Chapter II: Introduction (2)

SIXTH DAY.

WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, _February 9th, 1861._

The Convention was called to order by the PRESIDENT. Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. BULLOCK. The Journal was read, corrected, and approved.

Mr. SUMMERS:--I am directed by the Committee on Credentials to report as members of this Convention the names of the following gentlemen from the State of Maine:--William P. Fessenden, Lot M. Morrill, Daniel E. Somes, John J. Perry, Ezra B. French, Freeman H. Morse, Stephen Coburn, Stephen C. Foster.

Mr. MORRILL, of Maine, and Mr. CROWNINSHIELD, of Massachusetts, were announced as members of the committee under the resolution of Mr. GUTHRIE.

Mr. TUCK:--I offer certain resolutions, which I desire to have printed and referred to the Committee on Resolutions.

The resolutions of Mr. TUCK were read, ordered to be printed, and referred. (These resolutions will be found on a subsequent page.)

Mr. CLAY:--I hold in my hand the proceedings of a very large Democratic meeting recently held at New Haven, in the State of Connecticut. Among them are certain resolutions, breathing a spirit of fervent devotion to the Union, and expressing an anxious desire for the settlement of the difficult questions now before the country. They have been sent to me with a request that I should lay them before this Convention. Why I was selected by them for the performance of this duty, I do not know, unless it was because, from my name and associations, they thought an assurance might be found that I participated in the sentiments expressed in the resolutions. I present them with great pleasure, and ask that they may be referred to the Committee on Resolutions.

The motion of Mr. CLAY was agreed to.

Mr. RANDOLPH:--I move that the Secretary be requested to furnish for the use of the members a printed list of the delegates to and officers of this Convention.

Which motion was adopted, and the Convention adjourned.

SEVENTH DAY.

WASHINGTON, MONDAY, _February 11th, 1861._

The Convention was called to order by the PRESIDENT. Prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. GURLEY.

After the reading and amendment of the Journal, Mr. GUTHRIE, from the Committee on Resolutions, asked for further time to make a general report of the matters submitted to them, which was given; and thereupon Mr. GUTHRIE, from the same Committee, made the following report upon the resolutions of a meeting in the State of Connecticut, which were referred to that committee on motion of Mr. CLAY:

The committee to whom were referred certain resolutions of
the Democratic party of the State of Connecticut, report
that in the opinion of the committee it is inexpedient for
this Convention to act upon any resolution purporting to
emanate from any political party whatever; and that the
member of the Convention by whom they were presented have
leave to withdraw the same.

The PRESIDENT:--I take this opportunity to announce to the Convention that the Door-keeper of the House of Representatives has transmitted to the Chair cards admitting members of this body on to the floor of the House. These cards will be delivered by the Secretary to such members as call for them.

Mr. CHASE:--I move that any propositions or resolutions which members of this Convention desire to have considered by the Committee on Resolutions and Propositions, may be presented to the committee through the Secretary, without being presented in Convention.

The motion was agreed to, and on motion the Convention adjourned until Wednesday the 13th instant, at 12 o'clock M.

EIGHTH DAY.

WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, _February 13th, 1861._

The Convention was called to order by the PRESIDENT, and prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. EDWARDS. The Journal, after sundry amendments, was approved.

Mr. GUTHRIE:--The Committee on Resolutions, &c., have labored diligently, and held protracted sessions, in the hope of being able to make their report to-day. This they find themselves unable to do. They are fully impressed with the necessity of immediate action, in view of the short time that will remain for Congress to consider the action of this Convention, if it shall become necessary to submit any proposition of this body to be acted upon by that. I have no doubt we shall be able to report on Friday, and I ask that we may have until that time to make a report.

The request of Mr. GUTHRIE was acceded to.

Mr. SEDDON:--The time has now arrived when, as one of the Commissioners from the State of Virginia, I find it necessary to ask the leave of the Convention to communicate to the Legislative authorities of Virginia, and to her Convention now in session, the state of the proceedings before this body, and the committee. I ask for liberty to do so, and believe that a proper regard to the instructions of the Legislature of the State under which my appointment is made, requires that my request should be granted.

Mr. BARRINGER offered the following resolution:

_Resolved_, That the Commissioners of any State represented
in this Convention, upon their joint application, have leave
to communicate to the Legislature, Governor, or Convention
of said State, the proceedings of this body, or so much
thereof as they may deem expedient.

Mr. SEDDON:--The passage of this resolution is all I ask.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN:--I move to amend the resolution by adding thereto: "But not to communicate what has transpired in the committee, before said committee has reported to the Convention."

Mr. SEDDON:--I do not deem the passage of the resolution at this moment as very important. At the suggestion of several gentlemen, I will move to lay it on the table, subject to be called up after Friday.

The Convention then adjourned to Friday at 12 o'clock.

On the evening of February 13th, the members of the Conference were informed of the death of Hon. JOHN C. WRIGHT, of Ohio, who officiated as temporary chairman previous to the permanent organization. In view of the anxious desire of all the members to recognize their appreciation of this act of Divine Providence, in removing from the sphere of his earthly labors one of the most valued Commissioners in attendance, President TYLER was requested to summon a special meeting of the Conference. In pursuance of his invitation, all the members attended on the morning of February 14th, when the following proceedings were had:

THURSDAY, WASHINGTON CITY, _February 14th, 1861._

The Convention met in special session, pursuant to the call of the President.

