No question equal in magnitude, unless it be that of Slavery, has arisen since the days of Washington.

Meanwhile to my mind there is something better than belligerent intervention and acts of war with the menace of absorption at untold cost of treasure.

It is a sincere and humane effort on our part, in the spirit of peace, to reconcile Hayti and Dominica, and to establish tranquillity throughout the island.

Let this be attempted, and our Republic will become an example worthy of its name and of the civilization which it represents, while Republican Institutions have new glory.

He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city; and so the President, ruling his spirit in subjection to the humane principles of International Law and the Constitution of his country, will be greater than if he had taken…

All this was trivial enough; but numerous appeals to me from opposite parts of the country show that good people have been diverted by these allegations from the question of principle involved.

I do this with unspeakable reluctance, but in the discharge of a public duty where the claims of patriotism are above even those of self-defence.

The Senate and the country have an interest in knowing the truth of this matter, and so also has the Republican party, which cannot be indifferent to pretensions in its name; nor will anything but the completest frankness be proper for the…

During this last session, I have opposed the Presidential policy on an important question,--but always without one word touching motives, or one suggestion of corruption on his part, although I never doubted that there were actors in the…

To those who know the motives of my life it is superfluous for me to add that I sought simply the good of my country and Humanity, including especially the good of the African race, to which our country owes so much.

I hand it over to the most careful scrutiny, knowing that the President can take no just exception to it, unless he insists upon limiting proper debate, and boldly denies the right of a Senator to express himself freely on great acts of…

Nor will any Republican Senator admit that the President can impose his own sole will upon the Republican party.

Our party is in itself a Republic with universal suffrage, and until a measure is adopted by the party no Republican President can make it a party test.

But,” said I, “you should resign rather than do this thing.” This I could not refrain from remarking, on discovery, from dispatches in the State Department, that the usurper Baez was maintained in power by our Navy.

This plain act of wrong required instant redress; but the Secretary astonished me again by his insensibility to my appeal for justice.

I assured the Secretary firmly and simply, that, seeing the latter as I did with all its surroundings, my duty was plain, and that I must continue to oppose it so long as it appeared to me wrong.

The offer of the Secretary was in no respect a compliment or kindness, but in the strict line of his endeavor to silence my opposition to the San Domingo scheme, as is too apparent from the facts, while it was plain, positive, and…

Men are apt to attribute the causes of their own failures or their own misfortunes to others than themselves, and to claim association or seek a partnership with real or imaginary greatness with which to divide their sorrows or their…

The eulogy of the President here is at least singular, when it is considered that every dispatch of the Secretary of State is by order of the President; but it is evident that the writer of this dispatch had made up his mind to set all…

I have lived in vain, if such an attempt on me can fail to rebound on its author.

I replied, that, should the Secretary come to my house, he would be received as an old friend, and that at any time I should be at his service for consultation on public business, but that I could not conceal my deep sense of personal…

Whatever one signs he makes his own; and the Secretary, when he signed this document, adopted a libel upon his friend, and when he communicated it to the Senate he published the libel.

Like Jean Paul in German literature, his just title will be “The Only One.” For years I have known Secretaries of State and often differed from them, but never before did I receive from one anything but kindness.

Never before did a Secretary of State sign a document libelling an associate in the public service, and publish it to the world.

As nothing like this state-paper can be shown in the history of our Government, so also nothing like it can be shown in the history of other Governments.