James Blaine: “No party in the United States ever presented a more brilliant array of talent than the Whigs.”

The right of the General Government to preserve itself in its whole constitutional vigor by repelling a direct and positive aggression upon its property or its officers cannot be denied.

Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply making war upon them.

But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.

You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.