President Davis in Reply to General Sherman. 269
resolutions of Senators representing- those States conveying to the conventions of the States the views of the Senators. Those resolu- tions were not discovered by General Sherman; they were not d.ug up from beneath the sod in any yard through which he marched. They were necessarily public since they were sent to conventions of the States, and they were printed in the newspapers. To speak of such action as a conspiracy, as Senator Sherman did in the debate on the Hawley resolution, shows to what defence he was driven to assist his brother out of the mire of mendacity in which he was floundering. It was the opinion of that conference, in 1861, that secession was the only remedy left to the States; that every effort to preserve peace had failed, mainly through the action of that portion of the Repub- lican party which refused all propositions for adjustment made by those who sought, in January, 1861, to justify confidence, insure peace, and preserve the Union. In the same month in which that con- ference was held, I served on a committee raised by the Senate to seek some possible mode of quelling the excitement that then existed. That committee was composed of the three political divisions of the Senate, and it was considered useless to report any measure which did not receive the concurrence of at least a majority of each division. The Republican Senators rejected every proposition that promised pacification, and the committee reported to the Senate that their consultation was a failure. Was there less conspiracy in the Republican Senators combining to prevent pacification than there was in Southern Senators uniting in conference to advise the conven- tions of their States that their cause was hopeless in Washington ? Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, assailed the Republican side of the Senate for their refusal to accept any terms that were offered to them, and demanded to know what they proposed to do, and in that connection referred to Senator Toombs and myself as having been willing to accept the line of 36° 30', or the Missouri Compromise, and that the Republican Senators rejected the proposition. Which were the con- spirators, the Senators who offered the Missouri Compromise for the sake of peace, or the Senators who rejected that offering in order to enjoy a little blood-lettmg ? The venerable Senator Crittenden, of the Committee, used all his power and influence on the side of the peaceful efforts of the Southern Senators, and not unfrequently expressed himself in the most decided terms as to the conduct of the opposition. Party necessity may attribute the actions of the South- ern Senators to conspiracy, but history will treat the actors of those
