The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-06-19
MursddY, June II, 1856.


Mr. Hamlin. Mr.. President, | rise for
purpose purely personal, such as | have never
before risen for in the Senate. / desire to ex.
plain some matters personal to myself aud to
my own future course in public life.
Several Senators. Gro on.
Mr.. Hamlin. ask the Senate TO excuse me
from further service as chairman of the Com.
mite on Commerce. / do so because | feel
that my relations hereafter will be Of such
character as to render it proper that should
no longer hold that position. / owe this act to
the dominant majority in the Senate When
cease to harmonic with the majority, or tests
are applied by that party with which | have
acted to which | cannot submit, feel that
ought no longer to hold that responsible posi-.
ton. l propose to state briefly the reasons
which have brought me to that conclusion.
During nine years of service in the Senate,
have preferred rather TO be a working than
talking member, and so ] have been almost a
silent one. On the subjects which have so
much agitated the country, Senators know that
| have rarely uttered word. l love my coun.
try more than l love my party. | love my
country above my love for any interest that can
too deeply agitate or disturb its harmony. !
saw in all the exciting scenes and debates
through which we have passed no particular
SOOu WOulU result from my dCllNt inter-
mingling in them. My heart has often been
full, and the impulses Of that heart have often
been felt upon my lips but | have repressed
them there.
Sir, | hold that the repeal of the Missouri
Compromise was gross moral and political
wrong, unequalled in the annals of the legisA-
tion of this country, and hardly equaIed in the
annals Of any other free country. STILL sir,
with a desire to promote harmony and concord
and brotherly feeling, was q quiet man under
all the exciting debates which led TO that fatal
result. believed it wrong then; can see that
wrong lying broadcast all around us now. As
a wrong opposed that measure not indeed
by my voice, but with consistent aud steady
and uniform votes. | so resisted il in obedl-
ence to the dictates of my own judgment. |
did it also cheerfully, in compliance with the
instructions Of the Legislature of Maine, which
were passed by vote almost unanimous. In
the House of Representatives of Maine, con
sisting of one hundred and iifty-one members,
only six, think, dissented; and in the Senate,
consisting of thirty-one members, only one
member non-concurred.
But the Missouri restriction was abrogated.
The portentous evils that were predicted have
followed and are yet following along in its train.
1t was done, sir, in violation of the pledges OF
that party with which have always acted, and
with which have always voted. 1t was done
in violation of solemn pledges of the President
of the United States, made in his inaugural ad-
dress. Still, sir, was disposed TO suffer the
wrong until should see that no evil results
were flowing from it. We were told by almost
every Senator who addressed us upon that oc-
casion that no evil results would follow; that
no practical difference in the settlement OF the
country and the character of the future State
would take place, whether the act were done or
not. / have waited calmly and patiently to see
the fulilment Of that prediction and ] am
grieved, sir, to say now that they have at least
been mistaken in their predictions and promises.
They have all signally failed.
That Senators might have voted for that
measure under the belief then expressed, and
the predictions to which | have alluded, can
we'll understand. But how Senators can now
defend that measure amid all its evils, which
are overwhelming the land, if not threatening
IL with q cOnhagration, is what | do not com
prehend. The whole Of the disturbed state Of
the country has its rise in and is attributable
to that act alone-nothing else. 1t lies at the
foundation Of all our misfortunes and commO-
tions. Had it not been done, that reposo and
quiet which pervaded the public mind then
would hold it in tranquility today Instead OF
startling events, we should have quiet and peace
within our borders, and that fraternal feeling
which ought to animate the citizens of every
part of the Union toward those of oil other sec
tons.
Sir, the events that are taking place around
us are indeed startling. They challenge the
the public mind and appeal to the public judg-
ment; they thrill the public nerve as electricity
imparts a tremulous motion TO the telegraphc
wire. 1t is period when all good men should
unite in applying the proper remedy TO secure
peace and harmony to the country. is this to
be done by any of us by remaining associated
with those who have been instrumental in pro
ducing these results, and who now Justify them!
do not see my duty lying in that direction.
have, while temporarily scquiescing, stated
here and at home, everywhere, uniformly, that
when the tests of those measures were applied
to me as one of party fidelity, / would sunder
them as flax is sundered at the touch Of FIRE
/ do it now.
The occasion involves n question OF moral
duty; and selfrespect allows me no other line
of duty but to follow the dictates Of my Owl
judgment and the impulses of my own heart
Just man may cheerfully submit to many
enforced humiliations, but a selfdegraded man
has ceased to be worthy to be deemed man
at all.
Sir, what has the recent Democratic Conven-
ton at Cincinnati done? 1t has endorsed the
measure have condemned, aud has sanction
ed its destructive and ruinous effects. Ii has
done more, vastly more. That principle or
policy of Territorial sovereignty which once
had, and which | suppose now has, its adV0'