It shall be my aim, on this occasion to do and say
nothing inconsistent with myself, with the letter of the
Constitution, or with the spirit of the various compromises of
interest and opinion incorporated into the union of these States.
The members of this House have been frequently called, during the
present session, to vote upon divisions connected with petitions of
this nature. On those occasions I have been content to pronounce my
vote simply, and without explanation, leaving my reasons and motives
to be construed or misconstrued by others, as chance might order. To
have continued so to do, until the subject of present controversy
were finally disposed of, is the part I should altogether have
chosen, had circumstances permitted to me such a course. But, if I
have been a silent, I have not been an incurious, nor, I trust, an
uninstructed, spectator of events. It is rendered apparent that
those great matters, which occupy the public mind abroad, do now
occupy also this House. If other gentlemen, differing with me in
part or in whole, had voted without discussion, according to the
dictates of their individual judgment, each of us could fairly have
stood upon his personal convictions, and his personal estimation
elsewhere, for his justification in the eyes of his countrymen. But
that, much as it were in my view to be desired, is no longer
possible. What has happened here is enrolled already in the
unchangeable records of time and of eternity.
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