This brings me, sir, to the question of compromises. On the first day of
this session, a Senator rose in his place and offered a resolution for
the appointment of a committee to inquire into the evils that exist
between the different sections, and to ascertain what can be done to
settle this great difficulty. That is the proposition substantially. I
tell the Senator that I know of no difficulty; and as to compromises, I
had supposed that we were all agreed that the day of compromises was at
an end. The most solemn compromises we have ever made have been
violated without a whereas. Since I have had a seat in this body, one of
considerable antiquity, that had stood for more than thirty years, was
swept away from your statute-books. When I stood here in the minority
arguing against it; when I asked you to withhold your hand; when I told
you it was a sacred compromise between the sections, and that when it
was removed we should be brought face to face with all that sectional
bitterness that has intervened; when I told you that it was a sacred
compromise which no man should touch with his finger, what was your
reply? That it was a mere act of Congress--nothing more, nothing
less--and that it could be swept away by the same majority that passed
it.
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