"It can not be that a Government thus founded and administered can fail, without the hazard of bringing reproach, either upon the wisdom of our fathers, or upon the intelligence, patriotism, and virtue of their descendants. It is not my purpose to indicate the course which this body will probably pursue, or the measures it may be proper to adopt. The opinions of today may all be changed to-morrow. Events are thronging upon us, and we must deal with them as they present themselves.
"Gentlemen, there is a flag which for nearly a century has been borne in triumph through the battle and the breeze, and which now floats over this capitol, on which there is a star representing this ancient Commonwealth, and my earnest prayer, in which I know every member of this body will cordially unite, is that it may remain there forever, provided always that its lustre is untarnished. We demand for our own citizens perfect equality of rights with those of the empire States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, but we ask for nothing that we will not cheerfully concede to those of Delaware and Rhode Island.
"The amount of responsibility which rests upon this body can not be exaggerated. When my constituents asked me if I would consent to serve them here if elected, I answered in the affirmative, but I did so with fear and trembling. The people of Virginia have, it is true, reserved to themselves, in a certain contingency, the right to review our action, but still the measures which we adopt may be fraught with good or evil to the whole country.
"Is it too much to hope that we, and others who are engaged in the work of peace and conciliation, may so solve the problems which now perplex us, as to win back our sisters of the South, who, for what they deem sufficient cause, have wandered from their old orbits? May we not expect that our old sister, Massachusetts, will retrace her steps? Will she not follow the noble example of Rhode Island, the little State with a heart large enough for a whole continent? Will she not, when she remembers who it was who first drew his sword from the scabbard on her own soil at Cambridge, and never finally returned it, until her liberty and independence were achieved, and whence he came, repeal her obnoxious laws, which many of her wisest and best citizens regard as a stain upon her legislative records?