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obstruct and baffle the majority under a political system preserving the forms of a republic.”
1
Mr. Noell proposed to instruct the Committee to inquire and report as to the expediency of abolishing the office of President of the United States, and establishing, in lieu thereof, an Executive Council of three members, to be elected by districts composed of contiguous States, as nearly as possible, and each member to be invested with a veto power.
He wished the Committee also to inquire whether the equilibrium between the Free-labor and Slave-labor States might not be restored and preserved, particularly by a voluntary division on the part of some of the latter States into two or more States.2
There were other propositions for conciliation and the preservation of the Union presented, some similar and some quite dissimilar to those already mentioned; and it was evident to the people at large that the Republic: would not be saved by the wisdom of their representatives alone.
There seemed to be a general desire among patriots to concede every thing but honor and the best interests of the country for the preservation of the Union,, while the conspirators, having trampled both honor and patriotism under their feet, would yield nothing, and even presented their requisitions in such.
questionable shapes, that they might interpret them, at the critical moment, of final decision, as their interests should dictate.
The result of the labors of the Committee of Thirty-three, and the action on measures proposed outside of that Committee, will be considered hereafter.
In the Senate there was a like desire, on the part of many of the members; from the Free-labor and the Border Slave-labor States, for conciliation, and a disposition to compromise much for the sake of fraternal good — will and peace.
On motion of Lazarus W. Powell, of Kentucky, a Committee of Thirteen was appointed by Vice-President Breckinridge, to consider the. condition of the country, and report some plan, by amendments of the National Constitution or otherwise, for its pacification.3 On the same day, the. venerable John J. Crittenden offered to the Senate a series of amendments of the Constitution, and Joint Resolutions, for the protection of Slavery and the interests of the slaveholders, which, embodied, are known in history as the, Crittenden Compromise. The amendments proposed were substantially as; follows:--
I. To re-establish, as a boundary between Free and Slave-labor States forever, the parallel of 36° 30‘ north latitude, running from the southern boundary of Missouri to the Pacific Ocean, and known as the Missouri Compromise line.
North of that line there should be no Slavery; south of it, the system might flourish, and all interference with it by the Congress should be forbidden.
Not only this, but the Congress, by law, should protect this) “property” of the slave-owners from interference “by all the departments of ”
1 The American Conflict, by Horace Greeley, i, 384.
2 Proceedings of Congress, December 12, 1860, reported in Congressional Globe.
3 This Committee consisted of L. W. Powell and John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky; William H. Seward, of New York; J. Collamer, of Vermont; William Bigler, of Pennsylvania; R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia; Robert Toombs, of Georgia; Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi; H. M. Rice, of Minnesota; Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois; Benjamin Wade, of Ohio; J. R. Doolittle, of Wisconsin. and J. W. Grimes, of Iowa., The Committee; was composed of eight Democrats and five Republicans.
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