The proceedings were opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. HALL.

The following letter from the Secretary, CRAFTS J. WRIGHT, was read, and ordered to be entered upon the minutes:

WILLARD'S HOTEL, }
WASHINGTON CITY, _February 13th, 1861._ }

_Hon._ JOHN TYLER, _President of Conference Convention._

DEAR SIR:--I grieve to communicate to you the fact, that the
delegate from Ohio to this Conference Convention, the Hon.
JOHN C. WRIGHT, departed this life this day, the 13th
February, at half-past one o'clock.

Judge WRIGHT came to this Convention with a heart filled
with fear for the safety of the Union. Though at an advanced
age and nearly blind, he was filled with an earnest desire
to add his efforts to that of others of the Convention
called by the State of Virginia, and seek to agree on some
measures honorable to each and all, to effect the object.
Since the arrival of my father in Washington, he has been
constant in his efforts to effect the end in view, and he
has had his heart cheered with the belief that the object
would be accomplished. Almost the last words that he uttered
were, that he believed the Union would be preserved. He
desired me to say, if the Union were preserved, he would die
content. He called me to read to him, at 12 o'clock, the
sections in the Constitution in regard to counting the
votes, and this request, and this reading, terminated his
knowledge on earth. In this desire of my father to do what
he could, he pressed me to accompany him on account of his
blindness. Since the Convention honored me with the
appointment of Secretary, he required of me a promise that I
would not leave the position. When I read the section of the
Constitution to him, he required me then to leave him for
the Convention. Whatever my personal feelings may be, I deem
the pledge made sacred. I therefore ask that I may have
leave of absence, until I carry the remains home to Ohio,
and return to my duty.

Respectfully,

CRAFTS J. WRIGHT.

P.S.--J. HENRY PULESTON will act for me in my absence.

The PRESIDENT informed the Convention that the request of the Secretary had been complied with. The PRESIDENT asked what action the Convention proposed to take on the subject for which they had been specially assembled.

The Hon. SALMON P. CHASE, of Ohio, then said:--Mr. PRESIDENT, since we assembled yesterday in this Hall, it has pleased God to remove one of our number from all participation in the concerns of earth. It is my painful duty to announce to the Convention that JOHN C. WRIGHT, one of the Commissioners from Ohio, is no more. Full of years, honored by the confidence of the people, rich in large experience and ripened wisdom, and devoted in all his affections and all his powers to his country, and his whole country, he has been called from our midst at the very moment when the prudence and patriotism of his counsels seemed most needed. Such are the mysterious ways of Divine Providence. Judge WRIGHT was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on the 10th of August, 1784. The death of his parents made him an orphan in infancy; and he had little to depend upon in youth and early manhood, save his own energies and God's blessing. He was married, while young, to a daughter of Thomas Collier, of Litchfield, and for several years after resided at Troy, New York. When about twenty-six years old he removed to Steubenville, in Ohio, where he commenced the practice of the law, and rapidly rose to distinction in the profession. In 1822 he was elected a representative in Congress, where he became the associate and friend of Clay and Webster, and proved himself, on many occasions, worthy of their association and friendship.

After serving several terms in Congress, he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and, in 1834, removed from Steubenville to the city of Cincinnati. Resigning his seat soon afterwards, he resumed the labors of the bar, and, ever zealous for the improvement and elevation of the profession, established, in association with others, the Cincinnati law school.

In 1840, upon the dying request of CHARLES HAMMOND, the veteran editor of the "Cincinnati Gazette," Judge WRIGHT assumed the editorial control of that Journal, and retained that position until impaired vision, in 1853, admonished him of the necessity of withdrawing from labors too severe.

Thenceforward engaged in moderate labors, surrounded by affectionate relatives, enjoying the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and manifesting always the liveliest concern in whatever related to the welfare and honor of his State and his country, he lived in tranquil retirement, until called by the Governor of Ohio, with the approbation of the Senate, to take part in the deliberations of this Conference Convention.

It was but a just tribute, sir, to his honored age, illustrated by abilities, by virtues, and by services, that he was unanimously selected as its temporary President. His interest in the great purpose of our assembling was profound and earnest. His labors to promote an auspicious result of its deliberations were active and constant. And when fatal disease assailed his life, and his enfeebled powers yielded to its virulence, his last utterances were of the Constitution and the Union.

Mr. PRESIDENT, Judge WRIGHT was my friend. His approval cheered and encouraged my own humble labors in the service of the State. Pardon me if I mingle private with public grief. He has gone from his last great labor. He was not permitted to witness upon earth the result of the mission upon which he and his associates, who here mourn his loss, were sent. God grant that the clouds which now darken over us may speedily disperse, and that through generous counsels and patriotic labors, guided by that good Providence which directed our fathers in its original formation, the Union of our States may be more than ever firmly cemented and established.

