feeling among the various sections of the Union. Mr. Secretary, great as is our loss to-day, if these inestimable and inappreciable blessings shall have been secured to us even by the death of Zachary Taylor, they have not been purchased at too high a price; and if his spirit, from the regions to which he has ascended, could see these results flowing from his unexpected and untimely end, if he could see that he had entwined a soldier's laurel around a martyr's crown, he would say exultingly, Happy am I, that by my death I have done more for that country which I loved and served, than I did or could do by all the devotion and all the efforts that I could make in her behalf during the short span of my earthly existence."

Mr. Secretary, great as this calamity is, we mourn not as those without hope. We have seen one eminent man, and another eminent man, and at last a man in the most eminent station, fall away from the midst of us. But I doubt not there is a Power above us exercising over us that parental care that has guarded our progress for so many years. I have confidence still that the place of the departed will be supplied; that the kind, beneficent favor of Almighty God will still be with us, and that we shall be borne along, and borne upward and upward on the wings of his sustaining providence. May God grant that, in the time that is before us, there may not be wanting to us as wise men, as good men for our counsellors, as he whose funeral obsequies we now propose to celebrate!

THE COMPROMISE MEASURES.*

Mr. PRESIDENT,It was my purpose, on Tuesday of last week, to follow the honorable member from South Carolina,† who was addressing the Senate on the morning of that day, with what I then had, and now have, to say upon the subject of this bill. But before the honorable member had concluded his remarks, it was announced to us that the late chief magistrate of the United States was dangerously ill, and the Senate was moved to adjourn. The solemn event of the decease of the President took place that evening.

Sir, various and most interesting reflections present themselves to the minds of men, growing out of that occurrence. The chief magistrate of a great republic died suddenly. Recently elected to that office by the spontaneous voice of his fellowcountrymen, possessing in a high degree their confidence and regard, ere yet he had had a fair opportunity to develop the principles of his civil administration, he fell by the stroke of death. Yet, Sir, mixed with the sad thoughts which this event suggests, and the melancholy feeling which spread over the

A Speech delivered in the Senate of the United States, on the 17th of July, 1850, on the Bill reported by the Committee of Thirteen, commonly called "The Compromise Bill."

The following motto was prefixed to the Speech in the pamphlet edition: "Alas! alas! when will this speculating against fact and reason end? What will quiet these panic fears which we entertain of the hostile effect of a conciliatory conduct? Is all authority of course lost when it is not pushed to the extreme?

"All these objections being in fact no more than suspicions, conjectures, divinations, formed in defiance of fact and experience, they did not discourage me from entertaining the idea of conciliatory concession, founded on the principles which I have stated."- EDMUND BURKE.

† Mr. Butler.

whole country, the real lovers and admirers of our constitutional government, in the midst of their grief and affliction, found something consoling and gratifying. The executive head of a great nation had fallen suddenly; no disturbance arose; no shock was felt in the great and free republic. Credit, public and private, was in no way disturbed, and danger to the coinmunity or individuals was nowhere felt. The legislative authority was neither dissolved nor prorogued; nor was there any further interruption or delay in the exercise of the ordinary functions of every branch of the government, than such as was necessary for the indulgence, the proper indulgence, of the grief which afflicted Congress and the country. Sir, for his country General Taylor did not live long enough; but there were circumstances in his death so favorable for his own fame and character, so gratifying to all to whom he was most dear, that he may be said to have died fortunately.

"That life is long which answers life's great end."

A gallant soldier, able and experienced in his profession, he had achieved all that was to be expected by him in that line of duty. Placed at the head of the government, as I have said, by the free voice of the people, he died in the full possession of the gratitude of his country. He died in the midst of domestic affections and domestic happiness. He died in the consciousness of duty performed. He died here, in the midst of the councils of his country; which country, through us, its organs, has bestowed upon him those simple, but grand and imposing rites, which the republic confers on the most distinguished of her sons.

"Such honors Ilium to her hero paid,

And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade."

