176 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



resolution, which "was now so modified hy him- 

 self as to make it a question of referring the 

 matter to the people as an amendment to the 

 Constitution. He had already perceived that 

 there was no party in the Senate in favor of 

 compromise sufficiently strong to pass his reso- 

 lution in its original form. With a degree of 

 melancholy natural to one who had spent so 

 large a portion of his life in endeavors to pro- 

 mote the prosperity and glory of his coun- 

 try, and who now sees a gigantic catastrophe 

 about to overwhelm her, he addresses the Sen- 

 ate : 



" Mr. President, if I could indulge myself 

 with the hope that the resolution which I have 

 proposed for amendments to the Constitution 

 could obtain that majority in this Senate which 

 would recommend it to the States for their 

 adoption, by convention or by Legislature, I 

 should never have made this motion for a ref- 

 ei'ence of the question to the people. It is the 

 extraordinary condition of the country, the ex- 

 traordinary circumstances by which we are 

 now surrounded, and the peculiar situation in 

 which Congress itself is placed, that has in- 

 duced me to attempt so extraordinary a resort. 

 We believe that amendments to the Constitu- 

 tion are requisite to give that permanent se- 

 curity which is necessary to satisfy the public 

 mind and restore quiet to the country. Those 

 amendments cannot be recommended, nor can 

 we proceed in the measure of amendment, un- 

 less it be by a two-thirds majority. I have 

 feared that that majority could not be hoped 

 for here ; and it is in this last extremity that I 

 have proposed that we should invoke the judg- 

 ment of the people upon the great question on 

 which their Government depends. It is not 

 an ordinary question ; it is no question of 

 party ; it is no question of policy ; it is a ques- 

 tion involving the existence of the Union, and 

 the existence of the Government. Upon so 

 momentous a question, where the public coun- 

 sels themselves are so divided and so distracted 

 as not to be able to adopt, for the want of the 

 requisite majority, those means that are sup- 

 posed to be necessary for the safety of the 

 country and the people, it has seemed to me 

 not improper that we should resort to the great 

 source of all political authority the people 

 themselves. This is their Government ; this 

 is their Union ; we are but their representa- 

 tives. I speak in no feeling of flattery to the 

 people, sir. No ; I call upon them to pro- 

 nounce their judgment, and do their duty to 

 their country. If we cannot save the country, 

 and they will not save the country, the coun- 

 try is gone. I wish to preserve it by all the 

 means, ordinary and extraordinary, that are 

 within our possible reach. That is the whole 

 feeling, and that is the entire principle upon 

 which I have acted in making this proposition. 

 I see nothing improper in it.'' 



After examining all the points bearing on 

 the proposition for compromise in a most con- 

 ciliatory spirit, and urging with all the elo- 



quence he could command, the importance to 

 the future welfare of the country that this 

 course should be adopted, he closed, and the 

 Senator from Georgia followed. Nothing could 

 be more complete than the contrast between 

 their views. 



Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, said : " The success 

 of the Abolitionists and their allies, under the 

 name of the Republican party, has produced its 

 logical results already. They have for long 

 years been sowing dragons' teeth, and have 

 finally got a crop of armed men. The Union, 

 sir, is dissolved. That is an accomplished fact 

 in the path of this discussion that men may as 

 well heed. One of your confederates has al- 

 ready, wisely, bravely, boldly, confronted pub- 

 lic danger, and she is only ahead of many of 

 her sisters because of her greater facility for 

 speedy action. The greater majority of those 

 sister States, under like circumstances, consider 

 her cause as their cause ; and I charge you in 

 their name to-day, " Touch not Saguntum." 

 It is not only their cause, but it is a cause 

 which receives the sympathy, and will receive 

 the support, of tens and hundreds of thousands 

 of honest patriotic men in the non-slaveholding 

 States, who have hitherto maintained constitu- 

 tional rights, who respect their oaths, abide by 

 compacts, and love justice. And while this 

 Congress, this Senate, and this House of Repre- 

 sentatives are debating the constitutionality 

 and the expediency of seceding from the Union, 

 and while the perfidious authors of this mis- 

 chief are showering down denunciations upon 

 a large portion of the patriotic men of this 

 country, those brave men are coolly and calm- 

 ly voting what you call revolution ay, sir, 

 doing better than that arming to defend it. 

 They appealed to the Constitution, they ap- 

 pealed to justice, they appealed to fraternity, 

 until the Constitution, justice, and fraternity 

 were no longer listened to in the legislative 

 halls of their country, and then, sir, they pre- 

 pared for the arbitrament of the sword ; and 

 now you see the glittering bayonet, and you 

 hear the tramp of armed men from your capital 

 to the Kio Grande. It is a sight that gladdens 

 the eyes and cheers the hearts of other millions 

 ready to second them. Inasmuch, sir, as I 

 have labored earnestly, honestly, sincerely, 

 with these men to avert this necessity so long 

 as I deemed it possible, and inasmuch as I 

 heartily approve their present conduct of re- 

 sistance, I deem it my duty to state their case 

 to the Senate, to the country, and to the civil- 

 ized world." 



The claims of the Southern States and their 

 views of the Constitution have been already 

 stated so often, that it will not be necessary 

 to repeat the argument of the Senator from 

 Georgia. 



On a subsequent day Mr. Clark, of New 

 Hampshire, offered the following resolutions, 

 designing to move them as an amendment to 

 the resolutions of Mr. Crittenden : 



Resolved, That the provisions of the Constitution 