Mr. PRESIDENT, I offer the following resolutions:

_Resolved_, That in the death of our late venerable
colleague, the Hon. JOHN C. WRIGHT, we mourn the loss to the
State of Ohio, and to the nation at large, of one of our
most sagacious statesmen and distinguished patriots; and to
the cause of Union and conciliation, one of its most
illustrious supporters.

_Resolved_, That while we deplore with saddened hearts the
affliction with which an All-wise Providence has visited us,
we know that no transition from life to immortality could
have been more grateful to him who has fallen than this, in
which his life has been offered a willing sacrifice in an
effort to restore harmony to his distracted country.

_Resolved_, That the members of this Convention tender their
heartfelt sympathies to the family of the deceased in this
their great affliction.

_Resolved_, That these resolutions be spread upon the
records of this body, and a copy of the same be transmitted
to the family of the deceased.

Mr. CHARLES A. WICKLIFFE, of Kentucky, moved the adoption of the resolutions, and said:

Mr. PRESIDENT, I rise to tender my most cordial sanction and second to the resolutions which have just been read.

Mr. WRIGHT and myself entered the councils of this nation thirty-seven years ago. We served together during a period when party excitement ran high upon questions more of a personal than a constitutional character. I can bear witness not only to his ability, but to his personal integrity, and his purity of political action through our term of service in the House of Representatives. I have seldom met him since we separated at the termination of his service and mine in that body, which occurred at pretty near the same period; but whenever I have met him, I have found him the same stern advocate of the Union and of constitutional liberty. I rejoiced, therefore, when I found him in this hall on the day we first assembled here. I knew his conservative disposition and principles, and I promised myself that with his aid I could be more useful to my country and to my State than without him. In conversing with him upon the difficulties which now divide and distract our common country, I found him ready and willing, conscientiously and patriotically, to do that which I thought that portion of the country which I represent has a right to demand and expect of those who represent a different portion of our Union. And if my friend from Ohio (Mr. CHASE) and his colleagues will permit me to mingle my sorrow at the public loss, I will say nothing of the private bereavement of the family of our deceased colleague. I leave him to his country, and to you, with this testimony which I leave to his memory, his honesty of purpose and his patriotic love of country.

The Hon. A.W. LOOMIS, of Pennsylvania, said:

Mr. PRESIDENT, I desire to mingle my sincere regrets with those of the members of this assemblage at the sad and unexpected occurrence which deprived us of an able, experienced, and patriotic associate. My relations with the deceased were, for many years, probably more intimate than those which existed between him and any other member of this Convention. Forty years have elapsed since I first made his acquaintance. He was then in full, active, and extensive practice; a learned lawyer, an accomplished, skilful, and successful advocate. During the succeeding year I came to the bar, and resided and practiced in the same judicial circuit with our departed friend. For many years the most kind and intimate relations existed between us--sometimes colleagues, but usually opponents. So kind and genial was his nature, so fair and liberal his practice, that during our entire intercourse not an unkind word was uttered, and, so far as I know or believe, not an unpleasant feeling existed in the bosom of either.

Though not gifted with the highest order of eloquence, he was clear, distinct, and persuasive. His style of speaking resembled not the babbling brook or the dashing cataract, but usually the limpid stream, gliding gracefully amid fields and fruits and flowers, though sometimes assuming the power and proportions of the majestic river, cutting its sure and certain way to the mighty ocean.

His professional position, his kindness of heart, and genial humor, made him an object of high respect and warm regard among his professional brethren. And now, sir, as memory passes in review the pleasant incidents which marked our social and professional intercourse, the smitten heart shrinks in sadness and sorrow from the contemplation of our bereavement. He adorned, sir, the bar, the bench, and the halls of Legislation. He discharged, in all the relations of life, his obligations with fidelity. Of him it might be truly said:

His life hath flowed a sacred stream, in whose calm depths
The beautiful and pure alone are mirrored;
Which, though shapes of ill may hover o'er the surface,
Glides in light, and takes no shadows from them.

But, sir, the great crowning virtue and glory of his life was his acceptance of the mission which brought him here. Though whitened by the frosts of nearly eighty winters, neither lofty mountains nor intervening space could restrain his patriotic heart from a prompt response to the call of his country to mingle his influence in a sincere and sacred effort to save the Constitution and perpetuate the Union. He accepted the great trust; he mingled in our deliberations, and has fallen in the discharge of his duty. He has justly earned a title to the gratitude and respect of his country. May we not, sir, fondly hope that he, who was called from the discharge of such duties to the presence of his God, has passed from the sorrows of earth to the happiness of Heaven, and to the full fruition of joys pure, perfect, and eternal?

The Hon. THOMAS EWING, of Ohio, said:--I rise to bear my tribute of respect to the memory of the deceased. I have known him long. On my first entrance into active life, at the bar, I found him an able and distinguished member. Since that time down to the present day, he has been largely associated, in mind and person, with all the acts and progress, professional and political, of my life. I feel his loss intensely; and I feel it with more regret, because I know that on this occasion his voice would have been potential in our counsels, and would have been united with all of us who labor most earnestly for the preservation of the Union.

