from with their property. In that same time they have witnessed their own and your own people shot down, and the soil of Kansas moistened with the blood of your own people, for no other crime than the assertion and vindication of their own constitutional rights. Within that time, gentlemen, we have seen the Governor of a non-slaveholding State refusing to deliver a fugitive from justice upon the demand of the Governor of the State of Kentucky, for the reason, as they hold, that it is no crime to entice your slaves to leave you. Within that time Georgia has witnessed more than sixty Representatives of this organization at the North, endorsing and recommending the infamous sentiments contained in the Helper Book, and but for the indomitable perseverance of one of the Missouri Representatives in urging his resolution to that effect, she would have witnessed one of the men who endorsed the book elevated to the Speakership. She has witnessed, moreover, within these four years almost every State North of Mason and Dixon's line pass under the influence and power of the Republican organization of the North. She has seen within that time the true men, the constitutional men of the North cut down one after another, and in every case and on every occasion where the opportunity has occurred, every true and constitutional man in the Senate of the United States, with but one exception within the last four years, has been swept away and his place filled and occupied by a Representative of the Republican party.

She has seen within that time, as I have already stated, the States of the North pass under the influence and into the hands of this organization. It has seen their Executive, their Judicial and their Legislative Departments-all their offices, from the highest to the lowest, from the constable up through every intermediate grade to the Executive-filled with the representatives of the Republican organization. Not only so, but, within these four years, Georgia has seen an organized band descending upon the soil of Virginia, taking possession of the arsenal and property of the Government, and there pouring out the blood, shedding the innocent blood, of Virginia's citizens, for the avowed purpose of liberating the slaves of the South.

But, gentlemen, these four years have passed away, and the Republican organization—a sectional organization-existing alone in the Northern States; with the exception of a few thousand votes in the South; I say this organization, sectional, geographical-an organization against the formation of which, the Father of his Country warned the American people, met in Convention at the city of Chicago, and there proclaimed and published a platform of principles to the world. And, gentlemen, this same platform is to be found one in spirit and in object, to the one which was

adopted in Pittsburgh in 1856; whereby it is asserted that Congress has the power and right, aye, and that it is its duty, to exclude the Southern man and his property from the Territories, belonging alike to the North and the South, to the East and the West. They nominated their candidates on this platform. They go before the people—the ides of Noyember roll around—what is the result? Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Hamlin are elected by an overwhelming majority of the popular vote in the North.

Now, gentlemen, we have not only to look to the platform of this party for the principles and objects which they avow, but we must also look (and so the State of Georgia has done) to the principles and objects avowed by the candidates who have been elected by the Republican organization. Mr. Lincoln, the President elect, subscribes to the platform adopted in Chicago. Not only so, but he avowed the principles contained in it long before he was nominated, and enunciated the doctrine that Congress had the power to exclude the Southern man from going into the Territories with his property. He said that if he were a member of Congress he would vote to effect this exclusion, regardless of the decisions of the Supreme tribunal of the country. Not only so, but he has avowed the irrepressible conflict. Georgia saw all this and declared that the Northern mind would never become easy and quiet upon this question until it was satisfied that slavery was put in a course of ultimate extinction. Georgia has looked to his published declarations and opinions in order to ascertain the objects and views and opinions of the Republican organization. Not stopping there, she has looked to the declarations of the representative men of the Republican organization. She has looked to the views and opinions as expressed by Mr. Seward, Mr. Sumner, Mr. Wilson and others, both in and out of Congress, for the purpose of arriving at and ascertaining what was the ultimate object of the Republican organization in reference to the institution of slavery. She has not confined herself to them, but in order to ascertain more clearly, if you please, the object, she has gone into the county meetings and State Conventions, whieh may probably be a more true reflex of the principles and objects of the party, than the declaration of its representative men, and considered their action and resolutions. Looking at all these thingslooking at the national platform; at the county and State platforms; at the declarations published of Mr. LINCOLN himself; at the declaration and avowals of the representative men of the party, Georgia came to the conclusion that it was the avowed object of the Republican organization to put slavery and the government upon such a track as that slavery might ultimately be put in a course of ultimate extinction-that it was their object to surround the slaveholding

'

be respectfully laid before the President of the United States.

