control. And to oppose the immutable and irrevocable laws of population and of nature is equivalent to a demand for the severance of the Union.

I conclude by repeating that here are five wounds which, by the committee of compromise, are proposed to be closed. Sir, I know what may be said. I know it will be said that agitators will, even after the passage of all these measures, continue to agitate; that the two extremes will still cry out for their respective favorite measures; that the Wilmot proviso, although territorial governments will be established, will be pressed, to be added by a supplementary act, or to be incorporated in the Constitutions which these Territories may establish. I know it may be urged—indeed, I have heard it stated on this floor-" Pass all your measures, and we will cry out for repeal." I know something, I think, of the nature of man. I know something of the nature of my own countrymen. I speak, also, with the authority and with the aid of history. At the time of the memorable Missouri compromise, as at this--and I have been unable to determine in my own mind whether more solicitude and anxiety existed then than now -the whole country was in an uproar, on the one side, for the admission of Missouri, and, on the other, for her exclusion. Every legislative body throughout the country-I believe there were twenty-four then-had denounced or approved the measure of the admission of Missouri. The measure was finally carried by a small majority; only six in the House of Representatives, where the great struggle-where the long-continued exertion-was carried on. And what were the consequences—the tranquillizing consequences—which ensued throughout this distracted country? The act was everywhere received with joy, and exultation, and triumph; and the man who would have dared to interrupt the universal, and deepfelt, and all-pervading harmony which prevailed throughout the country, in consequence of that adjustment, would have stood rebuked, and repudiated, and reproached by the indignant voice of his countrymen. And I venture to say, if this measure of compromise goes to the country with all the high sanctions which it may carry-sanctions of both Houses of Congress, and of the executive, and of the great body of the American people to a country bleeding at every pore-to a country imploring us to settle their difficulties, and give once more peace and happiness to them -I venture to say that the agitation will be at an end, though a few may croak and halloo as they please. There are a few miserable men who live upon agitation-men who are never satisfied until they can place themselves at the head of a little clique of agitators, and, fastening them to their tails, go to the democratic party and say, "Take me-I am a good democrat, and I will bring to you this capital which I have, and insure your success;" or go to the whig party and say, "Take this little balancing power which I possess, and I will enable your party to triumph over their adversaries." I venture to say they will be hushed into silence, by the indignation they will meet everywhere, in their vain and

futile attempt to prolong that agitation which has threatened this country with the most direful calamity which, in all the dispensations of God, could befall it.

Sir, I am done. I would say much more, but I can not longer trespass upon your time. I did not expect to have said so much, and my physical powers will not permit me to say more.

MR. CLAY AND MR. SOULÉ-A SKIRMISH.

IN SENATE, MAY 24, 1850.

[IN the great debate on the Compromise of 1850, there were frequent skirmishes between Mr. Clay and his opponents, of which we have given very few specimens, as they generally relate to amendments and side issues. The following, however, between Mr. Clay and Mr. Soulé, we have thought might be interesting, although it bears on no great question.]

MR. CLAY. Will the senator from Louisiana allow me one word? I do not wish to interfere with the senator if he wishes to avail himself of an opportunity of replying, but I desire an explanation from the senator from Louisiana who has just taken his seat. I understood the senator to say that the committee had held up to the eye one thing, intending at the same time another and a different thing-intending to cover the question with a "drapery" or "trickery," I did not hear the precise expression, but I thought it was one or other of these words.

MR. SOULE. Oh, no; the senator from Kentucky is mistaken.

MR. CLAY. Well, then, I want to know what the senator did say? MR. SOULE. The honorable senator gives to my language a meaning which I had not intended it should convey. Speaking of the measures in progress of debate, and commenting upon them, I said, indeed, that "they spoke to the eye what they meant not to the sense;" intimating thereby that they were so worded that a careless reader might be led to imagine that they imported something which, in fact, they did not import. I did by no means intend imputing to the committee a deliberate design to impart to the measures which they recommended, and with a view to mislead, the duplex meaning which I thought I discovered in them; I intended only to signify that such would be the effect of the phraseology which had been adopted, and that it would unavoidably be misapprehended. That such would be the case is most clearly shown in the fact, now apparent to all of us, that those who concurred in the bill are still in disagreement as to the legal bearing of some of its most important provisions. Besides, from the manner in which I have conducted my humble share in this important discussion, I had hoped I would have been spared the misapprehension that I had designed any thing that was unkind or disrespectful to the honorable senator and his colleagues.

