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Page 56
Mr. Iverson. I would prefer that the Senator would look over my remarks
before quoting them so confidently. I made no such statement as that. I
did not say that I would be satisfied with any such thing. I would not
be satisfied with it.
Mr. Wade. I did not say that the Senator said so; but by construction I
gathered that from his speech. I do not know that I was right in it.
Mr. Iverson. The Senator is altogether wrong in his construction.
Mr. Wade. Well, sir, I have now found what the Senator said on the other
point to which he called my attention a little while ago. Here it is:
"Nor do we suppose that there will be any overt acts upon the part of
Mr. Lincoln. For one, I do not dread these overt acts. I do not propose
to wait for them. Why, sir, the power of this Federal Government could
be so exercised against the institution of slavery in the Southern
States, as that, without an overt act, the institution would not last
ten years. We know that, sir; and seeing the storm which is approaching,
although it may be seemingly in the distance, we are determined to seek
our own safety and security before it shall burst upon us and overwhelm
us with its fury, when we are not in a situation to defend ourselves."
That is what the Senator said.
Mr. Iverson. Yes; that is what I said.
Mr. Wade. Well, then, you did not expect that Mr. Lincoln would commit
any overt act against the Constitution--that was not it--you were not
going to wait for that, but were going to proceed on your supposition
that probably he might; and that is the sense of what I said before.
Well, Mr. President, I have disavowed all intention on the part of the
Republican party to harm a hair of your heads anywhere. We hold to
no doctrine that can possibly work you an inconvenience. We have
been faithful to the execution of all the laws in which you have any
interest, as stands confessed on this floor by your own party, and as is
known to me without their confessions. It is not, then, that Mr. Lincoln
is expected to do any overt act by which you may be injured; you will
not wait for any; but anticipating that the Government may work an
injury, you say you will put an end to it, which means simply, that
you intend either to rule or ruin this Government. That is what your
complaint comes to; nothing else. We do not like your institution, you
say. Well, we never liked it any better than we do now. You might
as well have dissolved the Union at any other period as now, on that
account, for we stand in relation to it precisely as we have ever
stood; that is, repudiating it among ourselves as a matter of policy
and morals, but nevertheless admitting that where it is out of our
jurisdiction, we have no hold upon it, and no designs upon it.
Then, sir, as there is nothing in the platform on which Mr. Lincoln was
elected of which you complain, I ask, is there anything in the character
of the President-elect of which you ought to complain? Has he not lived
a blameless life? Did he ever transgress any law? Has he ever committed
any violation of duty of which the most scrupulous can complain? Why,
then, your suspicions that he will? I have shown that you have had the
government all the time until, by some misfortune or maladministration,
you brought it to the very verge of destruction, and the wisdom of the
people had discovered that it was high time that the scepter should
depart from you, and be placed in more competent hands; I say that this
being so, you have no constitutional right to complain; especially when
we disavow any intention so to make use of the victory we have won as to
injure you at all.
This brings me, sir, to the question of compromises. On the first day of
this session, a Senator rose in his place and offered a resolution for
the appointment of a committee to inquire into the evils that exist
between the different sections, and to ascertain what can be done to
settle this great difficulty. That is the proposition substantially. I
tell the Senator that I know of no difficulty; and as to compromises, I
had supposed that we were all agreed that the day of compromises was at
an end. The most solemn compromises we have ever made have been
violated without a whereas. Since I have had a seat in this body, one of
considerable antiquity, that had stood for more than thirty years, was
swept away from your statute-books. When I stood here in the minority
arguing against it; when I asked you to withhold your hand; when I told
you it was a sacred compromise between the sections, and that when it
was removed we should be brought face to face with all that sectional
bitterness that has intervened; when I told you that it was a sacred
compromise which no man should touch with his finger, what was your
reply? That it was a mere act of Congress--nothing more, nothing
less--and that it could be swept away by the same majority that passed
it. That was true in point of fact, and true in point of law; but it
showed the weakness of compromises. Now, sir, I only speak for myself;
and I say that, in view of the manner in which other compromises have
been heretofore treated, I should hardly think any two of the Democratic
party would look each other in the face and say "compromise" without a
smile. (Laughter.) A compromise to be brought about by act of Congress,
after the experience we have had, is absolutely ridiculous.
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