them as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which

they are now connected.

"If this view of the subject be as 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 Government in the exercise of its proper constitutional functions."

Strange as it must now seem, this assertion of the radical impotence of the Government, this avowal of a fixed purpose to 'let the Union slide,' on the part of the President and his legal adviser, were received in Congress with general and concerted taciturnity on the part of the upholders, and with a bounteous display of indignation on that of the banded as

6

no fear, and be backed by a competent force. The President could have found a thousand qualified persons to take either position, had he chosen. The fact that the insurgents were locally formidable-even omnipotent -only hightened the imperative necessity of dealing with them promptly and sternly. And, if jurors could not there be found to render verdicts according to law, then the culprits should be removed to some region where treason, at the worst, was not universal. But The slothful man says, There is a lion in the way;' and he who has determined not to do his duty, will never lack excuses for repudiating it. Mr. Black closed his disorganizing sailants, of the National life. Mr. A. opinion as follows: R. Boteler, of Virginia, moved a reference of so much of the Message as related to our National perils to a Select Committee of one from each State; which in due time prevailed, and a very fair Committee was appointed-Thomas Corwin, of Ohio, Chairman; with a large preponderance of the more moderate 'Republicans' and pro-Slavery men in its composition. Mr. Speaker Pennington, who framed the Committee, was strongly inclined to 'conciliation,' if that could be effected on terms not disgraceful to the North; and at least six of the sixteen Republicans placed on the Committee desired and hoped that an adjustment might yet be achieved. No member of extreme anti-Slavery views was associated with them.

"If it be true that war cannot be declared,

nor a system of general hostilities carried on, by the Central Government against a State, then it seems to follow that an at

tempt to do so would be ipso facto an expulsion of such State from the Union. Being treated as an alien and an enemy, she would be compelled to act accordingly. And, if Congress shall break up the present Union by unconstitutionally putting strife, and enmity, and armed hostility, between different sections of the country, instead of the domestic tranquillity' which the Constitution was meant to insure, will not all the States be absolved from their Federal obligations? Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?

"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, can

not be denied. But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of State Governments, or to prevent a threatened violation of the Constitution, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme. The States are colleagues of one another; and, if some of them should conquer the rest and hold

6 From the Potomac district next above Washington; originally a 'Whig'; then American'; elected to this Congress and supported for

But it was soon evident that no 'concession' or 'conciliation' was desired by a large portion of the pro

Speaker as 'Union'; now, zealous for 'concession' and 'peace'; an open traitor from the day of Virginia's secession.

CLINGMAN REPELS CONCILIATION.'

Slavery members. Mr. Clingman of N. C.-who came into Congress as a 'Whig' of very moderate views regarding Slavery, but had finally turned Democrat under the impulse of zeal for 'Southern Rights,' and been thereupon promoted from the House to the Senate, and who had changed from Douglas to Breckinridge toward the end of the Presidential canvass just closed-assailed the Message, so soon as it had been read, and broadly intimated that no concession would satisfy the South. The repeal of all 'Personal Liberty bills,' etc., he observed, "would not be satisfactory to the State from which I come." He protested against "waiting for an overt act" before seceding, and against further parley or negotiation between the Free and the Slave States. Said he:

"They want to get up a free debate, as the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward] expressed it, in one of his speeches. But a Senator from Texas told me the other day that a great many of these free debaters were hanging from the trees of that country [Texas]. I have no doubt they would run off a great many slaves from the Border States, so as to make them Free States; and then, Sir, when the overt act was struck, we should have a hard struggle. I say, therefore, that our policy is not to let this thing continue. That, I think, is the opinion of North Carolina. I think the party for immediate secession is gaining ground rapidly. It is idle for men to shut their eyes to consequences like this, if anything can be done to avert the evil, while we have power to

do it."

Messrs. Albert G. Brown, of Mississippi, Louis T. Wigfall, of Texas, and Alfred Iverson, of Georgia, spoke in a similar strain, but even more plainly. Said Mr. Iverson :

"Gentlemen speak of concession-of the repeal of the Personal Liberty bills. Repeal them all to-morrow, and you cannot stop

this revolution. It is not the Liberty laws

373

They do not dread these overt acts; for, without the power of the Federal Government, by force, under Republican rule, their institution would not last ten years; and Union, and he believed this. Before the 4th they know it. They intend to go out of this of March, five States will have declared their independence, and he was satisfied that three action of their people can be had. Arkansas will call her Convention, and Louisiana will follow. And, though there is a clog in the

other States would follow as soon as the

way in the 'lone star' of Texas, in the person of her Governor, who will not consent to call the Legislature, yet the public sentimay be overridden; and, if he will not yield ment is so strong that even her Governor to that public sentiment, some Texan Brutus may arise to rid his country of this old, hoary-headed traitor. [Great sensation.] There has been a good deal of vaporing and threatening; but they came from the last Men talk about their eighteen millions; but men who would carry out their threats. we hear a few days afterward of these same tremble like a sheep-stelling dog. There men being switched in the face, and they will be no war. The North, governed by such far-seeing statesmen as the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward], will see the futility of this. In less than twelve months, a Southern Confederacy will be formed; and it will be the most successful Government on earth. The Southern States, thus banded together, will be able to resist any force in We do not expect war; but we will be prepared for it; and we are not a feeble race of Mexicans either."

the world.

