w me to add something which is
not entirely unworthy of notice. A member of the House of
Representatives told me that he had prepared a list of one hundred and
forty speeches which had been made in Congress on the slavery question.
"That is a very large number, my friend," I said; "but how is that?"
"Why," said he, "a Northern man gets up and speaks with considerable
power and fluency until the Speaker's hammer knocks him down. Then gets
up a Southern man, and he speaks with more warmth. He is nearer the sun,
and he comes out with the greater fervor against the North. He speaks
his hour, and is in turn knocked down. And so it has gone on, until I
have got one hundred and forty speeches on my list." "Well," said I,
"where are they, and what are they?" "If the speaker," said he, "was a
Northern man, he held forth against slavery; and if he was from the
South, he abused the North; and all these speeches were sent by the
members to their own localities, where they served only to aggravate the
local irritation already existing. No man reads both sides. The other
side of the argument is not heard; and the speeches sent from Washington
in such prodigious numbers, instead of tending to conciliation, do but
increase, in both sections of the Union, an excitement already of the
most dangerous character."

Gentlemen, in this state of things, I saw that something must be done.
It was impossible to look with indifference on a danger of so formidable
a character. I am a Massachusetts man, and I bore in mind what
Massachusetts has ever been to the Constitution and the Union. I felt
the importance of the duty which devolved upon one to whom she had so
long confided the trust of representing her in either house of Congress.
As I honored her, and respected her, I felt that I was serving her in my
endeavors to promote the welfare of the whole country.

And now suppose, Gentlemen, that, on the occasion in question, I had
taken a different course. If I may allude so particularly to an
individual so insignificant as myself, suppose that, on the 7th of
March, 1850, instead of making a speech that would, so far as my power
went, reconcile the country, I had joined in the general clamor of the
Antislavery party. Suppose I had said, "I will have nothing to do with
any accommodation; we will admit no compromise; we will let Texas invade
New Mexico; we will leave New Mexico and Utah to take care of
themselves; we will plant ourselves on the Wilmot