KILLINGER, QUARLES, AND WILSON'S SPEECHES. 31 Quarles' and Wilson's we are friendly, how could we do it after the | try looked down from his pedestal, he would Union is hopelessly dissolved? In conclu- plead trumpet-tongued for the maintenance sion, he earnestly appealed to the Republi- of the Union and Constitution. cans to give, by amendments to the Consti- Quarles, (Am.,) of Tentution, the rights and the safety to the South nessee, followed. He said which they say they are willing to secure, that no person sympathized and spoke in commendation of the Border less with disunion than himself. There was States and Crittenden propositions. How- no warrant for it in the Constitution. He ever, any plan of settlement would meet with believed, however, in the sacred right of rev his most hearty approbation. olution, maintaining that when a Government became oppressive it was a duty to overthrow it. He spoke of the generosity of the South, which had given to the North three-fourths of what had been acquired as Slave Territory. He advocated the restoration of the Missouri line, protecting Slavery south of it by constitutional amendment. This would restore peace as it did in a former time. He preferred Mr. Crittenden's plan, and believed if it were adopted, the Seceding States would return to the Union, and Tennessee remain firm. This would settle the Slavery question forever. At the evening session Killinger's speech. of the House, Friday, Killinger, (Rep.,) of Pennsylvania, delivered an able and considerate speech. He would fellowship with the Border States, and was prepared to meet them half way. It is no time for partisanship. Mere platforms, hastily constructed in the excitement of crowded Conventions, would not discharge men from the responsibilities they owe before God and their country. When next the ballot-boxes open and send forth their thunders of vengeance, it would shake all the platforms and parties which reject obstinately all propositions of conciliation and peace. The hope of relief to the suffering industrial interests, and confidence in the honesty of Mr. Lincoln, carried Pennsylvania, as well as the popular opposition to Slavery extension. The mere Abolition element sympathized with the nullifiers, and rejoiced in the fulfillment of their joint purpose the dissolution of the Union. He deprecated changes in the organic law, and preferred Congressional legislation to constitutional amendments. Once open the door, fools would rush in where angels fear to tread. The controversy must have a peaceful solution. The gulf was not so wide that it cannot be spanned by conciliation; nor yet so deep that it cannot be fathomed by mutual forbearance. He eulogized Mr. Crittenden as the last of the statesmen which the Whig party gave to the country. He was worthy to wear the mantle of the immortal Clay. He complimented Maryland. Pennsylvania will stand shoulder to shoulder with her patriotic Governor. He gazed with pride on the memorials of patriotism which adorn her Monumental City like altars of devotion, and prayed God that so long as the mute but eloquent statue of the Father of his Coun Wilson, (Rep.,) of Indiana, did not regard "conciliation" as potent enough to heal the wounds inflicted by Slavery. There was no cause whatever in this wicked rebellion-it was the offspring of the hateful spirit of Slavery. Until the wrong itself disappears, there can be no settlement. Its very breath is poison to peace, and to free institutions. It cannot live in the air purified by the strong blasts from the North; and was bent on disorganization to perpetuate its too long ascendency. His views were decidedly against compromise. The Constitution already gave but too much power to the South, and he was willing to make no further concessions to it. Be firm! Sustain the Constitution and uphold the laws to the end, and God will bless the right! third, that measures be taken to protect the archives of the Government; fourth, that the forts, while in the possession of the Government, in the South, be promptly supplied with men; fifth, that a sufficient number of vessels be placed in Southern ports to protect commerce and collect the revenue. Of course this received no consideration, but it was felt, by the Northern Senators, to express the true feeling of the majority of people in the great North-west-so rapidly was the sentiment of resistance to revolution taking determined shape. Important Loan Bill. In the House, Saturday, Mr. Sherman called up the bill authorizing the President, at any time before the 1st of July, to borrow, on the credit of the United States, not exceeding $25,000,000; certificates to be issued for not less than $1,000, with coupons payable, semi-annually, with interest, and the faith of the United States pledged for the payment of the interest and principal. Several substitutes were offered and much opposition manifested by the Democrats and Southerners to the loan. It passed, 124 to 46. CHAPTER XXI. FEBRUARY 1ST. NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN ULTIMATUMS. THE RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE REPUBLICANS BALANCE. PROPERTY IN MAN THE ISSUE FORCED. Seward's Union in its historical relations. We shall, therefore, quote quite at length from their efforts, and thus place within the reader's reach the means for forming a correct judgment upon the great issues, as they were