The CHAIR. The resolution goes to the committee without a motion.

Mr. REDD offered the following:

Resolved, by the people of the State of Missouri, in convention assembled, That we are unalterably opposed to the doctrine of coercion, believing that any attempt to carry it into practice would inevitably result in civil war, and forever destroy all hopes of preserving or reconstructing the Union.

And so believing, we deem it due to our Northern brethern to declare that it is the determination of the people of Missouri, in the event of any Southern State being invaded for the purpose of carrying such doctrine into effect, to take their stand by the side of their Southern brethren to resist the invaders at all hazards. [Applause in the lobby.]

The CHAIR. The Doorkeeper will require those persons who have been cheering to leave the lobby. The resolution just read will go to the committee without a motion.

Mr. GANTT. I think it would be very expedient that this Convention should give direction to the Sergeant-at-Arms to require all spectators to be seated, and not to admit any more as soon as all the seats are filled.

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I am informed that the Sergeant-at-Arms elect is not yet in the city.

The CHAIR. I received a telegraphic dispatch from him, stating that he would be here in the afternoon.

Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. The gentleman no doubt will be here as soon as he can, but in the meantime I would suggest the propriety of appointing Captain Couzins temporary Sergeant. Captain Couzins is well-known to all of us who are residents of this city and to his kindness we are already largely indebted. I have no doubt he would prove efficient.

The CHAIR. The gentlemen will please reduce their propositions to writing.

Messrs. GANTT and BRECKINRIDGE thereupon offered their propositions in writing, and they were severally adopted by the Convention.

The adoption of Mr. Gantt's resolution was the signal for a general rush for seats in the lobby.

Mr. HENDERSON offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

Resolved, That a committee of five members be appointed by the President, to whom shall be referred the communications made to the Convention by the Hon. Luther J. Glenn, Commissioner from the State of Georgia, and that they report to the Convention such action as they may deem a respectful and suitable response thereto on the part of this State.

On motion of Mr. PIPKIN, Master Long was appointed as a page of the Convention.

Mr. RITCHEY gave the following notice in writing: "I now give notice to the members of this Convention that I will on to-morrow move to rescind that part of the 18th rule adopted, making it the duty of each member making a proposition to read it in his place to the Convention.

Mr. SMITH, of St. Louis: Mr. President, I hold a resolution in my hand, providing for a new Committee, which I believe, will be of essential service to this Convention. There must be a great anxiety felt throughout the State, to know what this Convention will do, and what powers it possesses. Now, sir, there is a great anxiety also to know what it will not do. I am disposed by this resolution, to put matters in such a train that all will learn what the Convention will do in a very short time, that is, as soon as the committee has reported.

Sir, in the calling of the Convention, there are eertain matters laid down that this Convention shall attend to, and although I do not acknowledge that the creator, as the Legislature has been recently called, has any power to say to us what we shall do and what we shall not do, still we are called under an act of the Legislature, and I take it that whatever the people understood we were to do whatever powers the people understood they were giving to us at the time they elected us, those we have, and no others

The CHAIR. I will say to the gentleman that there is no question before the House at all until his proposition is read by the Secretary.

Mr. SMITH. I believe it is proper I should explain my resolution, and conclude by moving its adoption.

The CHAIR. You can read your resolution if you choese to do so, or you may send it to the Secretary to be read by him. As it is now, the Chair does not know whether you are confining yourself in your remarks to the subject under con sideration or not

Mr. SMITH thereupon handed the Secretary his resolution, who read as follows:

Resolved, That a committee of seven members, one from each Congressional district, be constituted, whose duty it shall be to take into consideration and propose to this Convention such action as the welfare and interest of the State shall require, and also to report what measures, if any, are demanded under existing circumstances for vindicating the sovereignty of the State and the protection of its institutions.

