Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1864-10-26
THE CRIrTENDEN OoMpRoMIsE
EA-CoV. Bigier's Reply to Gen Came ron.
PHILADELPHIA, october 5lb lssa

IA-'o'' nigiers Reply to Gen Camer ron,
PHILADELPHIA, October 5th, 1864
10" S'0'on CdNeron DEAR SIR. have
. Jnst perused, for the first time. and with
he Utmost surprise, so much of your late
address, as Chairman of the Republican
State Coinmlttee as relates TO the reiec.
tion OF the Crittenden Compromise, and
whist atm aware that the Hou. C. L.
Ward, as Chairman Of our Committee, has
already answered your allegation conolu-
siVely on the main points, must | in.
duiged whilst ! call your attention 10 the
subject little more in detail.
In allndiOg to the present sad condition
OF the country and to the grave responsi.
oilities resting upon those who neglected
OF refused to aveit these calam;,ies by fair
ana honorable compromise, yru say,
-" Inc question hinges upon the respon-
slollity OF the rejection NJ the Crittenden
Compromise. II was rejected. By whom ?
Reference 10 page 400, OF the Congression-
al GLOBE OF the second session Of the Thir.
y-sixth Congress, will place the response
oiiity Tor the rejection OF that com promise
where 1t properly belongs. IL will be seen
that the Criitenden Compromise was de-
fealed by the substitution lin effect) of
what is known as the Clark Amendment.
The record shows thar the vote on the mo.
llon to substitute was yeas, 25, nays 80.
me vote on the adoption of the Clark
proposition, taken directly afterwards,
was Yeas 10, nays %. The presumption
would be, naturally, that if the South had
votes enough To reject the substitute. il,
would also have had enough TO reject the
proposiuon wnen offered independently.
There was falling off in the negaliv 3
vote on The proposition, as compared with
That ON the hrst motion 10 substitute, Of
seven votes. This is accounted for by the
fact that Senators Benjamin and Slideil,
of louisiana WiIfall and Hemphill, of
Texas lverson, Of Georgia, and Johnson,
OF Arkansa'-S,.r S0nthern Senator's in
thesr seats and refused to vote. Had these six
Southern men voted no, the Clark pro-
position would have been defeated by a
majority OF iour votes, and the cri,tenden
Compromise could have been taken up
and carried by the same majority. IL APP
pears OF record, then that the Crittenden
Compromise Was rejected because six OF
the leading Senators from the South vir.
tuaiiy icIussu ~ Su,r iVI n uiutIUn ~
reconsider was carried some weeks later
and direct vote upon the CONF romise
was taken. The pronosition was lost bv a
single vote. But one OF the six Senators
referred TO voted on that occasion, nearly
all OF them having Withdrawn on the sc-
cession OF their respective States. Had
they remained TO vote for the compromise
it would have been adopted
1 =. =
matter is TO show that when. before The
overt ACT of war was committed, the South
had the election Of compromise or war,
she. through her highest dignitaries de-
llberately chose war"
You must pardon rae for the remark,
that OF the versions aud perversions Of
this item of grave legislative history
which have fallen under my notice, yours
is the most illogical and un,ruthful. 1t
looks very like one Of your best efforts 10
conceal rather than exhibit the truth.
/ am right glad, howe, er, tha, you seem
wiling to stake the claims Of your party
for continued confidence an support to
some extent, upon their etfJrts to avert
dissolution and civil war ty honorable
concession and settlement, for you there.
by invite full and free inquiry into the
subject.
Yousay "the question hinges uron the
responsibility OF the rejection of the Crit
teuden Compromise. In a subsequent
part oi your address you define the ques
ton hinged TO be peace or war. am
much indebted 10 you for this concession.
! Had equal candor aud fairness marked
the remainder of the Address, should
have had no occasion to notice il. Mr.
Greeley, and others Of your friends have
! sought to escape the responsibility by al
leging that the proposed compromise
would not have been effective. But you
have assumed that it would, and you pro-
ceed TO inquire who defeated it.
You say the proceedings Of Congress, MS
recorded on page 400 of The Congressional
Globe for that session. Twill place the res
ponsibility for the rejection OF that con-
pr,mise where ii belongs" But you have
fallen into grave errors about the vote. -
The vote of 25 to 80 was on a motion to
postpone, and there is no such vote a, IS
TO % but that is not essential as shall
give the vote correctly, and it shows that,
on the motion OF Mr. Clark, Of New Hamp-
shire, to strike out the compromise and
insert certain propositions OF his own. ev-
cry Republican Senator present voted to
strike out the compromise. aud every
S,u,hern Senator who voted on the sub
jsct, and every Democratic Senator from
The North voted TO sustain it, as follows:
In favor OF striking it out, Messrs. Antho-
nv, Baker, Bingham, CAMERON, Chand-
Ter. Clark. Clark, Colamer, Dixon. Doo-
little, Durkee, Fessendeu, Foot, Foster,
Grimes, Hale, Harlan. King, Seward. Sim
mons, Sumner. Ten Eyck, Trumbull,
Wade, WIlkinson and Wilson-25.
! Against striking out the compromise !:
Bayard. Bigler Bragg Bright. Clingman,
Criitenden, Fitch, Greed; Lane. Latham,
Mason. Nicholson. Pearce. Polk, Powell,
Pugb, Rice. Salisbury and Sebastian %.
lIus you proceed to show with seeming
exultalion, that "sir Southern Senators sa.
in their seats and rSfusedt to VOTE" and hence,
the defeat OF tie compromise. That is
true. General bu. II would havs been
quite a. easy for you TO have shown. that
,..uh, yp, P,nubEean Ssu,feys al In fbr,v s,,f.