Resolved, By the Senate and the House of Representatives in Congress assembled, that the laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive slaves are in strict pursuance of the plain and mandatory provisions of the constitution, and have been sanctioned as valid and constitutional by the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States; that the slaveholding States are entitled to the faithful observance and execution of those laws, and that they ought not to be repealed, or so modified or changed as to impair their efficiency; and that laws ought to be made for the punishment of those who attempt, by rescue of the slave, or other illegal means, to hinder or defeat the due execution of said laws. 2. That all State laws which conflict with the fugitive slave acts of Congress, or other constitutional acts of Congress, or which, in their operation, impede, hinder or delay the free course and due execution of any of said acts, are null and void by a plain provision of the Constitution of the United States; yet those State laws, void as they are, have given color to practices, and led to consequences, which have ob

structed the due administration and execution of the acts of Congress, and especially the acts for the delivery of fugitive slaves, and have thereby contributed much to the discord and commotion now prevailing. Congress, therefore, in the present perilous juncture, does not deem it improper, respectfully and earnestly, to recommend the repeal of those laws to the several States which have enacted them, or such legislative corrections or explanations of them as may prevent their being used or perverted to such mischievous purposes. 3. That the act of the 18th of September, 1850, commonly called the fugitive slave law, ought to be so amended as to make the fee of the commissioner, mentioned in the eighth section of the act, equal in amount in cases decided by him, whether the decision be in favor of or against the claimant. And to avoid misconstruction, the last clause of the fifth section of said act, which authorizes the person holding a warrant for the arrest or detention of a fugitive slave, to summon to his aid the posse comitatus, and which declares it to be the duty of all good citizens to assist him. in its execution, ought to be so amended us to expressly limit the authority and duty to cases in which there shall be resistance, or danger of resistance or rescue. 4. That laws for the suppression of the African slave trade, and especially those prohibiting the importation of slaves in the United States, ought to be more

effectual, and ought to be thoroughly executed; and all further enactments necessary to those ends ought to be promptly made."

conse

For the benefit of readers who have not convenient access to the United States Constitution, the third paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the constitution referred to in Mr. Crittenden's proposed compromise reads as follows: "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in quence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due;" and also so much of the third paragraph of the second section of the first article as is material, is as follows: "Representation and direct. taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons."

The memorials and petitions from most of the commercial centers in the free States evidently had pote.tial influence with Congress towards an endeavor to conciliate the slaveholding States, and avoid, if possible, a civil war to maintain the Union.

In fact, commerce, throughout the civilized world, has been conservative, and to some extent this is wisdom, for those engaged in it generally prefer to "let well enough alone."

The committee of thirteen in the Senate were unable to agree, and consequently made no formal report; but Mr. Greeley, in his "American Conflict," has given us an insight into the action of this committee, which is no doubt correct, but it does not appear in the Congressional Globe.

Mr. Jefferson Davis (a member of the committee of thirteen) introduced in the Senate, December 24th, 1860, the following resolution, which was referred to the committee, but there is no record of action upon it in the Congressional Globe:

"Resolved, That it shall be declared by amendment of the constitution, that property in slaves, recognized as such by the laws of any of the States of the Union, shall stand on the same footing, in all constitutional and Federal relations, as any other species of property so recognized; and, like other property, shall not be subject to be divested or impaired by the local law of any other State, either in escape thereto, or by any transit or sojourn of the owner therein. And in no case whatever shall such property be subject to be divested or impaired by any legislative act of the United States, or any of the territories thereof."

If the policy of this resolution had

been adopted, slavery, instead of being a local institution, would have. been national, having a lawful status in all the States and territories; for under its protection any number of slaveholders, where slavery existed, could pass through or remain any length of time, with any number of slaves, in all the States and territories of the Union; and this was the condition which possibly might have prevented civil war.

The Senate committee of thirteen was appointed December 5th, 1860, and soon thereafter met, and the Crittenden compromise was voted on, with the following result: Yeas-Bigler, Crittenden, Douglas, Rice and Powell; 5. Nays-Davis, Doolittle, Collamer, Wade, Tombs, Grimes and Hunter; 7. Absent-Seward.

A few days afterward the committee met, when Mr. Seward offered the following proposition: "First. No amendment shall be made to the constitution which shall authorize or give Congress any power to abolish or interfere, in any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to service or labor by the laws of such State." This was adopted by the following vote: Yeas -Powell, Hunter, Crittenden, Seward, Douglas, Collamer, Wade, Bigler, Rice, Doolittle and Grimes. Nays-Davis and Toombs.

This resolution was afterwards adopted, by the Thirty-sixth Congress, as a proposition to be submitted to the States as an amendment to

the constitution, but by reason of subsequent events, no action was had upon it by any of the States.

