ANTI-COMPROMISE

361

Peace Convention Proceedings.

torial Government shall have power to hinder or prevent emigrants to said Territory from taking with them persons held to labor or involuntary servitude, according to the laws and

usages of the State from which such persons may be taken, nor to impair the right arising

out of such relation, and be subject to ju

dicial cognizance. It also provided that States formed from the territory either north or south of the proposed line shall be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with or without involuntary servitude or labor, as their Constitutions may provide. Also, that Congress shall not have the power to establish Slavery in any State, or in the District of Columbia, without the consent of Maryland and Virginia. The African slave-trade was forever to be prohibited, and the fourth Article of the Constitution was not to be construed to prevent any of the States from the en

forcement of the Fugitive Slave law. And, lastly, it provided that no Territory shall be henceforth acquired without the consent of three-fourths of the

Senate."

This proposition was submitted to the action of the Convention Friday morning, when Seddon, of Virginia, (understood to represent the Hunter faction,) offered the Crittenden resolution on behalf of the minority, with the amendments of the Virginia Legislature. Messrs. Dudley Field, Baldwin, and Crowningshield stated verbally that they disagreed with those reports. An early adjournment was had, for members to consult with their several Congressional delegations prior to voting on the question.

Saturday's session was one of earnest debate. Baldwin, of Connecticut, moved to substitute for the proposition of the Committee his resolution for a National Convention. This he supported in an able speech. He believed that no other measure would meet with the approbation of the two Houses of Congress. Mr. Guthrie, with much earnestness and power, opposed Mr. Baldwin's substitute, and advocated the report of the Committee. He urged upon the Convention speedy action. There was no time to be lost. If the Convention really intended to adopt measures which would restore peace and good brotherhood between the States, they ought to do so at once. He animadverted, with much severity, upon the refusal of Congress to meet the exigency, and the

Mr. Curtis, of Iowa, answered this reference to Congress with much decision, saying that it was a deliberative body, and had a right to consider all propositions submitted calmly. He believed there had been an organized conspiracy to break up the Government, and that no compromise here could have prevented it. He inquired of Mr. Guthrie whether he thought even his own plan would have arrested that movement? Guthrie answered, that it would have saved some of the States.. Curtis then examined Mr. Guthrie's scheme, and demonstrated that its purpose was to establish and protect Slavery in future acquisitions of Territory by an artful use of language, and to that the people of the North would never consent. They were pledged against it, and would not surrender their principles, but intended no aggression on the rights of the South.

This firm attitude of the Republican member excited no little commotion, particularly as he had insinuated that deception was designed in the clause regarding the Territorial question. It was contended by several, among whom was Reverdy Johnson, that it not only applied to present Territories, but to future acquisitions also, and, with that view, he (Johnson) should move an amendment, so as to exclude Territory hereafter to be acquired.

No vote was taken, and the week's proceedings closed without any advance having been made.

Pending these events, (February 1st-15th,) the state of the country was calculated to create renewed future.

Anti-Compromise

Sentiment Growing.

anxiety for the

The anti-compromise spirit of the Northern States became more developed with each day's proceedings of Congress, and with every arrival of news from the Southern Confederacy. In the breasts of a large class, a feeling akin to rancor was becoming apparent; while the vast majority of Northern men unquestionably were opposed to any settlement which did not imply the power forever to prevent a recurrence of the revolu

363

The Democracy faVoring Secession.

present condition of the country is owing to the sectional spirit of a great Northern party denying the equality of rights; that the doctrine of coercion, instead of conciliation, is pernicious, and should be resisted, as leading to civil war, and destruction of the moral and commercial interests of the people, and will destroy the Union, and prevent its reconstruction; that the Crittenden Compromise, or something like it, will harmonize opinions; that our Senators and Representatives have failed to meet the requirements of their position; that the Personal Liberty bills should be repealed," &c., &c.

So, also, of the Michigan State Democratic Convention, February 7th. In nominating a candidate for Supreme Judge, resolutions were adopted declaring devotion to the Union, opposing coercion, and favoring compromise.

But, the drift of public sentiment threatened to overwhelm this class of temporizers. The voice of the people became too stern to doubt its purpose; and, in saying that all hopes of compromise had expired by the middle of February, we feel that the statement will bear the test of any denial which may be made. Speaking for the North-west, an influential journal of Chicago said, (February 11th :)

Finality.

"Speaking for the NorthAnti-Compromise a west, we bid the Reconstructionists defiance. If they want revolution, they shall have it. If they insist upon disunion, they may succeed. But they cannot improve upon, and they shall not tamper with, the

Constitution which our forefathers made. Liberty

with us, and with those for whom we speak, is something more than a sentiment or an idea; it is a reality-an embodied form-with whom, and for whom, we and they are willing to do battle with tyranny, in whatever form it may appear. The Constitution, as it is, is sufficient for all. That in strument which has borne such beneficent fruit in

Anti-Compromise a Finality.

the past, though sometimes perverted by men who have used it in oppression's cause, is our lamp and our guide in the future. It is the New Testament of Freedom-the last revelation of Christian Democracy. He who sullies one of its pages by any of the amendments which are proposed, whereby the right of every man to have and own himself is denied, is an Atheist before Heaven, and a traitor before man!"

