? Under the decision of the Supreme Court
we are entitled to participate in _all_ the territory of the United
States. We are offering to give up the great part and the best part of
it, and in payment we are to take the naked chance of getting a little
piece of the worthless territory south of the proposed line! Such an
idea was never entertained by those who made the Compromise. The idea
which governed their action was, beyond all doubt, not that present
territory alone should be thus divided, but that the question should
be removed from doubt and difficulty for all time, and to give us at
the South a chance whatever change might come.

Shall we be rewarded for all we give up, and find full compensation in
a clause which itself prevents the acquisition of future territory?
The statement is in itself a sufficient answer to the question.

But there was another element in the propositions of the Legislature
of Virginia. That, was security against the principles of the North,
and her great and now dominant party; it was intended to put an end to
the discussions that have convulsed the country and jeopardized our
institutions.

It was the policy of our fathers to settle these questions. They
determined to make a final and decisive line of demarkation, and to
let that be conclusive. But this young people could not be restrained,
and when new territory was acquired the same question arose again. It
now comes up once more. Virginia early saw the seeds of trouble in it,
because she saw that the tide of emigration would continue to press
toward the fertile lands of the South. She saw and she acted. In
consequence of her action we are here. Would it not be wise and well
as statesmen and as patriots, that you should do what you can for
adjustment? do what you can to bring back your sisters of the South
who have departed? It is the part of wisdom to settle. Virginia was
wise to ask it.

There is another thing. A great and mighty party has arisen at the
North that is determined to exclude the institution of slavery, not
only from all future, but from all _present_ territory. We know that
in all ways this party has declared that it would not consent to let
slavery go where it does not now exist. More heated zealots, also
animated and sustained by this same party, have determined that this
natural and patriarchal institution of the South should be surrounded
by a cordon of free States, and in the end be extinguished altogether.