Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/169

Rh “Mr. President,” he exclaimed, “I have no apprehension for the safety of the Union from any state of things now existing. I will not answer for the consequences which may issue from indiscretion and harshness on the part of individuals or of Congress, here or elsewhere. We allow ourselves to speak too frequently, and with too much levity, of a separation of this Union. It is a terrible word, to which our ears should not be familiarized. I desire to see in continued safety and prosperity this Union, and no other Union. I go for this Union as it is, one and indivisible, without diminution. I will neither voluntarily leave it, nor be driven out of it by force. Here, in my place, I shall contend for all the rights of the state which sent me here. I shall contend for them with undoubting confidence, and with the perfect conviction that they are safer in the Union than they would be out of the Union.”

Then he offered a series of resolutions as substitutes for those of Calhoun, affirming: 1. That slavery in the states was exclusively under the control of the several states, and not to be interfered with; 2. That petitions touching slavery in the states should be rejected as praying for something “palpably beyond the scope of the constitutional power of Congress;” 3. That the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia would be a violation of the good faith “implied in the cession” of the District, that it could not take place without indemnifying the slave-owners, and would alarm the Slave States; 4. That, on the other hand, the Senate, recognizing its “duty in respect to the constitutional right of petition,” should hold itself