I tender my sympathies to the family of the deceased. I unite with them in their regrets and in their hopes of the happy future to which he may have attained.

The Hon. WILLIAM C. RIVES, of Virginia, said:--Though wholly unprepared to say any thing worthy of the solemnity of this occasion, I feel that I should be wanting, sir, in that sentiment of respect which is due to the character of a distinguished citizen, if I were not to add to what has been so eloquently spoken by others, a few words of personal recollection in regard to our deceased friend Judge WRIGHT. It so happened that we entered the public councils of the country at the same moment, and continued in them for the same period of time. It is now just thirty-seven years since I had the pleasure of meeting Judge WRIGHT, for the first time, in the House of Representatives of the United States. I may be permitted to say, that there were giants in those days. My honorable friend from Kentucky (Governor WICKLIFFE), who has already so feelingly addressed the Convention, will recollect that on the roll of the House of Representatives at that time stood the names of WEBSTER and EVERETT, of OAKLEY and STORRS, of SARGEANT and of HEMPHILL, of LEWIS McLANE, of the immortal CLAY, and BARBOUR and RANDALL, and other gentlemen known to fame from the State which I have the honor to represent in this body, and LIVINGSTON of Louisiana, McDUFFIE and HAMILTON of South Carolina, and other gentlemen who, on the spur of the occasion, I am not now able to recall, but whose names will forever shine upon the rolls of their country's glory. And yet in that body Judge WRIGHT, then in the maturity of his powers, though not previously known to the nation, vindicated an equal rank in debate with those gentlemen whose names I have mentioned. Sir, I shall never forget with what earnestness, with what manliness, with what integrity, with what ability, he ever uttered his convictions of public duty, whatever they were, in that consecrated hall.

After remaining here, I think, for six years, he retired to his own State for the purpose of assuming the duties of a highly-important and dignified office, which was soon followed by his retirement into the bosom of private life, where he met a rich and ample solace for the storms of his public career. He was followed there by the respect of his fellow-citizens throughout the country, and the confidence of his own State, as we have recently seen, by his being called from that honorable retirement to take part in the grave and solemn duties of this assembly. Sir, he came among us in obedience to the solemn call of patriotic duty, at a most exigent and distressing period in our national annals. He came here on an errand of peace, in the spirit of peace and conciliation. Such was the feeling entertained toward him by the whole of this assembly, that without the slightest preconcert, so far as I know, he was invited by general consent to preside during the preliminary stages of the organization of this Convention. I had an opportunity, from time to time, of private conversation with the aged statesman. I found no member of the assembly I met here, and, indeed, I have found nowhere any citizen of this wide Republic of ours, whose heart was more deeply imbued with the spirit of conciliation and of peace--of that spirit which was so solemnly and impressively uttered in his last prayer, "May the Union be preserved." Sir, it is not given to mortal man to choose the manner of his death; but if such were the privilege accorded to any human being, what more glorious end could he, appreciating a true fame, covet, than that which has been the lot of our departed friend? Sir, I speak what I feel, and I dare say I express a sentiment which has impressed itself upon many other bosoms in this assembly, when I say that his sudden death in the midst of our deliberations, seems to me to exalt--in some degree to canonize--our labors. This manifestation of the visible hand of God among us, brings us in the immediate presence of those solemn responsibilities which attach themselves to the discharge of our duties here. I doubt not that every member of this assembly is already deeply impressed with the solemnity of those duties, and I feel convinced that there are few, if any, in this assembly, who would not lay down their fleeting and feverish existence, and follow our deceased brother to his final account, if by doing so they could restore peace and harmony to this glorious Republic of ours.

It does not become me to make any professions of devotion to my country--to my whole country--but this I will say, in the spirit of the last prayer of my friend, that I should regard my poor life, such as it is, a cheap purchase--the cheapest imaginable purchase--for that great boon to our country, the restoration of its peace, of its harmony, of its unity, of its ancient confederated strength and glory.

The question was taken, and the resolutions were unanimously adopted.

The body of Judge WRIGHT was then brought into the hall, preceded by Rev. Dr. HALL, who read the impressive service of the Episcopal Church. A number of the members of the family, and of the friends of the deceased, were present during the services.

The funeral cortege proceeded from the hall to the depot of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

The following gentlemen were designated to act as pall-bearers on the occasion:

Mr. Ewing, Mr. Hitchcock, Mr. Chase, Mr. Loomis, Mr. Backus, Mr. Wolcott, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Vinton, Mr. Groesbeck, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Harlan, Mr. Gurley.

The proceedings upon the death of Judge WRIGHT were, by the Conference, ordered to be published, and the special session closed.

NINTH DAY.

WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, _February 15th, 1861._

The Convention was called to order by President TYLER, and prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. RENNER. The Journals of the 13th and 14th were read and approved.

The PRESIDENT:--I have this morning received several communications from different persons, which will be laid before the Convention. One is an invitation from HORATIO STONE, inviting the members of the Convention to visit his studio; also, a resolution of the House of Representatives, authorizing the admission of members of this Convention to the floor of the House. Also, a letter from J.E. SANDS, offering to the Convention certain flags which possess historical interest, from the fact that they were used in the convention which adopted the present Constitution of the United States. Also, a communication from HORATIO G. WARNER.

