I felt now the truth of Webster's picturesque words that "the imprisoned
winds were let loose." We might have a transcontinental railroad, and
Douglas' Illinois Central might connect Chicago with the Gulf of Mexico.
All of this building might go forward successfully. But at the same time
the slavery question would not down. Even railroad building was a bone
of contention, for as to a line to California it had been debated
whether it should start from Chicago or from St. Louis. Hence it was
that every activity of Douglas had to reckon with the negro. There were
now great things to be done at Washington. And as Dorothy had enjoyed
herself so much during the winter that we had spent there, she was
urging me to return. I had my affairs now under better management, and
communication with Chicago was rather convenient; besides Dorothy was
not well. The loss of Jenny and the death of her mother had visibly
affected her health. I decided at last to spend the winter in
Washington.
The trip from Chicago to New York by boat and by train was as wearisome
as before. When we arrived in New York, Dorothy had to take to her bed
and rest for two days before proceeding to Washington.
We took a house again, keeping Mammy for intimate service and
supplementing her with two colored women who fitted in fairly well. Our
boy Reverdy was put in school.
I began to attend the sessions of the Senate, taking Dorothy when she
wished to go. Clay of Kentucky, after an absence of eight years, was
back; here were also Webster and Calhoun, the lions of an earlier day.
They were enacting their last parts, trying to re-imprison the winds of
destiny, which the events of the Mexican War had set to roaring over the
land. Young America, in the person of Douglas, faced the hierarchy of
the earlier republic; and Seward of New York, older than Douglas by some
twelve years, but less versatile and attractive, stood now as a
spokesman for a new party.
If there were pessimists who believed that the Union was in danger at
this time, Douglas was not of them. He could not see the South, if
reasonably accommodated, interfering with his ocean-bound republic. He
had elasticity, a fresh edge. The coldness of dying arteries was not
upon him, as in the case of Webster, Clay, and Calhoun. He had great
projects to forward, such as grants to secure the construction of the
Illinois Central railroad. He knew what railroads meant to the country.
He was of the West and he understood it. He was quick to offer a bill in
the Senate for a grant of land for the construction of this railroad
from Chicago to New Orleans, and it was passed. In the debate over the
bill Douglas of Illinois faced Webster of Massachusetts. It was a
dramatic antithesis. Douglas, young and devoted to the prairies,
Webster, old and fixed in his admirations for the East. The old question
of disunion arose. If we would have liberty and union forever, railroads
would insure them. Douglas had said that if the North should ever be
arrayed against the South, the pioneers of the northwest and the
southwest would balance the contest. Webster had spoken slightingly of
the West which Douglas so greatly loved. And these were Douglas'
inspiring and prophetic words in reply:
"There is a power in this nation greater either than the North or the
South--a growing, increasing, swelling power that will be able to speak
the law to this nation and to execute the law as spoken. That power is
the country known as the Great West--the valley of the Mississippi, one
and indivisible from the Gulf to the Great Lakes, and stretching on the
one side and the other to the extreme sources of the Ohio and the
Mississippi--from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains. There, sir, is
the hope of this nation, the resting place of the power that is not only
to control but to save the Union. We furnish the water that makes the
Mississippi; and we intend to follow, navigate, and use it until it
loses itself in the briny ocean. So with the St. Lawrence. We intend to
keep open and enjoy both of these great outlets to the ocean, and all
between them we intend to take under our special protection, and
preserve and keep as one happy, free, and united people. This is the
mission of the great Mississippi valley, the heart and soul of the
nation and the continent."
Did these words have any definite meaning to Webster? He knew nothing of
the West. He sat with his leonine eyes fixed upon young America in the
person of Douglas. No, as for that, Douglas did not know how truly he
was speaking. He could not see in what manner time would fulfill his
words. No, not even though there was thrilling conviction in his great
voice, which filled the Senate chamber.