Messrs. Crittenden, of Kentucky, and Saulsbury, of Delaware, both spoke pleadingly for 'conciliation' and the Union, but to deaf ears.

A caucus of Southern members was held on Saturday evening, December 8th; but it only served to develop more clearly the broad line of demarkation between the Unionists and the Disunionists. Messrs. Albert G. Brown, of Mississippi, and John Slidell, of Louisiana, were among the most fierce for Secession. Messrs. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, and James M. Mason, of Virginia, favored further efforts, or, at least, further waiting, for concilia

but the mob law which the South fears. tion.

Messrs. Crittenden, Bayard,

and several other Border-State' Senators, more earnestly urged this

course.

to 9, one proposed by Mr. Morrill, of Vermont. The proposition adopted is in the following words:

That Committee adopted, Dec. 13th, a resolve moved by Col. Wm. McKee Dunn, of Indiana, and accepted by Monday, December 9th, being 'res- Mr. Albert Rust, of Arkansas, as a olution day' in the House, was signal-substitute for one previously offered ized by the broaching of several new by himself-after voting down, 22 devices for saving the Union. Mr. John Sherman, of Ohio, suggested a faithful observance, on all hands, of the requirements and compromises of the Constitution, with an immediate division of the territories into embryo States, with a view to their prompt admission into the Union. Mr. John Cochrane, of New York, revived the old scheme of dividing the territories between Free and Slave Labor on the line of 36° 30'. Mr. English, of Indiana, proposed substantially the same thing. Mr. Noell, of Missouri, proposed an abolition of the office of President of the United States, and a division of the Union into three districts, each to

elect one member of an 'Executive Council,' to which the functions of President should be intrusted. He suggested, moreover, a 'restoration of the equilibrium between the Free and Slave States,' by a division of

several of the latter into two or more States each. Mr. Thomas C. Hindman,” of Arkansas, proposed to so amend the Constitution as to protect slave property in the territories, etc., etc., and that any State which should pass an act impairing or defeating the operation of the Fugitive Slave law should thereupon be deprived of her right of representation in Congress. Mr. Charles H. Larrabee, of Wisconsin, proposed a Convention of the States. All these projects were referred to the Grand Select Committee aforesaid.

7 Since, a Rebel Brigadier.

"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Committee, the existing discontents among the Southern people, and the growing hostility among them to the Federal Government, are greatly to be regretted; and that, whether such discontents and hostility are without just cause or not, any reasonable, proper, and constitutional remedies, and additional and more specific and effectual guaranties of their peculiar rights and interests as recognized by the Constitution, necessary to preserve the peace of the country and the perpetuation of the Union, should be promptly and cheerfully granted."

Twenty-two votes were cast for this proposition, including those of all the members from Slave States who voted. Two (Messrs. Boyce, of South Carolina, and Hawkins, of Florida) were absent. Mr. Reuben Davis was presThe Nays ent, but did not vote. (eight) were all Republicans.

On motion of Mr. Garnett B.

8

Adrain (Douglas Democrat) of New
Jersey, the House, by 151 Yeas to 14
Nays:

"Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit of disobedience to the Constitution, wherever manifested; and that we earnestly recommend the repeal of all statutes by the State Legislatures in conflict with, and in violation of, that sacred instrument, and the laws of Congress passed in pursuance thereof."

Mr. Owen Lovejoy (Republican) of Illinois, hereupon proposed this counterpart to the foregoing:

"Whereas, The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, and ready and faithful obedience to it a duty of all good and law-abiding citizens: There

fore,

Resolved, That we deprecate the spirit

8 December 17th.

SENATOR WADE AGAINST CONCESSION.

On the same day, a resolve, by Mr. Lazarus W. Powell, of Kentucky, proposing a Committee of Thirteen on the absorbing topic, came up in at an end. The most solemn we have made the Senate, and Mr. Benjamin F. have been violated, and are no more. Since Wade, of Ohio, uttered some weighty I have had a seat in the Senate, one of conwords on the general subject. Hav-siderable antiquity was swept from our staing shown that the Government had

"Daniel E. Sickles of New York; Thomas B. Florence, of Pennsylvania.

10 John C. Breckinridge; chosen to take Mr. Crittenden's seat on the 4th of March, 1861.