CONGRESS, U. S. 



247 



ly interpreted will do the rest. And yet the 

 positive prohibition, which the Senator seems 

 to invite or to challenge, would not only purify 

 the statute-hook, hut effectually guard against 

 the future, so that both Constitution and law 

 would be arrayed against an infamous traffic. 

 Clearly this ought to be done ; and if I have 

 not moved it, do not set it down to indifference 

 or inattention, but simply to my desire that the 

 proposition, moved as it is on an appropriation 

 bill, should be limited to the necessity of the 

 occasion. To do less than I propose would be 

 wrong. I should be glad to do more." 



Mr. Hendricks, of Indiana, said : " I am sur- 

 prised that any Senator should oppose the prop- 

 osition of the Senator from Massachusetts, for 

 we all know that eventually it will be adopted. 

 The objection as to its materiality or proper 

 connection with this measure is but an objec- 

 tion of time. Xo gentleman can question that 

 the Senator from Massachusetts will eventually 

 cany his proposition. Why, sir, about two 

 weeks ago this body, after full discussion, de- 

 liberately voted that the Constitution imposed 

 a duty upon Congress and the President of the 

 United States ; the present incumbent of the 

 presidential chair in his inaugural address said 

 that that duty rested as an oath upon the con- 

 science of every Senator to see that there was 

 an efficient and adequate law for the return of 

 fugitive slaves; and yet under some process, 

 not the force of argument, but through some in- 

 fluence that the uninitiated cannot understand, 

 after the Senate had rejected the proposition in 

 its original form, it was carried through yester- 

 day by a large vote. 



" Why then contest the matter longer ? Let 

 the Senator bring in his propositions. The 

 Senator from Ohio (Mr. Sherman) made an 

 effort to stay the progress at one point upon 

 the Constitution, and did for a while save the 

 act of 1793 and the signature of George Wash- 

 ington ; but the Senator from Ohio finally fail- 

 ed yesterday, and it all went by the board. He 

 may for this hour and in this debate, upon a 

 technical point, prevent the adoption of the 

 measure of the Senator from Massachusetts 

 upon this bill ; but that it will come in this 

 body I have no doubt. It may as well come 

 now as at any time. Let it be understood that 

 all the positions assumed by our fathers touch- 

 ing the relations of these States are to be 

 wiped out at once, and then I suppose the 

 Senators that accomplish so much will under- 

 take the work of reconstruction or the forma- 

 tion of a new Union ! 



" Sir, I regret to see this. Every law put 

 upon the statute-book by our fathers with a 

 view of carrying out the provisions of the Con- 

 stitution, or in pursuance of the spirit of the 

 union between the States, I regret to see wiped 

 out ; but we have witnessed it, and I think the 

 effort to delay is useless. We may just as well 

 let it come now as at any time. If misfortune 

 comes of it I am not responsible, and there are 

 other Senators who are not responsible. I be- 



lieve this Union is to bo restored upon the 

 Constitution, if it is ever restored, and I do not 

 believe that there is wisdom or patriotism or 

 virtue enough now to make a new Union, and 

 if we do not come back again upon the old 

 Union substantially and upon the basis of the 

 Constitution, I do not hope for a new Union. 



" Mr. President, I am not satisfied that the 

 true friends of the Union are the men who are 

 breaking all the bonds that our fathers made 

 to hold the States together. One ligament 

 after another gives way in the presence of the 

 sentiment of the hour ; and yet Senators who 

 will adopt these measures call themselves spe- 

 cially Union men, and upon some occasions 

 doubt the fidelity to the Union of Senators 

 who oppose this policy. I claim to be a Union 

 man because I stand upon the bond of the 

 Union, the covenant that brought these States 

 together ; and if I go outside of that covenant 

 I cannot well claim to be a Union man. 



" Sir, at the commencement of this war the 

 Xorth was a unit and the South was divided. 

 Xow the Xorth is divided and the South is a 

 unit. Why? Let Senators that ask for suc- 

 cess in the war, answer the question, why ? 

 Because here in this Senate you said to the 

 honest people of the country that this war 

 should be to preserve the Union and the Con- 

 stitution and not to break down the institu- 

 tions of any of the States, and the people be- 

 lieved you, and they rallied from the wheat- 

 fields and the corn-fields and shops everywhere 

 to make a glorious army. You did not have 

 to send provost marshals after the young men 

 then, for they rushed forward themselves, and 

 the question was who should get into the first 

 regiment. Now the bloodhounds of war have 

 to be sent upon the track of the young men of 

 the country to bring them into the army ; and 

 why ? Because faith has been broken with 

 the people, not by the statesmen with whom 

 it is my pride and pleasure to think and to act, 

 but by Senators and Eepresentatives who have 

 attempted to take advantage of this convulsion 

 in our country to break down the institutions 

 of the States. The country had a right to de- 

 mand of the Senate, the couutry had a right to 

 demand of Congress and of the President faith 

 to the Crittenden resolution, the highest faith, 

 because you asked the people for their money, 

 you asked them for their blood, and you said 

 it should be upon that proposition. I put it to 

 the honor of any Senator, has it been upon 

 that proposition ? Has not every possible op- 

 portunity been taken advantage of to strike at 

 the peculiar institution of one section of the 

 country ? I have never considered, as a pub- 

 lic man, the question of slavery in a moral 

 aspect. Our fathers have agreed to it; they 

 wrote it down in the Constitution that it 

 should be respected and protected in certain 

 regards ; and as they have covenanted in re- 

 spect to it, so I have looked to it. To stand 

 upon that covenant and agreement I felt to be 

 my highest duty as a citizen, and especially 