The communications were severally read and laid upon the table.

Mr. SUMMERS:--I am instructed by the Committee on Credentials to inform the Convention that the committee has received satisfactory evidence of the appointment by the Executive of Ohio of C.P. WOLCOTT, as a delegate to this Convention, in the place of JOHN C. WRIGHT, deceased.

Mr. ORTH:--I desire to offer the following resolutions, which I ask to have read for the information of the Convention. I have no purpose to admit spectators to seats on this floor, but in my judgment it is the right of the country to know what we are doing here. My constituents will not be satisfied with my course, unless I take means to give the public knowledge of all our transactions. I am aware that this is an invasion of the rule already adopted, requiring secrecy, but in my opinion no possible harm can come from the daily publication of our debates. It is far better that true reports of these debates should be made, than that the distorted and perverted accounts which we see daily in the New York papers should be continued.

The resolutions were read, and are as follows:

_Resolved_, That Rules Sixteen (16) and Eighteen (18) of
this Convention be, and the same hereby are, rescinded.

_Resolved_, That the President is hereby authorized to grant
cards of admission to reporters of the press, not exceeding
---- in number, which shall entitle them to seats on the
floor of the Convention, for the purpose of reporting its
proceedings.

_Resolved_, That no person be admitted to the floor of the
Convention, except the members, officers, or reporters.

Mr. WICKLIFFE:--I do not wish to prolong this discussion myself, nor to cause it to be prolonged by others. I am sure that if we permit our debates to be reported, we shall never reach a conclusion which will in the slightest degree benefit the country. Every member will in that event wish to make a set speech, some of them three or four. I wish to have our time used in consultation and in action, not consumed in political speech-making. I do not care what the newspapers say of us. I know their accounts are distorted; but they would be distorted if we admitted reporters. Some of them assail us as a convention of compromisers--as belonging to the sandstone stratum of politics.

Mr. CHASE:--That is the formation which supports all others.

Mr. WICKLIFFE:--I know it, and I hope this Convention will prove to be the stratum which supports and preserves the Union and the country. Let us go on as we have begun, preserving secrecy; keeping our own counsels; making no speeches for outside consumption or personal reputation. Let us all keep steadily in mind the accomplishment of the great and good purpose which brought us here, and nothing else.

Mr. RANDOLPH:--New Jersey does not wish to have time consumed in making speeches. I think we should proceed at once to hear the report of the committee. I move that the resolutions offered be laid upon the table.

Mr. ORTH:--I suppose this motion cuts off debate. I should much have preferred to discuss the resolutions. I hope the motion will not prevail.

The motion to lay on the table passed in the affirmative by a _viva voce_ vote.

The PRESIDENT:--Is the General Committee upon Propositions prepared to report? If it is, their report is now in order.

Mr. GUTHRIE:--That committee has given earnest and careful consideration to the subjects and propositions which have from time to time been presented to it. It has held numerous and protracted sessions, and the differences of opinion naturally existing between the members have been discussed in a spirit of candor and conciliation. The committee have not been so fortunate as to arrive at an unanimous conclusion. A majority of its members, however, have agreed upon a report which we think ought to be satisfactory to all sections of the Union, one which if adopted will, we believe, accomplish the purpose so much desired by every patriotic citizen. We think it will give peace to the country. In their behalf I have now the honor to submit, for the consideration of the Conference, the following:

PROPOSALS OF AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES.

ARTICLE 1. In all the territory of the United States not
embraced within the limits of the Cherokee treaty grant,
north of a line from east to west on the parallel of 36
degrees 30 minutes north latitude, involuntary servitude,
except in punishment of crime, is prohibited whilst it shall
be under a Territorial government; and in all the territory
south of said line, the status of persons owing service or
labor, as it now exists, shall not be changed by law while
such territory shall be under a Territorial government; and
neither Congress nor the Territorial government shall have
power to hinder or prevent the taking to said territory of
persons held to labor or involuntary service, within the
United States, according to the laws or usages of the State
from which such persons may be taken, nor to impair the
rights arising out of said relations, which shall be subject
to judicial cognizance in the federal courts, according to
the common law; and when any territory north or south of
said line, within such boundary as Congress may prescribe,
shall contain a population required for a member of
Congress, according to the then federal ratio of
representation, it shall, if its form of government be
republican, be admitted into the Union on an equal footing
with the original States, with or without involuntary
service or labor, as the Constitution of such new State may
provide.

ARTICLE 2. Territory shall not be acquired by the United
States, unless by treaty; nor, except for naval and
commercial stations and depots, unless such treaty shall be
ratified by four-fifths of all members of the Senate.

