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Page 11
At all events, these are not impressions which are put forth by me under
the exigencies of the present debate or of the present occasion. I have
never entertained any other opinion. I was called upon for a particular
purpose, of a literary nature, to which I will presently allude more
distinctly, shortly after the close of the session of 1850, to draw up a
narrative of the events that had taken place relative to the passage of
the compromise measures of that year. I had not, I own, the best sources
of information. I was not a member of Congress, and had not heard
the debates, which is almost indispensable to come to a thorough
understanding of questions of this nature; but I inquired of those who
had heard them, I read the reports, and I had an opportunity of personal
intercourse with some who had taken a prominent part in all those
measures. I never formed the idea--I never received the intimation until
I got it from this report of the committee--that those measures were
intended to have any effect beyond the Territories of Utah and New
Mexico, for which they were enacted. I cannot but think that if it
was intended that they should have any larger application, if it was
intended that they should furnish the rule which is now supposed, it
would have been a fact as notorious as the light of day.
* * * * *
And now, sir, having alluded to the speech of Mr. Webster, of the 7th
March, 1850, allow me to dwell upon it for a moment. I was in a position
the next year--having been requested by that great and lamented man to
superintend the publication of his works--to know very particularly the
comparative estimate which he placed upon his own parliamentary efforts.
He told me more than once that he thought his second speech on Foot's
resolution was that in which he had best succeeded as a senatorial
effort, and as a specimen of parliamentary dialectics; but he added,
with an emotion which even he was unable to suppress, "The speech of the
7th of March, 1850, much as I have been reviled for it, when I am dead,
will be allowed to be of the greatest importance to the country." Sir,
he took the greatest interest in that speech. He wished it to go forth
with a specific title; and, after considerable deliberation, it was
called, by his own direction, "A Speech for the Constitution and the
Union." He inscribed it to the people of Massachusetts, in a dedication
of the most emphatic tenderness, and he prefixed to it that motto--which
you all remember--from Livy, the most appropriate and felicitous
quotation, perhaps, that was ever made: "True things rather than
pleasant things"--_Vera progratis:_ and with that he sent it forth to
the world.
In that speech his gigantic intellect brought together all that it
could gather from the law of nature, from the Constitution of the United
States, from our past legislation, and from the physical features of
the region, to strengthen him in that plan of conciliation and peace,
in which he feared that he might not carry along with him the public
sentiment of the whole of that, portion of the country which he
particularly represented here. At its close, when he dilated upon the
disastrous effects of separation, he rose to a strain of impassioned
eloquence which had never been surpassed within these walls. Every
topic, every argument, every fact, was brought to bear upon the point;
and he felt that all his vast popularity was at stake on the issue. Let
me commend to the attention of Senators, and let me ask them to consider
what weight is due to the authority of such a man, speaking under such
circumstances, and on such an occasion, when he tells you that
the condition of every foot of land in the country, for slavery or
non-slavery, is fixed by some irrepealable law. And you are now about
to repeal the principal law which ascertained and fixed that condition.
And, sir, if the Senate will take any heed of the opinion of one so
humble as myself, I will say that I believe Mr. Webster, in that speech,
went to the very verge of the public sentiment in the non-slaveholding
States, and that to have gone a hair's-breadth further, would have been
a step too bold even for his great weight of character.
* * * * *
I conclude, therefore, sir, that the compromise measures of 1850 ended
where they began, with the Territories of Utah and New Mexico, to
which they specifically referred; at any rate, that they established
no principle which was to govern in other cases; that they had no
prospective action to the organization of territories in all future
time; and certainly no retrospective action upon lands subject to the
restriction of 1820, and to the positive enactment that you now propose
to declare inoperative and void.
I trust that nothing which I have now said will be taken in derogation
of the compromises of 1850. I adhere to them; I stand by them. I do so
for many reasons. One is respect for the memory of the great men who
were the authors of them--lights and ornaments of the country, but now
taken from its service. I would not so soon, if it were in my power,
undo their work, if for no other reason. But beside this, I am one of
those--I am not ashamed to avow it--who believed at that time, and who
still believe, that at that period the union of these States was in
great danger, and that the adoption of the compromise measures of 1850
contributed materially to avert that danger; and therefore, sir, I
say, as well out of respect to the memory of the great men who were the
authors of them, as to the healing effect of the measures themselves,
I would adhere to them. They are not perfect. I suppose that nobody,
either North or South, thinks them perfect. They contain some provisions
not satisfactory to the South, and other provisions contrary to the
public sentiment of the North; but I believed at the time they were
the wisest, the best, the most effective measures which, under the
circumstances, could be adopted. But you do not strengthen them, you do
not show your respect for them, by giving them an application which they
were never intended to bear.
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