, 1861-03-15

while the fantcst hope may be realized; and
rather than behold violence and civil war
: enthroned in the land, will consent TO any
, jnst aud reasonable proposition giving peace
, ard prosperity to the country.
While have voted for the resolutions Of
the venerable and experienced Senator
: from Kentucky, Mr.. Criltenden, ever
pnlsation Of whose heart is patriotic, or
; will support the plans Of either of the dis
iinguished Senators from Illinois (Mr.
Doglas,) or Pennsylvania, (Mr. Biger, }
still, in my humble Judgment, the PROPOSE
tion of the honorable Senator from Mime
sofa, Mr.. Rice is better calculated than
any TO give peace TO the country 1t ends
the struggle over the Territories between
the North and the South. Popular Sow
erignty," Squatter Sovereignty" !" Slave
! Protection" and other themes of discord
and misrepresentation must cease when all
concede to the States the untrammcled reg
ulation of their own internal Institutions
This oblitcration of the Territories of the
Uuited States by State organizations,
bringing them Immediately under the clear
provisions sof the Constitution, and the
other remedies suggested or submitted to
Igive security TO the institution of slavery,
will certainly be promptly and almost unan-
imously agreed to by the people represent,
and will, | believe, receive the appropriation
Of large majority of the people both
North aud South.
Mr.. President, our constituents wait for
us aud expect us to act promptly on some
proposition enabling their voice to be heard
and thus decide the issue. Delay is baueful
and conducive to the worst calamity. We
have already lost by depreciation Of every
species of property, some three hundred
millions of dollars, aud shall il the agitation
continues, lose 81 900, ,000,o ,o00 A nom
intercourse law between the North and
South exists in fact already, and will soon
if things are suffered 10 go on, be enacted
in due form. Circulating medium will be
deranged, or even disappear, and our State
Treasures will be embarrassed, and the
| Federal Treasury itself reduced to hopeless
bankruptcy. Thousands Of laboring people
have already been thrown out Of employ
ment. Commercial failures and manufaciu-
ring ruin stalk through the land; our farm
ers will soon be reduced to barterihg their
produce for articles Of prime necessity. Our
financial condition will soon sulIer the re-
duction Of the old colonial times, and the
country be inundated with that baseless
trash-paper money. Emigration from
Europe will cease, aud the capitalists who
have invested in American securities will
throw them on our market, still further de-
pressing the cnrrent rates. All private
confidence would be destroyed, and every
species Of private enterprise indefinitely
postponed. r.
implorc you, Senators, as others have
done before me, by everything dear to
aud sacred to our consciences, not TO turn
deaf ear to the voices Of the people, call
ing upon US to pause in our political career
aud TO prove to the North and to the South
and TO the civilized world, that our hearts
and minds expand with the magnitude Of
the subject upon which we are called to de.
liberate; that our patriotism can rise above
party consideration; that when the honor,
the dignity, the existence Of our Institutions
are at stake, there is no sacrifice Of person
al vanity or the narrow sphere Of partisan
politics that we are not eager, nay, proud
10 make to save our common country.i
Senators, if from the realms on high, it
was vouchsafed by benihcent Providence
that the shades OF our departed patriots,
sages and heroes Of tho revolution, might
speak to US, for whom while living, they SO
toiled aud labored, aud spilled their hearts
blood, how they would implore US to pause
and retrace our steps from this perilous
brink Of destruction aud fraternal strife;
how would the voices Of Washington,
Il Adams and Jefferson, bursting the seal Of
death from their still glowing lips, and
his chill cerements from their potent hands,
proclaim, as they did when living, that all
true glory and historic renown are based
on an elevated love of country, on pure
devotion to its lasting interests, and the
abandonment Of discord and strife. They
would, they do implore, as living men may
not implore, by their sacred wounds and
scars-by that precious bond Of liberty and
proud title Of American bequeathed TO us
10 enjoS-and other lands to dream of as
a vision of peace aud glory, to be yet faith
ful to our Constitution and Union-to that
law of equal right and love which is to ma
tions the same saving grace it is to souls;
that law given Us, as all powerful, by God
himself; the only King they taught us, as a
nation, we might ever own.
, n9- The New York Tribune is in an
! agony Of alarm about coming adjust
ment." Iiseems to apprehend the adoption
by Congress Of propositions equivalent to
those offered by Messrs. Adams, Sherman
r aud Seward. Is the Tribune in alliance