Mr. SMITH read from the call of the Legislature for a Convention, and contended that the appointment of a special committee, in accordance with his resolution, would be highly appropriate. My reason, he continued, for offering this resolution is that we find various opinions prevailing throughout the State, particularly in the interior, in regard to what the Convention shall do. It has been asserted in an interior town that I

lately visited, and in a very respectable assembly, that it was proposed by this Convention to swallow the Legislature of Missouri-to swallow it up, sir. [Laughter.] It was said by a very respectable gentleman that they had created a great Leviathan that was to swallow up the inferior insectsincluding of course all those gentlemen that compose that respectable body of which I now speak. This gentleman seemed to express great fears that such would be the case. Now, sir, I wish it understood that so far as I am concerned, I have no such idea-and I suppose that this Convention has no such idea as to perform that wonderful act of deglutition. [Laughter.] But if it is the intention of this Convention to swallow up that Legislature, I beg leave to excuse myself from partaking in that act. I have a very sore throat, sir, and my physician tells me that I must not swallow anything that is calculated to irritate, and if I have to swallow my share of that very respecta ble body, I should beg to be excused from having that very peppery gentleman who made this remark passed upon me as my portion. [Great laughter.] I do not wish to swallow him at all. All that is of peppery is disagreeable to my throat, but red pepper particularly. [Renewed laughter.]

Now, sir, I have another reason for not wishing to perform that portion of the duties which may devolve upon this Convention. I am very certain that if I should swallow that very fiery and peppery gentleman, he would not stay swallowed. I am sure that he would kick, and would not stay there. But whether he would operate on me emetically or cathartically, I would leave that for my friend here, (Dr. Linton,) who is in the medical line, to determine. [Laughter.] At any rate, I do not wish to have anything to do with it.

Now, sir, as for the Legislature being the creator and we the creatures, I have nothing to say about it. That may be so. As to the Convention moving from Jefferson City to this city, to a softer place, as the gentleman--the peppery gentleman-remarked, I confess the soft impeachment. It is a softer place than Jefferson, and I hope it always will remain so. It is said, sir, that we are fugitives from justice because we did not choose to stay in the small hall of justice that was selected for us at Jefferson.

Let them say

what they like about that. I am sure that I was satisfied with the accommodations that had there been provided, but we saw very plainly that the Legislature could not go on while we were th ere The Sergeant was kept busy all the time, bringing in the members.

Mr. GAMBLE. I rise to call the gentleman to order. The discussion he is now engaged in has no relation to the subject before the house.

Mr. SMITH. What is the decision of the Chair? The CHAIR. The Chair holds that the point of order is well taken. The gentleman is discussing

a subject wholly irrelevant to the subject under consideration.

Mr. SMITH. Well, sir, I am willing to abide by the Chair's decision. I have said about all I have to say, [laughter,] and I will conclude by just saying one thing which I suppose will be in order, and that is, that I do not wish to take any leading part in the proceedings here. I came here more to say no on one great question that I supposed would come up than to say anything affirmatively. Sir, I could not resist the temptation to say a few words in regard to the remarks which I heard in Jefferson City the other day, and now that I have accomplished my purpose, I will withdraw the resolution, because I do not wish to be on that committee. [Laughter.] If any one wishes the resolution to pass (and I think it a very proper one) he can easily renew it.

Mr. FOSTER. Some of my friends in this part of the Hall would desire the resolution to be read again. They did not hear it distinctly when it was read the first time, and they think they are entitled to know the nature of a resolution which has been before the House.

The CHAIR. The resolution is already withdrawn.

Mr. WILSON. As there seems to be no further business before the Convention, and in order to give the committees time to report, I move to adjourn until 4 o'clock. Lost. Ayes 22; noes not counted.

Mr. HENDERSON. I understand it will be necessary to have some printing done for the Convention, and I desire to offer a resolution upon the subject.

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the President, whose duty it shall be to contract for any and all printing that may be ordered by the Convention, and that they report their action as early as practicable. Adopted.

