A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
History
A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention: For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861
Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)
Conference Convention (1861 : Washington, D.C.); United States -- Politics and government -- 1857-1861
Mr. GOODRICH:--I ought not to permit this vote to be taken, without a
word of reply to the remarks of the gentleman from North Carolina. The
impression would certainly be derived from his speech that Governor
ANDREW, of Massachusetts, approved of the JOHN BROWN raid. This is not
true. There is not a particle of truth in the assertion. There is a
gentleman here, who heard Governor ANDREW state publicly when he
first heard of that raid, that JOHN BROWN must be crazy. It is true
that a meeting was held in Boston to raise funds to support the
poverty-stricken family of JOHN BROWN. Governor ANDREW, I believe,
presided; and a single paragraph taken from some remarks he made on
that occasion, has been scattered broadcast over the country. In order
to understand what he did say, both the context and what followed it
are indispensable. Those were carefully suppressed. The opinions of
Governor ANDREW are well known. They are in sympathy with those of the
people of Massachusetts. Neither he nor they approved the JOHN BROWN
invasion.
Mr. RANDOLPH:--I call the gentleman to order. He is discussing a
subject which is strictly personal, having no connection with the
report of the committee, or the amendments offered to that report.
The PRESIDENT:--I think the remarks of the gentleman from
Massachusetts are not in order.
Mr. GOODRICH:--Well, I cannot proceed in order. I only desired to
correct a misapprehension. I do not quite understand why these
misrepresentations should be made, and then objections interposed to
their correction.
Mr. HOPPIN:--I rise, Mr. President, to address the Conference with
great reluctance. If there is a gentleman within the sound of my voice
whose heart is full of anxious solicitude for the safety of the
country, he will know how to sympathize with me. I do not represent a
State containing four millions of people, but one of the smallest in
the Union; and yet little Rhode Island has a heart which beats true to
the Union. It so happened that she was one of the last to accept the
Constitution; but when she did accept it--when she took upon herself
its obligations--she became faithful to it, and she has ever since
been true.
I feel that my position is peculiar. I cannot judge of other men as
some gentlemen do. The North is full of men who do not concur in my
opinions upon the question of slavery. I know they are honest and
honorable men. I should do injustice to them and to myself, if I
believed them to be either corrupt or enemies of the Union and of good
government; and it is just the same in the South as in other sections.
Looking around me upon these able and patriotic representatives, who
come here with full hearts and tell us of their position--of the
feelings of their people--of the anxiety and apprehension which is so
deeply felt among them, can I believe that these men are dishonest?
that they do not mean what they say? No, sir! Nobody can be so unjust
and unfair as that.
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