shaped February 1st. THURSDAY, January 31st, Mr. Seward pre- | same day, in the House of sented to the Senate the memorial of the Representatives, added to New York Chamber of Commerce, bearing the significance of the day, 38,000 signatures, petitioning for a settlement of national differences by compromise. The report, instructing the Committee of Twentyfive, who bore the memorial to Washington, commended the proposition of the Border States Committee as the basis of adjustment, [see page 172.] In presenting it, Mr. Seward Mr. Seward said, in reference to the memodelivered his views, at length, on the crisis. rial, that it was an embodiment of the feelHis speech drew out Mason, of Virginia, Mr. ings of that eminent class which controls the Douglas, John P. Hale, and Wigfall, of commerce of the nation's greatest emporium. Texas. Their several speeches canvassed the The memorial might, he said, also be reentire question of Union and disunion. Being garded as a fair exponent of the wishes and the recognized exponents of their parties and views of the whole commercial interest of the sections, their declarations are to be re- country. Such a memorial would command garded as landmarks in the legislative his- obedience in England, France, Russia, Prustory of the revolution, and will be referred to sia, or Germany-where the will of commerce by historians as authority for their conclu- decides questions of peace or war. Happily sions respecting the relations of the contest- for the United States, commerce was but one ants, and the accountability of each for the of several interests entitled to a controlling results which followed to the country. The influence. Agriculture, manufactures, mining, speech of Charles Francis Adams, on the each are entitled to, and receive, equal re Seward's Union SEWARD'S UNION SPEECH. spect. As representatives of thy of the Senate's consideration. 315 Seward's Union to the Union. Thesewhether you call them Secession or Revolution on the one side, or coercion or defiance on the otherMr. Seward had waited anxiously for prop- are all to subside and pass away before Union, ositions which the Seceding States might which is to become the grand absorbing oboffer as terms to the adhering States; or, to ject of interest, affection, and duty upon the state the proposition in its other form, he part of the citizens of the United States. A had seen nothing which would justify him great many partisan interests are to be rein believing that any of the propositions sub-pressed and suppressed to give peace to the mitted by the adhering States would be ac-partisan interests expressed by the Charleston cepted by the Seceding States. He had held Platform, the Baltimore Platform, the Chicago himself open and ready for the best adjust- Platform, by the Popular Sovereignty Platment which could be practically made. He form, if, indeed, the Union is in danger, and approved the spirit of conciliation, of fraternal is to be saved. With these interests and with kindness, of affection, adopted by so large these platforms, everybody standing upon a portion of the people of his State towards them or connected with them is to pass away, the various sections of the country, and, in if the Union is in danger and is to be saved. return for acting as their spokesman, in pre- He added: "But it will require a very short senting their memorial to the Senate, he time, if this Union is in danger and does reshould advise them to continue to manifest quire to be saved, for all these interests, all the same spirit, to show forth their devotion these platforms, and all these men to disapto the Union by voting for it; and, if it pear. You, everybody who shall oppose, reshould be demanded, by lending or even giv- sist, or stand in the way of the preservation ing their money to it; by fighting for it in of this Union, will appear as moths on a sumit, if it must come as a last resort for its main- | mer's eve, when the whirlwind of popular intenance, taking care that speaking always dignation arises that shall be excited at the goes before voting, voting goes before the full discovery that this Union is endangered giving of money, and all go before a resort to through faction, and even impracticability, arms, which, at best, was hazardous and pain- on the one part. I have hope and confidence ful, and therefore should be the last measure that this is to come around just as I have to be resorted to for the salvation of the said; and quite soon enough, because I perUnion. This was the spirit in which he had ceive, although we may shut our eyes to it, determined to come up to the great ques- that the country and mankind cannot shut tion, which he thought would yet be peace- their eyes to the true nature of this crisis." fully settled. He had not expected the great controversy to be settled in the sixty days of Congressional action already had; nor did he expect the allotted ninety days of the session would see the differences adjusted, peace restored, and the Union firmly reestablished. It was not time enough for the people to appreciate the danger and to agree upon the remedy. A great many and various interests and elements are brought into conflict in this sudden crisis, a great many personal ambitions, and a great many sectional interests, and it would be strange if they would all be accommodated, arranged, and harmonized so as to admit and give