Daily national Republican., 1863-09-23
Iron the Cincinnati Gazette


He Does net Tell ali the Truth Absas
it-A Southern Mar On vall..digAaa.
Whof Mr.. Pugh. About WHAT The Crit
tenden Compromise. really think It Ia high
time this matter wss underwood. therefore
propose to state some facts which perceive
the Vsllandlgham orator., either through iguo-
rance or design, keep from the people. Promi.
nent among these orators Ia Mr.. Pugh. In q
recent speech he stated 1t a. an important fact,
that no Republican Senator voted for the Crit.
tenden Compromise. The idea he intended to
convey certainly was, that the Republican SEN
ators are blamable because the present war
was not prevented by the adoption Of said COM
promise. Mr.. Pugh reminds US that he was In
the Senate at the time, and knows whereof he
affirms. sgurT raIg OIL.
What are tho factsi Mr.. Crlttenden early
in the session of ls60-6l, proposed that certain
amendments should be made to the Constitu.
ton Of the United States. His object was to
pacify the excited, not to say the exasperated
south. These Amendments were before the
Senate for weeks, when Mr.. Clark, of New
Hampshire, offered an amendment to the Crit
tenden proposition declaratory resolution,
the vital point In which Is that the Constitu-
ton needs not TO be dDssaded but o6ey.d. The
vote on thls resolution was considered decisive
Of the fate Of the Crittcnden policy. Tho vote
was taken on Mr.. Clark's resolution the 10th
Of January, 1861, and 1t was adopted by ma.
jority Of TOO. The Senate said by this small
majority that the Constitution needs no amend.
ment. The question Is not whether the Crit
tenden propositions were wise or unwise, but
why were they not adopted Mr.. Pugh blames
the Republican Senators. Is this fsiri
When the vote was taken on Mr.. Clark's res
olution six Southern Senators refused to vote.
These were Messrs. Benjamin and Slldell, OF
Louisiana, Hemphill and Wigfall, OF Texas,
Iverson, OF Georgia, and johnson, OF Arkansas.
1t will not do to say that these gentlemen were
absent. The Congregational Glo6s shows that on
the calling Of the yeas and nays, just before
the vote on the Clark resolution, they were
present. II, then, they had voted against the
resolution, 1t would have been lost by ma.
jority Of four, and by the same vote the Crit.
tenden propositions could have passed. Nor Is
this all. South Carolina had not sent her Sen.
ators that season, and It seems the Senators
from Mississippi, Alabama and Florida had
Withdrawn. II these States had been repre-.
sented, there would have been eight additional
southern votes. .. ... 80 .HE
state these facts to show that II there Is any
blame connected with the failure of the Crit
tenden compromise, 1t rests on the South. II
was charged at the time In the papers and not
denied, so far as ! know, that some of the SEN
ators who refueed to vote on the Clark resolu.
tion, and thus secured its adoption, Immediate.
ly teiegraphsd to their States, saying that they
could get no compromise from the NORM, ana
must prepare for war. Hence forts and arsenals
were SEIZED. Never before he'd there been sc
disgusting an exemplihcation Of rascality In
United States senators. Another fact Is worthy
OF note. Before the close Of the session Of Con
gress, March Sd, 1861, a resolution passed thu
House Of Representatives, and also the Senate
by q two-thirds vote, recommending to tn,
States the amendment Of the Constitution, b,
prohibiting forever, on the part Of Congress ant
the President, all interference with slavery II
the States.
This, however, was not satisfactory to tn
Gulf States. 1t did not prevent the tratorous ant
atrocious bombardment Of Fort Sumter 10 April
1851. The cotton States were determined oI
revolution. Nothing but disunion could satisf!
them. The attack on Fort Sumter was in
tended to draw the border slave States into tn
8, cession movement. It was, In part, success
full. Living, as / then did, In the South,
knew the sentiments and purposes entertained
there. Nor is 1t improper to say that am as
founded at Mr.. Vallandigham's mlsreprcssnta
tlons of the state Of things, and am frequentl,
amused at the Ignorance betrayed by Vallan
dighsm orators in regard to the South.
OBSERVER.