MR. SUMNER. I will answer the Senator: Because I thought there could be no basis of peace on the Senator’s propositions, which are wrong in every respect, in every line, in every word. That is what I thought. I was for the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of our fathers, as administered by George Washington. MR. CRITTENDEN. If that was all true, and the gentleman desired an amicable settlement of the difficulties which now threaten the country, had he no proposition whatever to make? MR. SUMNER. Certainly,--the proposition which I have already made, that the Constitution, as administered by George Washington, should be preserved pure and free from any amendment for the sake of Slavery. MR. CRITTENDEN. Why did he not move that? Why did he sit sullen and silent here for one month or more, with his breast full of resentment? [_Applause in the galleries._] THE PRESIDING OFFICER [Mr. FOSTER, of Connecticut]. Order will be preserved in the galleries, or they will be cleared immediately. MR. CRITTENDEN. With such a spirit of opposition to, and thinking as he did of these resolutions, why did he not propose to strike them all out? MR. SUMNER. Will the Senator let me answer? MR. CRITTENDEN. Yes, I will. MR. SUMNER. I did vote for the substitute of the Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. CLARK] just as soon as it could come to a vote, and that expresses precisely my conviction. That vote displaced the Senator’s propositions entirely.[138] Before the debate closed, Mr. Sumner replied briefly. MR. PRESIDENT,--I have no desire to prolong this debate, or to occupy the time of the Senate. I content myself with two remarks. The Senator from Kentucky is not aware of his own popularity in Massachusetts, of the extent to which his name is an authority there, of the willingness of the people there to adopt anything with the sanction of his respectable name. I do not think the distinguished Senator is aware of that fact; consequently he does not see how easily the people of Massachusetts might be seduced to adopt at sight a proposition brought forward by him, which otherwise they would at once reject. Now all that I suggest in regard to these petitioners is, that, under the lead of the distinguished Senator, they put their names to a petition which I am sure they did not, in all respects and in all its bearings, fully understand; and I must do them the justice to believe, that, had they known the true character of the propositions of the Senator, they would not have signed petitions for their adoption.