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
_Resolved_, That the President is hereby authorized to grant
cards of admission to reporters of the press, not exceeding
---- in number, which shall entitle them to seats on the
floor of the Convention, for the purpose of reporting its
proceedings.
_Resolved_, That no person be admitted to the floor of the
Convention, except the members, officers, or reporters.
Mr. WICKLIFFE:--I do not wish to prolong this discussion myself, nor
to cause it to be prolonged by others. I am sure that if we permit our
debates to be reported, we shall never reach a conclusion which will
in the slightest degree benefit the country. Every member will in that
event wish to make a set speech, some of them three or four. I wish to
have our time used in consultation and in action, not consumed in
political speech-making. I do not care what the newspapers say of us.
I know their accounts are distorted; but they would be distorted if we
admitted reporters. Some of them assail us as a convention of
compromisers--as belonging to the sandstone stratum of politics.
Mr. CHASE:--That is the formation which supports all others.
Mr. WICKLIFFE:--I know it, and I hope this Convention will prove to be
the stratum which supports and preserves the Union and the country.
Let us go on as we have begun, preserving secrecy; keeping our own
counsels; making no speeches for outside consumption or personal
reputation. Let us all keep steadily in mind the accomplishment of the
great and good purpose which brought us here, and nothing else.
Mr. RANDOLPH:--New Jersey does not wish to have time consumed in
making speeches. I think we should proceed at once to hear the report
of the committee. I move that the resolutions offered be laid upon the
table.
Mr. ORTH:--I suppose this motion cuts off debate. I should much have
preferred to discuss the resolutions. I hope the motion will not
prevail.
The motion to lay on the table passed in the affirmative by a _viva
voce_ vote.
The PRESIDENT:--Is the General Committee upon Propositions prepared to
report? If it is, their report is now in order.
Mr. GUTHRIE:--That committee has given earnest and careful
consideration to the subjects and propositions which have from time to
time been presented to it. It has held numerous and protracted
sessions, and the differences of opinion naturally existing between
the members have been discussed in a spirit of candor and
conciliation. The committee have not been so fortunate as to arrive at
an unanimous conclusion. A majority of its members, however, have
agreed upon a report which we think ought to be satisfactory to all
sections of the Union, one which if adopted will, we believe,
accomplish the purpose so much desired by every patriotic citizen. We
think it will give peace to the country. In their behalf I have now
the honor to submit, for the consideration of the Conference, the
following:
PROPOSALS OF AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED
STATES.
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