full effect to the one profoundest and most enduring sentiment or passion of the United States-that of devotion He then adverted to the issue actually presented. The vital question of antagonism between the North and South was sprung upon the country twelve years ago, but was strongest in its development in 1850, when all the Pacific coast, and all the Territory intervening between it and the Louisiana purchase, was thrown suddenly upon our hands, for the purpose of our organizing in them free and independent Republican Governments as a basis of future States. It had been an earnest-nay, an angry controversy, but it was closed, on the previous day, by the admission of Kansas as a State. The vital issues were closed-though there remained the passions which the long contest had engendered. He said: Seward's Union Speech. "Kansas is in the Union, California and Oregon are in the Union, and now the same contest divides and distracts this Union for Freedom and Slavery in the Territories of the United States just as before. What is the extent of the Territories which remain, after the admission of Minnesota, Oregon, and of Kansas? One million, sixty-three thousand, five hundred square miles-an area twenty-four times that of the State of New York, the largest of the old and fully developed States. Twenty-four such States as this of New York are yet to be fully organized within the remaining Territories of the United States. Now, under what is accepted by the Administration and the Government as a judicial decree, upheld by it, and put in practical operation by it, every inch of that Territory is Slave Territory. I speak of that decision not as I accept it, but as it is accepted and enforced by the existing Administration. Every foot of it is Slave Territory as much as South Carolina. Over a considerable portion of it a Slave Code, made by a Government created by the Congress of the United States, is enforced; so that, according to the claims of those who insist upon their rights in the Territory of the United States for Slavery, the whole of this 1,063,000 square miles is Slave Territory. How many slaves are there in it? How many have been brought into it during these twelve years in which it has been not only relinquished to Slavery, but in which the Supreme Court, the Legislature, and the Administration have maintained, protected, and guaranteed Slavery there? Twenty-four African slaves! One slave for every forty-four thousand square miles. One slave for every one of the twenty-four States which, supposing them each to be of the dimensions of New York, or Pennsylvania, or Indiana, cover that portion of the area of our Republic. Sir, I have followed this thing in good faith, and with zeal and energy, but I confess that I have no fears of Slavery anywhere. In the peculiar condition of things which has existed, Slavery has succeeded in planting only one slave upon every 44,000 square miles of Territory. "This, then, has ceased to be a practical question. In lieu of it comes up a great, and vital, and fearful question-the question of union, or of dissolution of the Union--the question of country or of no country-the question of hope-the question of greatness, or the question of sinking forever under the contempt of mankind. Why, then, should I despair that a great nation of thirty millions will be able to meet this crisis? I have no fear. This is a Confederacy. It is not an imperial government, or the government of a single State. It is a Confederacy, and it is, as it ought to be, dependent upon the continued assent of all the members of the Confederacy to its exist Seward's Union Speech. ence, and subject to dissolution by their action. But that assent is to be always taken by virtue of the original assent, and held until, in the form pre. scribed by the Constitution itself, and in the time, and in the manner, and with all the conditions which the Constitution prescribes; and those who constitute the Union shall declare that it shall be no longer that thirty days, and sixty days, and ninety days, given us by the disunionists; it may not be enough for their policy and their purposes. I hope and wish that it may be time enough for the policy and purposes of the Union. God grant that it may be so; but if thirteen shall turn out not to be enough, then I see how and when all these great controversies will be settled, just as our forefathers saw when they framed the Constitution. They provided, seventy years ago, this present controversy. This whole controversy shall be submitted to the people of the United States, in a Convention called according to the forms of the Constitution, and acting in the inanner prescribed by it. Then, sir, this country will find sudden relief in the prompt and unanimous adoption of measures necessary for its salvation, and the world will see how well and how wisely a great, enlightened, educated, Christian people, consisting of thirty-four sovereign States, can adjust difficulties which had seemed, even to themselves, as well as to mankind, to be insurmountable." Mason, of Virginia, followed. He said: Mason's Declaratory Speech. "When the Government is in progress of disintegration; when there are six States that have separated from the others, and are now arming themselves upon a large scale; when my own State appropriated, twelve months ago, in anticipation of what now seems to be occurring, the very