necessity that compels them to separate; and further to provide, in case of disagreement in the future, some plan, if possible, by which the same may be speedily and fairly adjusted: Therefore-

Resolved, That the select committee appointed on the President's message inquire, among other things, if any measures can be adopted to preserve in their purity the constitutional rights of all the States within the Union; and if, in their judgment, this be impracticable, then further to inquire as to the most reasonable and just mode by which their rights may be secured in a state of separation, each sovereign State, in that event, being repossessed of its delegated authority to the federal Union, and adjusting the relative liabilities of each, with such other measures of fair settlement as may appear to them just; and recommend also some plan, in that event, by which, in the future, if any disputes shall arise, they may be fairly and speedily settled.

By Mr. Leake:

Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States ought to be amended, so as to provide: 1. That Congress shall have no power or jurisdiction over the subject of domestic slavery, either in the States, the Territories of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or over the trade in slaves in or between them, except so far as hereinafter provided. 2. That where domestic slavery may exist in any Territory or district of the United States, it shall be the duty of Congress to protect it by adequate and efficient legislation. 3. That no territorial legislature, or other territorial authority, shall have power or jurisdiction over such subject. 4. That the rights of masters or owners to their slaves while sojourning in, or in transitu through any State or Territory of the United States, shall be guaranteed and protected; and 5. That fugitive slaves shall be given up on demand of their owners or masters, and that all such fugitives as may be lost by reason of the legislation of any State, or the act of its constituted authorities, shall be paid for by such State.

By Mr. Jenkins:

Resolved, That the committee of one from each State, recently appointed by this House, be instructed to inquire into the expediency of so amending the fugitive slave law as best to promote the rendition of fugitives under the operation of the same, the more adequate punishment of its infraction, and the affording proper compensation to the owners of those who are not returned. Also, to inquire what further constitutional checks are demanded by a sense of self-preservation on the part of slaveholding States against the operation of the federal government, when about to be administered by those who have avowedly come into power on the ground of hostility to their interests, and to consider whether this fact does not of itself so violate and antagonize the slaveholding interest as to make it necessary to its own security that its concurrent voice, separately and distinctly given, should be required to sanction each and every operation of the federal government; and to consider whether a dual Executive, or the division of the Senate into two bodies, or the making a majority of senators from both the slaveholding and non-slaveholding States

necessary to all action on the part of that body, or the creation of another advisory body or council, or what other amendments to the federal Constitution would best promote that result, and to report thereon.

By Mr. William Smith:

Resolved, That the committee of thirty-three take into consideration the policy of declaring out of the federal Union each member thereof which shall, by her legislation, aim to nullify an act of Congress.

By Mr. Cox:

Whereas one of the chief complaints on the part of the slaveholding States of this confederacy is the refusal, neglect, and failure of certain executives of northern States to deliver up fugitives from justice indicted for treason, murder, and slave stealing in said slave States : Therefore

Resolved, That the committee of thirty-three, for the establishment of comity between the States, be required to consider what, if any, further legislation is necessary to carry out the second clause of the second section of article four of the Constitution of the United States, for the delivery of fugitives who shall flee from justice in one State and be found in another State, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which such fugitive shall have fled; and that such inquiry be made with special aim to punish all judges, attorneys general, executives, and other State officers, who shall obstruct the execution of such clause of the Constitution, either in respect to the delivery of felons who may be indicted for treason or murder, or attempted slave insurrections, or indicted for slave stealing.

By Mr. Hutchins:

Resolved, That the select committee of thirty-three, to whom is referred so much of the President's message as relates to the state of the Union and the slavery question, be requested to report, first, what legislation, if any, is necessary to give full effect to section two of article four of the Constitution of the United States, which provides that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the citizens in the several States;" and, second, what legislation, if any, is necessary to secure to all the people, whether residing or travelling in any of the States, the full benefits of article four of amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which reads as follows: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, house, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized."

By Mr. Sherman:

Resolved, That the only true and effectual remedy for the dissensions that now exist between the several States and the people thereof is in the faithful observance, by the several States and the people thereof, of all the compromises of the Constitution and of the laws made in pursuance thereof.

Resolved, That the special committee of thirty-three be instructed

to inquire whether any State, or the people thereof, have failed to obey and enforce the obligations imposed by the Constitution; and if so, the remedy thereof, and whether any further legislation is required to secure such enforcement.

Resolved, That to avoid all further controversies in regard to the several Territories of the United States, said committee divide said Territories into States of convenient size, with a view to their prompt admission into the Union on an equal footing with the other States. By Mr. Bingham:

Resolved, That the special committee of thirty-three report to the House such additional legislation as they may deem necessary to sup-. press and put down armed rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States, to protect the property thereof against unlawful seizure, and the citizens thereof against unlawful violence.

By Mr. Mallory:

Resolved, That the special committee of thirty-three be instructed to report amendments to the Constitution of the United States, so that in all the Territories of the United States, north of the line of 36° 30' north latitude, slavery or involuntary servitude, except for crime, be prohibited; that in all territory south of that line the insti stution of African slavery, as it exists at this time in the slave States of this Union, may exist, and shall be protected by the government of the United States. That when any Territory shall have attained a population sufficient to entitle it to at least one representative in Congress, and not until then, it shall be authorized to form a State government, and, provided its form of government be republican, be admitted into the Union on a perfect equality with the several States, with or without slavery, as its constitution may provide; that Congress shall be prohibited from abolishing or interfering with the interState slave trade; from abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, in the arsenals and dock-yards of the United States, and wherever it may have the power of exclusive legislation.

