from agitation and admit its binding force until clearly established by the people of the several States in their sovereign character. Such an explanatory amendment would, it is believed, forever terminate the existing dissensions, and restore peace and harmony among the States.

"It ought not to be doubted that such an appeal to the arbitrament established by the Constitution itself, would be received with favor by all the States of the Confederacy. In any event, it ought to be tried in a spirit of conciliation before any of these States shall separate themselves from the Union."

The President accompanied his recommendations by a solemn appeal in favor of the Union. He says:

"But may I be permitted solemnly to invoke my countrymen to pause and deliberate, before they determine to destroy this, the grandest temple which has ever been dedicated to human freedom since the world began. It has been consecrated by the blood of our fathers, by the glories of the past, and by the hopes of the future. The Union has already made us the most prosperous, and ere long will, if preserved, render us the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. In every foreign region of the globe the title of American citizen is held in the highest respect, and when pronounced in a foreign land it causes the hearts of our countrymen to swell with honest pride. Surely when we reach the brink of the yawning abyss, we shall recoil with horror from the last fatal plunge.

"By such a dread catastrophe, the hopes of the friends of freedom throughout the world would be destroyed, and a long night of leaden despotism would enshroud the nations. Our example for more than eighty years would not only be lost, but it would be quoted as a conclusive proof that man is unfit for self-government.

"It is not every wrong-nay, it is not every grievous wrong -which can justify a resort to such a fearful alternative. This ought to be the last desperate remedy of a despairing people, after every constitutional means of conciliation had been exhausted. We should reflect that, under this free Government, there is an incessant ebb and flow in public opinion. The slavery question, like every thing human, will have its day. I

firmly believe that it has reached and passed the culminating point. But if, in the midst of the existing excitement, the Union shall perish, the evil may then become irreparable."

This message proved unsatisfactory both to the Republican party and to the Pro-Slavery party in the cotton States. The leaders of this latter party in Congress, and especially Mr. Jefferson Davis, objected to it because of its earnest argument against secession, and the determination expressed to collect the revenue in the ports of South Carolina, by means of a naval force, and to defend the public property. From this moment they alienated themselves from the President. Soon thereafter, when he refused to withdraw Major Anderson from Fort Sumter, on the demand of the self-styled South Carolina Commissioners, the separation became complete. For more than two months before the close of the session all friendly intercourse between them and the President, whether of a political or social character, had ceased.

CHAPTER VII.

Refusal of Congress to act either with a view to conciliation or defence-The Senate Committee of Thirteen and its proceedings-Mr. Crittenden submits his Compromise to the Committee-Its nature-The Committee unable to agree-Testimony of Messrs. Douglas and Toombs that the Crittenden Compromise would have arrested secession in the Cotton States-Mr. Crittenden proposes to refer his amendment to the people of the several States by an act of ordinary legislation-His remarks in its favor-Proceedings thereon-Expression of public opinion in its favor-President Buchanan recommends it-Recommendation disregarded and proposition defeated by the Clark amendment—Observations thereon-Peace Convention proposed by Virginia-Its meeting and proceedings-Amendment to the Constitution reported by Mr. Guthrie, chairman of the committee-Its modification on motion of Mr. Franklin, and final adoption by the Convention-Virginia and North Carolina vote with Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont against it-Its rejection by the United States Senate-The House of Representa. tives refuse even to receive it-Every Republican member in both branches of Congress opposed to it.

In this perilous condition of the country it would scarcely be believed, were it not demonstrated by the record, that Congress deliberately refused, throughout the entire session, to pass any act or resolution either to preserve the Union by peaceful measures, or to furnish the President or his successor with a military force to repel any attack which might be made by the cotton States. It neither did the one thing nor the other. It neither presented the olive branch nor the sword. All history proves that inaction in such an emergency is the worst possible policy, and can never stay the tide of revolution. On the contrary, it affords the strongest encouragement to rebellion. The sequel will prove the correctness of these opinions.

Then, first, as to the action of Congress on the President's recommendation to adopt amendments to the Constitution. Soon after its meeting, on the motion of Senator Powell, of Kentucky, "so much of the President's Message as relates to the present agitated and distracted condition of the country, and the grievances between the slaveholding and the non-slaveholding States," "was referred to a special committee, consist

**Senate's Report of Committees, 2d session, 36th Congress, 1860–61, No. 288

ing of thirteen members. This committee was composed of the most distinguished and influential Senators. They were true representatives of the political parties to which they respectively belonged. It consisted of five Republicans: Messrs. Seward, Collamer, Wade, Doolittle, and Grimes; five from slaveholding States: Messrs. Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Toombs, and Davis; and three Northern Democrats: Messrs. Douglas, Bigler, and Bright. The latter three were intended to act as mediators between the extreme parties on the committee.

No legislative body, in the history of nations, had ever created a committee upon whose action more important consequences depended. Beyond question, they had it in their power justly and honorably to preserve the peace of the country and the integrity of the Union.

The committee first met on the 21st December, 1860, and, preliminary to any other proceeding, they "resolved that no proposition shall be reported as adopted, unless sustained by a majority of each of the classes of the committee; Senators of the Republican party to constitute one class, and Senators of the other parties to constitute the other class." This resolution was passed, because any report they might make to the Senate would be in vain unless sanctioned by at least a majority of the five Republican Senators. On the next day (the 22d), Mr. Crittenden submitted to the committee " A Joint Resolution" (the same which he had two days before presented to the Senate), "proposing certain amendments to the Constitution of the United States," now known as the Crittenden Compromise. This was truly a compromise of conflicting claims, because it proposed that the South should surrender their adjudged right to take slaves into all our Territories, provided the North would recognize this right in the Territories south of the old Missouri Compromise line. This amendment offered terms to the North far less favorable to the South than their existing rights under the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Constitution, as expounded by this decision, opens all the Territories, both North and South, as the common.property of the States, to the introduction and protection of slave property. Mr. Crittenden's amendment proposed to restrict this gen

eral right and confine it to the Territories south of the latitude of 36° 30'. It prohibited slavery forever from all Territories, "now held or hereafter acquired," north of this line, whilst south of it slavery was "recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by Congress, but shall be protected as property by all the departments of the Territorial Government during its continuance; and when any Territory north or south of said line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe, shall contain the population requisite for a member of Congress, it shall be admitted into the Union with or without slavery, as the Constitution of such new State may provide."*

This amendment yielded every thing to the North, except a mere abstraction. It gave, in point of fact, all the vast territories of the United States to perpetual freedom, with the single exception of New Mexico. And in regard to this, it is scarcely necessary to state to any person in the least degree acquainted with geography, that New Mexico could never practically become a slaveholding State. As to the Indian Territory south of 36° 30', it belongs not to the United States, but is secured to the Indians by solemn treaties, founded upon full and indeed ample equivalents.

At the first it was confidently expected that this amendment would be yielded by the North as a peace offering to the South. It was in substance and in fact neither more nor less than an offer to restore the Missouri Compromise, against the repeal of which the Republican party in Congress, in 1854, had so justly struggled. It was hailed by the people throughout the countryas the rainbow upon the cloud, promising peace and perpetuity to the Union. Indeed, who could fail to believe that when the alternative was presented to the Senators and Representatives of the Northern States, either to yield to their brethren in the South the barren abstraction of carrying their slaves into New Mexico, or to expose the country to the imminent peril of civil war, they would choose the side of peace and union? The period for action was still propitious. It will be recollected that Mr. Crittenden's amendment was submitted before any of our forts had been seized, before any of the cotton States, except

* Senate Report of the Proceedings of the Committee, Dec. 31, 1860.