n the 4th of March, 1857, resigned his position.

Immediately upon the assembling of Congress in December, 1856, and
before the usual message had been sent to the President, notifying
him that the House of Representatives was prepared to enter upon
the duties of the session, a contest sprang up over the question
of administering the oath of office to Mr. Whitfield as a delegate
from the Territory of Kansas, and a struggle resulted which continued
until the 9th of December, when the oath of office was administered
to him and he took his seat.

President Pierce sent to the House of Representatives, December 2,
1856, his last message. He commenced it with a careful review of
the Kansas question and this led to a debate which continued during
the entire session. On the 8th of December I undertook to answer
as much of the message as related to the slavery question. He had,
in the message, defended the repeal of the restriction of slavery
contained in the Missouri Compromise, asserting that this compromise
was unconstitutional and abortive, but I showed that it had been
recognized as in full force by every administration since and
including that of Monroe, that it did not extend to the territory
acquired from Mexico, and that it was consistent with the compromise
acts of 1850. He asserted that the purpose was not only to exclude
slavery from Kansas, but also from places where it then existed.
I showed this to be inaccurate by the express denial of such purpose
in every platform of the Republican party. I then declared that
"If I had my voice, I would not have one single political Abolitionist
in the northern states. I am opposed to any interference by the
northern people with slavery in the slave states; I act with the
Republican party, with hundreds of thousands of others, simply
because the Republican party resists the extension, but does not
seek the abolition, of slavery."

My speech, as reported, expresses, as I believe, the limit and
extent of the aims of the Republican party at that time. The only
regret I feel is that the tone and temper of my remarks were not
such as should be addressed to the President of the United States
by a Member of Congress.

What I say of myself can be truthfully said of many other Members.
The feeling against the President was embittered by the firm stand
taken by him in support of a policy which we regarded as unpatriotic,
and dangerous in the highest degree to the public peace