ARTICLE 3. Neither the Constitution, nor any amendment
thereof, shall be construed to give Congress power to
regulate, abolish, or control within any State or Territory
of the United States, the relation established or recognized
by the laws thereof touching persons bound to labor or
involuntary service therein, nor to interfere with or
abolish involuntary service in the District of Columbia
without the consent of Maryland and without the consent of
the owners, or making the owners who do not consent just
compensation; nor the power to interfere with or prohibit
representatives and others from bringing with them to the
City of Washington, retaining, and taking away, persons so
bound to labor; nor the power to interfere with or abolish
involuntary service in places under the exclusive
jurisdiction of the United States within those States and
Territories where the same is established or recognized; nor
the power to prohibit the removal or transportation, by
land, sea, or river, of persons held to labor or involuntary
service in any State or Territory of the United States to
any other State or Territory thereof where it is established
or recognized by law or usage; and the right during
transportation of touching at ports, shores, and landings,
and of landing in case of distress, shall exist. Nor shall
Congress have power to authorize any higher rate of taxation
on persons bound to labor than on land.

ARTICLE 4. The third paragraph of the second section of the
fourth article of the Constitution shall not be construed to
prevent any of the States, by appropriate legislation, and
through the action of their judicial and ministerial
officers, from enforcing the delivery of fugitives from
labor to the person to whom such service or labor is due.

ARTICLE 5. The foreign slave-trade and the importation of
slaves into the United States and their Territories, from
places beyond the present limits thereof, are forever
prohibited.

ARTICLE 6. The first, second, third, and fifth articles,
together with this article of these amendments, and the
third paragraph of the second section of the first article
of the Constitution, and the third paragraph of the second
section of the fourth article thereof, shall not be amended
or abolished without the consent of all the States.

ARTICLE 7. Congress shall provide by law that the United
States shall pay to the owner the full value of his fugitive
from labor, in all cases where the marshal or other officer,
whose duty it was to arrest such fugitive, was prevented
from so doing by violence or intimidation, or when, after
arrest, such fugitive was rescued by force, and the owner
thereby prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his
remedy for the recovery of such fugitive.

Mr. BALDWIN:--I have not been able to concur in opinion with those members of the committee who have presented the propositions just submitted. I do not deem them fair or equitable to the Free States, nor do I think they are likely to secure approval in those States. As one member of the minority, I have drawn up a report embodying my own views and perhaps those of some of my colleagues, which I now present for the consideration of the Conference:

MR. BALDWIN'S MINORITY REPORT.

The undersigned, one of the minority of the committee of one
from each State, to whom was referred the consideration of
the resolutions of the State of Virginia, and the other
States represented, and all propositions for the adjustment
of existing differences between the States, with authority
to report what they deem right, necessary, and proper to
restore harmony and preserve the Union, and report thereon,
entered upon the duties of the committee with an anxious
desire that they might be able to unite in the
recommendation of some plan which, on due deliberation,
should seem best adapted to maintain the dignity and
authority of the Government of the United States, and at the
same time secure to the people of every section that perfect
equality of right to which they are entitled.

Convened, as we are, on the invitation of the Governor of
Virginia, in pursuance of the resolutions of the General
Assembly of that State, with an accompanying expression of
the deliberate opinion of that body that, unless the unhappy
controversy which now divides the States shall be
satisfactorily adjusted, a permanent dissolution of the
Union is inevitable; and, being earnestly desirous of an
adjustment thereof, in concurrence with Virginia, in the
spirit in which the Constitution was originally formed, and
consistently with its principles, so as to afford to the
people of all the States adequate security for all their
rights, the attention of the undersigned was necessarily led
to the consideration of the extent and equality of our
powers, and to the propriety and expediency, under existing
circumstances, of a recommendation by this Conference
Convention of any specific action by Congress, whether of
ordinary legislation, or in reference to constitutional
amendments to be proposed by Congress on its own
responsibility to the States.

A portion of the members of this Convention are delegated by
the Legislatures of their respective States, and are
required to act under their supervision and control, while
others are the representatives only of the Executives of
their States, and, having no opportunity of consulting the
immediate representatives of the people, can only act on
their individual responsibility.

Among the resolutions and propositions suggesting modes of
adjustment appropriate to this occasion which were brought
to the notice of the committee, were the resolutions of the
State of Kentucky recommending to her sister States to unite
with her in an application to Congress for the calling of a
Convention in the mode prescribed by the Constitution for
proposing amendments thereto.

The undersigned, for the reasons set forth in the
accompanying resolution, and others which have been herein
indicated, is of opinion that the mode of adjustment by a
General Convention, as proposed by Kentucky, is the one
which affords the best assurance of an adjustment acceptable
to the people of every section, as it will afford to all the
States which may desire amendments, an opportunity of
preparing them with care and deliberation, and in such form
as they may deem it expedient to prescribe, to be submitted
to the consideration and deliberate action of delegates duly
chosen and invested with equal powers from all the States.

The undersigned did not, therefore, deem it expedient that
any of the measures of adjustment proposed by the majority
of the committee, should be reported to this body to be
discussed or acted upon by them, and he respectfully submits
as a substitute for the articles of amendment to the
Constitution, reported by the majority of the committee, the
following preamble and resolution, and respectfully
recommends the adoption thereof.

ROGER S. BALDWIN.