Mr. IRWIN. I move to adjourn to 3 o'clock,

P. M.

Mr. BROADHEAD. Before that motion is put, I would inquire whether the committee moved by the gentleman sometime ago has been appointed?

The CHAIR. It has not. The Chair will now announce the committee:

Committee on Printing-Messrs. Hendricks, Howell and Woolfolk.

Mr. WELSH. I desire to offer the following: Be it ordained and declared by the people of the State of Missouri in Convention assembled, as follows:

The Legislature shall have no power to pass special laws for the following purposes:

First to establish, change or vacate any State road. Second-to delare minors of age for any purpose. Third-to authorize the sale of any real estate except that belonging to the State. But the Legislature shall have power to pass laws to authorize courts to do and perform all the various

By Mr. GRAY.

Mr. DONIPHAN. I hardly know what gentlemen desire I shall address them about. As for the action of the Convention, its conclusions and the amendments proposed to the Constitution of the United States, all these have been published in all the journals, and, of course, have been subjected to the inspection of the gentlemen of this Convention. If it is desired to know the attitude Missouri assumed there, why, of course, if it be the pleasure of the convention, Judge Hough, a member of this Convention, or Judge Coalter, whom I see in the lobby, or myself, can give the Convention our opinion in relation to the matter now or any other time. VOICE-Now!

Mr. DONIPHAN. Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: I was appointed as one of the delegates from the State of Missouri to go to a Conference that has been called a Peace Congress-a.Confereuce recommended by the State of Virginia, in which she had asked a conference with her sister States in relation to the difficulties and embarrassments that now surround this Government, and the Legislature of my State thought proper to designate me as one of the individuals to represent the interest and honor of our State in that Convention. I went there entertaining an opinion that I presume is in accordance with the opinions of a large majority of the members of this Convention: namely, that the disintegration, or rather the revolution in progress in this Government now, was caused by one single element of strife-that we have no other cause for the difficulties that now agitate

and disturb the country save the question of negro slavery-that our nation was never more prosperous in all the great elements that constitute a free and happy people than it is now; that our commerce was extending and as prosperous as it ever has been; that our sails whitened every sea, and our flag floated under every sky; that we were respected at home and foreign nation; that while we were standing in abroad, and involved in no conflict with any peaceful relations to all the rest of the world; while we were in the most prosperous condition that a nation could enjoy; while we were blessed with abundance at home; while the great Valley of the Mississipppi in which we live, and whose centre we occupy, extends from the crest of the Alleghanies to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, and now feeds starving millions of the world from overflowing granaries, and clothes the naked with its cotton; that while, therefore, we were in the most prosperous condition, with our commerce, agricultures and manufactures continually increasing, there was nothing to interrupt this prosperity with the exception of this solitary question agitating us at home-the question of negro slavery. It naturally occurs to every reflecting mind that in order to restore harmony and union, that question must be removed from the arena of politics-that there can be no restoration of harmony, peace and quiet unless that question is removed. That question has interposed between the North and the South and created a division, and you may plaster it together as you please; you may try Spalding's glue or anything else in the world but you cannot bring it together until this question is removed, and when this question is removed it will unite itself. The question has been raised, what is the best plan to remove this difficulty? It is well known that in all governments like this, originating in equality, having that as the very essence and foundation of our institutions-for this government, in its revolution, was unlike that of any other, for the reason that but one single sentiment pervaded the hearts of our fathers-one single, vital sentiment, and that was that all men are born free and equal, that are capable of self-government-that is what distinguished it from all other revolutions in the world, and on that principle the Government was framed, the principle of equality among States and individuals, and of equal protection to property; and when we have this removed, of course the very essence, foundations and pillars of this Government are destroyed and it can no longer exist. Now, if there is a truth in all governments, it is that nationality and sectionalism cannot exist at the same time; they are entirely antagonistic and cannot flourish healthfully in the same body politic. Sectionalism itself destroys, withers and crushes out nationality. If there is sectionalism at the South in the shape of

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