MR. CLAY. Mr. President, I certainly felt gratified by the very unmerited compliment which the honorable senator chose to pay me personally; but that does not satisfy me if, as I supposed, he intended to cast reflections on the motives of the committee by intimating that it was their purpose to practice any deception toward the Senate.

MR. SOULE. Truly, sir, the honorable senator bears down hard upon me; for, even supposing that any unseemly expression had escaped my lips, ought I not to have met at his hands somewhat more of indulgence, and I might say of strict justice, considering that I was wrestling with the peculiarities of a language not my own, whose vocabulary is so apt to rebel against my best intentions? I questioned the motives of no one. I believe them good, and do not doubt at all the purposes of the committee were most patriotic and honorable.

MR. CLAY. I am satisfied. As the chairman of the committee, and as one of the committee, I certainly would not have allowed, without suitable explanation, any remarks reflecting upon the purposes or intentions of that committee.

Sir, I should be glad, if time permitted, to make a reply to the honorable senator, but I shall have other occasions to do so. But will he and the Senate allow me for a few moments only to make one or two observations?

Now, sir, what is the course of the honorable senator with respect to these resolutions of mine, and the report of the committee? The senator takes them up and compares them together. Cui bono? The resolutions were the resolutions of an individual; the report of the committee is the report of an aggregate number of gentlemen sent out for the purpose of considering these subjects. To bring, therefore, the report to the test of the resolutions is to suppose that I, who was alone responsible as the author of these resolutions, constituted the committee of thirteen to act upon the whole of the subject. He says that in my resolutions the South was promised suitable limits to California. Well, sir, the committee have said that the limits of California as proposed are suitable limits, and I never intended to exclude the consideration of the limits which California took for herself.

But I do not mean to-day to go into the subject, except to make one additional observation.

Sir, the senator is not satisfied with the repudiation in the bill of the Wilmot proviso. No, sir, it is not there, and all that the South has been struggling for for years has been to avoid its being put there. But he wants more. He wants an argument against it; he wants it denounced as unconstitutional. Now, let me put this case. The referees are sent out to make a decision upon a case referred to them. Although they agree in the decision, each having his peculiar reasons, but all uniting in the conclusion, yet if they do not agree in the premises, and in the arguments, according to the doctrine of the senator their award is worth nothing.

Sir, the senator tells us that he is for compromise and for the Union, although I was sorry to hear him concluding his speech by saying that he did not consider disunion so great a calamity as others did.

Several senators around Mr. Clay. "No, no;" "he never said so;" แ you are mistaken."

MR. SOULE. Will the honorable senator excuse me for interrupting him; but I must say, distinctly, that I never said any thing of the kind. The senator does me injustice. I most emphatically deny having ever said any thing of the kind.

MR. CLAY. I understood the senator most distinctly to say that he did not see any thing in the calamities which would result from a dissolution of the Union.

Several senators.

"No, no." "You are wrong; he did not say so."

MR. SOULÉ. No, sir, that could not be. I said nothing that could have conveyed any such meaning. On the contrary, I most unequivocally declared that I was not of those who would stake the perpetuity of the Union upon the issues before us, should it be possible to avert it by any sacrifices we could make without dishonor, although I apprehend they might seriously endanger it.

MR. CLAY. I am very happy to hear it.

MR. SOULE. There could have been no mistake-no misunderstanding. Every senator here, I feel assured, understood me differently. What I did say is this: that if the South was to be crushed to the ground, at least she should be suffered to fall with dignity, and so as to command the respect, and not to attract the insulting pity of her adversaries. [Applause.]

MR. CLAY. I am, indeed, happy to hear these sentiments from the honorable senator, but he will allow me to say, that although he may not be desirous and I am sure he is not-of a dissolution of the Union, the course which he may happen to take may possibly lead to such a consequence at no distant day. He said that he did not like this compromise. He complained that while he was restricting himself to the subject under debate, he had been misrepresented by me as having traveled over the whole compromise. Now, I appeal to the Senate whether the senator did not take up every topic in the report and comment upon, and criticise, and reject it. I hope, Mr. President, that, when this measure, which has been before the committee, shall have received all the improvements of which it is capable, of which nobody will be more desirous than the committee, the senator may yet find it in his power to concur with the committee in their efforts to settle those questions.

MR. SOULÉ. I should be most happy if I am able to do so.

MR. CLAY. I have already said that at this hour, and for other reasons, I will not detain the Senate now, especially as the senator from Virginia (Mr. Mason), having obtained the floor, desires to speak. I forbear, therefore, making any further observations until some future occasion.