By Mr. Stevenson:

Resolved, That the committee of thirty-three be instructed to inquire into the expediency of amending the fugitive slave law by declaring it a felony to resist the officers of the United States in its execution, or in any attempt to rescue a fugitive who shall be in the custody of an officer of the United States, under the provisions of said act.

By Mr. English:

Resolved, That, for the purpose of doing justice, and securing peace and prosperity, the committee of thirty-three be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing for the settlement of the present unfortunate and dangerous sectional controversy upon the following basis: 1. The Territories of the United States to be equitably divided between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding sections; slavery to be prohibited in that portion set apart for the non-slaveholding section, and to be recognized in that portion set apart to the slaveholding section; the status of each upon the subject of slavery to remain unchanged during the territorial existence; but when the population in any portion of the territory set apart to either section

shall equal or exceed the ratio required for a representative in Congress, and the people shall have formed and ratified a constitution, and asked admission into the Union as a State, such State shall be admitted with or without slavery, as such constitution may prescribe. 2. The rights of property in slaves in the slaveholding States, and in the portion of the territories set apart to the slaveholding section, shall not be destroyed or impaired by legislation in Congress, in the Territories, or in the non-slaveholding States; and whenever a fugitive slave shall be rescued from his master, or from the proper United States officer, by reason of mob violence or State legislation, in conflict with with the Constitution or laws of the United States; or whenever a slave shall, in like manner, be rescued from his master while in transitu through any non-slaveholding State, the city, county, or township in which such rescue is made shall be liable to the master in double the value of the slave, recoverable in the United States courts.

By Mr. Kilgore:

Resolved, That the committee to whom was referred that part of the President's message which relates to the present distracted condition of the country be requested to inquire into the expediency of so amending the law upon the subject of fugitives from labor as to provide: 1. That the right of trial by jury shall be allowed in all cases where the alleged fugitive claims to be free, if demanded. 2. That an appeal or writ of error be allowed to either party upon just and reasonable terms. 3. That in all cases where the citizens of any free or non-slaveholding State shall aid or assist any fugitive in escaping, or where they shall forcibly prevent the claimant or any officer from arresting any fugitive, or shall forcibly rescue any fugitive from the custody of a claimant or any officer, either before or after trial, full payment shall be made by the United States to the person or persons to whom the fugitive owes service. 4. That any person or persons who shall forcibly hinder the arrest of any such fugitive, or shall forcibly rescue any such fugitive, shall be criminally prosecuted; and such other amendments made as may be thought necessary to give public satisfaction, without destroying the efficiency of such law, or in the least impairing the constitutional rights of any of our citizens or inhabitants of the United States.

By Mr. Holman :

1. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, by which the several States of the Union are organized into one government. is a compact founded upon good faith between the States, of mutual and permanent obligation; and the right of a State to secede from the compact, and to resume the powers surrendered in its adoption, is wholly unwarranted by the letter and spirit of its provisions.

2. Resolved, That the mutual and common interest of the several States, in the obligations of the Constitution, renders it the imperative duty of the federal government to enforce, in good faith and with temperate firmness, the laws enacted in pursuance of its authority in all cases where their infringement would impair the constitutional rights of any State, or the common and reciprocal rights of the several States.

3. Resolved, That the select committee of thirty-three on the state of the Union be instructed to inquire whether the acts of Congress now in force are sufficient, in view of the present condition of public affairs, to protect the rights of the several States against the attempts which have been made, and which may hereafter be made, by any State or States, to nullify the laws necessary to the existence of the confederacy, and to carry out the provisions of the Constitution; and if the laws now in force are insufficient, it shall be the duty of said committee to report the necessary bill or bills to provide for the emergency.

By Mr. Niblack:

Resolved, That the select committee to whom has been referred so much of the President's message as relates to the perilous condition of the country be instructed to inquire whether it be competent for Congress to provide by law for the payment of the value of fugitive slaves rescued by force or violence by the counties, cities, or municipal districts in which such fugitive slaves should be so rescued; and if it be found that Congress possesses the power so to enact, then that said committee inquire into the expediency of thus providing by law. and report by bill or otherwise.

By Mr. McClernand:

Resolved, That the committee of thirty-three be instructed to inquire and report whether Congress has constitutional power to make the people of any particular State, or municipal corporation therein, liable to indemnify any owner of any slave escaping into such State, and who has been rescued from rightful custody by force or otherwise; and also whether it is expedient to establish a special federal police for the purpose of executing the laws of the United States, and promptly suppressing any unlawful resistance thereof; and also whether any further legislation is requisite to secure a prompt, certain, and full enforcement of the guarantees of the Constitution, or whether an amendment of the Constitution is necessary for that purpose.

By Mr. Noell:

Whereas there now exists, on the part of the people of the southern States of this Union, a well-founded apprehension that they no longer hold the power in the federal government necessary to secure their peace and the safety of their property against the aggressions of the federal government, should it become the will of the people of the northern States to assail them through the federal administration or by hostile legislation: and whereas security and peace, held by one section at the mere will of another, cannot be safely relied on: and whereas the great material interests of the country, in every section, are involved in the safety of the Union and the perpetuity of the Constitution on such terms as will give to every section the means of protection against the aggressions of other sections: Therefore

Be it resolved, That the select committee of thirty-three be in structed to take into consideration the propriety and necessity of abolishing, by amendments to the Constitution, the office of President of the United States, and of establishing, in lieu thereof, an executive