CONGRESS, U. S. 



213 



be used in that war. That is what I under- 

 stand." 



The amendment was not voted npon, and 

 the bill was subsequently passed without fur- 

 ther debate. 



The withdrawal of the member^ of the House 

 from Georgia was made known by their joint 

 ]etter to the Speaker, namely : 



WASHINGTON CITY, January 23, 1S61. 

 FIR : We have received official information that the 

 people of the State of Georgia, in convention assembled, 

 on the 1'Jth day of January, 1861, adopted and passed 

 an ordinance of secession. 



The sovereign State of Georgia, of which we are 

 Representatives in this House, having thereby dis- 

 ^plved the political connection between that State and 

 the Government of the United States, and having 

 thereby repealed the ordinance of 17SS, by which the 

 Constitution of the United States was ratified, and 

 having resumed all the powers delegated to the Fed- 

 eral Government, we hereby announce to you that we 

 are no longer members of" the House of Represent- 

 atives of the United States Congress. 

 PETER C. LOVE, 

 MARTIN J. CRAWFORD, 

 THOMAS HARDEMAN, JR., 

 LUCIUS J. GARTRELL, 

 JOHN W. H. UNDERWOOD, 

 JAMES JACKSON, 

 JOHN J. JONES. 

 Hon. WILLIAM PEXXIXGTOX, 

 Speaker House of Representatives of the United States. 



"WASHINGTON Cnr, January 23, 1S61. 

 SIR: Satisfied, as I am, that a majority of the con- 

 vention of the people of Georgia, now sitting, desire 

 that the State should no longer be represented upon 

 this floor, I, in obedience to this wish of the people's 

 representatives, hereby resign the seat I hold as a 

 member of this House." 

 I am, respectfullv, vour obedient servant. 



JOSHUA HILL. 

 Hon. WILLIAM PEXXIXGTOX, 

 Speaker House of Representatives of the United States. 



It was now the middle of February Con- 

 gress had prepared the usual appropriation 

 bills, arranged the measures for procuring the 

 funds necessary to meet the expenses of the 

 Government. A highly protective tariff bill 

 had passed one House and was certain to pass 

 the other, but on the great subject which ab- 

 sorbed the attention of the whole country noth- 

 ing had been accomplished. The Senate had 

 discussed the point whether there could be a 

 compromise or not, without arriving at any 

 conclusion. Much less had they been able to 

 etermine what should be the plan of compro- 

 mise. The crisis of the country was the great 



pic of discussion in the House, but the com- 



ittee had not yet made any formal or final re- 

 port. It was evident that Congress, with its 

 conflicting and determined elements, could do 

 nothing. Those who looked for a satisfactory 

 adjustment from that quarter now gave up all 

 hopes. In this they were confirmed by the 

 continued unsuccessful action of the Peace 

 Convention, a body which had assembled at 

 Washington, as recommended by the Legisla- 

 ture of Virginia. 



The views of Congress relative to the future 

 difficulties of the country manifest at this time 

 a change. Six States had withdrawn from the 



Union, no immediate prospect of an adjustment 

 existed, and the question had become one of 

 peae or war. It solution seemed to be in the 

 hands of the new Administration. An effort 

 was therefore made to discover the purposes of 

 the President elect, either through his own ex- 

 pressions or from those of his friends in Con- 

 gress. After the delivery of the inaugural, the 

 chief theme of the discussions in the Senate, 

 during its brief session, was whether the mean- 

 ing of that document was peace or war. 



The views of the Republican portion of the 

 Congress, with few exceptions, at this time, 

 are to be found hi such declarations as were 

 made in the House. They were opposed to 

 compromise, and demanded the enforcement of 

 the laws. 



Mr. Beale, of New York, said : " Sir, I am 

 opposed to any and all compromises 



u 1. Because they are to be extorted from us 

 by threats of dissolution of the Union in case 

 we refuse. I desire to see the strength of this 

 Government tested, and to know whether the 

 Union is a Federal rope of sand, to be washed 

 away by every wave of passion, or an ' indis- 

 soluble Government.' 



" 2. Because, they will fail to accomplish the 

 reintegration of the Union. 



" Six States have already seceded, and will 

 not be parties to the transaction or bound by 

 it; and one. if not more, has avowed her deter- 

 mination never to come back, even upon the 

 principle of reconstruction ; and several of them 

 are represented hi a convention to form a 

 Southern Confederacy, and have formed such a 

 confederacy. 



"3. Because the Republican party is not 

 now in power, and should not submit to any 

 terms as a condition-precedent to obtaining it. 



" Our candidate has been constitutionally 

 elected ; entertains no principles hostile to the 

 interests of any one of the States. "We are re- 

 solved to inaugurate him in the same constitu- 

 tional manner. In the words of the distin- 

 guished Senator elect from Ohio, ' inauguration 

 first, adjustment afterward.' 



" 4. Because the sentiment of nine-tenths of 

 the Republicans of the free States is opposed 

 to compromise of principle. I speak not of the 

 commercial circles, where the opinion of Mr. 

 Webster prevails, that ' Governments were in- 

 stituted to protect property,' no matter of what 

 kind ; but of the intelligent masses of the free 

 country, where, upon the mountain sides, in 

 the valleys, and along the rivers of the North, 

 no shackle rings no unpaid labor degrades, 

 but where to work is to be ennobled, and where 

 the god of Freedom baptizes the foreheads of 

 his sons with the dew of toil. These men want 

 no compromises with slave labor no unfair 

 competition between their adventurous toil and 

 the investments of Southern capital. These 

 men believe that ' to secure the inalienable 

 rights of life and liberty, governments were in- 

 stituted among men.' " 



After stating the measures to which he was 



