Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1861-07-25
The Crittendcn Compromise
Would the south have Taken
CISclsNATr, June 20 1861
To the Editor of tie Inquirer:

uay, halu tilat oeIl. DaNiS, anu tle OOWJn'
ern members who were in Congress last
sessions, voted for the Crittenden Com.
promise. He said that they did not, and
they were not willing to vote for any
compromise. contendcd that they were
willing to compromise. We agreed
to let you decide which is right.
Yours, &C., "AQUILLA.
Our correspondent is right. Messrs
Davis, Toombs, Breckenridge and the
whole South with the exception of South
! Carolina, were anxious, when Congress
met last December, to settle all our diff
culties upon the basis of the Crittender
Compromise. A Committee of thirteen
was raised in the Senate to consider a
plan of adjustment. The most eminen,
Senators, North and South, Democrats
and Republicans, were on the Committee
Among them were Jefferson Davis and
Robert Toombs, now the President and
Secretary of State of the Southern Con.
federacy, Stephen A. Douglas, John j
Crittenden and W. II. Seward, Fes.
senden and other influential Republican
Senators. What was done in that Com.
mittee was thus alluded to by Mr..
Douglas in the last speech which he made
in the Senate of the United States, on
2nd OF March, 1861, two days before the
close of the session. His remarks were
thus quoted in the Congressional Globe
of that date
Mr.. Douglas said:
"Ican confirm the Senator's declara
of -,
himself, when on the Committee of Thr-
teen, was ready at all times to Comprom-
Use on the Crittenden Proposition.
will go farther, and say that Mr.. Toombs
was also"
No Republican or Southern Senator
questioned the truth of Mr.. Douglas as
sertion, which, indeed, was notorious
fact to every body in Washington. Mr..
breckenridge, a representative of the eX-
treme Southern sentiment, who had re-
ceived the vote of nearly all the Sothern
States for President of the United States,
wrote a letter to Gov. MEG offin in which
he strongly advocated the adoption of
the Crlttenden Compromise. Votes were
taken in the Senate and House, which
|
column, together with the Northern De-
mocrats, to be in favor of that measure,
but the opposition of the Republicans to
it defeated it. Only few months have
passed since these memorable events, and
yet the belief in the extraordinary untruth
that Davis, Toombs, and the Southern
men, would not except of that Comprom-
Use, pervades large portion of the COM
munity. The whole South, save S. Car
olina, would have adopted the Crttenden
Compromise. All the Border Slave
States, including Virginia., North Car
olina, Tennessee and Arkansas, which
have since seeded, would have accepted
the Border State Conference Report, or
Mr.. Douglas Compromise, or the Peace
! Conference Report. 1t is written down
in stern and inexorable history that the
Republicans in Congress would not ac-
cept of these proposition. No Compro-
mise uoS tie motto IN that Quarter. They
would not even submit the question of a
compromise to the direct vote of the peo-
pie of the United States. This prop
osition was made by Mr.. Crittenden him
Bigler, of Pennsylvania. Had the peo-
pie voted upon it, we have no doubt they
would have accepted the Crittenden
adjustment. But they were denied the op-
portunity. They would not even call a
Ma ional Convention to consider our diff
culties. 1t is but Just, in this connection,
to say that President Lincoln, when ne
| . &
greess had adjourned, did make such a re-
commentator, but Congress was not
there to practically act ~ on it. Had the
Crittenden Compromise been adopted,
not State would have been ont of the
Union now, and every thing would have
gone on smoothly and peaceably. Had
the other Compromises to which we have
alluded been accepted, the Southern re-
bellion would have been confined to the
cotton States, and could have been quick
ly subdued.
Indeed, it is probable we should have
had no war, and that now we should have
been in the midst Of prosperous times.
Never in the history Of the world was
there a more fatal mistake than upon
the part Of those who rejected the Com
promises. All can see it now! The true
and wise Union men were oyererruled in
their counsels, and 10 what result has
been produced by ingnorcnce and folly.
How ridiculous and absurd in the view
of history, of reason, common sense, Is
the profession put forth by those who op-
posed these compromises, of being as
good or better Union men than those Of
MS at the North who have favored them
II they were for the Union. Providence
had not given them much wisdom to act
in its behalf.
1t is onl y for the purpose of Vindica-
ting the truth of history that we allude
to these "reminiscences, for the past is
gone never to return, and we stand pre-
pared to act shoulder to shoulder with all
those who labor for the restoration Of the
Union, without regard to past differences
We are willing to concede to those who
differed with us honestly and patriotical
ly, and will meet them now as Ameri
cans, upon Union and Constitutions
grounds. 1t is due to truth to say tha
we have seen no occasion to change on
views of public policy. At the risk o
/, offending fools and bigots, and of being
|, called traitors, we declare our willinges
: to accept the Crittenden Compromis'
: ! now as a panacca for all our troubles, an(
= we are satisfied that our national interest
would be subserved by it Immensely