A large concourse of citizens assembled at the depot at
Detroit on the 1st inst., to welcome home
Gen. Cass, the premier of the late administration.
In reply to the address of welcome, the veteran, who has probably held public office for the last time, replied as follows:
‘
"Sir--The kind reception which my fellow-citizens of
Detroit have given me, on this my return amongst them, has impressed me with profound emotions of gratitude.
The recollections and associations which press upon me render it impossible for me to do little more than acknowledge their kindness.
My political career is ended, and I am warned that in the course of nature my life approaches its termination.
I come back to the scene of my early labors and cares and exertions, endeared to me by many an interesting association to remain among you till, in the providence of God, I shall be called to meet that final change that sooner or later must come to all. A young adventurer in this great region of the
Northwest, it has proved to me, as to many others, not only a land of promise, but a land also of performance.
You have been pleased to refer in terms of commendation to the services I have been called upon to render to this section of our common country.
I have indeed seen it advance from a weak and exposed colonial condition to its present position, possessed of all the elements of human power and prosperity.
"I have but one regret to encounter in resuming my place among you, and that arises from the perilous crisis in which our country is involved.
You do me but justice in attributing to me an earnest desire for the preservation of this Union, and of the
Constitution, the great work of our fathers, and which has secured to their sons a greater measure of freedom and prosperity than any nation ever enjoyed before us. I can scarcely persuade myself that I am not oppressed by some fearful dream, when I reflect upon all that is passing in our country, and upon the position in which this great Republic is placed, suddenly struck from the summit of its prosperity, and with a future before us which no man can contemplate without the most serious alarm.
In all history there is nothing like it. With no external enemy to trouble us, with no internal oppression, with none of those visitations of pestilence or famine or other evils by which nations are often punished for their offences, we have recklessly put to hazard our inestimable blessings, and are entering that path of discord, and division, and border disputes, which, if there is any truth in history, must lead to most disastrous consequences.
I do not allude to this fearful subject in any partisan spirit.
I do not seek to investigate the causes which led to the present state of things.
"But I indulge in the hope that, before it is too late, there will be a determination through the whole country — a firm determination — to cultivate feelings of friendship and harmony, accompanied by a manifestation of a spirit of conciliation and compromise, of justice, indeed, which may lead to the hope that, if the work is earnestly and promptly undertaken, we may succeed, under
Providence, in re-establishing the integrity and the blessings of the
Constitution, with the patriotic co-operation of the whole American people."
’