_Whereas_, unhappy differences exist which have alienated
from each other portions of the people of the United States
to such an extent as seriously to disturb the peace of the
nation, and impair the regular and efficient action of the
Government within the sphere of its constitutional powers
and duties;

_And whereas_, the Legislature of the State of Kentucky has
made application to Congress to call a Convention for
proposing amendments to the Constitution of the United
States;

_And whereas_, it is believed to be the opinion of the
people of other States that amendments to the Constitution
are or may become necessary to secure to the people of the
United States, of every section, the full and equal
enjoyment of their rights and liberties, so far as the same
may depend for their security and protection on the powers
granted to or withheld from the General Government, in
pursuance of the national purposes for which it was ordained
and established;

_And whereas_, it may be expedient that such amendments as
any of the States may desire to have proposed, should be
presented to the Convention in such form as the respective
States desiring the same may deem proper;

This Convention does, therefore, recommend to the several
States to unite with Kentucky in her application to Congress
to call a convention for proposing amendments to the
Constitution of the United States, to be submitted to the
Legislatures of the several States, or to conventions
therein, for ratification, as the one or the other mode of
ratification may be proposed by Congress, in accordance with
the provision in the fifth article of the Constitution.

Mr. FIELD:--I do not concur in the conclusions to which the majority of the committee have arrived. I may say that I wholly dissent from them. I have not deemed it necessary to make a separate report. At a suitable time I shall endeavor to make known to the Conference my views upon the topics which have occupied the attention of the committee.

Mr. CROWNINSHIELD:--I occupy substantially the same position as Mr. FIELD, and shall make my views known at a proper time.

Mr. SEDDON:--The report presented by the majority, I think, is a wide departure from the course we should have adopted. Virginia has prepared and presented a plan, and has invited this Conference to consider it. I think we ought to take up her propositions, amend and perfect them, if need be, and then adopt or reject them. To avoid all misconstruction as to my individual opinions or position, I have reduced my views to writing, which, with the leave of the Conference, I will now read.

No objection being made, Mr. SEDDON proceeded to read the following:

REPORT OF MR. SEDDON.

The undersigned, acting on the recommendation of the
Commissioners from the State of Virginia, as a member of the
committee appointed by this Convention to consider and
recommend propositions of adjustment, has not been so happy
as to accord with the report submitted by the majority; and
as he more widely dissents from the opinions entertained by
the other dissenting members, he feels constrained, in
vindication of his position and opinions, to present on his
part this brief report, recommending, as a substitute for
the report of the majority, a proposition subjoined. To this
course he feels the more impelled, by deference to the
resolutions of the General Assembly of his State, inviting
the assemblage of this Convention, and suggesting a basis of
adjustment.

These resolutions declare, that "in the opinion of the
General Assembly of Virginia the propositions embraced in
the resolutions presented to the Senate of the United States
by the Hon. JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, so modified as that the
first article proposed as an amendment to the Constitution
of the United States shall apply to all the territory of the
United States now held or hereafter acquired south of
latitude 36° 30´, and provided that slavery of the African
race shall be effectually protected as property therein
during the continuance of the territorial government, and
the fourth article shall secure to the owners of slaves the
right of transit with their slaves between and through the
non-slaveholding States or Territories, constitute the basis
of such an adjustment of the unhappy controversy which now
divides the States of this Confederacy, as would be
accepted by the people of this Commonwealth."

From this resolution, it is clear that the General Assembly,
in its declared opinion of what would be acceptable to the
people of Virginia, not only required the Crittenden
propositions as a basis, but also held the modifications
suggested in addition essential. In this the undersigned
fully concurs. But, in his opinion, the propositions
reported by the majority do not give, but materially weaken
the Crittenden propositions themselves, and fail to accord
the modifications suggested. The undersigned therefore,
feels it his duty to submit and recommend, as a substitute,
the resolutions referred to, as proposed by the Hon. JOHN J.
CRITTENDEN, with the incorporation of the modifications
suggested by Virginia explicitly expressed, and with some
alterations on points which, he is assured, would make them
more acceptable to that State, and, as he hopes, to the
whole Union. The propositions submitted are appended, marked
No. 1.

The undersigned, while contenting himself, in the spirit of
the action taken by the General Assembly of his State, with
the proposal of that substitute for the majority report,
would be untrue to his own convictions, shared, as he
believes, by the majority of the commissioners from
Virginia, and to his sense of duty, if he did not
emphatically declare, as his settled and deliberate
judgment, that for permanent safety in this Union, to the
slaveholding States, and the restoration of integrity to the
Union and harmony and peace to the country, a guarantee of
actual power in the Constitution and in the working of the
Government to the slaveholding and minority section is
_indispensable_. How such guarantee might be most wisely
contrived and judiciously adjusted to the frame of the
Government, the undersigned forbears now to inquire. He is
not exclusively addicted to any special plan, but believing
that such guarantee might be adequately afforded by a
partition of power in the Senate between the two sections,
and by a recognition that _ours_ is a Union of freedom and
consent, not constraint and force, he respectfully submits,
for consideration by members of the Convention, the plan
hereto appended, marked No. 2.

Whether he shall feel bound to invoke the action of the
Convention upon it, may depend on the future manifestations
of sentiment in this body.

