Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/151

 ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS other principles than those upon which it was formed. All free governments are the creatures -;)f volition — a breath can make them and a breath can destroy them. This government is no ex- ception to the rule. And when once its spirit shall have departed, no power on earth can ever again infuse in it the Promethean spark of life and vitality. You might just as well attempt to raise the dead. Mr. Chairman, when I look to the causes which lie at the bottom of these differences of opinion between the North and the South, and out of which this agitation springs ; when I loot; at their character, extent, and radical nature — entering, as they necessarily do, into the very organization of society with us, I must confess that unpleasant apprehensions for the future permanent peace and quiet of the different States of this Union force themselves upon my mind. I am not, however, disposed to anticipate evil by indulging those apprehensions unless com- pelled to do so. It may be that we have the seeds of dissolution in our system which no skill can eradicate, just as we carry with us in our bodies the seeds of death which will certainly do their work at the allotted time. But because we are all conscious that we must die, it does not follow that we should hasten the event by an act oil suicide. We have the business, duties, and obligations of life to discharge. So with thi;? government. Because I may have serious ap^ prehensions of the workings of causes known 141