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Page 58
Well, sir, if it shall be so; if that "glorious Union," as we call it,
under which the Government has so long lived and prospered, is now about
to come to a final end, as perhaps it may, I have been looking around to
see what policy we should adopt; and through that gloom which has been
mentioned on the other side, if you will have it so, I still see a
glorious future for those who stand by the old flag of the nation.
But, sir, I am for maintaining the Union of these States. I will
sacrifice everything but honor to maintain it. That glorious old flag of
ours, by any act of mine, shall never cease to wave over the integrity
of this Union as it is. But if they will not have it so, in this new,
renovated Government of which I have spoken, the 4th of July, with all
its glorious memories, will never be repealed. The old flag of 1776
will be in our hands, and shall float over this nation forever; and this
capital, that some gentlemen said would be reserved for the Southern
republic, shall still be the capital. It was laid out by Washington;
it was consecrated by him; and the old flag that he vindicated in the
Revolution shall still float from the Capitol.
I say, sir, I stand by the Union of these States. Washington and his
compatriots fought for that good old flag. It shall never be hauled
down, but shall be the glory of the Government to which I belong, as
long as my life shall continue. To maintain it, Washington and his
compatriots fought for liberty and the rights of man. And here I will
add that my own father, although but a humble soldier, fought in the
same great cause, and went through hardships and privations sevenfold
worse than death, in order to bequeath it to his children. It is my
inheritance. It was my protector in infancy, and the pride and glory
of my riper years; and, Mr. President, although it may be assailed by
traitors on every side, by the grace of God, under its shadow I will
die.
JOHN JORDON CRITTENDEN,
OF KENTUCKY. (BORN 1787, DIED 1863.)
ON THE CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE;
UNITED STATES SENATE, DECEMBER 18, 1860.
I am gratified, Mr. President, to see in the various propositions which
have been made, such a universal anxiety to save the country from
the dangerous dissensions which now prevail; and I have, under a very
serious view and without the least ambitious feeling whatever connected
with it, prepared a series of constitutional amendments, which I desire
to offer to the Senate, hoping that they may form, in part at least,
some basis for measures that may settle the controverted questions which
now so much agitate our country. Certainly, sir, I do not propose
now any elaborate discussion of the subject. Before presenting these
resolutions, however, to the Senate, I desire to make a few remarks
explanatory of them, that the Senate may understand their general scope.
The questions of an alarming character are those which have grown out
of the controversy between the northern and southern sections of our
country in relation to the rights of the slave-holding States in the
Territories of the United States, and in relation to the rights of
the citizens of the latter in their slaves. I have endeavored by these
resolutions to meet all these questions and causes of discontent, and
by amendments to the Constitution of the United States, so that the
settlement, if we happily agree on any, may be permanent, and leave no
cause for future controversy. These resolutions propose, then, in the
first place, in substance, the restoration of the Missouri Compromise,
extending the line throughout the Territories of the United States
to the eastern border of California, recognizing slavery in all the
territory south of that line, and prohibiting slavery in all the
territory north of it; with a provision, however, that when any of those
Territories, north or south, are formed into States, they shall then be
at liberty to exclude or admit slavery as they please; and that, in the
one case or the other, it shall be no objection to their admission into
the Union. In this way, sir, I propose to settle the question, both as
to territory and slavery, so far as it regards the Territories of the
United States.
I propose, sir, also, that the Constitution be so amended as to declare
that Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery in the District
of Columbia so long as slavery exists in the States of Maryland and
Virginia; and that they shall have no power to abolish slavery in any of
the places under their special jurisdiction within the Southern States.
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