It is important, in tracing the progress of the revolution, to note carefully the gradual changes of public opinion, and the causes which led to those changes; for, in those causes are to be found at once the reasons for the conflict which followed, and the justification for it. If "conciliation" and "compromise" failed, there was a reason for it, and that reason will be found in the invincible public opinion of the North gradually brought to bear on Congress and the Peace Convention. "No compromise" soon became the paramount idea in view of the persistent attitude of hostility assumed by the Seceded States, not only in the formation of a new General Government, but in the organizations of armies with which to force the Unionists to an acceptance of the terms which the Slave States might offer. To "conciliate" and compromise" in the face of force, was to cower before revolution. A prominent Democrat from New York said [see page 348] on the floors of Congress, "I say, in the presence of this new and last phase of the secession movement, that it can have no friends in the North, it can have no apologists in the North; but there will soon be no exception to the general denunciation which it must meet with from the loyal and patriotic citizens of this country." He but heralded the uprising which was soon to marshal its millions under the rallying-cry of "The Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the laws !"

Mr. Holt's Letter to the President.

"I shall make no comment upon the origin of the revolution which, for the last three months, has been in progress in several of the Southern States, nor shall I enumerate the causes which have hastened its advancement or exasperated its temper. The scope of the question submitted by the House will be sufficiently met by dealing with the facts as they exist, irrespective of the cause from which they have proceeded. That revolution has been distinguished by a boldness and completeness of success, rarely equaled in the history of civil commotions. Its overthrow of the Federal authority has not only been sudden and widespread, but has been marked by excesses which have alarmed all, and been sources of profound humiliation to a large portion of the American people. Its history is a history of surprises, and treacheries, and ruthless spoliations. The forts of the United States have been captured and garrisoned, and hostile flags unfurled upon their ramparts. Its arsenals have been seized, and the vast amount of public arms they contained appropriated to the use of the captors, while more than half a million of dollars, found in the mint at New Orleans, has been unscrupulously applied to replenish the coffers of Louisiana. Officers in command of revenue cutters of the United States have been prevailed on to violate their trusts and surrender the property in their charge; and instead of being branded for their crimes, they, and the vessels they betrayed, have been cordially received into the service of the Seceded States. These movements were attended by yet more discouraging indications of immorality. It was generally believed that this revolution was guided and urged on by men occupying the highest positions in the public service, and, with the responsibilities of an oath to support the Constitution still resting upon their consciences, did not hesitate secretly to plan, and openly to labor for, the dismemberment of the Republic whose honors they enjoyed, and upon whose treasury they were living. As examples of evil are always more potent than those of good, this spectacle of demoralization, on the part of States and statesmen, could not fail to produce the most deplorable consequences. The discontented and the disloyal everywhere took courage; in other States adjacent to, and supposed to sympathize, in sense of political wrong, with those referred to, revolutionary schemes were set on foot, and forts and arms of the United States seized; the unchecked prevalence of the revolution, and the intoxication which its triumphs inspired, naturally suggested wilder and yet more desperate enterprises than the conquest of ungarrisoned forts or the plunder of an unguarded mint. At what time the armed occupation of Washington City became a part of the revolutionary

365

Mr. Holt's Letter to the President.

programme is not certainly known; more than six weeks ago the impression had already extensively obtained that a conspiracy for the accomplishment of this guilty purpose was in process of formation, if not fully matured. The earnest endeavors made by men known to be devoted to the revolution to hurry Virginia and Maryland out of the Union were regarded as preparatory steps for the subjugation of Washington. This plan was in entire harmony with the aim and spirit of those seeking the subversion of the Government, since no more fatal blow at its existence could be struck than the permanent and hostile possession of the seat of its power. It was in harmony, too, with the avowed designs of the revolutionists, which looked to the formation of a confederacy of all the Slave States, and necessarily to the conquest of the capital within their limits. It seemed not very indistinctly prefigured in a proclamation made upon the floor of the Senate, without qualification, if not exultantly, that the Union was already dissolved--a proclamation which, however intended, was certainly calculated to invite, on the part of men of desperate fortunes or of revolutionary States, a raid upon the capital. In view of the violence and turbulent disorders already exhibited in the South, the public mind could not reject such a scheme as at all improbable. That a belief in its existence was entertained by multitudes there can be no doubt, and this belief I fully shared. My conviction rested not only on the facts already alluded to, but upon information, some of which was of a most conclusive character, that reached the Government from many parts of the country, not merely expressing the prevalence of the opinion that such an organization had been formed, but also often furnishing the plausible grounds on which the opinion was based. Superadded to these proofs were the oft-repeated declarations of men in high political positions here, and who were known to have intimate affiliations with the revolution, if, indeed, they did not hold its reins in their hands, to the effect that Mr. Lincoln would not, or should not, be inaugurated at Washington. Such declarations from such men could not be treated as empty bluster. They were the solemn utterances of those who well understood the import of their words, and who, in the exultation of the temporary victories gained over their country's flag in the South, felt assured that events would soon give them the power to verify their predictions. Simultaneously with these prophetic warnings, a Southern journal of large circulation and influence, and which is published near the City of Washington, advocated its seizure as a possible political necessity.

"The nature and power of the testimony thus accumulated may be best estimated by the effect pro