The committee of thirteen of the Senate were unable to agree upon any plan of compromise which would be satisfactory in the adjustment of the then pending controversy between the North and the South.

Mr. Anthony, a conservative Senator from Rhode Island, in a speech in the Senate on the 16th day of January, 1861, expressed the general anxiety of the North to agree, if possible, upon a settlement that would unite the sections and avoid war, from which an extract is given: “I believe, Mr. President, that if the danger which menaces us is to be avoided at all, it must be by legislation; which is more ready, more certain and more likely to be satisfactory than constitutional amendment. The main difficulty is the territorial question.

The demand of the Senators

on the other side of the chamber, and of those whom they represent, is that the territory south of the line of the Missouri compromise shall be open to their peculiar property. All this territory, except the Indian reservation, is within the limits of New Mexico, which, for a part of its northern boundary, runs up two degrees above that line. This is now slave territory, made so by territorial legislation; and slavery exists there, recognized and protected. Now, I am willing, as soon as Kansas can be admitted, to vote for the admission of

New Mexico as a State, with such constitution as the people may adopt. This disposes of all territory that is adapted to slave labor, or that is claimed by the South. It ought to settle the whole question. Surely, if we can dispose of all the territory that we have, we ought not to quarrel over that which we have not, and which we have no very honest way of acquiring. Let us settle the difficulties that threaten us now, and not anticipate those which may never come. Let the public mind have time to cool; let us forget, in the general prosperity, the mutual dependence and common glory of our country, that we have ever quarreled over the question that we have put at rest; and perhaps when, in the march of events, the northern provinces of Mexico are brought under our sway, they may come in without a ripple on the political sea, whose tumultuous waves now threaten to engulf us all in our common ruin. In offering to settle this question by the admission of New Mexico, we of the North, who assent to it, propose a great sacrifice and offer a large concession. We propose to take in a State that is deficient in population, and that possesses but imperfectly many of the elements of a member of the Union, and that will require, in one form or another, even after its admission, the aid of the general government. But we make the offer in the spirit of compromise and good feeling, which, we hope, will be reciprocated. And

now, Mr. President, I appeal to Senators on the other side, when we thus offer to bridge over full seven-eighths of the frightful chasm that separates us, will you not build the other eighth ?

When, with outstretched

arms, we approach you so near that by reaching out your hands you can clasp ours in the fraternal grasp from which they should never be separated, will you, with folded arms and closed eyes, stand upon extreme demands which you know we cannot accept, and for which, if we did, we could not carry our constituents?

.. The State that I have the honor, in part, to represent was the last of the old thirteen to adopt the constitution. She will permit no other State to be the last to leave it. She will remain true to the American flag so long as a shred of it floats. She deliberated long, because she apprehended that in entering the Union. she made great sacrifices and incurred great risk of loss. She has found that, instead of sacrifice and loss, it has been all glory and gain.. However we may be estranged by unfortunate and, I trust, transient causes, we are all brethren of one household. Intermarriage and immigration have given to families of either section representatives in the other. You cannot trace back the family tree but some of its limbs will cast their shadows in every State. The blood of your ancestors flowed at Lexington, and reddened the sod of Bunker Hill; the bayonets of ours

gleamed at the battle of Cowpens; and the sword of a Rhode Island man, to whom my colleague has so eloquently referred, directed the fight at Eutaw Springs. That day he made good the declaration that he would rescue the Carolinas, or perish in the attempt. Together, our fathers achieved the independence of this country; together they laid the foundations of its greatness and glory; together they constructed this beautiful system under which it is our privilege to live, which it is our duty to preserve and transmit. Together we enjoy that privilege; together we must perform that duty. I will not believe that, in the madness of popular folly and delusion, the most benignant government that ever blessed

humanity is to be broken up. I will not believe that this great Power, which is marching with giant steps towards the first place among the nations of the earth, is to be turned 'backward on its mighty track.' There are no grievances, fancied or real, that cannot be redressed within the Union and under the Constitution. There are no differences between us that may not be settled if we will take them up in the spirit of those to whose places we have succeeded, and the fruits of whose labors we have inherited." (Applause in the galleries.)

These eloquent words fell unheeded upon the ears of the advocates of secession.

HISTORIC Newburgh has been the home and scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives that should serve as an example to those about them, but have been of important service to their city and State through various avenues of private and public usefulness. Among them must be named Daniel B. St. John, who passed away in the opening days of the present year, after a long life of industry, and rich in those rare possessions which only a high character can give. The son of a family

long since known and honored in America, he came naturally into the possession of those gifts which are of the greatest value to any man-integrity, industry and a desire to make good use of his heart, his head and his hands during his sojourn in this lower vale.

Mr. St. John was born in Sharon, Litchfield county, Connecticut, on October 8th, 1808. His grandfather, Daniel St. John, was a man of influence in his day and locality, serving as a civil magistrate, as a member of