"that the people have a natural right to retain arms, to protect themselves when the Government betrays its trust"

   We can do little here to promote this great object, but our example is potential. Let us carry out the principle of Equal Legislation and of Universal Surrerage. Let us thus prove the dignity and beneficence of our mission among the Nations of  the Earth. But I am asked. Would you give the ballot to every man, learned or unlearned, bond or free?--Yes. I do not find this principle asserted in Magna Charta or in any Bill of Rights adopted by the Commons of England, or even the Declaration of American Independence, but I do find in all the Bills of Rights that the people have a natural right to retain arms, to protect themselves when the Government betrays its trust.--Ex-Governor Seward, "Gov. Seward on St. Patrick's Day", [Both the President and Vice-President of the United States in attendance.]

- New-York Daily Tribune, Wednesday, April 01, 1846. Vol. V. No. 304. Whole No. 1548. Pg. 2.

(SEWARD, William Henry, a Senator from New York; born in Florida, Orange County, N.Y., on May 16, 1801; after preparatory studies, graduated from Union College in 1820; studied law; admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Auburn, N.Y., 1823; member, State senate 1830-1834; unsuccessful Whig candidate for governor in 1834; Governor of New York 1838-1842; elected as a Whig to the United States Senate in 1849; reelected as a Republican in 1855 and served from March 4, 1849, to March 3, 1861; unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 1860; Secretary of State in the Cabinets of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson 1861-1869; while Secretary of State concluded the convention with Great Britain for the settlement of the Alabama claims and the treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.)