of his fame. But we may be permitted to remember, that it was in our schools of learning and of law that he was trained up for the great contests which awaited him in the forum or the Senate chamber. Nor can we forget how long and how intimately he was associated, in the Executive or Legislative branches of the Government, with more than one of our own most cherished statesmen.

The loss of such a man, Sir, creates a sensible gap in the public councils. To the State which he represented, and the section of country with which he was so peculiarly identified, no stranger tongue may venture to attempt words of adequate consolation. But let us hope that the event may not be without a wholesome and healing influence upon the troubles of the times. Let us heed the voice, which comes to us all, both as individuals and as public officers, in so solemn and signal a providence of God. Let us remember, that, whatever happens to the Republic, we must die! Let us reflect how vain are the personal strifes and partisan contests in which we daily engage, in view of the great account which we may so soon be called on to render! Well may we exclaim, as Cicero exclaimed, in considering the death of Crassus: "O fallacem hominum spem, fragilemque fortunam, et inanes nostras contentiones!"

Finally, Sir, let us find fresh bonds of brotherhood and of union in the cherished memories of those who have gone before us; and let us resolve that, so far as in us lies, the day shall never come, when New England men may not speak of the great names of the South, whether among the dead or the living, as of Americans and fellow-countrymen!

55⚫

THE

ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA,

AND THE

ADJUSTMENT OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION.

A SPEECH

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON THE STATE OF THE UNION, MAY 8, 1850.

WHEN I had the honor of addressing the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union some weeks ago, I intimated my purpose to take another opportunity, at no distant day, to express, somewhat more in detail than I was able to do on that occasion, the views which I entertain in regard to what have well been called the great questions of the day.

The eager competitions for the floor, which have been wit nessed here almost without intermission from that time to this, have postponed the accomplishment of this purpose much longer than I could have desired.

I rise now, however, at last, to fulfil it. And most heartily do I wish, Mr. Chairman, that, in doing so, I could see my way clear to contribute something to the repose of the country, and to the harmony of our national councils. I yield to no one in the sincerity or the earnestness of my desire, that every bone of conten tion between different portions of the Union may be broken, every root of bitterness removed, and that the American Con. gress may be seen again in a condition to discharge its

legitimate functions, of providing at once for the wants of the Government and for the interests of the people. If there be an example in history, which I would gladly emulate at such a moment as this, it is that of an old Swiss patriot, four hundred years ago of whom I have recently read an account-who, when the confederated cantons had become so embittered against each other, by a long succession of mutual criminations and local feuds, that the dissolution of the confederacy was openly proposed and discussed, and the liberties of Switzerland seemed on the very verge of ruin, was suddenly found rushing from his cherished retirement into the Assembly of Deputies, and exclaiming, "Concord, concord, CONCORD!" and who, it is related, by his prudence, his patriotism, and his eloquence, brought back that Assembly, and the people whom they represented, to a sense of the inestimable blessings which were at stake upon the issue, and finally succeeded in restoring his distracted country to a condition of harmony, tranquillity, and assured Union!

Sir, there is no sacrifice of personal opinion, of pride of consistency, of local regard, of official position, of present havings or of future hopes, which I would not willingly make to play such a part as this.

Perhaps it may be said, that it has been played already. Perhaps it may be said, that a voice, or voices, have already been heard in the other end of this Capitol, if not in this, which have stilled the angry storm of fraternal discord, and given us the grateful assurance that all our controversies shall be peacefully

settled.

At any rate, Sir, whether this be so or not, I am but too sensible that it is not given to me, in this hour, to attempt such a character. And let me add, that there is one sacrifice which I could never make, even for all the glory which might result from the successful performance of so exalted a service. I mean, the sacrifice of my own deliberately adopted and honestly cherished principles. These I must avow, to-day and always. These I must stand to, here and everywhere. Under all circumstances, in all events, I must follow the lead of my own conscientious convictions of right and of duty.

I assume then, to-day, Mr. Chairman, no character of a pacificator. I have no new plan of adjustment or reconciliation to offer for the difficulties and dissensions in which we are unhap pily involved.

Still less, Sir, have I sought the floor for the purpose of enter ing into fresh controversy with anybody in this House or else. where. Not even the gratuitous imputations, the second-hand perversions and stale sarcasms, of the honorable member from Connecticut, (Mr. Cleveland,) a few days ago, can tempt me to employ another hour of this session in the mere cut and thrust of personal encounter. I pass from that honorable member with the single remark, that it required more than all his vehement and turgid declamation against others, who, as he suggested, were shaping their course with a view to some official promotion or reward, to make me, or, as I think, to make this House, forget, that the term of one of his own Connecticut Senators was soon about to expire, that the Connecticut Legislature was just about to assemble, and that the honorable member himself was well understood to be a prominent candidate for the vacancy!

And I shall be equally brief with the distinguished member from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Wilmot,) who honored me with another shaft from the self-same quiver on Friday last. I will certainly not take advantage of his absence to deal with him at any length. But I cannot forbear saying, that as I heard him pouring forth so bitter an invective, so pitiless a philippic, against Southern arrogance and Northern recreancy, and as I observed the sleek complacency with which he seemed to congratulate himself that he alone had been proof against all the seductions of patronage and all the blandishments of power, I could not help remembering that his name was an historical name more than a century ago, and the lines in which a celebrated poet had embalmed it for immortality, came unbidden to my lips:

"Shall parts so various aim at nothing new?

He'll shine a Tully and a Wilmot too!"

My object to-day, Mr. Chairman, is the simple and humble one of expressing my own views on matters in regard to which I have, in some quarters, been, either intentionally or unintention

ally, misunderstood and misrepresented. The end of my hour will find me, I fear, with even this work but half accomplished; and I must rely on being judged by what shall be printed hereafter, rather than by what I may succeed in saying now. I will not, however, make my little less, by wasting any more of my time in an empty exordium, but will proceed at once to the business in hand.

And, in the first place, Sir, I desire to explain, at the expense of some historical narrative and egotistical reference, the position which I have heretofore occupied in relation to a certain antislavery proviso, which has been the immediate occasion of most of those sectional dissensions by which our domestic peace has been of late so seriously disturbed.

. I need not say, Sir, that I am no stranger to that proviso, though, during the whole of the last Congress, I was precluded, by my position in the chair of the House, from giving any vote, or uttering any voice, in regard to it.

There are those here to-day, and I might single out, in no spirit of unkindness certainly, the present chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. Bayly,) as one of them, who have often taken pains to remind the House and the country, that this proviso was formally proposed by me to a bill for establishing a government in the Oregon territory, before the honorable member from Pennsylvania, whose name it now bears, (Mr. Wilmot,) had entered upon his Congressional career.

I have never denied this allegation. I have never desired to deny it. The fact is upon record; and I would not erase or alter that record if it were in my power to do so. But, Sir, I have often desired, and always intended, whenever I should again be free to take part in the discussions of this body, to recall to the remembrance of the House and of the country, the circumstances under which, and the views with which, that proposition was made.

It was made, Mr. Chairman, on the 1st day of February, 1845. And what was the condition of the country, and of the public affairs of the country, on that day?

Oregon was then a disputed territory. We were engaged at that time, Sir, in negotiations with Great Britain, in respect to