Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 11.djvu/824

 780 APPENDIX. PROCLAMATION. N0. 26. to the position you have now assumed, and forward to the consequences it will produce. Something more is necessary. Contemplate the_cond1tion of that country of which you still form an important part l- onsider its Governmentuniting in one bond of common interest and general protection so mancyldifferent Matesgiving to all their inhabitants the proud title of American _ _Lups—protecting their commerce—seeuring their literature and their 8i1‘hS···f8:C1llt3.tlIlg therr intercommunicabion—defending their frontiers—-and making their name respected un the remotest parts of the earth! Consider the extent of its territory, its increasing and happy population, its advance in arts, which render life arrreeable, and the sciences which elevate the mind! See education spreading the lights of religion, humanity, and general information into every cottave in this wide extent of our Territories and States! Behold it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find a, refuge and support! Look on this picture of happiness and honor, and say, we, zoo, are citizens of America! Carolina is one of these proud States—her arms have defended, her best blood has cemented this happy Union ! And then add, if you can, without horror and remorse, this happy Union we will dissolve——this picture of peace and prosperity we will defaoc-—this free intercourse we will interrupt-these fertile Eelds we will deluge with blood—the protection of that glorious Ha we renounce——1:he very name of Americans we discard. And for what, mistzien men! for what do you throw away these inestimable blessings ? for what would you exchange your share in the advantages and honor of the Union ? —For tho dream of a se arate independence-——a dream interrupted by bloody conflicts with your ueighlluors, and a vile dependence on a foreign power. If your leaders could succeed in establishing a separation, what would be your situation ? Are you united at ho11ie— are you free from the apprehension of civil discord, with all its fearful consequences? Do our neighboring republics, every day suffering some new revolution, or eontending with some new insurrection——do they excite your envy ? But the dictates of a high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you cannot succeed. The laws of the United States must be executed. I have no discretionary power on the subject-my duty is emphatically pronounced in the Constitution. Those who told you that you might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you—they could not have been deceived themselves. They know that a forcible op osition could alone prevent the execution of the laws, and they know that such opposition mustbe repelled. Their object is disunion ; but be not deceived by names: disuniou, by armed force, is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt ? If you are, on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful consequenoes—on their heads be the dishonor, but on yours may fall the punishment-on your unhappy State will inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict you force upon the Government of your country. It cannot acccde to the mad project of disunion, of which you would be the first viei;ims—its First Magistrate cannot, if he would, avoid the performance of his duty-the consequence must be fearful for you, distressing to your fellow citizens here, and to the friends of good government throughout the world. Its enemies have beheld our prosperity with a vexation they could not c0nceal——it was a. standing refuta.— tion of their slavish doctrines, and they will point to our discord with the triumph of malignant joy. It is yet in your power to disappoint them. There is yet time to show that the descendants of the Pinckneys,the Sumptexs, the Rut- Iedges, and of the thousand other names which adorn the pages of your revolutionary histor, will not abandon that Union, to support which so many of them fouvht, and bled and died. Ibadjure you, as you honor their memory—as you love the cause of freedom, to which they dedicated their lives-—as you prize the peace of your country, the lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, to retrace your steps. Snatch from the archives of your State, the disorganizing edict of its Convention—bid its members to wassemble, and promulgate the decided expressions of your will to remain in the path which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity and honor. Tell them that, com d to disunion, all other evils are light, because that brings with it an accumulstlihn of all—<1eclare that you will never take the field unless the stanspangled banner of your country shall float over you—that you will not be stigmafized when dead, and dishonored and scorned while you live, as the authors of the first attack on the Constitution of your country l-Its destroyers you cannot be. You may disturb its peace—you may interrupt the course of its pr0sperity——you may cloud its reputation for stability—but its tranquillityawill be restored, its prosperity will return, and the stain upon its national c racter will be transferred, and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who caused the disorder.