James Blaine: “Why, sir, her political power is wielded by rebel hands.”

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.

If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond that of merely protecting the General…

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.

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