of a sacrilegious act, and the violation of our
sworn obligations?
if State Conventions could, by their action,
add whatever powers they choose to those of
the Federal Government, you could thereby,
in a mode and manner not contemplated by
the Constitution, change the whole structure
of our Government. The Constitution says
it shall only he amended in the mode pre-
scribed in the 5th article; and to surrender to
the General Government powers to which it
is not entitled, would be just as much revolu-
tion on our part, as the act of those States
which are now waging a war against the
Government, except in this. that in the one
case they revolutionize with arms in their
hands, and in the other we do it by clinging
like babes, at the feet of those in power.
I might further weary your patience, Mr.
President, by going through and comparing
the Constitutions of other States, and show-
ing bow no such provisions exist in the Con-
stitutions of any of the States; and how, in
some of the States, Massachusetts for instance,
when the proposition was offered to add to
the oath of the qualifications of office, an
amendment requiring that the words "and
support the Constitution of the United States"
Should be included, it was voted down, and
in Massachusetts no State officer is sworn to
support, the Constitution of the United States,
although the Constitution of the United
States expressly requires it. But I forbear
longer to trespass upon the indulgence of the
Convention.
Day after day, Mr. President, as we have
assembled here and commenced our labors,
the minister of God has supplicated the Al-
mighty to restore peace in our time. These
days of terrible carnage, exhausting the re-
sources of the land, and sending to their last
and final rest the spirits of so many brave
men, who have consecrated their lives to
What they deem "a holy cause," cannot last
forever,
I stand here to-day, the embodiment of the
prayer of the preacher, a peace man on terms
honorable to all sections of the country.
Mr. SANDS. Will the gentlemen permit me
to ask him what these terms are?
Mr. CLARKE. When we have any mode of
extending terms, then these terms, I humbly
conceive, will be discussed, and the gentleman
will have my views upon them; but while
there is no power on our part to do any thing
in reference to offering terms, I regard the
question as premature. But I will say this,
that I regard the first step should be an armis-
tice; the next the appointment of commis-
sioners, or the call of a Convention under the
Constitution, in which all the States shall be
represented. If commissioners are preferred,
take three or four of the best men in the
country: Franklin Pierce, for one; he is one
of the best you can get. Put Chase on the
commission for another; for I will put Chase |
and Pierce together, and then Fremont or
Abe Lincoln, or Buchanan, or Fillmore.
Make it a commission of twenty-one if you
choose. Then have upon it Alexander Stephens
and some of the best southern men—for the
Government would never let Stephens submit
his propositions—and I will guarantee that
these great men of the country will settle upon
terms honorable to both sections. But as the
gentleman would never consent to have me
placed upon the commission I do not know
that I should further give him my views.
They might settle our difficulties by recog-
nition. If so, it would be for the people to
say whether or not they would accept it.
They might do it by separating for a little
while,—providing for a separation for so long
a time as would enable both sides to see how
they like it, and see whether they would not
want to unite again. They might do it by
admitting that the rights of slavery and the
rights of all the States are intact, and shall
be preserved; and that the Southern States
shall come back with slavery established un-
der the Constitution as firmly as ever. Or if
the South chose to say, "they would give up
slavery," it would be for them to determine
for themselves.
I do not know the exact mode; but if we
start upon that plan, of an armistice, com-
missioners, a Convention, and some peaceful
mode to be submitted to the people of this
country, the Constitution will be preserved
as the palladium of the freedom of the white
men of this country in some shape or form ;
and this war, which never would have com-
menced if the spirit of patriotism, compro-
mise and conciliation had governed those who
held the destinies of the nation in their keep-
ing, will come to an end.
To resume, after this digression into which
I have been led by the interrogatory pro-
pounded to me, I say that this forgetfulness
of sound constitutional principles of govern-
ment, which now prevails, cannot be forever
tolerated.
The American heart, if it throbs more ar-
dently in favor of one dearly won principle
than another, that principle is "constitutional
freedom." A day of terrible reckoning will
come for the politicians of Maryland who
have thus preyed upon her vitals, surrendered
the liberties of her people, and taken pleasure
in assisting in the work of her degradation.
Her people will yet, in tones of thunder, cry
out " Shame, shame, shame upon you." The
peaks of the Alleganies will begin the cry
which will doom you to political death—the
Blue Ridge from her "misty shroud," will
reverber to the same sentence, until, growing
louder and louder, crossing the waters of the
Chesapeake, the echo shall be lost amid the
roar of ocean—the noise of the "great
roaring of the sea." Even now, with
oaths, and bayonets and threats—even now,
with your judges putting questions and solemn |
