time this indispensable power should be exercised with a discretion and moderation, and in a form least calculated to revive prejudices, or to check the progress of reforms now going on in public opinion.

In connection with a system of remedial measures, I shall only allude to, without stopping to dwell on, the distribution bill, that just and equitable settlement of a great national question, which sprang up during the revoluntionary war, which has seriously agitated the country, and which it is deeply to be regretted had not been settled ten years ago, as then proposed. Independent of all other considerations, the fluctuation in the receipts from sales of the public lands is so great and constant, that it is a resource on which the general government ought not to rely for revenue. It is far better that the advice of a Democratic land committee of the Senate, at the head of which was the experienced and distinguished Mr. King of Alabama, given some years ago, should be followed, that the Federal Treasury he replenished with duties on imports, without bringing into it any part of the land fund.

I have thus suggested measures of relief adapted to the present state of the country, and I have noticed some of the differences which unfortunately exist between the two leading parties into which our people are unhappily divided. In considering the question, whether the counsels of the one or the other of these parties are wisest, and best calculated to advance the interest, the honor, and the prosperity of the nation, which every citizen ought to do, we should discard all passion and prejudice, and exercise, as far as possible, a perfect impartiality. And we should not confine our attention merely to the particular measures which those parties respectively espouse or oppose, but extend it to their general course and conduct, and to the spirit and purposes by which they are animated. We should anxiously inquire, whither shall we be led by following in the lead of one. or the other of those parties; shall we be carried to the achievement of the glorious destiny, which patriots here, and the liberal portion of mankind everywhere, have fondly hoped awaits us? or shall we ingloriously terminate our career, by adding another

melancholy example of the instability of human affairs, and the folly with which self-government is administered?

The present situation of our country is one of unexampled distress and difficulty; but there is no occasion for any despondency. A kind and bountiful Providence has never deserted us; punished us he perhaps has, for our neglect of his blessings and our misdeeds. We have a varied and fertile soil, a genial climate and free institutions. Our whole land is covered, in profusion, with the means of subsistence and the comforts of life. Our gallant ship, it is unfortunately true, lies helpless, tossed on a tempestuous sea, amid the conflicting billows of contending parties, without a rudder and without a faithful pilot. But that ship is our country, embodying all our past glory, all our future hopes. Its crew is our whole people, by whatever political denomination they are known. If she goes down, we all go down together. Let us remember the dying words of the gallant and lamented Lawrence. "Don't give up the ship." The glorious banner of our country, with its unstained stars and stripes, still proudly floats at its mast-head. With stout hearts and strong arms we can surmount all our difficulties. Let us all, all rally round that banner, and firmly resolve to perpetuate our liberties and regain our lost prosperity.

Whigs! Arouse from the ignoble supineness which encompasses you; awake from the lethargy in which you lie bound; cast from you that unworthy apathy which seems to make you indifferent to the fate of your country. Arouse! awake! shake off the dew-drops that glitter on your garments, and once more march to battle and to victory. You have been disappointed, deceived, betrayed; shamefully deceived and betrayed. But will you, therefore, also prove false and faithless to your country, or obey the impulses of a just and patriotic indignation? As for Captain Tyler, he is a mere snap, a flash in the pan; pick your whig flints and try your rifles again.

ON THE COMPROMISE MEASURES,

REPORTED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THIRTEEN.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MAY 13, 1850.

THE following speech, delivered by Mr. CLAY, May 13th, 1850, was one of his last public efforts. It is his reply to objections raised by senators opposed to the "Resolutions" embraced in the memorable "Compromise Measures." The Resolutions were all finally carried, not as originally proposed by Mr. CLAY, in one Bill, but separately. It is well known that for several months, during that session of Congress, Mr. CLAY and his friends enlisted all their energies in support of the Bill.

MR. CLAY rose and said: I have risen, Mr. President, for the purpose of making some further explanation, and an additional exposition to that contained in the report of the Committee of Thirteen, which has recently been in consultation upon the important subjects referred to them. When the report of the committee was presented to the Senate last week, various members of the committee rose in their places, and stated that certain parts of the report did not meet with their concurrence. It might have been stated with perfect truth that no one member of the committee concurred in all that was done by the committee. There was a majority upon most, and even upon all the subjects reported by them; and each member, perhaps, if left to himself separately, would have presented the various matters which were reported to the Senate in a form somewhat different from that in which they were presented in the report. I was myself, upon one occasion, in the minority in the committee; yet

( 236 )

I have not been discouraged in the least degree by the differences which existed in the committee, or which were manifested in the Senate last week. Gentlemen who did not exactly agree to what was done, will, in the progress of the measure, endeavor to make it conformable to their wishes. If it should not be so modified, I indulge with great confidence in the hope that no one of them is so irrevocably committed against the measures as to induce him, upon the question of its final passage, to vote against it. I am not authorized to say, and do not mean to say, that there will be an affirmative vote of every member of the Senate in favor of the measure upon the final passage of the bill; but I need not say that I indulge the hope, whether all modifications which were desired by various members of the committee may or may not be made, that finally there will be not only a unanimous concurrence of the committee generally in the measure recommended, but I trust it will leave this branch of Congress with a large majority in its favor. I repeat that I am not discouraged by any thing that has transpired in the committee, or in the Senate, or in the country, upon the subject of this measure. I have believed from the first, and I yet firmly believe, that if these unhappy subjects which have divided the country shall be accommodated by an amicable adjustment, it must be done upon some such basis as that which the committee has reported. And can there be a doubt on this subject? The crisis of the crisis, I repeat, has arrived, and the fate of the measures which have been reported by the committee, in my humble judgment, determines the fate of the harmony or distraction of this country. Entertaining that belief, I can not but indulge the hope, that no honorable senators, who, upon the first hearing of the report, might have seen some matters in it objectionable, according to their wishes or judgment, will see fit to oppose its final passage; but that the entire Senate, after a full consideration of the plan proposed, and after a fair contrast between this and all other proposed plans, at least all other practicable plans of adjustment of the question,-whatever expectations or hopes may have been announced elsewhere, out of this body, will concur in this measure brought forward by the Committee of Thirteen, and

that ultimately the measure will obtain the general concurrence of both Houses of Congress.

But I have risen, as I announced, more particularly for the purpose of entering into some further explanation of the course of the committee, and of throwing out some few observations in support of the measures which they have recommended, for the adoption of the Senate.

The first measure upon which they reported was that of the true exposition of the compact between the United States and Texas, upon the occasion of the admission of that State into the Union. Upon that subject, as already announced in the report, I am happy to say, there was an undivided opinion. Two honorable senators,-one of whom is now absent, and the other present, while they declared that they would not hold themselves, and did not intend to be regarded as holding themselves, in every possible state of things, and in every contingency, to vote for the admission of States that might hereafter be carved out of Texas; but that they reserved to themselves, as I understood them, the right to determine this question whenever any new States formed out of Texas should present themselves for admission. Whether, under all the circumstances of the country, and the circumstances under which a new State might present itself, it should or should not be admitted, they made this reservation; and yet they united most heartily in the true exposition of the compact between Texas and the United States, according to which, as we all know, a number of States, not exceeding four, with or without slavery, having the requisite population, with the consent of Texas, were to be admitted into the Union, from time to time, as they might be formed, and present themselves for admission.

But I will not dwell longer upon that part of the subject. I will now approach that which, in the committee, and perhaps in the two Houses, has given the most trouble and created the most anxiety, among all the measures upon which the committee have reported, I mean the admission of California into the Union. Against that measure there were various objections. One of these objections was with respect to its population. It has been