representation in this House.

But I do not intend to argue the case. I wish to deal with it calmly, but
explicitly. I believe the North is ready to stand by the Constitution with
all its compromises, as it now is. I do not intend, moreover, to throw out
any threats of disunion, whatever may be the result. I do not intend, now
or ever, to contemplate disunion as a cure for any imaginable evil. At the
same time I do not intend to be driven from a firm expression of purpose,
and a steadfast adherence to principle, by any threats of disunion from any
other quarter. The people of New England, whom I have any privilege to
speak for, do not desire, as I understand their views, I know my own heart
and my own principles and can at least speak for them, to gain one foot of
territory by conquest, and as the result of the prosecution of the war with
Mexico. I do not believe that even the abolitionists of the North,--though
I am one of the last persons who would be entitled to speak their
sentiments, would be unwilling to be found in combination with Southern
gentlemen, who may see fit to espouse this doctrine. We desire peace. We
believe that this war ought never to have been commenced, and we do not
wish to have it made the pretext for plundering Mexico of one foot of her
lands. But if the war is to be prosecuted, and if territories are to be
conquered and annexed, we shall stand fast and forever to the principle
that, so far as we are concerned, these territories shall be the exclusive
abode of freemen.
R. C. Winthrop.


XLI.

NATIONAL MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON.