a
mere abstraction.

Gentlemen, what have we come here for? We have come at a time when the
Government of our country is in great peril; and after a long session
of diligent labor, and when we are just upon the point of arriving at
the satisfactory adjustment of our differences, we have these abstract
questions thrust upon us. They do not belong here. They ought not to
be considered here. They would better befit a debating society than an
assembly of statesmen met to consider constitutional questions. The
gentleman (Governor KING) of New York announces his theory that this
is a Government of the people and not a compact of the States. While I
should agree with him upon his conclusions, we should differ widely as
to the premises from which they are derived. It is a compact. All the
authorities say so; and like any other compact, it is one from which
each independent party may withdraw.

Now, what is this proposed amendment but an abstraction? In theory,
the union of the States under the Constitution is indissoluble. But
how is it in fact? It is now a fact that the Union is disrupted, is
dissolved, because certain of the States composing it have withdrawn.
But this is no time to discuss these questions. While we are talking
about abstractions, we are wasting our time. I do not propose to
enlarge upon the observations I have already submitted. But I beseech
you, one and all, recognizing every member of the Conference as a
brother of a common family, that now, after the labor of three weeks,
and upon the very verge of adjustment, you should not destroy all we
have done by interposing questions of this kind. Do not let us be seen
engaged in the idle labor of Sisyphus. Do not let us now, just as we
are about placing on the top of the mountain the block of
constitutional adjustment, suffer that block to rebound. Dismiss the
amendment with, I pray you earnestly, all questions of this sort, and
let us proceed to the practical matters involved in the report, and
its adoption.

Mr. NOYES:--If my colleague who offered this amendment, was not at
this time absent, I should not address the Conference at all. I should
like, however, to know what possible dangerous consequence we may
anticipate from the adoption of this clause. Whether this Union is a
compact of the States or a Government of the people, is equally
unimportant in this connection. In either case it is not to be broken
up at pleasure. If it is claimed either that the