large sum, for a single State, of half a million of dollars to purchase arms; and when, within a few days, another appropriation was made of $1,000,000 for the same purpose; when we find that other States have done the same thing; when we find that the people themselves are arming; when counties and towns are exercising their municipal authority, and are raising money for this same purpose-while these things are going on, and while the public mind is engaged in the Slave States that are not yet separated in devising some mode by which the American mind can again be united in a common union, what do we hear from the Senator from New York, (Mr. Seward?) What do we hear from that Senator who now occupies the position before the country which he now does, acknowledged to be the head of the political combination which is to bring into power the incoming Administration, said by the newspaper press to be the probable right hand of that Adinin Mason's Declaratory MASON'S DECLARATORY REJOINDER. istration-what do we hear from that Senator? Any suggestion from a quarter of such weight as to what he would recommend to a majority of the States, in order to meet the demands, just or unjust, of the Slave States? None. Any remark approving or disapproving the propositions before the country, 817 six per cent. stocks com- to amend the Constitution in this regard? None. We know what his opinions are in regard to the proposition offered by the venerable Senator from Kentucky, (Mr. Crittenden,) by declaration and by votes, uniform and continued. We know what his views are in the negative, and what are his views in the affirmative. His affirmative vote was given intained; I have recommended to them at this this chamber to substitute the resolutions of the Senator from New Hampshire, (Mr. Clark.) What are they? Propositions declaring, in substance, that the Constitution needed no amendment; that the demands of the Southern States are unreason crisis that they should sustain the Government of their country, and maintain the credit to which it is entitled." Mason presumed that that was the use intended to be made of the money. He did not, in his own mind, do the Senator the injustice to believe that with this money he proposed to subsidize or demoralize the Southern States. He took it for granted that it was to sustain the army which was to conduct the fight, which he recommends. up This ungenerous contradiction again called "I am sure the honorable Senator does not intend to misrepresent me. I contemplated, after the ex able, and that the only remedy for this condition of things in the country was to enforce the Constitution and the laws. That is the affirmative view of the honorable Senator from New York. Now, what is it he has elaborated? Why, the honorable Senator, in the midst of a maze of generalities which marked his speech—and it was a maze, and a misty one-in that general maze he marched to the line and told us what his policy was, and I assume it is the policy of those he is to bring into power.-And what was it he told us? What his recommendation to these gentlemen who have sent here this enor mous petition? Not adopting their views, not look-piration of all compromise, a Convention of the peoing to any amendment of the Constitution whatever, ple of the United States, called in the constitutional his recommendation is given to us in four distinct form; and after that Convention shall be held, or refused to be held-when it is impossible anything propositions of what is to be the policy of those can be done but that, by force of arms, this Union whom he intends to lead-if history does not misinis to stand or fall, I have advised my people to do form us, after the 4th of March next. He recomas I shall be ready to do myself to stand by the mends that these gentlemen, when they go home, Union; to stand or perish with it." should employ themselves in the great work of restoring the breaches made in the Union. How? Why, he said, speak first, next vote for the Union, next give money for the Union; and the last, fight for the Union. These are the four measures proposed by the Senator to heal the gaping breach in the Union. I can understand what he means when he recommends his constituents to speak for the Union. I can understand when he recommends them to vote for the Union. But I would like to This sentiment brought loud applause from the galleries, then crowded densely by one of the most eminent audiences which that new chamber yet had seen gathered within its walls. Mason then resumed : "I wanted to bring the honorable Senator, who is the exponent of the new Administration, to the pol know what he means when he recommends them to icy by which it is to be directed. I understand from give money for the Union?" Mr. Seward explained. Government had been humiliated so far, by its financial management, as to see its stocks-which, two years before, commanded a premium-fallen so low as to be sold at a discount of thirty per cent. The credit of New York on her him now, that all remedies failing, through the Constitution or a Convention of the States, his recommendation is battle bloodshed to preserve the Union. His recommendation to the people is, that they shall contribute money, which shall march an army upon the South-for what? To preserve the Union. It is gone. It is broken. There is no union now in this country. Sir, those States were out; |