He has run the race destined for him by Providence, and he sleeps with the blessings of his countrymen.

Mr. President, I proceed now to say upon the subject before us what it was my purpose then to have said. I begin by remarking, that the longer we stay in the midst of this agitating subject, the longer the final disposition of it is postponed, the greater will be the intensity of that anxiety which possesses my breast. I wish, Sir, so far as I can, to harmonize opinions. I wish to facilitate some measure of conciliation. I wish to consummate some proposition or other, that shall bring op

posing sentiments together, and give the country repose. It is not my purpose to-day to compare or contrast measures or plans which have been proposed. A measure was suggested by the President* in his message of 1848. The same measure, substantially, was again recommended by the late President, † in his message of 1849. Then there is before us this proposition of the Committee of Thirteen. I do not regard these as opposite, conflicting, or, to use the language of the day, antagonistical propositions at all. To a certain extent, they all agree. Beyond what was proposed either by Mr. Polk or by the late President, this report of the committee, and the bill now before us, go another step. Their suggestions were, and espe cially that of the late President, to admit California, and for the present to stop there. The bill before the Senate proposes to admit California, but also to make a proper provision, if the Senate deem the provision proper, for the Territories of New Mexico and Utah. I confess, Sir, my judgment from the first has been, that it was indispensable that Congress should make some provision for these Territories; but I have been indifferent whether the things necessary to be done should be done in one bill or in separate bills, except that, as a matter of expediency, it was and has been my opinion, from the beginning, that it would have been better to have proceeded measure by measure. That was a matter of opinion upon the expediency of the course. I was one of the Committee of Thirteen. Circumstances called me to my home during its deliberations; and the general opinion of the committee at that time seemed to be, and I thought the better opinion, in favor of beginning with California, and then taking up the other measures in their order. Upon further consideration, the committee, very fairly, I doubt not, and in the exercise of their best judgment and discretion, thought fit to unite the three things which are in this bill. Well, Sir, whether singly or together, each and every one of these objects meets my approbation, and they are all, in my judgment, desirable.

In the first place, I think it is a desirable object to admit California. I do not conceal from myself, nor do I wish to conceal from others, that California is before us with some degree

* Mr. Polk.

+ General Taylor.

She has not

of irregularity stamped upon her proceedings. been through the previous process of territorial existence. She has formed her constitution without our consent.

But I con

sider, Sir, that California, from the extraordinary circumstances which have attended her birth and progress to the present moment, entitles herself, by the necessity of the case, to an exemption from the ordinary rules. Who expected to see such a great community spring up in such an incredibly short time? Who expected to see a hundred or a hundred and fifty thousand people engaged in such an employment, with so much activity, and enterprise, and commerce, drawing to themselves the admiration and regard of the whole world, in the period of a few months? Well, Sir, she comes to us with a constitution framed upon republican models, and conformable to the Constitution of the United States; and under these circumstances, still regarding her application as premature and irregular, I am for admitting her, as there has been nothing done which her admission on our part will not cure. She will be lawfully in the Union if we admit her, and therefore I have no hesitation upon that point.

rence.

Then, with respect to the Territories, I have been and I am of opinion, that we should not separate, at the end of this session of Congress, without having made a suitable provision for their government. I do not think it safe to allow things to stand as they are. It has been thought that there may be such a thing as admitting California, and stopping there. Well, it is not impossible, in the nature of things, that such a course of policy should be adopted, if it would meet the proper concurBut then I have always supposed, Sir, that, if we were now acting upon California as a separate measure, and should, in the prosecution of that measure, admit her into the Union, the inquiry would immediately arise, What is next to be done? I have never supposed that the questions respecting the Territories would thereby be put to rest, even for the present. I have supposed, on the contrary, that the very next thing to be done would be to take up the subject of a government for the Territories, and prosecute that subject until it should be in some manner terminated by Congress, to the exclusion of all ordinary subjects of legislation. I am not authorized to state, Sir, I do not know, the opinion of the honorable members of