NEW YORK:. 



521 



the 31st of January, at 11 A. M., in Albany, 

 and was very fully attended. The Chairman, 

 in the course of his remarks on the objects of 

 the meeting, said : " The people of the State 

 demand the peaceful settlement of the ques- 

 tions that have led to disunion. They have a 

 right to insist that there shall be conciliation, 

 concession, compromise. While yet the pillars 

 of our political temple lie scattered on the 

 ground, let them be used to reconstruct the 

 edifice. The popular sentiment is daily gath- 

 ering strength, and will overwhelm in its prog- 

 ress alike those who seek to stem it on the frail 

 plank of party platforms, and those who labor 

 to pervert it to mere party advantage. 



" If those who are intrusted with political 

 power will not act in accordance with this per- 

 vading public sentiment, let them, at least, 

 submit the question to a direct vote of the peo- 

 ple. Their voice will be omnipotent here, and if 

 it be raised in time it may be eftectual elsewhere." 



The meeting was addressed by the venerable 

 ex-Chancellor Wahvorth, ex-Governor Sey- 

 mour, A. Belmont, late U. S. Minister to the 

 Hague, and other most noted public men of 

 the State. The following were some of the 

 resolutions unanimously approved : 



1. Resolred, That the crisis into which the country 

 has been thrown by the conflict of sectional passions, 

 and which has already resulted in the declared seces- 

 sion of six States, and the threatened cooperation of 

 nearly all the other States of the South with them, 

 the seizure of Government property and of the Federal 

 defences the confronting of the disaffected States and 

 of the Federal Government in the attitude and with 

 the armament of Civil War is of such a nature as, 

 raising all patriotic citizens above the considerations 

 of party, should impel them to the sacrifices by which 

 alone these calamities may be averted or their further 

 progress arrested. 



2. Boohed, That, in the opinion of this Convention, 

 the worst and most ineffective argument that can be 

 addressed by the Confederacy or its adhering members 

 to the seceding States, is civil war. Civil war will not 

 restore the Union, but will defeat, forever, its recon- 

 struction. 



3. Besohed, That we can look for the restoration of 

 the Union, and the reinvigoration of the Constitution, 

 only to the continuance of that spirit of conciliation 

 and concession in which they were founded ; and that 

 there is nothing in the nature of pending difficulties 

 which does not render it proper to adjust them by 

 compromises such as, by the practice of our Govern- 

 ment, have been resorted to in the settlement of dis- 

 puted claims, even with foreign nations. That while 

 our Government, believing its title to the territories 

 in the northeastern and northwestern portions of the 

 Union, which were given up to Great Britain, was 

 clear and unquestionable, yet for the purpose of saving 

 the people from the evils of war, surrendered a por- 

 tion of our original territory and also a part of the 

 Louisiana purchase, exceeding in value all the domain 

 which the South demands, in joint occupation having 

 conceded thus much to a foreign nation in the interest 

 of peace it would be monstrous to refuse to settle 

 claims between the people of our own land, and avert 

 destruction from our common country by a similar 

 compromise. 



4. Besolced, That, whereas it is obvious that the dis- 

 solution of this Union can only be prevented by the 

 adoption of a policy which shall be satisfactory to the 

 Border States, it is our duty to support them in their 

 patriotic efforts to adjust those controversies. And 

 inasmuch as these questions grow out of the acquisition 



of territories not provided for by the Constitution ; 

 and in regard to which the people of the South believe 

 that they are entitled to a joint occupancy, in person 

 and propertv, under the Constitution and by the deci- 

 sion of the Courts ; while on the other hand, the dom- 

 inant party at the North claim that they should be ex- 

 cluded therefrom, it is eminently fit that we should 

 listen to the appeals of loyal men in the Border States, 

 to dispose of this question by one of those measures of 

 compromise in the spirit of which the Constitution was 

 founded, and by which all territorial .questions have 

 from time to time been settled. 



5. Besohed, That inasmuch as the political conrnl- 

 sions which threaten the destruction of the country, 

 were not contemplated at the time of the last election, 

 and their continuance will be more disastrous to the 

 interests of our citizens, involving the ruin of our 

 commercial and laboring classes, and possibly carry- 

 ing the desolation of civil war into the homes of onr 

 citizens, we hold that it is their right to be heard in 

 regard to the adjustment of these difficulties, (which, 

 in our opinion, can at present best be settled by the 

 adoption of the Crittenden proposition or some othex 

 measure acceptable to the Border States,) and that a 

 committee of five be appointed, to prepare, in behalf 

 of this Convention, a suitable memorial to the Legis- 

 lature, urging them to submit the Crittenden com- 

 promise to a vote of the electors of the State, at the 

 earliest practicable day. 



Early in February, the delegation appointed 

 at the merchants' meeting, Jan. 17, proceeded 

 to Washington, with a monster petition from 

 New York, with 40,000 signatures, praying for 

 a settlement of the difficulties, and in a number 

 of ways the people manifested their earnest 

 anxiety for peace. 



The desire to avoid every semblance of irri- 

 tation and ill-feeling was manifested in an ex- 

 traordinary manner in several parts of the 

 country. This was by discountenancing those 

 persons through whose agency the Northern 

 sentiment had acquired the appearance of a 

 hostility to the South, incompatible with its 

 continuance in the Union. 



At Syracuse. Jan. 30, a meeting was held in 

 Convention Hall to denounce slavery, but was 

 turned into a Union meeting for the support of 

 the Constitution and the Government, express- 

 ing the opinion that by peace only the Union 

 could be preserved, and the Abolitionists were 

 driven from the Hall. 



On the 3d of February, the Hon. Ira Harris 

 was elected United States Senator, in place of 

 Mr. Seward, -who was appointed to the Cabinet. 



On the 21st of March, the Governor received 

 from the President an authenticated copy of 

 the joint resolution adopted by Congress pro- 

 posing an amendment to the Constitution of the 

 United States, which, when ratified by three- 

 fourths of the State Legislatures, should be- 

 come a part of that instrument, in the following 

 language : " No amendment shall be made to 

 the Constitution which will authorize or give 

 to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, 

 within any State, with the domestic institutions 

 thereof, including that of persons held to labor 

 or service, by the laws of said State." 



This amendment, if it had been cordially 

 adopted by three-fourths of the States, would 

 have shown a desire to conciliate, although it 

 was of no practical value whatever. 



