East Saginaw courier., 1865-08-30

x1uufpofilfc, VI Lnc COulunttety OlleIcu
nothing by way of compromise. The
The conservative men, with Taylor,
Rust, Whitely, Winslow, Nelson, Ham
lin, Phelps, and others of the commit
tee, wished to go farther than Govern
or Corwin. They recommended the
Crittenden proposition. The votes on
the Corwin measures were strangely
incongruous. The vote on the Crit
tendon proposition was well defined,
bat is not so well understood. From
the frequency of inquiries since the
war as to this latter vote, the people
were eager to know upon whom to fix
the responsibility of its failure. 1t
may as well be stated that all other
propositions, whether of the Peace
Convention or the Border State project,
or the measures Of the committees
were paratively of no moment; for
the Crittenden proposition was the
only one which could have arrested
the, struggle. II would have received
larger vote than any other. ltwould
have had more effect iii modulating
southern excitement. Even Davis,
Toombs, and others of the Gulf States
would have accepted it. l have talked
with Mr. Crittenden frequently on this
point. Not only has he confirmed the
p~bEe dvvlaI ativns ef DUuglas and
Pugh, and the speech Of Toop' bs him
self, to this effect, but he said it was
80 understood i'll committee. At one
time, when the committee was in ses-
sion, he said Mr.. Toombs, will this
compromise as a remedy for all wrongs
and apprehensions, be acceptable to
you p Mr.. Toombs, with some pro-
family, replied, "Not by good deal,
but my State will accept it, and 1 will
follow my State to - And he did.
/ will not open the question whether
il was wise then TO offer Accommodations;
it may not be profitable now to ask
whether the millions of young men
whose bodies are MANNED, or whose
bones are decaying under the sod of
the South, and the heavy load of pub
lie debt under which we sweat and toll
have their compensation in black lib
erty. Nor will | discuss whether the
blacks have been bettered by their
precipitate freedom, passing, as so
many have, from slavery through star
walton and suffering to death.
There is no comfort in the reflection
that the negroes will be exterminated
with the determination of slavery
the real point is, could not this Union
have been made permanent by timely
settlement, instead of cemented by
fraternal blood and military rule p
BY an equitable partition of the ter
ltory this was possible. We had then
1920 square miles. The Crittenden
proposition would have given the
North 100000 of these sqnare miles,
and applied Chicago doctrines to that
quantity. 1t would have left the re-
manning fourth, substantially, to be
carved out as free or slave States, at
the option of the people when the
States were admitted. Notwithstand-
ing the then President elect was in
minority of million Of the popular
vote, they were determined, as Mr..
Chase wrote to Portsmouth, Ohio,
from the Peace Convention, to use the.
power while they had it, and prevent
settlement 1t has been stated, to
rid the Republicans of the odium of
not averting the war when it was pos
sible, that the Northern members ten
dered the Southern the Crittenden
Compromise, which the South reject
ed. This is untrue. 1t was rendered
by Southern Senators and Northern
Democrats TO the Republicans. They,
in conjunction with some half dozen
recusant Southern Senators, rejected
It, 1t was voted upon but once in the
House, when it received eighty votes
against one hundred and thirteen.
These eighty votes were exclusively
Democrats and Southern Americans,
like Gilmer, Vance and others. Mr..
Briggs, of New York was the only
one no. Democrat who voted for it.
He had been an old Wing, and never
Republican. The Republican roll,
beginning with Adams, and ending
with Woodruff, was unit against it.
Intermingled with them was one
Southern extremist, Gen. H.ndman,
who desired no settlement There
were many Southern men who did
not vote. believing that unless the Re
publicans, who were just acceding to
power, favored it, its adoption would
be delusion.
The plan adopted by the Republi-
can Senators to defeat it, was by
amendment and postponement. On
the l4th and 18th of January they
cast all their votes against its being
taken up; and on the 10Th when it
came up, Mr. Clark, of New Hamp-
shire, moved 10 strike it out and insert
something which he knew would nei-
ther be successful nor acceptible. The
vote on Clarke's amendment was rs
TO "a; every 'aye" being a Republi-
can, and every mo-" except Kennedy
and Crittenden, (Americans) being
Democrats. On this occasion six
Southern Senators, incluning Benjamin
aud Wigfall, did not vote. They
could have defeated the motion of Mr..
Clarke. In reference to this vote, we
have the testimony of President John
son. IN a speech on the expulsion of
Senator Bright, Jan. 81, 1862, to this
effect.
Il sat rather behind Mr.. BENJAMIN,
and. | am not sure that my worthy
friend (Mr. Latham) was not close
by when he refused to vote; and l
said to him, "Mr. Benz njamin, why do
you not vote ? Why not save this
proposition and see if we cannot bring
tho country to it? He gave me rath.
or an abrupt answer, and said he
would control his own actions without
consulting me or ANYBODY else. Said