the radical members of the New York delegation, at which it was
agreed that a speech should be made in opposition, and that
Massachusetts should lead. The duty was put upon me, accompanied with
the suggestion that I should speak that day. I had not made any
preparation, but during the time that I had occupied a seat in the
convention, my conviction had been strengthened that it was impossible
to adopt a plan that would be acceptable to the contending parties,
and consequently that any scheme of compromise that could be framed
would result in a renewal of the controversy, under circumstances less
favorable to the North. At that moment the government was in the
hands of men who were incapable of decisive action. While we could not
count upon active measures against secession on the part of Mr.
Buchanan, on the other hand, the country had ample assurance that he
would do nothing in aid of the unlawful proceeding. That he had
declared in his message of December, 1860. Beyond that, we had a right
to assume that Mr. Lincoln would maintain the Union by force. Hence, I
resolved to say that no scheme would be accepted by us which did not
contain an abandonment of the doctrine of secession, an acknowledgment
of the legality of Mr. Lincoln's election, and a declaration that it
was the duty of the whole body of citizens to render obedience to the
Government. I very well knew that these terms would be rejected with
scorn, as I well knew that any other terms would be rejected.
Conspirators are never disposed to make terms with the party or person
against whom their conspiracy is aimed, until the conspiracy has
failed. Hence it was that those who humbled themselves in the dust
were treated with contumely, even more offensive than the invectives
which the conspirators showered upon the heads of those who neither
proffered nor accepted terms of compromise.

Mr. Chittenden's report is accurate in respect to the views that I
presented, but it is incomplete, as I spoke about an hour. When I
began to speak, I advanced slowly up the aisle until I could look into
the faces of the Virginia delegation, who occupied the settee next to
the president's desk. Mr. William C. Rives was one of the Virginia
delegation, a Union man, who sympathized with the border State men, and
hoped by some concession to avert war. When I said that if the South
persisted in secession, "the South would march its armies to the Great
Lakes, or we should march