All which is respectfully submitted,

JAMES A. SEDDON.
_Commissioner from Virginia._

_February 15th, 1861._

No. 1.

_Joint Resolutions proposing certain amendments to the
Constitution of the United States._

_Whereas_, serious and alarming dissensions have arisen
between the Northern and Southern States, concerning the
rights and security of the rights of the slaveholding
States, and especially their rights in the common territory
of the United States; and _whereas_, it is eminently
desirable and proper that those dissensions, which now
threaten the very existence of this Union, should be
permanently quieted and settled by constitutional
provisions, which shall do equal justice to all sections,
and thereby restore to the people that peace and good will
which ought to prevail between all the citizens of the
United States: Therefore,

_Resolved_, by this Convention, that the following articles
are hereby approved and submitted to the Congress of the
United States, with the request that they may, by the
requisite constitutional majority of two-thirds, be
recommended to the respective States of the Union, to be,
when ratified by Conventions of three-fourths of the States,
valid and operative as amendments of the Constitution of the
Union.

ARTICLE 1. In all the territory of the United States, now
held or hereafter acquired, situate north of latitude
thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, slavery or
involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, is
prohibited, while such territory shall remain under
territorial government. In all the territory south of said
line of latitude, slavery of the African race is hereby
recognized as existing, and shall not be interfered with by
Congress, but shall be protected as property by all the
departments of the territorial government during its
continuance; and, when any territory, north or south of said
line, within such boundaries as Congress may prescribe,
shall contain the population requisite for a member of
Congress, according to the then federal ratio of
representation of the people of the United States, it shall,
if its form of government be republican, be admitted into
the Union on an equal footing with the original States, with
or without slavery, as the Constitution of such new State
may provide.

ARTICLE 2. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery
in places under its exclusive jurisdiction, and situate
within the limits of States that permit the holding of
slaves.

ARTICLE 3. Congress shall have no power to abolish slavery
within the District of Columbia, so long as it exists in the
adjoining States of Virginia and Maryland, or either, nor
without the consent of the free white inhabitants, nor
without just compensation first made to such owners of
slaves as do not consent to such abolishment. Nor shall
Congress at any time prohibit officers of the Federal
Government, or members of Congress, whose duties require
them to be in said District, from bringing with them their
slaves, and holding them as such during the time their
duties may require them to remain there, and afterwards
taking them from the District.

ARTICLE 4. Congress shall have no power to prohibit or
hinder the transportation of slaves from one State to
another, or to a Territory in which slaves are by law
permitted to be held, whether that transportation be by
land, navigable rivers, or by the sea. And if such
transportation be by sea, the slaves shall be protected as
property by the Federal Government. And the right of transit
by the owners with their slaves, in passing to or from one
slaveholding State or Territory to another, between and
through the non-slaveholding States and Territories, shall
be protected. And in imposing direct taxes pursuant to the
Constitution, Congress shall have no power to impose on
slaves a higher rate of tax than on land, according to their
just value.

ARTICLE 5. That, in addition to the provisions of the third
paragraph of the second section of the fourth article of the
Constitution of the United States, Congress shall provide by
law, that the United States shall pay to the owner who shall
apply for it, the full value of his fugitive slave, in all
cases, when the marshal, or other officer, whose duty it was
to arrest said fugitive, was prevented from so doing by
violence or intimidation, or when, after arrest, said
fugitive was rescued by force, and the owner thereby
prevented and obstructed in the pursuit of his remedy for
the recovery of his fugitive slave, under the said clause of
the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof. And
in all such cases, when the United States shall pay for such
fugitive, they shall reimburse themselves by imposing and
collecting a tax on the county or city in which said
violence, intimidation, or rescue was committed, equal in
amount to the sum paid by them, with the addition of
interest and the costs of collection; and the said county or
city, after it has paid said amount to the United States,
may, for its indemnity, sue and recover from the
wrong-doers, or rescuers, by whom the owner was prevented
from the recovery of his fugitive slave, in like manner as
the owner himself might have sued and recovered.

ARTICLE 6. No future amendment of the Constitution shall
affect the five preceding articles, nor the third paragraph
of the second section of the first article of the
Constitution, nor the third paragraph of the second section
of the fourth article of said Constitution, and no amendment
shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or
give to Congress any power to abolish or interfere with
slavery in any of the States, by whose laws it is or may be
allowed or permitted.

ARTICLE 7, Sec. 1. The elective franchise and the right to
hold office, whether federal, State, territorial, or
municipal, shall not be exercised by persons who are, in
whole or in part, of the African race.

And _whereas_, also, besides those causes of dissension
embraced in the foregoing amendments proposed to the
Constitution of the United States, there are others which
come within the jurisdiction of Congress, and may be
remedied by its legislative power: and _whereas_ it is the
desire of this Convention, as far its influence may extend,
to remove all just cause for the popular discontent and
agitation which now disturb the peace of the country, and
threaten the stability of its institutions: Therefore,

1. _Resolved_, 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, or any 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 the plain provisions 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
obstructed the due administration and execution of 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. This Convention,
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.