that the people of the United States
would not, and ought not to consent to bring this territory into the
Union. But he had proved a false prophet. The State of New York
consented to it, and the vote of her Senators decided the question. In
Congress, before the final consummation of the deed, he fought against
the measure, and he would not now, before the country or the world,
consent to be numbered among those who introduced new slave power into
the Union. He disliked the Mexican war, and disliked the peace still
more, because it brought in new territories. The rush of Northern men to
California made it of necessity a Free State. As to New Mexico and Utah,
he saw that the existence of slavery there was impossible; and as the
South thought that the application of the Wilmot Proviso was irritating
and disrespectful, he voted against it; for he was not disposed to give
offense without cause. Mr. W. discussed at length the question of the
Texas boundary, and proclaimed it as his solemn belief that unless it
had been settled by Congress, a civil war would have ensued. The other
great question, in 1850, was that of the Fugitive Slave Law. Under the
provisions of the Constitution a law for the delivery of fugitives had
been passed in 1793, by general consent. It answered its purpose till
1841 or 1842, when the States began to make enactments in opposition to
it. Mr. W. was in favor of a proper law; he had, indeed, proposed a
different one; he was of the opinion that a trial by jury might be had.
But the law of 1850, passed, and he would undertake to say, that it was
more favorable to the fugitive than that of 1793; since it placed the
matter within the jurisdiction of a higher tribunal. Mr. W. denounced in
the severest terms those who counseled resistance to the law; and
defended his own course in advocating the Compromise measures. He felt
that he had a duty to perform to exert every power to keep the country
together, and if the fate of John Rogers had been presented to him, if
he had heard the thorns crackling, by the blessing of Almighty God, he
would have gone on and discharged the duty which he thought his country
called upon him to perform.

No little interest has been awakened by a legal suit brought by the
Methodist Episcopal Church South, to recover a portion of the "Book
Fund" belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church before its division.
This fund, arising from the sale of books and publications, and devoted
to