"the south views the matter in the spirit of patrick henry. ‘the object is now, indeed, small, but the shadow is large enough to darken all this fair land.' they can have not faith in men who profess what they think a great moral principle, and deny that they intend to act upon it. it was the principle of taxation without representation that the colonies resisted, and it is the principle of the ‘irrepressible conflict,' based avowedly on ‘higher law' that the south resists. she is now in the position of the colonies eighty-four years ago, and is adopting the same measures that they prompt retreat from this dangerous agitation within the shadow of the constitution, is the only means of realizing the rich fortune, which will be the reward only of harmony, good faith, and loyalty to the constitution."