That proposition he introduced into the Senate, in the form
of a resolution; and I believe that every Whig Senator but one voted for
it. But the Senators belonging to the Locofoco or Democratic party voted
against it. The Senators from New York voted against it. General Cass,
from the free State of Michigan, Mr. Fairfield, from Maine, Mr. Niles,
from Connecticut, and others, voted against it, and the vote was lost.
That is, these gentlemen,--some of them very prominent friends of Mr.
Van Buren, and ready to take the field for him,--these very gentlemen
voted not to exclude territory that might be obtained by conquest. They
were willing to bring in the territory, and then have a squabble and
controversy whether it should be slave or free territory. I was of
opinion that the true and safe policy was, to shut out the whole
question by getting no territory, and thereby keep off all controversy.
The territory will do us no good, if free; it will be an encumbrance, if
free. To a great extent, it will produce a preponderance in favor of the
South in the Senate, even if it be free. Let us keep it out, therefore.
But no. We will make the acquisition, bring in the territory, and manage
it afterwards. That was the policy.
Gentlemen, in an important crisis in English history, in the reign of
Charles the Second, when the country was threatened by the accession to
the throne of a prince, then called the Duke of York, who was a bigot to
the Roman Catholic religion, a proposition was made to exclude him from
the crown.
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