ctions, though it was not voted upon as a whole.

Mr. CRITTENDEN:--I suppose this remark is intended to annul the
Convention, and discredit all their proceedings, though the Senate
have received the letter of the President and Secretary as authentic
evidence that this does contain the result of the deliberations and
the proceedings of the body. I take it so, whatever a discontented
member here and there may have said to the contrary notwithstanding.
He may have said it all truly, for aught I know, but we must regard
this as the authentic act of the Convention; otherwise it was nothing;
and it is certified to us by the proper authority as its act, by the
President of the Convention, with the request that we shall adopt it.
It must have had, in some form or shape, the sanction of a majority of
the Convention, or it could not have been so certified to us. How they
voted, whether upon parts or the whole, they gave such votes as, they
thought were necessary to ascertain the meaning of the body, and the
expression of their will and opinion upon the subject. This is what
they have done.

I do not stop to inquire whether I like these resolutions better than
I do those proposed by myself, or the amendments now offered by the
Senator from Virginia. We are near the close of our session. I have
looked upon the proceedings of this great and eminent body of men as
the best evidence of public opinion outside of this body, and of the
wish and will of the States they represent. I am for peace. I am for
compromise. I have not an opinion on the subject of what would be best
that I would not be perfectly willing to sacrifice to obtain any
reasonable measure of pacification that would satisfy the majority. I
want to save the country and adjust our present difficulties.
[Applause in the galleries.]

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. BRIGHT in the chair) called to order.

Mr. CRITTENDEN:--That is what I want to do. That is the object I am
aiming at. I attach no particular importance--I feel, at least, no
selfish attachment--to any opinions I may have proclaimed on the
subject heretofore. I proclaimed those opinions because I thought them
right; but I am ready to sacrifice them, any and every one of them, to
any more satisfactory proposition that can be offered. I look upon the
resolutions proposed by this Convention as furnishing us, if not the
last, the best hope of an adjustment; the best hope for the safety of
the people and the preservation