On the subject of the territories Douglas had offered several bills of
his own. I can't remember their order, their substance, beyond the fact
that they looked to the territorial control of slavery. But I remember a
very cutting reply that he made to one Senator who interrupted him to
ask by what authority a territory could legislate upon slavery. "Your
bill conceded that a representative government is necessary--a
government founded upon the principles of popular sovereignty, and the
right of the people to enact their own laws; and for this reason you
give them a legislature constituted of two branches; you confer upon
them the right to legislate upon all rightful subjects of legislation,
except negroes. Why except negroes? I am not therefore prepared to say
that under the Constitution we have not the power to pass laws excluding
negro slaves from the territories. But I do say that if left to myself
to carry out my own opinions I would leave the whole subject to the
people of the territories themselves."
In a sense Clay was the center of attraction, both because he had
returned after a long absence and because he was expected to use his
conciliatory power toward a settlement which would satisfy both the
North and the South. He had come to Washington expecting to be received
with open arms by President Taylor. He had been disappointed. He was not
overstrong, being in his seventy-third year. But his old charm had not
faded, his power over men had not abated. He had loved a drink, a game
of cards; he was a slave owner, from a slave state; he had not been
consistent in his thinking and his preachment. True to his peculiar gift
of leadership and negotiation, he had framed a compromise which provided
for the admission of California as a free state. This contradicted the
doctrine of the right of the state to come into the Union free or slave,
as it chose. The bill provided further for the admission of Utah and New
Mexico with or without slavery as they might choose. This impugned the
admissional doctrine of California. It provided for the abolition of the
slave trade in the District of Columbia, and for the passage of a
fugitive slave law, such as would satisfy the South. A motley bill!
Calhoun was against it. He demanded the extension of slavery into the
territory acquired from Mexico, and proposed an amendment to the
Constitution providing for two presidents, one from the South and one
from the North, with a veto over each other's acts. Any absurdity for
the sake of slavery! Perhaps disease had something to do with this
unreason. He died in April before any law was passed.
Webster supported Clay's bill, thus standing for the admission of Utah
and New Mexico with or without slavery as they might decide. Douglas in
the discussion, with his eye for the concrete, pointed out that the
ordinance of 1787, and the Missouri Compromise as well, were practically
dead letters. As to the free law respecting Oregon, Oregon had
previously fixed the freedom status for herself. As to the fantastic
proposition of striking a balance between the North and the South,
giving them equal new states of freedom and slavery, he pointed out that
that was a moral and physical impossibility. The cause of freedom had
steadily advanced, the cause of slavery steadily failed. "We all look
forward with confidence to the time when Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
Kentucky, and Missouri, and probably North Carolina and Tennessee, will
adopt a gradual system of emancipation. In the meantime we have a vast
territory, stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific, which is
rapidly filling up with a hardy, enterprising, and industrious
population, large enough to form at least seventeen new free states.
Now, let me inquire, where are you to find the slave territory with
which to balance these seventeen free territories, or even any one of
them?"
This was not exactly placating the South. Douglas missed his opportunity
as a demagogue.
Turning to Webster Douglas said: "California came in free according to
those laws of nature and God to which the Senator of Massachusetts
alluded. It would be free under any bill you may pass or without any
bill at all." And Seward spoke for a law higher than the Constitution.
Well, there were many laws of justice, mercy, and ethics which the
Constitution did not comprehend. Still, if it came to a question of law,
what law was to be observed? The laws that were written, the laws
relating to the progress of the country, the laws that worked for peace
among the American people? If Webster could vote for this compromise,
surely Douglas could. Both might have to return to their homes, there to
face hostility arising from a different vision of the questions than
that these men had, acting upon their responsibility and attempting to
reconcile many interests.
In point of fact, Douglas returned to Chicago to find a storm of
disfavor rising about him. His enemies were multiplying. His own state
was disappointed in him. The South distrusted him. But he had infinite
confidence in his own strength. Webster was declining, both he and Clay
were soon to die. But Douglas was only thirty-seven. More than thirty
years yet before he would reach their age. Clay's Compromises had become
a law. The slavery question was settled. Now for the Illinois Central
railroad.