"Military officers, following these bad examples, have stepped beyond
the just limits of their authority in the same direction, until in
several instances you have felt the necessity of interfering to arrest
them. And even the passage of the Resolution to which you refer has
been ostentatiously proclaimed as the triumph of a principle which the
people of the Southern States regard as ruinous to them. The effect of
these measures was foretold, and may now be seen in the indurated state
of Southern feeling.
"To these causes, Mr. President, and not to our omission to vote for the
Resolution recommended by you, we solemnly believe we are to attribute
the terrible earnestness of those in arms against the Government, and
the continuance of the War. Nor do we (permit us to say, Mr. President,
with all respect to you) agree that the Institution of Slavery is 'the
lever of their power,' but we are of the opinion that 'the lever of
their power' is the apprehension that the powers of a common Government,
created for common and equal protection to the interests of all, will be
wielded against the Institutions of the Southern States.
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