t it will be settled at the next
session of this Congress. But at least at the first session of the next
Congress this question will be resumed. It will enter at this very
period into all the elections of the South.

And now I venture to say, Gentlemen, two things; the first well known to
you, that General Cass is in favor of what is called the Compromise
Line, and is of opinion that the Wilmot Proviso, or the Ordinance of
1787, which excludes slavery from territories, ought not to be applied
to territories lying south of 36 deg. 30'. He announced this before he was
nominated, and if he had not announced it, he would have been 36 deg. 30'
farther off from being nominated. In the next place, he will do all he
can to establish that compromise line; and lastly, which is a matter of
opinion, in my conscientious belief he will establish it.

Give him the power and the patronage of the government, let him exercise
it over certain portions of the country whose representatives voted on
this occasion to put off that question for future consideration; let him
have the power of this government with his attachments, with his
inducements, and we shall see the result. I verily believe, that unless
there is a renewed strength, an augmented strength, of Whig votes in
Congress, he will accomplish his purpose. He will surely have the
Senate, and with the patronage of the government, with every interest
which he can bring to bear, co-operating with every interest which the
South can bring to bear, he will establish the compromise line. We cry
safety before we are out of the woods, if we feel that the danger
respecting the territories is over.

Gentlemen, I came here to confer with you as friends and countrymen, to
speak my own mind and hear yours; but if we all should speak, and occupy
as much time as I have, we should make a late meeting. I shall detain
you no longer. I have been long in public life, longer, far longer than
I shall remain there. I have had some participation for more than thirty
years in the councils of the nation. I profess to feel a strong
attachment to the liberty of the United States, to the Constitution and
free institutions of this country, to the honor, and I may say the
glory, of my native land. I feel every injury inflicted upon it, almost
as a personal injury. I blush for every fault which I think I see
committed in its public councils, as if they were faults or mistakes of
my own. I know that, at this moment