CONGRESS, U. 8. 



221 



which they now have ; and consists merely in 

 a negation of power to Congress. How can 

 that take away the rights of the people ? How 

 can that make our condition worse? I cannot 

 possibly see. It is nothing but a negative from 

 beginning to end ; and therefore it cannot take 

 away any thing from the people. It may take 

 from Congress, but cannot take away from the 

 States, or the people, any thing. It is negative 

 in its form and in its language, from beginning 

 to end, that Congress shall have no power to 

 do this, that, or the other. If they have that 

 power under the present Constitution, it is 

 taken away. That is all. It takes away no 

 power from the States. It takes away no 

 rights from individuals. Its simple office is the 

 negation of power to Congress. That is all 

 there is in it ; and how, under that, can the 

 gentleman find constructions which are to in- 

 crease our difficulties and diminish our rights ? 

 He says the language will need construction. 

 So does all language need construction. I do 

 not see that this is particularly so. 



" Now, sir, the Senator offers my own propo- 

 sition as an amendment to this. I shall vote 

 against my own proposition here ; I shall vote 

 for this. 



" I shall vote for the amendments proposed by 

 the convention, and there I shall stand. That 

 is the weapon offered now, and placed in my 

 hand, by which, as I suppose, the Union of 

 these States may be preserved ; and I will not, 

 out of any selfish preference for my own orig- 

 inal opinions on this subject, sacrifice one idea 

 or one particle of that hope. I go for the 

 country ; not for this resolution or that resolu- 

 tion, but any resolution, any proposition, that 

 will pacify the country. Therefore, I vote 

 against my own to give place to a proposition 

 which comes from an authority much higher 

 than mine from one hundred and thirty of 

 the most eminent men of this country, out of 

 which number a Senate might be selected that 

 might well compare in point of talent and intel- 

 lect and ability even with this honorable body." 



In conclusion he said : 



" Mr. President, I have gone perhaps a little 

 further than I ought to have done. It is not now 

 necessary that I should enter into a vindication 

 of every provision of these amendments offered 

 by the convention. It is sufficient to speak to 

 the amendment which the gentleman has 

 offered. Excluding territory hereafter to be 

 acquired, I think in substance we ought to be 

 satisfied with that; I believe that will make 

 peace ; I believe that will give substantial se- 

 curity to onr rights, and to the rights which 

 the Southern States claim. With that I am 

 satisfied. It is enough for the dreadful occa- 

 sion. It is the dreadful occasion that I want to 

 get rid of. Eid me of this, rid the nation of 

 this, and I am willing to take my chance for 

 the future, and meet the perils of every day 

 that may come. Now is the appointed time 

 upon which our destiny depends. Now is the 

 emergency and exigency upon us. Let us pro- 



vide for them. Save ourselves now, and trust 

 to posterity and that Providence which has so 

 long and so benignly guided this nation, to keep 

 us from the further difficulties which in our 

 national career may be in our way." 



Mr. Mason, of Virginia, followed with a care- 

 ful examination of the proposition of the Peace 

 Conference, and thus expressed his opinion : 



" I should have been certainly gratified, if my 

 honored State of Virginia had been successful 

 in the mediation which she invited of all the 

 States, with a view to agree upon an adjust- 

 ment which would guarantee the rights of the 

 South. I deeply deplore, and I doubt not my 

 State will deplore, that that mediation has not 

 been effected. So far from impugning any mo- 

 tives or purpose of that honorable and distin- 

 guished body, I doubt not that, in the short 

 time that was allowed to them, they got to- 

 gether the best mode of adjustment which 

 would satisfy their judgment, but which, I am 

 sure, will not satisfy the judgment of the 

 Southern States, but would place them in still 

 greater peril, if they were to admit that to be- 

 come a part of the Constitution. I did not in- 

 tend to do more than state my objections to it 

 as briefly as I could. I have done so temper- 

 ately and without heat. I regret that I can- 

 not, as one Senator, propose this as an amend- 

 ment to the Constitution." 



In the debate which still further ensued, Mr. 

 Baker of Oregon avowed his purpose to sup- 

 port the proposition, and in justification of his 

 views said : 



" Mr. President, let us be just to these propo- 

 sitions. As a Republican, I give up something 

 when I vote for them ; but remember, sir, I am 

 not voting for them now ; I am only voting to 

 submit them to my people ; and I shall go be- 

 fore them, when the time comes, being gov- 

 erned in my opinion and advice as to whether 

 they shall vote for them or not, as I see what 

 Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Caroli- 

 na, and Missouri, by their people, desire. To 

 be frank, sir, if this proposition will suit the 

 border States, if there will be peace and union, 

 and loyalty and brotherhood, with this, I will 

 vote for it at the polls with all my heart, and 

 with all my soul ; but if I see that the counsels 

 of the Senators from Virginia shall prevail ; if 

 my noble friend from Tennessee [Mr. Johnson] 

 shall be overwhelmed ; if secession shall still 

 grow in the public mind there ; if they are de- 

 termined, upon artificial causes of complaint, as 

 I believe, still to unite their fate, their destiny, 

 and their hope, with the extremest South, 

 then, perceiving them to be of no avail, I shall 

 refuse them. Therefore, at the polls at last, I 

 shall be governed as an individual citizen by 

 my conviction at the moment of what the ulti- 

 mate result of these propositions will be ; but 

 I am not voting for that to-day. I am saying, 

 ' People of the United States, I submit it to 

 you ; twenty States demand it ; the peace of 

 the country requires it ; there is dissolution in 

 the very atmosphere; States have gone off; 



