The constitutional union., 1861-02-08
STRONG DEBATE.
WASHINGTON, January 2e, 1861.

passed by the legislature of New Jersey, ex- pressive of firm attachment to the Union, and the duty of every good citizen to sustain 1t, and favoring the Crittenden proposition and the calling of a convention of the States, etc. Laid on the table and ordered to be printed.
 The House considered the Senate amend ment to post route bill. Without action, the morning hour having expired, the special or der was resumed, being the report of the con- mittee of thirty-three.
 Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania regretted that he was compelled to believe that no compromise could now be made, when six States are in open and declared rebellion, hay ing seized the public forts and arsenals and robbed the people of millions of public proper ty. When he saw our harbors blockaded, and armies in array against the flag of our country which has been insuted, he had no hope that concession. humiliation or com promise would have good effect whatever. Rather than give concession to rebels he would see the Government shattered into ten thousand atoms.
 Mir. Harris of Maryland, spoke of the glo rles of the country and sald the disasters now pending spring from the empty rivalries of boasted statesmen to solve the problem of the States and Territories in regard to sla- very. The verdict of impartial history will be that there Is no reason for secession, and none for the disruption of the Union. He believed that the responsibility of national safety or perdition rests on the present repre- sentatves of the people, now in Congress as sembled. The question now Is upon whom shall the terrible responsibility of the future rest, and that will fall on the party or set of men who will not spurn mere miserable party trammes and come up to- the question how q great nation can be served. Far too much of the present mischief came from the abmitiOus desires of politicians at the South who want d greater emlnence than they can command un- der our present system. He repeated that secession IS the unholy offspring of southern political ambition, and far too much of the aggravatlon which reused their resistance from the North. He repealed to the North, if there was not too much aggravation on their part and by their Representatives, which administered to southern spirit which was ever ready to seize with avidlty what would feed their appettcs. The both sections are responsible tor the trouble. The secession of six southern States met with no sympathy in Maryland.
 Mir Hughes denied that Mr. Harris spoke for the part of Maryland he represented
 Mr. Harris. Not more than corporal s guard in Maryland favor secession. He urg- ed his northern friends to do something at once for pacifcation. There was shoulder ing fire under Maryland which might break out and sweep her into disunion Let them rise above party and prejudice and cement the Union more firmly than ever. Let us have less elOqucnce in speeches and more pertinent eloquence in votes. Give us the Crittenden or similar propositions. He closed as follows:
 Let me not, instead of our national music, hear the Marsellaise, which is not music to my ears. Flaunt not before my eyes the flags of divided nationality exciting no devotion in my American heart, but let me and my people go to our graves with our cOnsecrated melodies ringing in our ears, and over us float the flag of our Union with all its con- stellated parts" Applause.
 MT Wmslow spoke of Northern aggression. High sounding words, he said. would not save the Un.on, nor could the piece of bunting with the stripes and stars. He spoke in ia vor of the Crlttenden proposition, with noth- ing less than which the South could be satis- fed He Was against coercion. By this the Union could not be held together It could he done only by mutual justice and affection.
 MT. Van Wycke, of New York, spoke at length. Among other things, you ask us to compromise What have we to conccde? We have done you no wrong, and promise none. You have proposed no compromise which does not involve a surrender on our part You want the Constitution amended How would this avail you, if your present position is correct, and one State, however insignif- cant can destroy the whole fabric? You have violated the Constitution, and have set the laws at defiance, and are demanding constitu- tional guarantees that we will do nothing
 Do you propose any concession to the North? Any security to life and liberty to Northern men in Southern States? Of prop erty in books? Of the freedom of speech and the press as already secured by the Constitu- tlon! You say you concede to freedom the territory North 36.30 We have a double title to that already; first by purchase and then by conquest. We bought it when we took Missouri into the Union as a slave State. Then we convucred in the strife of civil war. All our future acquisitions must be in the direction of the tropics, and you demand its unconditional surrender to slavery. You want us to surrender to men who themselves are compromise breakers. Believe not in a re- construction of the present Constitution. Once lost, you never can regain. Think you another State can be formed wherein Florida and Delaware can equal New York and Penn sylvania?
 You are opposed to the army and navy because you boldly assert that an enforcement of the laws means a coercion of State, but you are willing to send troops two thousand miles to coerce our brethren in Utah. You have used the Federal troops to enforce the fugitive slave law, and to rescue the arsenal at Harper's Ferry from John Brown. You sent the army to Kansas. The camp had no terrors for you then, but now you oppose coer- cion. Yet by force of armed men you seize the forts and navy yards, and trample the stars and stripes in the dust.
 We do not mean to be driven from the Unian by force. Do you desire a peaceable secession? A convention of all the States would possibly allow you to depart in peace. Adjourned