aggressively bold as when he finds his opponent afraid
of him; and the efforts, however well meant, of the National Congress
in the winter of 1860-61 undoubtedly impressed the South with a
still further conviction of the timidity of the North, and with a
certainty that the new confederacy would be able to organize without
resistance, and to dissolve the Union without war.

COMMITTEES OF CONCILIATION.

Congress had no sooner convened in December, 1860, and received
the message of Mr. Buchanan, with its elaborate argument that the
National Government possessed no power to coerce a State, than in
each branch special committees of conciliation were appointed.
They were not so termed in the resolutions of the Senate and House,
but their mission was solely one of conciliation. They were charged
with the duty of giving extraordinary assurances that Slavery was
not to be disturbed, and of devising measures which might persuade
Southern men against the rashness on which they seemed bent. In
the Senate they raised a committee of thirteen, representing the
number of the original States of the Union. In the House the
committee was composed of thirty-three members, representing the
number of States then existing. In the Senate, Mr. Powell of
Kentucky was chairman of the committee of thirteen, which was
composed of seven Democrats, five Republicans, and the venerable
Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, who belonged to neither party. It
contained the most eminent men in the Senate of all shades of
political opinion. In the House, Thomas Corwin was made chairman,
with a majority of Republicans of the more conservative type, a
minority of Democrats, and Mr. Henry Winter Davis of Maryland, who
held a position similar to that occupied by Mr. Crittenden in the
Senate.

The Senate committee promptly disagreed, and before the close of
December reported to the Senate their inability to come to any
conclusion. The committee of thirty-three was more fortunate, or
perhaps unfortunate, in being able to arrive at a series of
conclusions which tended only to lower the tone of Northern opinion
without in the least degree appeasing the wrath of the South. The
record of that committee is one which cannot be reviewed with pride
or satisfaction by any citizen of a State that was loyal to the
Union. Every form of compromise which could be suggested, every
concession of Northern prejudice and every surr