ntative in Congress, according to the then federal
ratio of representation, it shall be entitled to admission
into the Union on an equal footing with the original States,
with or without persons held to service or labor, as the
Constitution of such new State may prescribe."

Mr. BRONSON'S motion was agreed to.

Mr GUTHRIE:--I call for the order of the day.

The PRESIDENT:--The order of the day is called for, and the gentleman
from New York has the floor.

Mr. SMITH:--At the adjournment yesterday, I had proceeded to state
two or three grounds upon which I think the proposals of amendment to
the Constitution reported by the majority of the committee would be
unacceptable to the North, and I had also stated some special
objections to action in this way and at the present time.

The next consideration to which I would invite attention is this: Is
it necessary or wise for the Conference, composed as it is of friends
of the Union, or is it _expedient_ thus to encounter the settled
sentiments and convictions of the people of so large a section of the
country? It is not necessary, for various reasons. This territorial
question is, after all, a question to be looked at in a prospective
view. Why is it necessary to disturb the Constitution by inserting
such a provision as you propose? Why is it necessary for gentlemen
from the South to have it in, in order to enable them to stand with
their people at home?

Slavery is now in New Mexico. That must be acknowledged as a fact. The
South think it rightfully there--the North believe it is there
wrongfully. But its existence in the territories is a fact
nevertheless. President LINCOLN cannot help it if he would. The
Supreme Court will affirm its rightful existence there, whenever the
question comes before that body. That Court cannot be changed before
these territories are admitted as States, if the disposition exists to
change it. You claim that the question is already decided. How, then,
can it be important to you to press the adoption of these sections as
a part of the Constitution? My judgment is, that it is best to leave
this subject alone--that that is the true way to save the Union.

Gentlemen of the South, remember that if you must stand at home with
your people, so also must we. There is a _North_ as well as a
_South_!--a northern people as well as southern people. You press us
hard on these subjects. But can men who are rational ask us to abandon
o