heir seats
and refused to vote on the proposition. Had they chosen they could
have defeated the action. But they believed, with a certain
consistency and wisdom, that no measure could be of value to the
South unless it had the concurrence of senators from the North;
and with this motive they imposed upon the Republicans of the Senate
the responsibility of deciding the Crittenden proposition. It was
matter of congratulation with Republicans who did not lose their
judgment in that trying season, that the Senate stood firmly against
the fatal compromise which was urged by so many strong influences.
Much was forgiven for other unwise concessions, so long as this
was definitely rejected.

PROPOSITIONS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE.

Meanwhile a body of men had assembled in the National Capital upon
the invitation of the State of Virginia, for the purpose of making
an earnest effort to adjust the unhappy controversy. The Peace
Congress, as it was termed, came together in the spirit in which
the Constitution was originally formed. Its members professed,
and no doubt felt, an earnest desire to afford to the slave-holding
States, consistently with the principles of the Constitution,
adequate guaranties for the security of their rights. Virginia's
proposition was brought to the National Capital by Ex-President
John Tyler, deputed by his State to that honorable duty. In response
to the invitation twenty-one States, fourteen free and seven slave,
had sent delegates, who assembled in Washington on the 4th of
February, 1861. After remaining in session some three weeks, the
Peace Congress submitted an article of amendment to the Constitution,
contained in seven sections, making as many distinct propositions.

--The first section restored the line of the Missouri Compromise
as it was before the repeal in 1854.

--The second provided that no further acquisition of territory
should be made except by the consent of a majority of all the
senators from the slave-holding States and a majority of all the
senators from the free States.

--The third declared that no amendment to the Constitution shall
be made interfering with Slavery in the States, nor shall Congress
prohibit it in the District of Columbia, nor interfere with the
inter-State slave-trade, nor place any higher rate of taxation on
slaves than upon land. At the same time it abolished the slave-
trade in the District of Columbia.