citement in the country. Men would have said : "We have gotten back very few negroes under it; its repeal merely puts us where we were ten years ago.' Again, if you were to abolish slavery in this District it would be said: "There are only a few thousand slaves here; that is a small matter; are you going to disturb this great Union just for the sake of a few thousand slaves?" It is said, however, by some persons, that we are to submit until revolution is more tolerable than the acts of which we complain. That was not the policy of our revolutionary fathers. Nobody supposes that the tea tax or the stamp tax was an oppressive measure in itself. They saw, however, that if they were submitted to, in time oppression would be practised, and they wisely resisted at the start.

Now, sir, I take it for granted that Lincoln would resort to no overt acts in the first instance. I cannot conceive that he would have

the folly to do so. I presume that he would

be conservative in his declarations, and I should attach just as much weight to them as I would to the soothing words and manner of a man who wanted to mount a wild horse, and who would not, until he was safely in the saddle, apply whip or spur. I take it for granted, when

he comes in, he will make things as quiet as he can make them at first. I presume the policy of the party would be to endeavor to divide the South. They complain that Abolition docuuments are not circulated there. They wish to have an opportunity, by circulating such things as Helper's book, of arraying the non-slaveholders and poor men against the wealthy. I have no doubt that would be their leading policy, and they would be very quiet about it. They want to get up that kind of "free debate' which has been put into practice in Texas, according to the Senator from New York, for he is reported to have said in one of his speeches in the Northwest, alluding to recent disturbances, to burnings and poisonings there, that Texas was excited by "free debate. Well, sir, a Senator from Texas told me the other day that a good many of those debaters were hanging up on the trees in that country. I have no doubt, also, they would run off slaves faster from the border States, and perhaps oblige the slave-owners to send them down further south, so as to make some of those States free States; and then, when the South was divided to some extent, the overt acts would come, and we should have, perhaps, a hard struggle to escape destruction.

Therefore, I maintain that our true policy is to meet this issue in limine, and I hope it will be done. If we can maintain our personal safety let us hold on to the present Government; if not we must take care of ourselves at all hazards. I think this is the feeling that prevails in North Carolina. I have spoken of there being two parties there, but I may say to you, Mr. President, that that party which is for immediate action is gaining strength rapidly. I do not believe there has been a meeting yet held in the State where there was a collision of opinion that ultra resolutions have not been adopted. This feeling is not confined to either of the political parties which made a struggle there in the late elections. The current of resistance is running rapidly over the South. It is idle for men to shut their eyes to consequences like these. If any thing can be done to avert the evil let those who have the power do it. I will not now detain the Senate longer.

JOHN JORDAN CRITTENDEN,

OF KENTUCKY.

(BORN 1786, DIED 1863.)

ON SECESSION; BORDER STATE OPINION (UNIONIST); IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE, DEC. 4, 1860.

MR. PRESIDENT:

I regret that the honorable Senator from North Carolina has thought proper to make the speech which he has just addressed to the Senate. I did hope that we had all come together upon this occasion duly impressed with the solemnity of the business that would devolve upon us, duly impressed with the great dangers that were impending over our country, and especially with those dangers which threaten the existence of our Union. That was the temper in which I hoped we were now assembled. I hope this debate will proceed no further. The gentleman has hardly uttered a sentiment or an opinion in which I do not disagree with him— hardly one, sir. I have hopes of the preservation

of that Union under which I have so long lived; I have hopes that that Union which was the glory of our fathers will not become the shame of their children. But I rise here now, sir, not for the purpose of making a speech, and I intend to stick to my purpose. I wish the gentleman had stuck to his when he said he rose not to make a speech. I rise here to express the hope, and that alone, that the bad example of the gentleman will not be followed, and that we shall not allow ourselves now to be involved in an angry debate. We had better not have come here at all if that is our purpose. If we have not come here to give a deliberate and a solemn consideration to the grave questions that are thrust upon us, we are not fit for the places we occupy. This Union was established by great sacrifices; this Union is worthy of great sacrifices and great concessions for its maintenance; and I trust there is not a Senator here who is not willing to yield and to compromise much in order to preserve the government and the Union of the country.

I look forward with dismay and with something like despair to the condition of this country when the Union shall be stricken down, and we shall be turned loose again to speculate