preroga- tives. On all occasions he denied the right of the Federal government to interfere with the Southern institution of slavery. With irresistable logic he pointed out that it was originally forced upon \'irginia against her solemn protest, laws passed by her prohibit- ing it being vetoed by the king; that it was lirst practiced in the North, her citizens being the first slave traders, from which traffic they accummulated vast fortunes; that it was an institution existing and sanctioned by law at the time of the adoption of the Federal constitution, recognized by that in- strument and the laws passed pursuant thereto for generations thereafter and he demonstrated that as a social institution it was for the states alone in their sovereign capacity to deal with it as they thought fit.

Time and again during the days of the gathering storm which culminated in the Civil war, while earnestly advocating the preservation of the Union and solemnly pointing out, as subsequent events have shown, with inspired voice of prophecy, the evils and the results of the threatened con- flict, yet he sternly denied the right of the Federal governrnent to invade the territory of a single state or to coerce any of them in their undeniable right to secede, declaring that any attempt to coerce thein would be an act of aggression which would not be endured with honor and which should be re- sisted to the uttermost. And so in the se- cession convention of 1861. where he bat- tled so long and brilliantly in his efforts to keep Virginia in the Union, when Presi- dent Lincoln made his call for volunteers to coerce the seceding states and force them back into the LTnion, true to his principles and the fearlessness of his nature, he un- hesitantly accepted the gage of battle, voted for and signed the ordinance of seces- sion.