only.

Sir, these crowded galleries, these thronged lobbies, this full
attendance of the Senate, prove the deep, transcendent interest of the
theme.

A few days only have elapsed since the Congress of the United States
assembled in this Capitol. Then no agitation seemed to disturb the
political elements. Two of the great political parties of the country,
in their national conventions, had announced that slavery agitation was
at an end, and that henceforth that subject was not to be discussed in
Congress or out of Congress. The President, in his annual message, had
referred to this state of opinion, and had declared his fixed purpose to
maintain, as far as any responsibility attached to him, the quiet of the
country. Let me read a brief extract from that message:

"It is no part of my purpose to give prominence to any subject which may
properly be regarded as set at rest by the deliberate judgment of the
people. But while the present is bright with promise, and the future
full of demand and inducement for the exercise of active intelligence,
the past can never be without useful lessons of admonition and
instruction. If its dangers serve not as beacons, they will evidently
fail to fulfil the object of a wise design. When the grave shall have
closed over all those who are now endeavoring to meet the obligations of
duty, the year 1850 will be recurred to as a period filled with anxious
apprehension. A successful war had just terminated. Peace brought with
it a vast augmentation of territory. Disturbing questions arose, bearing
upon the domestic institutions of one portion of the Confederacy, and
involving the constitutional rights of the States. But, notwithstanding
differences of opinion and sentiment, which then existed in relation