n made, on behalf of the South, in 1847, and defeated by a vote of
114 to 82, only four Northern Democrats sustaining it. It was again
defeated more decisively in 1848, when proposed by Douglas. "Thus the
North," wrote Greeley, "under the lead of the Republicans, was
required, in 1860, to make, on pain of civil war, concessions to
slavery which it had utterly refused when divided only between the
conservative parties of a few years before."[615]

[Footnote 614: The full text of the Crittenden compromise is given in
the _Congressional Globe_, 1861, p. 114; also in Horace Greeley's
_American Conflict_, Vol. 1, p. 376.]

[Footnote 615: Horace Greeley, _The American Conflict_, Vol. 1, pp.
378, 379.]

Nevertheless, the Crittenden proposition invoked the same influences
that supported the Weed plan. "I would most cheerfully accept it,"
wrote John A. Dix. "I feel a strong confidence that we could carry
three-fourths of the States in favour of it as an amendment to the
Constitution."[616] August Belmont said he had "yet to meet the first
conservative Union-loving man, in or out of politics, who does not
approve of your compromise propositions.... In our own city and State
some of the most prominent men are ready to follow the lead of Weed.
Restoration of the Missouri line finds favour with most of the
conservative Republicans, and their number is increasing daily."[617]
Belmont, now more than earlier in the month, undoubtedly expressed a
ripening sentiment that was fostered by the gloomy state of trade,
creating feverish conditions in the stock market, forcing New York
banks to issue clearing-house certificates, and causing a marked
decline in the Republican vote at the municipal election in
Hudson.[618] Indeed, there is abundant evidence that the Crittenden
proposition, if promptly carried out in December, might have resulted
in peace. The Senate committee of thirteen to whom it was
referred--consisting of two senators from the cotton States, three
from the border States, three Northern Democrats, and five
Republicans--decided that no report should be adopted unless it had
the assent of a majority of the Republicans, and also a majority of
the eight other members. Six of the eight voted for it. All the
Republicans, and Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs, representing the
cotton States, voted against it. The evidence however, is almost
convincing that Davis and Toombs would have supported it in December
if the Republicans ha